George Speight hails from Naivicula, about ten kilometers from Korovou in Tailevu Province. He is the son of Sam Speight (sometimes known as Savenaca Tokainavo), a prosperous farmer of ethnic Fijian and European descent. The elder Speight is a war veteran who served in the successful Malayan campaign. He subsequently served as a backbencher in Rabuka's governments throughout the 1990s. By the time his son attempted his coup in 2000, however, Sam Speight was an opposition member of Parliament, his Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei having lost power to the Indo-Fijian-led Labour Party of Mahendra Chaudhry in the elections of 1999.