Where were you during the horrific events of 2000 and in 2006 when a number of racist policies were being pushed through?
Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has raised the question to NFP parliamentarian Parmod Chand after Chand blamed Bainimarama for the 2000 coup.
Chand had said in parliament that it was Bainimarama’s fault.
[Transcription] - "May I remind this house that in 2000, the honorable Prime Minister was the leader of the Fiji military forces. He could not control his guns. He is to be blamed for the 2000 coup, not the people."
Speaking to Fijivillage from Montreal late last night, Bainimarama said that Parmod Chand did nothing when Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu and others took over the military barracks in 2000 and also victimised a number of Indo Fijian families.
Ratu Naiqama was handed a 8 month prison sentence for illegal assembly relating to the takeover of the military barracks in Labasa in 2000.
He was released after only 11 days of his 8‑month sentence as there was an approval that he could serve his sentence outside.
The Prime Minister who was out of the country when George Speight and others took over parliament on May 19th, 2000, said nothing was done by the NFP parliamentarian again when the racist policies were being brought up in 2006.
[Transcription] - "I hear from recording on Fijivillage about Parmod Chand blaming me for the event of 2000. The little coward. Where was he during the event of 2000? Probably hiding under his bus in Labasa. We never heard a squeak from him when the parliament group under Ratu Naiqama took over the camp and ransacked Labasa town. Now he has the guts and the courage and is yelling from the rooftops. In 2000-2006, never a squeak from him when the SDL Government came up with those racist policies. No words of encouragement for the Indo-Fijians. Now all of a sudden he's screaming from the top of his bus."
Bainimarama said that it was him as Army Commander and then as Prime Minister with the military and now with the constitution, that brought back stability to Fiji.
He said that Chand had no part to play in this.
[Transcription] - "But seriously who gave him the courage to do all this screaming? Its very simple. It's the security environment I and the military and the constitution he's now attacking, we gave him that courage, what little he lacks, and of course the confidence to now talk and harp. And he is not to forget that. Never! He's now acting like the big brave boy to the Indo-Fijian community because he wants their vote. The Indo-Fijians should not believe him. He didn't protect the Indo-Fijians in the event of 2000. I did with the military. He wasn't around to protect the Indo-Fijians when those racist decrees were going to be implemented by the Qarase Government. I and the military did. So really, he should shut up!"
