Boys, we shall be killed today, let us go now

Swimming with Sharks Chapter 11.1

Bainimarama and his wife flew into Auckland on a private visit. Tipped off that he was coming Selkirk and I went to the airport. As arrogant as if he was in his own country, he was not thrilled to see us. I asked him if he was going to stage a coup. 

Yes, he replied, as if it the most natural thing in coup plotting was to announce it all two weeks ahead of time. 

Bainimarama was itching to take power. His problem was that unlike Rabuka, he had few natural allies, within the RFMF or the tribal scene. To achieve his goals, he had to align himself with a group of Fiji Indians, which made it an unusual coup. 

Voreqe Bainimarama

Bainimarama is a Bauan; part of the band of Melanesian rulers from the island of Bau who have colonised Fiji. They conquered Fiji in the 19th century, particularly in language. What is ‘Fijian’ is Bauan, the language of oppressors. The Cakobau line has led Bau. Its debatable how much cannibalism was practised overall in Fiji, but in the 19th century the Bauans made a culinary art form of it. 

Bau conquered Fiji by force and in the process acquired a significant Polynesian enemy; the people of the Lau Islands.