FIJI’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka reflected on the 1987 coup when he appeared before the nation’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, highlighting the challenges of reconciliation, economic justice, and accountability.
On restorative economic justice, Rabuka acknowledged the difficulty of compensating all affected Fijians.
“I do not have enough to give to everybody who wants to claim. So, it will have to be worked out by the state… and spent on how much the state can afford to give out its reparation,” he said.
Addressing the use of religion during the coup, he said: “The weaponisation of faith was not really my own idea. For them, the move was just part of getting what they wanted.”
On the legal framework, he explained, “My legal advice at the time was, there cannot be a midway. You have to go all the way. And the only way to go is to sever any type of legal system and get out of the market.”
Rabuka spoke of accountability in personal and collective terms. “Personal accountability… has left a permanent scar on my soul,” he said. Regarding collective responsibility, he noted the silence and complicity of institutions, including some leaders of the Methodist Church, who “were supportive of what I have done… but many ministers voiced their opposition.”
Reflecting on what he might have done differently, Rabuka said, “I would have sought to be a bridge-builder, I would have used my influence as a military leader not to plan a coup but to demand a national constitutional convention… I would have trusted in the wisdom of dialogue over the force efficiency of force. But it is really wishful thinking. We cannot go back and re-run that course.”
On reconciliation, he described it as “a daily conscious choice. I have made to forgive those who have wronged me,” highlighting the ongoing journey of healing for himself and the nation.’’