14 MAY 1987: 'Sa Noda Na Qaqa' - Rest Assured We Have Won.
So screamed the Coupist from the balcony of the Suva Civic Centre, surrounded by the Great Council of Chiefs, Thieves, and Others.
Shortly afterwards began an orgy of BEATINGS, TORTURE, RAPE, LOOTING and FINAL SOLUTION: DISENFRANCHISEMENT of Indo-Fijians from 1987 to 1999.
SOUNBITE: Now, Rabuka has declared 14 May, GIRMIT DAY, and he is being cheered on by NFP leader BIMAN PRASAD, whose sole mission was to form a girmit Coalition government with Rabuka as Prime Minister. Prasad will be a prisoner to SODELPA as the party pushes to turn back Fiji into the 19th Century with its divisive policies.
*For Prasad to enjoy the perks of Cabinet and power, he will not
SPEAK UP for Indo-Fijians.
*On 11 October 2005, our Founding Editor-in-Chief had called on the Laisenia Qarase government to ditch the Queen's Holiday and replace it with Girmit or Leonidas Arrival Day but Qarase declined, for he was pushing for the Qoliqoli Bill and the Indigenous Lands Tribunal Bill, the two Bills that led Bainimarama to overthrow him on 5 December 2006.
*In a cruel twist of irony, it was our Editor-in-Chief who fought for Qarase's legal and political rights through his then Opinion Column in the Fiji Sun after the deposed Prime Minister passed onto our Editor hundreds of Cabinet papers relating to the stand-off between Bainimarama, the Military, and the Qarase government. He has published only 25 per cent of the papers, for the rest was for a book he was co-authoring with the late Russell Hunter titled TREASON IN PARADISE: The Inside Story About the 2006 Fiji Coup.
*Having reflected on the 2005 Girmit Day call to the late Qarase, our Editor-in-Chief concluded some years ago that it was not appropriate anymore, for 14 May is inextricably linked to the 1987 Coup.
*In any case, thousands upon thousands of Indo-Fijians were chased out of Fiji and those who remained became second class citizens. The cunning FOX Rabuka hopes that we will forget his COUP on 14 May, and Indo-Fijians will be running around Fiji celebrating 'GIRMIT DAY'.
 |  |
*Frankly, it is an insult to the memory of the descendants of the Girmitiyas and their ancestors. Worst, it is also an insult to i-Taukeis in the western division of Fiji, whose illustrious SON, the late Dr Timoci Bavadra had become the first i-Taukei from the west to become the
PRIME MINISTER OF FIJI, only to be deposed by Rabuka on 14 May 1987
*Sadly, most Chiefs, Thieves, and Others came from the Central, Northern and Eastern divisions to support the 1987 COUPs against Bavadra. Now, Rabuka wants to bring back the GREAT COUNCIL OF CHIEFS.
 |  |
14 MAY must NEVER be celebrated as GIRMIT DAY. It is COUP DAY when Rabuka chose that date and month, so it could coincide with the arrival of the first Indian coolies on board the Leonidas, on 14 May 1879.
*14 May is also a painful reminder to i-taukeis in the western division that their son, Dr Timoci Bavadra, was overthrown in that Rabuka coup.
 |  |
