Ghosts of Speight Coup: Savua Enquiry should be made public?
PART 1:
When Ratu Mara named Savua and Rabuka as key players in 2000 Coup when he was betrayed by his trusted men -and stabbed in back.
A FOREWORD
Fiji Police Commissioner Isikia Savua headed police during
Fiji's Peoples Coalition Government of Mahendra Chaudhry in 2000, when an
unruly march deposed his government.
Savua was implicated in the conspiracy of
coup. An enquiry, called SAVUA ENQUIRY was held in camera, (private hearing)
headed by a Lauan, Justice Sir Timoci Tuivaga which cleared Savua of any
wrongdoings. Many, like me, likened Savua enquiry to a sham, a kangaroo court and a fraud on
the nation. I lost my job for saying this.
I therefore present my articles by Liu Muri, first published under pseudo name of Aage Picche in Fiji's Daily Post newspaper in May, 2001, and later republished in FIJI PUNDIT blog in 2013.
I republish for people to get an insight and appreciation into Fiji’s turbulent, in fact dark history, and why we need to have a true semblance of democracy from the lessons we learn from our self-inflicted adversity.
This
is PART 1, to be presented in 4 PARTS.
PROLOGUE
Subsequent to failed George Speight coup on 19 May,
2000, there have been great deal of speculations as to who was that mysterious
person who was supposed to take over from George Speight once he had completed
the takeover of the Parliament.
Speight was a last minute fall guy or substitute recruit in this
whole equation. But it appears, this supposed leader had misread the mood of Fijian
military which refused to support Fijian nationalism unleashed by Speight and
his rebels in 2000. Upon failure to get support of Military, this mysterious
person got cold feet and failed to surface.
There are speculations as to who
this purported “actual” 2000 coup leader was.
From information that surfaced
later, fingers point to the then Police Commissioner, Isikia Savua, when the Police
force was seen as a spent force and were caught with its pants down.
 |
| The four former Prime Ministers of Fiji - Clockwise- LAISENIA QARASE, RATU SIR KAMISESE MARA, SITIVENI RABUKA and MAHENDRA SINGH. Their coming to power, and subsequent removal, either through legal or illegal means, form part of Fiji's history. All four are part of the series of articles on Savua Enquiry. |
An
enquiry, called SAVUA ENQUIRY was held in camera, (private hearing) headed by a Lauan, Justice Sir Timoci Tuivaga which cleared Savua of any wrongdoings.
Many, like me likened Savua enquiry to a sham, a kangaroo court and fraud on the nation. I lost my job as Publisher of the Daily Post for saying this. I therefore present my four part articles by Liu Muri -Aage Picche, under pseudo-name, first published in Fiji's Daily Post newspaper in May, 2001, and republished in FIJI PUNDIT blog in 2013.
Many Fijians expressed interest in my last article on Military Mutiny, and expressed desire to know about Savua Enquiry. Hence I republish for
people to get an insight and appreciation into Fiji’s turbulent, in fact dark history, and
why we need to have a true semblance of democracy from the lessons we learn from our self-inflicted adversity.
 |
| Former Commissioner of Police, Isikia Savua and Rabuka were named by Tui Nayau and deposed President of Fiji, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, as the key players and instigators of Speight coup of 19 May, 2000 that deposed Chaudhry's Peoples Coalition Government. Savua passed away on 30 May, 2011, but many controversies he created still live and have become a part of dark history of Fiji. |
TUI
NAYAU STABBED IN THE BACK
Subsequent to Speight coup and his removal and
escape to Lakeba, a TV interview he gave has been very revealing. If you heard
the Tui Nayau correctly, Fijians have surpassed the Indians in skills of
stabbing in the back. He implied that he was stabbed in the back by the very
people he relied upon to give him advice and protection.
