Both Qarase and Ganilau held visions of Fiji that were incompatible. Ganilau had ideas of a united multiracial Fiji that was modelled on Ratu Mara's Alliance government that governed Fiji 1970-1987. In that set up the chiefs played an important mediating role among the various races in Fiji. Ganilau yearned for a return to those heady days when leadership was respected, political power was in the hands of respected Fijian high chiefs and race relations were stable. But in 1987 Mara and his chiefs lost power and indigenous Fijian paramountcy was restored through the Rabuka coup. After the coup of 1987, race and racial issues dominated the political discourse. Indigenous Fijian ethno-nationalism ran rampant. It divided Fiji society along racial lines. Ethnic minorities were marginalised. The Indo-Fijian community in particular was targeted. Many of them were thrown off the land they leased. Displaced Indo-Fijians congregated in refugee camps in some of the major towns. For the first time refugee camps were established in Fiji; indeed the whole South Pacific region. Thousands migrated overseas depriving Fiji of valuable human capital. This was the spectre that haunted Ganilau and other moderates like him who represented the silent majority in Fiji. They saw first hand the cost of racial politics and undertook to guard against its re-emergence. These issues provided the context for Ganilau's multiracial vision. It was a vision that competed against the primordialism pursued by Qarase and the ethno-nationalists behind him.