Fiji: Timber! The fall of a government

New Internationalist, Jan-Feb, 2001

`I AM NOT A VIOLENT MAN,' said rebel leader George Speight after taking over Fiji's Parliament on 19 May. `I am a businessman.'

He was indeed something of an entrepreneur -- taking goods from intimidated shop owners for free with the aplomb with which he reportedly milked his former job overseeing the Government's timber industry.

His militias kept the Labour-led People's Coalition Government hostage for 60 days. The rebels claimed to have been angered by the `pro-Indian' stance of the Government and talked frequently about `defending indigenous interests'.

Indigenous Fijians own 85 per cent of the land but most farming is done by ethnic-Indian tenants, many of them descended from those who arrived in the 1880s. Thousands were displaced this year as many of the leases were up. Prime Minister Chaudhry's attempts to handle the situation stirred fears that the Government was supporting Indian over Fijian interests.

But the real trigger for the insurrection was timber. The world's largest mahogany timber plantation had matured and was ready for harvesting. Speight was sacked and charged with extortion for his role in attempting to win the contract for US firm Timber Resource Management (TRM). Prime Minister Chaudhry said that the US Embassy was also being `pushy' to try and get him to give TRM the concession. When the contract was granted to a British firm, Speight -- supported by some chiefs who had stood to gain from the deal -- initiated the coup.

It ignited lawlessness throughout Fiji. On the island of Vanua Levu, where Indo-Fijians were targeted by the rebels, one farmer despaired of official inability or reluctance to bring the chaos under control: `My castrated bullock has more balls than the police, the army, the President and the Government combined.'

The granting of amnesty to Speight for the coup further complicated attempts to get the country under control. Initially he was charged with `dangerous driving' in order to get an arrest warrant against him although the amnesty was later lifted and the security forces succeeded in capturing Speight and more than 380 of his supporters. As trials continued the police reported they were broadening the scope of their investigation to include whether the coup was linked to the sale of mahogany harvesting rights.