A topic openly discussed on FijiTVs Close Up program the night it was trashed by Speight s supporters. But while the real agendas are fought out in shadowland, Speight continues to play his race card for short-term gain and to mislead the public. But against this background of intrigue among the elite warring factions, ordinary hard working people are beginning to fear and suspect their neighbours. Suva is not Fiji Only 20 kilometres from Suva two small villages lie on opposite sides of the rain-swollen banks of the Rewa River. Fields are rich with leafy taro plants.
Thick jungle stretches over green covered hills.
Cows munch at the side of the muddy track and young men dive beneath the brown water for a feed of shellfish. It s takes an hour s drive down bumpy, unsealed roads covered in mud-filled potholes to get there. But in virtual reality it s a million miles from Suva where sharply dressed Indian and Fijian elites sip cappuccinos and debate George Speight s latest power play. But in this small isolated pocket of Fiji the crude reality of Speight s racial hatred has found its target with deadly results. Villagers on both sides of the river worked together and helped each other out.