Constitution Making in Fiji

10 Between Coups Constitution Making in Fiji Jill Cottrell and Yash Ghai n 1874, the principal chiefs of Fiji signed tution coup in 2006; and its abrogation after a deed of cession of their islands to the a similar court ruling in 2009.4 British crown in the hope of securing, as Had this paper been written in April 1999 Ithey put it, “civilization and Christianity.” In or even 2000, we would undoubtedly have 1970, the country became independent un- said that the constitution-making process der a newly prepared constitution. In 1997, was a great success, and that the 1997 con- Fiji adopted a new constitution by a process stitution, though not flawless, was a consid- that is the focus of this paper. In 1999, the erable achievement. Inevitably, we are com- © Copyrightconstitution came into force by and there the was Endowmentpelled to address the question of whether of the a general election in which the two parties events of 1999, 2000, and after indicate that thethat hadUnited been the protagonists States of constitu- Institutethe constitution or theof process Peace that made it tional change were decisively rejected. A year was gravely flawed, even a failure. To under- later, there was a curious civil coup, during stand the process, however, it is necessary to which the government was held captive in have some understanding of the social and the parliament building by a group of indig- economic structures of Fiji society and of enous Fijians led by a failed and dishonest the constitution-making enterprises that had businessman;1 this movement was super- preceded that of the early to mid-1990s. seded by a military takeover, which resulted Since Fiji’s inception as a political entity, first in its suspension and then in its abroga- its politics and political and administrative tion, with the military ruling by decree.2 The structures have been obsessed with race and seesaw history of the constitution continued ethnicity, thanks to colonial policies. Every with its restoration following a court ruling;3 other issue—human rights, trade unionism, its suspension following, oddly, a proconsti- land, economy, education, even religion— 275 276 Jill Cottrell and Yash Ghai has been subordinated to it. Constitutional Table 10.1 Population by Ethnicity debates have been fundamentally about eth- Year Fijians1 Indians Others Total nic allocations of power; they have not been 1966 202,176 240,960 33,591 476,727 about national unity or identity, social justice, 1976 259,932 292,896 35,240 588,068 the appropriate scope of the public sphere, 1986 329,305 348,708 37,366 715,375 Fiji’s place in the world, or the myriad other 1996 394,999 336,579 41,077 772,655 issues that define people’s daily experience. 1. Until 1997, Fiji was the official name of the country, but Fijians were the original inhabitants, whose dominant As happens with such an obsession with language is Fijian. In this paper, the word Fijian is used to race, there is a great distortion of reality. The refer to an indigenous Fijian, or the language; the Indian complexity of Fijian society, with its ethnic population is referred to as variously Indian or Indo-Fijian; divisions and class structures, is obscured Fiji is used adjectively, as in the Fiji constitution. so that a regional chiefly class assumes the leadership of the entire community. Such obfuscation, prevalent in other communi- instituted a system of indirect rule—appli- ties as well, is the handmaiden of injustice. cable to indigenous Fijians—involving the The 1997 constitution tried to move to a new entrenchment and sometimes distortion of paradigm, motivated by newer thinking on Fiji’s chief system and a reinforcement verg- ethnic differences and celebrating diversity ing on creation of a system of communal as a source of enrichment and social justice land holding. through national unity and integration. Its By the time Fiji became independent in own checkered career shows the difficulties 1970, indenture was a thing of the past, but of its project. But there is little doubt that in large numbers of Indo-Fijians were leasing the course of time, its vision will win greater land from Fijians for cane farming, while acceptance, even if posthumously. A constitu- others were running businesses and enter- tion charting a new path does not necessarily ing the professions. Most indigenous Fijians achieve its objectives immediately, especially were still engaged in subsistence farming, on if it operates in a context in which power is land that was, even then, largely communally fluid and dispersed, with the constitution reg- owned. Table 10.1 shows the breakdown of istering no particular class or ethnic victory. population over the years. ©What Copyright then matters is the persuasive by power the WhileEndowment other countries have ethnic comof- of its vision and goals. The Reeves Report