On the 14th May 1987 the Military Coup Led by Colonel Rabuka highlighted the boiling magma of political unrest. Rabuka believed he was protecting his indigenous Fijian people's land, their human rights, and authority to run their own country 13. The issue of land ownership to Fijians is clearly outlined in Rabuka's statement "To the indigenous Fijian, land is almost sacred for it helps define their identity and links their kinship to their village and Community" 14. In October of 1987 the resignation of the Governor General was accepted by the Queen and Fiji withdrew from the Commonwealth. The " Sovereign Democratic Republic of Fiji was formed.
A major change to the 1970 constitution occurred in 1990 without it first being made available for public scrutiny 15. The structure and election procedures brought separate voting, the majority of seats were for indigenous Fijian and the prime minister could only be indigenous Fijian, with the intention of ensuring Fijian dominance 16. This equates to a form of apartheid as seen in South Africa. This constitution also favoured the eastern provinces with their traditional chiefly communal support and interestingly enough Lawson also points out the inter- Fijian discrimination based on prerequisites to voting which were patrilineal and registration followed very strict guidelines on what constitutes "Fijian".
The 1997 constitution saw inclusion and power sharing which was supported by all parties 17. Although the 1997 constitution addressed issues of national integration, it failed to fully address the "Fijian nationalistic interests 18. This includes ethnic symbolism and governance. There was fear among the nationalists about the Indian dominance in government which would deprive them of their interests" 19.
Some say that the 2000 Coup was a reaction to fear of loss20. In that the democratically elected Prime Minister a powerful Indian Unionist Mahendra Chandry would pass new laws regarding the expiry of land leases.
