Chand: "I’m not riding on the roof, I’m not standing on the rooftop and making comments...it took him 56 days to free the hostages. And then he’s going around the nation telling that he is the saviour of the nation? What kind of a saviour? What kind of a leader is he? Why couldn’t he get rid of 7 CRW soldiers with an outsider and some people in the Parliament House, in a few days? Why does it take him 56 days? That’s a big question mark."
Fijileaks: We wonder if Chand or Khaiyum, for that matter, have seen the contents of "Father McEvoy Report" which detailed the atrocities committed against Indo-Fijians during the 2000 crisis?. The Report also covered Vanualevu including Seaqaqa, a cane growing area. Most Indo-Fijian victims accused Parmod Chand, "a bus company owner who owned farms in Seaqaqa of financing the rebels". Of course, we cannot establish the veracity of the claims. As for Professor Biman Prasad, he was no where to be seen with "Group 18" who (including Aiyaz Khaiyum) stood up to Rabuka and his racists following the 1987 coups
RFMF expresses deep concern over Chand's concern and aspersions
“It is quite disturbing that people like Parmod Chand has decided to forget the role the Fiji Military Forces executed, to quell the rebellion and upheaval of 2000.” - RFMF Chief of Staff, Colonel Jone Kalouniwai. Kalouniwai says such words of accusation are stirring their feelings causing much concern to now understand that there are some who share no appreciation of the sacrifices the RFMF made for Fijian people of Indian descent over their very own blood and Vanua
Parmod Chand: “That’s a cheap shot.. a very, very cheap shot. The Prime Minister has stooped so low, I can’t believe it. Because I’m a party man. I’m in the National Federation Party. I was the Vice President then and we were making a lot of comments, and we opposed the coups of 2000 and 2006.
I was not hiding under the bus but I know somebody was hiding in his washroom that’s how the guns were stolen.. were taken away from the barrack. And I also know somebody took off through the cassava patch so you know, they should not cast aspersions like this. I’m not riding on the roof, I’m not standing on the rooftop and making comments.
Seven people if I’m not mistaken, with one outsider, were able to take the guns out and carry out the coup. He failed in his responsibility. He totally failed… absolutely failed in taking command and control of the Fiji Military Forces. So basically what I’m saying, he is not fit as the Commander of the army. He was a very unfit person. He should have resigned. Simple.
Secondly, it took him 56 days to free the hostages. And then he’s going around the nation telling that he is the saviour of the nation? What kind of a saviour? What kind of a leader is he? Why couldn’t he get rid of 7 CRW soldiers with an outsider and some people in the Parliament House, in a few days? Why does it take him 56 days? That’s a big question mark.”
I was not hiding under the bus but I know somebody was hiding in his washroom that’s how the guns were stolen.. were taken away from the barrack. And I also know somebody took off through the cassava patch so you know, they should not cast aspersions like this. I’m not riding on the roof, I’m not standing on the rooftop and making comments.
Seven people if I’m not mistaken, with one outsider, were able to take the guns out and carry out the coup. He failed in his responsibility. He totally failed… absolutely failed in taking command and control of the Fiji Military Forces. So basically what I’m saying, he is not fit as the Commander of the army. He was a very unfit person. He should have resigned. Simple.
Secondly, it took him 56 days to free the hostages. And then he’s going around the nation telling that he is the saviour of the nation? What kind of a saviour? What kind of a leader is he? Why couldn’t he get rid of 7 CRW soldiers with an outsider and some people in the Parliament House, in a few days? Why does it take him 56 days? That’s a big question mark.”
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THE DEVIL IN THE SHADOW?: Chand forgot to ask about RABUKA's role, as alleged by the late President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara: 'The first one to contact me was Rabuka by telephone. 'I am ready'; he said. That was about 11. I said 'what for?'. I told him to come and see me in the afternoon...I didn't know what he was ready for...As soon as they sat down (Rabuka and Police Commissioner Savua, I said you two, I want you two to know, and I pointed at Rabuka and Savua, 'you have a hand in this thing. You could see it in their face..."
