Fijileaks: We understand the Tui Nadi has resigned in utter disgust with the leadership and the manner of governance in PAP, which he finds do not abide by the party constitution and also that the voices of the members of the Party are not heard and respected, and taken into consideration, by the leadership. PAP is already struggling with winning the hearts and minds of i-Taukei voters in the western division because of Rabuka's 1987 coups that deposed their beloved son, Dr Timoci Bavadra |  |
From Fijileaks Archive, 10 May 2024
*In 1987, the 68-year-old Jalesi Nakarawa was a prison officer at the Naboro Maximum Security Prison (he had joined the prison service in 1974) when his future PAP leader and coupist SITIVENI RABUKA, captured Dr Timoci Bavadra and his FLP-NFP coalition government at gunpoint on
14 May 1987.
*According to Nakarawa, as he recalled to Sashi Singh's Talking Point last year, he was locking the cells on the top floor at the maximum security prison when the deposed prime minister Dr Timoci Bavadra was brought into the prison by coupist Rabuka's thuggish soldiers. Nakarawa:
'After all the prisoners were locked up in their cells, Dr Bavadra was the last man up to his cell. When I was locking him up, a lot of prisoners in their cells were making a lot of noise because by then they knew what was happening. To be frank, I never forgot the anguish on Dr Bavadra's face. As I was about to lock the door, he actually grabbed my boots and requested me for assistance, basically saying what about these people shouting at him. So I had to stand there and give him a bit of comfort. I told him, "Sir, take a bit of rest, and when I lock this door, it will not open until tomorrow morning." So, when I was standing there, I was thinking, what a dilemma: from Prime Minister's Office one day, to maximum security prison cell the next day. I guess that is where my interest in politics started.
14 May 1987.
*According to Nakarawa, as he recalled to Sashi Singh's Talking Point last year, he was locking the cells on the top floor at the maximum security prison when the deposed prime minister Dr Timoci Bavadra was brought into the prison by coupist Rabuka's thuggish soldiers. Nakarawa:
'After all the prisoners were locked up in their cells, Dr Bavadra was the last man up to his cell. When I was locking him up, a lot of prisoners in their cells were making a lot of noise because by then they knew what was happening. To be frank, I never forgot the anguish on Dr Bavadra's face. As I was about to lock the door, he actually grabbed my boots and requested me for assistance, basically saying what about these people shouting at him. So I had to stand there and give him a bit of comfort. I told him, "Sir, take a bit of rest, and when I lock this door, it will not open until tomorrow morning." So, when I was standing there, I was thinking, what a dilemma: from Prime Minister's Office one day, to maximum security prison cell the next day. I guess that is where my interest in politics started.
 |  LONDON, 1990: Our Founding Editor-in-Chief presenting a signed copy of his book, Fiji: Coups in Paradise - Race, Politics and Military Intervention to the late Adi Kuini Bavadra |
