KEY POINTS:
An acquittal for Mr Rabuka. Congratulations for him. Smart move, too, biting his lip about current events when he walked free beneath the blooming sekoula trees outside the High Court in Suva.
It may pay, however, for the man who introduced Fiji to gunpoint politics with his coups of 1987, to check over his shoulder. There's no telling when soldiers might pay a visit, as they have to the homes of critics of military commander Frank Bainimarama, who has foisted this latest coup on Fiji.
Kenneth Zinck, a unionist overheard denouncing Commodore Bainimarama in a Suva bar, found himself running around the sports field at Queen Elizabeth barracks shadowed by soldiers pointing their guns at his derriere.
Bainimarama claims to be acting for all Fijians in removing a rotten government but in the way of dictators he is not keen on contrary opinion, claiming justification in the unrest it may incite.
He and Sitiveni Rabuka are different sides of a coin. Both used the Army to remove the elected government of the day but that's where their similarity ends.
Rabuka, a major-general at the time, removed Fiji's first government which had a strong Indian-influence. George Speight, a dodgy businessman with a gift for droning on, was the frontman for the May 2000 coup that took out the government of the country's only Indian prime minister.
Rabuka was acquitted of inciting a mutiny at the barracks in November that had as its goal the assassination of Bainimarama, thereby swinging the military in behind Speight's group.
While Speight and Rabuka wanted special rights for indigenous Fijians, Bainimarama's coup aimed to stop policies that subordinate the rights of Indo-Fijians. His hand-picked prime minister, Dr Jona Senilagakali, an indigenous Fijian like the commodore, said Fijians had to recognise the contribution Indo-Fijians had made to the country's development.
While Bainimarama saw the Speight group achieving their objects through the government of Laisenia Qarase aided and abetted by the inability of police to get those responsible before the courts along with soft justice for those convicted many are convinced real stability is impossible unless a deal is struck regarding indigenous land and fishing rights.
No doubt it was galling for Bainimarama to watch as two Speight coup associates received cabinet posts in Qarase's government after serving 11 days of their eight-month prison sentences.
One was a name I kept encountering in July 2000 when I went to Labasa, on Vanua Levu, Fiji's second major island, to confirm a report that rebel soldiers had taken over the Army barracks and attacked the police station. He was number nine on a list of 22 people Speight's group named as making up their preferred government.
Bainimarama will have to learn what New Zealand knows, that indigenous rights issues don't go away. A process will have to be found that doesn't involve guns.
Leaving aside the argument of who the land and foreshore belongs to tangata whenua or God (as Bainimarama's prime minister said) assigning indigenous rights is seen by some as a way of including traditional tribal villages in the cash economy. Not a bad thing, considering they make up much of the estimated 50 per cent living below the poverty line.
But it would need to be done in a way that allays the sorts of fears expressed by many low-income Indians, that they will be hit for cash by Fijian after Fijian each time they go to a beach. They, too, must have a stake in a land that has been their home for generations.
Who knows how such things affect the psyche but it is a fact that more than three times the number of Indo-Fijians (59) committed suicide last year than indigenous Fijians.
Viewed from Suva, New Zealand's sanctions seem simplistic and patronising. Maori comprise just 14 per cent of our population. How would our politics would look if our ethnic mix was similar to Fiji's (55 per cent indigenous Fijian, 38 per cent Indo-Fijian)?
People have asked how dangerous I found it there. "Not very," has been my answer. Yes, there is tension. The possibility of a mutiny or an assassination attempt on Bainimarama can't be ruled out, and how he might respond to public demonstrations can't be predicted.
Yes, there are armed soldiers manning checkpoints in and around Suva, but it's also true that they give you a friendly wave. The scuffles I witnessed involved the international media.
The coup hasn't changed the fact that the people of Fiji like New Zealanders and appreciate that so many of us choose to holiday there.
Despite the Government warning of a high risk to personal security in Suva and elsewhere in Fiji, I'd holiday there without a qualm. Most resorts are far from Suva. Apart from the empty rooms in their resorts, their experience of the coup, like yours, comes via the media.
But first hit are casual workers dependent on tourism. Good luck isn't smiling on Amitesh, 19, a student chef who hopes one day to work overseas. His shifts have been cut in half and he's worried how he'll pay his rent.
Best wishes are needed for Theresa, an assistant cook at a hotel. Her work is being cut at the rate the rooms are emptying. Four adults and two infants rely on the income she and her brother bring home. He was working seven days at a flour mill as it tried to keep pace with panic buying sparked by the coup. But they know from experience that will be followed by a deep depression.
Phil Taylor reported from Suva on this coup and the coup of 2000.