During the 2000 crisis our founding Editor-in-Chief VICTOR LAL had provided three options - the third one was for the formation of an Interim Government with the undertaking by a caretaker prime minister (Qarase became one) that Fiji will go to the polls in March or August 2001. We will reproduce Option One and Two and why Victor Lal had called for the Dissolution of Parliament and had argued against the reinstatement of the deposed Chaudhry government after the 2000 event. He had argued that the best option was for Fiji to go to the polls to choose a new government
VICTOR LAL: "During the dark days of 2000 I put FIJI FIRST rather than blindly supporting deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry based on ethnicity. Sadly, the then Interim Prime Minister and later Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase betrayed all of us by allowing himself to be wrapped in the sulu of native Fijian nationalism and racism, provoking military intervention in 2006; he had also taken my legal opinion on the Invalidity of the Muanikau Accord signed between Bainimarama and George Speight to the DPP...The rest is history - with Speight behind bars, and now Qarase is back, supporting Sitiveni Rabuka. One of Rabuka's co-conspirator from the 1987 coups, Inoke Kubuabola, had turned up as Interim Information Minister under the interim Qarase administration after the 2000 coup and shortly afterwards began attacking me while trying to justify the new racial order in Fiji. Every time I look back at my role I wonder why I went along with these lot who turned out to be avowed racists and nationalists, hellbent on persecuting me, my Indo-Fijian family, friends, including moderate native Fijians totally against these bunch. But unlike these shameless lot, I am glad I rose above race and had put FIJI FIRST. "
"Cry the Beloved Country"
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  | FROM HOSTAGE TO DOUBLE DIGIT MILLIONAIRE: |
During the 2000 crisis Aiyaz Khaiyum was away from Fiji, studying at the University of Hong Kong under the supervision of Professor Yash Ghai. I, however, had the privilege of reading in advance his 2002 Master in Laws thesis, “Cultural Autonomy: Its Implications for the Nation-State, the Fiji Experience” (he was not aware) and found nothing wrong with the so-called "Sunset Clause" where he had rightly argued academically that native Fijian culture had to evolve and adept to 20th Century realities; whether native Fijian autonomy helps or hinders their full participation in Fiji, and at what point autonomy could threaten the integrity of the country: “As seen from the Fijian experience, cultural autonomy has a place within a nation-state to provide protection to a group at a particular point in time or for a period of time….To maintain one’s self-worth culture needs to be dynamic and vibrant. Capturing it in institutions makes culture parochial, irrelevant, prone to manipulation and serves only the interest of a few….As seen from the Fijian experience the continuation of separate indigenous Fijian administration has restricted the growth of a coherent national narrative, in politics, myth or ritual...” :
In my own 1990 book 'Fiji: Coups in Paradise - Race, Politics and Military Intervention', I had argued the following: '...But with the chiefs determined to imprison themselves in the racist garb of supremacy and tradition, and their antagonists, the Fijian Indians (Indo-Fijians), threatening violence and vengeance, both sides must be urged to re-examine the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry that investigated Fiji's electoral system in 1975. This Commission had strongly advocated extending national seats in order to defeat the politics of communalism. The chiefs, prejudiced by lack of vision, must, on the other hand, in the months and years to come, realize that 'tradition is a guide, not a jailer' in order to save their country from the calamity that confronts them; the Fijian Indians with a history of rebellion on the sugar plantations and burning political ambitions in their hearts are repeating the lines of Richard Lovelace: Stone walls do not a prison make - Nor iron bars a cage.'- Victor Lal
http://www.fijileaks.com/uploads/1/3/7/5/13759434/copy_of_aiyaz_sayed_khaiyum_thesis.pdf
[Indo-Fijian] Woman to ABC, 4 February 2001- Fiji: Encore for a Coup:
