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From Fijileaks Archive, 25 February 2022
* Let us not forget that Sitiveni Rabuka ruled as Prime Minister from 1992 to 1999 under a racially lop-sided 1990 Constitution that was motivated by the desire to exclude permanently any possibility of Indo-Fijian parties forming a government. |  |
Later, echoing Rabuka's desire, the NFP told us that Fiji was NOT ready for an Indo-Fijian Prime Minister, setting in motion the overthrow of the People's Coalition government and the imprisonment of Mahendra Chaudhry as Prime Minister.
* In June 1990 the Great Council of Chiefs agreed to a Constitution which provided for a House of Representatives with 70 seats, 37 held by i-Taukei Fijians, 27 by Indo-Fijians, 5 by other races of General Electors and 1 by a representative of Rotuma.
* As well as the racial bias in the Constitution, the regional boundaries of seats were weighted to reinforce traditional patterns of influence. While Indo-Fijian seats had an average of 5500 voters against 4159 for Fijian seats, there was an even greater weighting given to provincial versus urban Fijian seats - 3457 to 8655 respectively.
* Urban Fijian voters totalled 13.7 per cent of the voting population but received only 7.1 per cent of seats. In addition, provincial areas which were traditionally most supportive of chiefly candidates received greater representation.
* Voters per seat in the various provinces ranged from 950 to 5700.
* The position of the Great Council of Chiefs was further reinforced through its nomination of 24 of the 34 Senate members.
The 1990 Constitution had also legislated that the President and Prime Minister MUST only be i-Taukei Fijians. So, from 1992 to 1999, the racist was Prime Minister of Fiji. As soon as Fijians of all races got the opportunity in 1999 election to vote under the 1997 Constitution, they consigned Sitiveni Rabuka and his side-kick Jai Ram Reddy to the dustbin of history. Rabuka is now back as PAP leader.
*The 1990 Constitution also led to arrests, beatings, and tortures when a group of Indo-Fijians, led by Dr Anirudh Singh, set fire to the 1990 Constitution in public as a mark of protest.
Among the protestors was
the young Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, later FFP Attorney-General and
Minister for Justice.
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While demanding evidence of Rape and Sexual Violence against Indo-Fijian women and girls during the racially motivated 1987 Rabuka coups, here she is CRYING with the women victims of Rwandan genocide
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