ABSTRACT
On May 19, 2000 a group of seven armed men led by a failed businessman named George Speight entered the Fijian legislature and took members of the government, including Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, hostage. Speight declared the constitution dead and named himself as prime minister. Speight claimed that the 1999 elections that resulted in a government controlled by the Indian-dominated Fiji Labour Party had led to the oppression of the indigenous Fijian community who, in his view, should wield political authority. The Indian population of Fiji, descended from immigrant labor brought in during British colonial rule to work the sugar cane fields, has historically dominated the Fijian economy. The fact that a political party associated with Indo-Fijians now held political power as well proved unpalatable to a large number of Fijians. Following a 56-day stand off marked by violence and rioting, Speight finally relented and released the hostages, but not until grievous harm had been done to the fragile democratic experiment in a country historically beset by inter-ethnic hostility. The events in Fiji might be largely written off as an example of a madman’s fantasy being taken too far, except that Speight’s actions earned him, at least temporarily, the support of thousands of ethnic Fijians who viewed him as a champion of the largely impoverished indigenous population. In elections held in August of 2001, Fijian voters in the Tailevu North constituency rewarded Speight by electing him to the national legislature.1