positions not dissimilar to that in Fiji, some, on the constitution, a watershed in Fiji, pro- such as Trinidad and Guyana, differ in that videdthe that Unitedvision, however incompletely States and the Institute two major communities—ignoring of Peace the contradictorily the 1997 constitution con- small indigenous Indian population in the veyed it into law and practice. latter, which is constantly its fate—are non- indigenous. With a majority of Malays but Background large ethnic minorities, Malaysia is most similar to Fiji. But in Fiji, by the mid-twentieth Society and Economy century, the largest community was nonin- In the decade following Fiji’s cession to the digenous Indian, though it lacked an overall British crown in 1874, the foundations of a majority. The other large community was in- sugar industry were laid, and in 1879, the first digenous Fijian. This meant that the debate of 60,000 Indian indentured laborers arrived could be conducted in terms of those who to work on the sugar plantations to help re- belonged versus those who did not, and the spond to Colonial Office insistence that Fiji Fijians—or at least politicians and other ad- pay its own way.5 The colonial government vocates on their behalf—could couch their Framing the State in Times of Transition 277 arguments in terms of the rights of indig- ary, communal basis, and not by individuals. enous people, even though their situation It is linked to lineage, or mataqali. Revenues was very different from that of peoples like from the land are allocated on a hierarchi- the Maori, Australian Aborigines, Canadian cal basis: The chief of the mataqali receives First Nations, or the Sami, who had been the largest share and receipts diminish down swamped, marginalized, and driven from through the structure. Most members of their lands by incomers. Despite the incom- the community thus receive only very small ers’ numerical dominance, indigenous Fijians benefits from the land, and the land-holding were not driven off their land or marginalized, system reinforces the chiefs’ dominance. For but they did have a minority complex that some commentators, the resentment that is continues today, even though they are now felt toward the cane farmers would be more a majority. For their part, Indians also have a appropriately directed at the clan and land minority mindset that comes from their ex- nexus. clusion from control of land, the sense that As with immigrant communities in many they have not been accepted as part of the contexts, there is a perception—and not en- nation, and their vulnerability to racist abuse tirely only a perception—that the Indians and physical attacks. are better off than the indigenous people. The two communities have remained very Until recently, few Fijians went into busi- separate in many ways. Though not unknown, ness. Meanwhile, some Indian businessmen intermarriage is uncommon. The groups’ life- are very wealthy, and even small shopkeep- styles are different. In rural areas, most Indi- ers can seem wealthy to the poor Fijians ans live in individual farmhouses, whereas Fi- who come to towns to try their luck, perhaps jians live in villages. Most Indians are Hindu because they are landless. Far higher propor- (a small proportion are Muslim and an even tions of Indians than Fijians tend to be in smaller proportion Christian), whereas Fi- business. But studies on poverty in Fiji have jians are overwhelmingly Christian. To a also shown that the very poorest are actually considerable extent, the two communities Indian.6 This, however, is lost on those who are educated in different schools and do not are convinced that the benefits of the ethnic learn each other’s languages in any systematic structure all favor the Indo-Fijian commu- © Copyrightfashion. by the Endowmentnity. Living standards in Fiji are by ofno means The ethnic situation in Fiji has been made as grindingly poor as in some developing more acute because almost every aspect of countries, but a study in 1997 estimated that thelife is Unitedaffected by it or reflects States it: religion, lan- Instituteoverall, the share ofof poor Peacehouseholds was guage, and lifestyle. Particularly problematic around 25 percent.7 is land. As mentioned above, large numbers There is no denying that the two commu- of Indians have been small-scale farmers, nities could have done more to diminish the mainly of cane, who lease their farms for tensions between them. Nor was colonial pol- thirty years at a time from Fijians. There is a icy directed towards any such result. “Divide small amount of freehold land (about 8 per- and rule” applied in Fiji as elsewhere. There cent of the total) held mostly by Europeans was no encouragement in colonial times for and part-Europeans and some government Indians and Fijians to integrate or learn each land.

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