TAUKEI-VULAGI PHILOSOPHY AND THE COUP OF 19 MAY 2000

Authors

Tui Rakuita, University of the South PacificFollow

Abstract

This essay analyzes how the 19 May 2000 civilian coup in Fiji drew upon an indigenous philosophy of taukei-vulagi (native-foreigner) relations to mobilize support for the antigovernment rebels. Fears of political disempowerment—grounded in the political realities of the Chaudhry government as well as in political propaganda—led many "ordinary" Fijians to support the motives, if not the methods, of the coup. The coup itself, I conclude, can best be understood as a manifestation of the friction between two categories of Fijians—old guards associated with the colonial era and the educated marginalized elite—with Indo-Fijians (contrary to their wishes) dragged in to establish a buffer between the two. This scenario begs the question of why Indo-Fijians were the easy scapegoats in a conflict that was exclusively intraethnic in nature. The essay addresses this question through an examination of the dynamics of identity formation in the context of Fiji's political economy.

Recommended Citation

Rakuita, Tui (2002) "TAUKEI-VULAGI PHILOSOPHY AND THE COUP OF 19 MAY 2000," Pacific Studies Journal: Vol. 25: No. 3, Article 6.
Available at: https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol25/iss3/6