Sir Vijay Singh articulated this very well in an
article he wrote about removal of Ratu Mara as Fiji’s President subsequent to
Speight coup:
Fijian leaders cannot evade a legitimate question that non-Fijians are entitled to ask: ‘If, despite all your proclaimed piety, you can conspire to do one of your most illustrious sons and high chief what you did to Ratu Mara, how we can trust you to be any kinder and gentler to any of us?
This indeed is very pertinent and concerning issues.
ALL
THE PRESIDENT’S MEN BETRAYED THEIR CHIEF
Fiji’s name has been tarnished as far as reverence
and respect for Chiefly and Westminster system is concerned. All the
President’s men stabbed in the back of not only the President and
Commander-in-Chief of the Fiji Military Forces of the Republic of Fiji Islands,
but also the most revered and highest living Chief in Fiji at that moment. And
who did this? The very people who should advise and protect the President and
their Chief?
ATTEMPTED
COUP HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH RACE
And what a convenient scapegoat – the Fiji Indians.
Successive ethno-nationalist and so-called saviors of Fijian race and coup-makers
have used Fiji Indians as scapegoats for their treasonous acts. And we have so
many fools and gullible people who believed this charade, but within and without our community.
And as Sir Vijay had said, Ratu Mara’s interview
cleared the red herring of inter race relations and established the fact that
all this had to do with internal rivalries and animosities within the Fijian
society.
What it also did is to raise doubt about the findings of the kangaroo
court that cleared Commissioner of Police from any wrong- doings. Late Tui Nayau
had named Commissioner of Police, Isikia Savua as one of the major suspects in
plotting, aiding, and abetting in the Speight coup.
For those who do not know, Fiji Police under Savua
lost all credibility after Speight coup in 2000 when rebels and criminals
started taking over police posts and humiliated law-enforcers until the military
took charge. During that time, my then paper Daily
Post drew a cartoon depicting the sad situation of police.
When a farmer in
Dreketi, Vanua Levu was asked about helplessness of police, he pointed towards
his freshly castrated bull and said ...”my
castrated bullock has more balls than the police force..”. The person who
contributed to degeneration and shaming of the once proud police force to comparison with bulumakau sele, badhia bail or castrated
bullock, is none other than the then Commissioner of Police, Mr Isikia Savua who
has been cleared by a tribunal held in camera and headed by the former Chief
Justice, Sir Timoci Tuivaga, son-in law of Dr Tupeni Baba.
In light of so much interest generated by Ratu
Mara’s revelation that cast a black slur on the Savua inquiry, for sake of
public interest, we will revisit Savua inquiry and some of the questions and
issues raised that remain as mysterious today as the day Savua was cleared.
WAS
SAVUA INQUIRY A CHARADE?
Senior police officers and concerned citizens are
appalled that the Commission of Inquiry has cleared Commissioner of Police,
Isikia Savua of his involvement in the takeover of parliament and subsequent
events.
The Commission of Inquiry, headed by the then Chief
Justice Tuivaga had been asked to carry out full investigations by concerned
groups - but it had obviously failed to do so.
 |
Judges: from left-Justice Dan Fatiaki, Justice Sir Moti Tikaram and Justice Sir Timoci Tuivaga. Sir Timoci headed Savua Enquiry which was held in camera and subsequently cleared Savua of any wrong-doing. The string of articles and revelations presented by FIJI PUNDIT would let public decide for themselves whether Savua Enquiry was fair or just a charade, a sham and a fraud on the nation. |
From the first day of the inquiry we had warned
that the inquiry was merely to cover up his actions, rather than expose them.
The inquiry was aimed at presenting to the international community the view
that the interim administration, then led by Laisenia Qarase, was
committed to bringing those involved in the destabilization and overthrow of
the government to justice. As Qarase and his interim administration got recognition
from many countries, the perpetrators of the May takeover were beginning to be
let free.
