In July this year, a new complaint lodged with police in Suva by two siblings from a prominent ethnic Fijian political family accused Aiyaz of planting two bombs, targeting them and their mother in October 1987. The minister, it was alleged, was a member of the Indo-Fijian pro-democracy group known as the Fiji Freedom Fighters, which formed in response to the 1987 coup.

At the time, the military government had cracked down on the Indo-Fijian population by enforcing a racially-based constitution that discriminated against them, resulting in as many as 70,000 – or almost 20 per cent of the Indo-Fijian population – fleeing abroad.

The coup also led to racially-motivated intercommunal violence.

The Ralogaivau siblings said Aiyaz was targeting their father, Ratu Filimone Ralogaivau, then a parliamentarian, for joining the post-coup government and taking up the position of education minister.

In statements to the police, the siblings allege that the first attack came on October 17, while Ratu Benedito – then 13 years old – and his mother, were waiting for a bus in Suva City.

“Using his right hand to throw something back at the box … he then turned and ran. I saw the item thrown land on the box and a deafening roar of an explosion … grey smoke filled the streets,” he told police. “The footpath was soaked with blood. There were severe burns and blood pouring out of her wound.”

Beijing calls Taipei’s denouncement of Fiji incident ‘a thief crying stop thief’

According to Veronica Malalani, Benedito’s sister, the day after the attack at the bus station, as she stood on the driveway of her family home, “a car drove past and someone threw a package down the driveway which exploded instantly”, injuring her, her mother and their housemaid.

“We were seriously injured and taken to hospital. My right arm, right finger, right thigh and the right side of my body were badly injured and burned,” she said. “I identified [the attacker] as Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, who is now the attorney general. I feel that the intention was to kill me.”

Aiyaz has not commented on the allegations, saying only that “we will let the due process take its course”. He is now the general secretary of the ruling FijiFirst party and the Fijian governor of the Asian Development Bank.

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According to local media reports, two people were initially charged with the bombings against the Ralogaivau family, but both men were later given immunity.

In Fijian media and on social media, many have cast doubt on the legitimacy of Veronica Malani’s claims, noting that she was recently charged by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption for obtaining financial advantage while employed at the Land Transport Authority.

But former prime minister and current leader of the Fijian Labour Party, Mahendra Chaudhry, said the attorney general should step aside while investigations were ongoing.

Acting police commissioner Rusiate Tudravu has called for the public’s patience, saying it will take time to investigate any crime committed three decades ago.

Chaudhry said police have had more than enough time to reach a conclusion on the case.

“I see this as a case where the police are pretty slack and it’s obvious, they are just buying time to sweep the matter under the carpet in due course,” he said.

Chaudhry himself has faced the forces of ethnic nationalism. In 2000, while serving as the nation’s first prime minister of Indian descent, he and other parliamentarians were taken hostage for 56 days and were forced to resign. He was also a member of the coalition government overthrown in 1987.

Kelvin Anthony, a freelance journalist based in Suva who writes primarily for The Guardian, said the investigation could be fuelling tensions between communities.

“With this bombing allegation, if you follow the conversations people are having now, there’s a lot of racial ill will,” he said.

Anthony said with high rates of unemployment, an increase in social issues, a high cost of living and police brutality, the bombing investigation could be a tipping point for many people.

“There are so many other issues at the moment that this could trigger something serious,” he said. “We are treading a very fine line.”

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Beijing calls Taipei’s denouncement of Fiji incident ‘a thief crying stop thief’

Beijing calls Taipei’s denouncement of Fiji incident ‘a thief crying stop thief’

“The easiest way to rule is to divide any opposition, and the easiest way to divide in Fiji is by bringing up ethnic issues,” said Naidu, adding that while the government promotes equality, it has often solidified disputes between communities through policy.

“The military is almost entirely indigenous,” he said. “Even the attorney general himself is quite divisive and promotes and appoints divisive figures to government. He shows contempt towards indigenous chiefs and indigenous political structures, this impacts indigenous Fijians on a very personal level.”

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“The rule of law is compromised, the legal system is compromised. How can we say there’s going to be justice?” he said. “Fiji’s democracy may be a lost cause.”

Anthony holds more hope, acknowledging that while the “skeletons of 1987 have not yet been buried”, a new generation is coming.

“The fact is, it’s the same players who were there back in 1987 that are still in parliament today. The same people, playing the same game. The politics of old won’t help us now,” he said.

“More than 70 per cent of our population is under the age of 40,” he said. “To move forward, we need a new generation of bipartisan leaders who will be more creative, more innovative, and who can look beyond the issues of the past.”