A native
Fijian businessman who attempted to stage a coup in
Fiji in May 2000 by holding the parliament, including Fijian
Prime Minister Mahendra Chowdhury to ransom until the
president gave up and declared the elected parliament led by Chowdhury ended. The main issue was over racism, since
Fiji has a large ethnic
Indian minority. It was felt by
native Fijians that the new Fijian constitution was biased against them. The siege was finally ended when the Fijian
military became involved, and all prisoners were released and with the military appointing an interim
Cabinet which did not include George Speight. He was later put on to a prison island is currently awaiting trial for a variety of minor
crimes, related to firearms offences if I remeber correctly. He did get an
amnesty on
treason charges as part of the
negotiations to release the
hostages.
To misquote Terry Pratchett, he will probably end up being a comma in the pages of history.