Some confidential information is released in
public interest to show a clearer picture in the mucky waters. We have known from
day one that the Commission of Inquiry set up to investigate the Commissioner
of Police was a fraud. It was headed by Justice Tuivaga - a person who had come
under attack from legal sources in Fiji and internationally for facilitating
the abrogation of the constitution and for continuing to frustrate legal challenges
to the abrogation of the constitution. His sympathies with Speight and his
group were well known. He was one of the few people who welcomed Speight to the
Suva golf club before his arrest with a great big public bear hug!
WAS
THE INQUIRY NEUTRAL AND IMPARTIAL?
The Tribunal included close relatives of Savua. The
report of the Tribunal was submitted to the Public Service Commission - a
commission that was hand-picked after purported abrogation of the constitution.
At all stages of the inquiry, sympathetic and supportive elements had assisted
the Commissioner of Police to walk away from his crime scot-free.
Police officers who wanted to make submissions
were therefore rightly concerned about their own safety had they gone ahead and
made direct submissions. Indeed, we fear for safety of those few that did have
the courage to make submissions.
 |
| Savua Enquiry was seen as a set-up of the Lauan Mafia which was then heading the Interim Government and the Judiciary, among others. Laisenia Qarase, the clean banker was not so clean after all, as he sided with the coup perpetrators to set them free, and when he tasted power and headed SDL, his government arranged to have the criminals freed and recruited in his nationalist government. Bainimarama warned him of this and gave some 18 months advance notice to improve his governance. Qarase ignored the warning at his peril. It is such abuse of democracy that forced Bainimarama to remove Qarase to deliver social justice to all citizens of Fiji in December 2006. |
All in all, the inquiry was part of a deliberate
and orchestrated campaign by the Interim Administration to hoodwink the
international community about its commitment to bring those involved in the
armed takeover of parliament on 19th May to justice. The Savua Act - featuring one of the key
actors in the May 19th takeover ended with expected results-favouring the
criminal elements. However, nobody predicted Ratu Mara’s interview in April
2001 in which he named Rabuka and Savua as key players in the whole mayhem.
SAVUA’S
INVOLVEMENT IN THE PARLIAMENT TAKEOVER
Citizens of Fiji were deeply concerned and indeed
shocked by the events that unfolded after the terrorist take-over of Fiji's
Parliament on May 19th. In my view, it is clear that the Police Force and its
commander failed to discharge their constitutional obligations to uphold the rule
of law and the constitution during the period leading to the takeover of
parliament on May 19th, 2000 and subsequently.
From the information made available to the Inquiry
it was clear that:
(I). The Police Commissioner Isikia Savua was
directly involved in the destabilization campaign leading to the march that
occurred on 19 May, 2000 and in supporting subsequent events.
 |
| The march that ended in deposing the government was allowed to get out of hand through negligence of police management. Savua had warned Chaudhry of the nationalist march, but was missing in action on the day and failed to prepare for a very serious breach of security. It is a clear case of dereliction of duties in aiding and abetting the rebels and those behind the removal and destabilisation of Peoples Coalition Government. |
(II). The Police Commissioner was a key player in
the grab for political power that commenced with the armed takeover of the
Parliament on 19 May, 2000.
(III). The Police Commissioner authorised and
provided the support of the Police Force through selected police officers, by
providing Police Force resources (in raiding Muaniweni farms) including arms to the terrorists who held the
People's Coalition Government hostage since May 19th until their release 56
days later.
TO BE CONTINUED in PART 2:
Savua’s dereliction of duties, neutralizing the
riot bus and failure to use it when needed.
E-mail: thakurjifj@gmail.com
[About the author: Thakur Ranjit Singh is a journalist and media commentator and runs his blog site, FIJI PUNDIT, that tells what others fail to tell. He is a former publisher of Fiji's Daily Post newspaper, and is based in Auckland, New Zealand. This article was originally written and published in the Daily Post in May, 2001 under the column Liu Muri by Aage Picche. This is intended as a historical reminder of our dark past.]