"It was 10 o'clock in the night. The kids were watching TV and I was with them, just lying on my bed. Then all of a sudden there was a very big sound, the sound of a gun. By then they were inside the house. We were really scared, really frightened, we all started to scream, we all were crying for help. They were bashing us up, kicking us. They told us to keep quiet. I didn't know what to do so I decided to grab my daughter's hand. I grabbed her and I ran, opened the front door and we ran out. And I told my daughter that she had to run to the neighbour, and then I realised my son was still inside the house, so I was trying to run towards my son, and I could not get to him. I heard he was crying for help. Then these two men came and got hold of me, and they started to pull me, started hitting me, started to tear my clothes. And then they took me to the back of the house, and that's where they raped me. I was crying to help. I asked them to leave me because I had two kids, but they wouldn't listen to me. I begged them, they would not let me go. They did swear at me the day they raped me. They swore in Fijian. They told us 'You're Indian motherfuckers'. My daughter still can't sleep in the night, still having the nightmares. She'll wake up in the night, 2 o'clock in the morning, and she will cry because they've seen these Fijians raping the mother. Especially my son, because they tore my clothes into pieces and I was lying naked there, and my son was the one who brought me clothes and put clothes on for me."
LAISENIA QARASE to UN, 16 September 2000:
"The crux of our political crisis in Fiji is that indigenous Fijian and Rotuman communities felt threatened by certain policies which the non-indigenous leadership of the People's Coalition Government had implemented following their decisive victory in our National Elections in May 1999. It was this fear and anxiety about their future as the world's only indigenous Fijian and Rotuman community of just over 420,000 people that led to mass demonstrations and ultimately the Coup d'etat on May 19th this year. It manifested itself also in the mass looting of shops, destruction of property, and threats to people and their families, and unfortunately and tragically, the victims were mainly members of our Indian community. It was in this serious and deteriorating law and order situation that the Fiji Military Forces responded to a request from our Police to take over direct control of law and order and the protection of citizens. To facilitate this role, the Fiji Military Forces abrogated our 1997 Constitution on 29th May. However, as the civilian Interim Administration, we have ourselves taken over from the Army and, as I have said, we are firmly committed to returning Fiji to constitutional parliamentary democracy. We intend to promulgate the new constitution in August next year. General elections will then follow within twelve months."
Address to the Fifty-Fifth Session of the UN General Assembly by Qarase, Bainimarama's then Interim PM, 16 September 2000
"The crux of our political crisis in Fiji is that indigenous Fijian and Rotuman communities felt threatened by certain policies which the non-indigenous leadership of the People's Coalition Government had implemented following their decisive victory in our National Elections in May 1999. It was this fear and anxiety about their future as the world's only indigenous Fijian and Rotuman community of just over 420,000 people that led to mass demonstrations and ultimately the Coup d'etat on May 19th this year. It manifested itself also in the mass looting of shops, destruction of property, and threats to people and their families, and unfortunately and tragically, the victims were mainly members of our Indian community. It was in this serious and deteriorating law and order situation that the Fiji Military Forces responded to a request from our Police to take over direct control of law and order and the protection of citizens. To facilitate this role, the Fiji Military Forces abrogated our 1997 Constitution on 29th May. However, as the civilian Interim Administration, we have ourselves taken over from the Army and, as I have said, we are firmly committed to returning Fiji to constitutional parliamentary democracy. We intend to promulgate the new constitution in August next year. General elections will then follow within twelve months."
Address to the Fifty-Fifth Session of the UN General Assembly by Qarase, Bainimarama's then Interim PM, 16 September 2000
From Fiji's Daily Post, Letters to the Editor, 13 July 2001:
 |  In 2012, Laisenia Qarase was jailed for 12 months in relation to charges arising out of his links to FHL, and was barred from contesting the 2014 general election |
