The Socialist International's Asia Pacific Committee met Aug. 7-8 in Wellington, New Zealand, at the invitation of Helen Clark, the Labor prime minister. The urgent issue on the agenda was Fiji. Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, the Fiji Labor Party leader who had been overthrown, explained the background.
After a sweeping electoral victory in the May 1999 general election, when the Labor-led coalition won over two-thirds of the seats, there was a systematic attempt to destabilize the new government that was led by elements from the former governing party and extreme nationalist gangs under the pretext of protecting indigenous interests.
The operation was financed by private enterprise frightened by the government's radical program of social reform and poverty alleviation, and its close association with the trade union movement. It was led by corporate groups bidding for the right to exploit mahogany and native hardwood forestry. The police and military failed to protect and defend the government; alongside George Speight and his gang when the People's Coalition Government was taken hostage were members of the armed forces' counterrevolutionary-warfare unit. It was nothing less than a coup d'etat by the military-industrial complex.