(o) "The Main Reason" for the Coup?

It would seem from a document posted on Sai Lealea's blog that Bainimarama was planning to remove the Qarase government as early as 2003. A statement written and signed on 11 March 2004 by Col. Alfred Tuatoko (and witnessed by Lt Col. S V Raduva and Cdre (N) T T Koroi) stated that Bainimarama had ordered them to make preparations to remove the government "except for the MFA&ET and the GCC..... if his term of Comd RFMF was not renewed ... He also said he must remain as Comd because there was no one who could be Comd and pursue the May 2000 prosecutions as he is doing." Bainimarama told the officers to "put the plan together quickly or else you would be surprised I am going down (dou cakava vakatotolo na plan de dou qai kidacala au sa liu sobu)."

Officers who did not agree with him were told to "stick to their principles, take all outstanding leave and [then] do the honourable thing and resign." No one would be forced to resign. Col. Tuatoko says he and other officers told Bainimarama that his proposed action was illegal and amounted to treason. "I advised him there were legal ways to settle his disagreement with Government". Bainimarama responded that his action "may be legally wrong but was morally correct" because of the May 2000 prosecutions.

In an email to me, Sai concludes that the "main reasons for overthrowing the Government in 2006 was to protect himself ... Getting rid of corruption was a red herring" This would certainly seem to be one reason, though even then it was linked to Bainimarama's concern the 2000 Coup-plotters and Mutineers were appropriately punished.

However, the miltary takeover did not take place for another two years by which time far more more water had passed under the bridge, providing Bainimarama will further reasons. The Fiji Times had accused the Qarase government of racism and corruption. Bainimarama and several NGOs were vehemently opposed to the proposed Reconciliaton and Tolerance Bill (that would have seen the plotters avoid punishment). Bainimarama opposing the Qoliqoli and Land Tribunal Bills that would have granted ethnic Fijians access to more resources at the expense of other races.

Also, during this time Qarase had Australian police chief Andrew Hughes investigate Bainimarama's supposed complicity in military deaths during the November 2000 Mutiny (he was cleared of the accusation in 2004); he unsuccessfully approached another officer to take over command of the RFMF when Bainimarama was overseas, and he asked the President to cancel Bainimarama's appointment.

Jonathon Fraenkel makes a not dissimilar statement (Fraenkel, Firth, Lal 2009) about Bainimarama's motives when he says Bainimarama did not mention the need for non-racially based elections until mid-2007, as evidence that elections were never part of Bainimarama's agenda.

The evidence, to me, looks to point not to a single cause, or any inherent contradiction, but to an evolving -- but related -- list of complaints against the Qarase government, to be "corrected" in the post-coup period, by Bainimarama and his advisers. But, of course, all of our views are interpretations.