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Review Articles Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna The Journal of Pacific Studies, volume 8, 1982: 83-94 REVIEW ARTICLES RATU SIR LALA SUKUNA : BETWEEN TWO WORLDS R. T. Robertson R,3tu S ukuna: Soldier, Statesman, Man of Two Worlds By: Deryck Scarr Ma cmillan Education Ltd (for the Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna Biography Committee), London, 1980, pp. 220 ~atu Sir Lala Sukuna has been hailed as Fiji's greatest twentieth century leader. Yet in this, the latest of Dr Scarr's forays into Pacific his­ tory , the character and role of Ratu Sukuna does not emerge clearly. In the foreword Ratu Sir Kamisese / I Mara defines Ratu Sukuna as the "translator and in­ j tercessor" of two cultures. Scarr pursues this description throughout his book. To him Ratu Sukuna is a man caught between the demands of two entirely different social systems, as the suo-title of this biography states a Man of Two Wor} d s. Yet ~ :;_':'l :~ u Sukuna saw himself differently. He saw his task was to bridge the gap between the old tribal world which colonial capitalism challenged and the emerg­ ing world of the near future when Fijians would stand on their own feet. The last two decades of his life were spent on trying to influence the character of that newly emerging world. Born into the paramount House of Bau in 1888, Ratu Josefa Lalabalavu Vanaaliali Sukuna was reared as a Fijian spokesman who could operate in Western terms with effect. In 1903 he was sent to the Wanganui Collegiate for secondary education, and on 83 his return was appointed a clerk-translator in the Colonial Secretariat (1907) and later became a school teacher and master between 1909 and 1911. Two years later he sailed for England to read law at Oxford University but interrupted his studies in 1915 to join the French Foreign Legion on the Western war front. Unlike many of his companions he survived, and one year later was back in Suva curiously annoyed at being so far from the war. But his war service, together with his chiefly status and advanced edu­ cation assured bim of a more productive future as a high-ranking civil servant in the Colonial machinery. He became a member of the Native Regulations Board in 1926, of the Legislative Council in 1932, Native Land Reserves Commissioner in 1940, first Secretary for Fijian Affairs in 1944, and finally, the first full-time Speaker of the Legislative Council in 1956, only two years before his death. All of Ratu Sukuna's life was spent under a co­ lonial regime. Ultimately this circumstance most influenced his role as an administrator. Scarr ac­ knowledged that "what struck him was the way his people were being reappraised in a manner that seemed to him more progressive in an inappropriate British sense than explicable to Fijians or prudent" (p. 20). It was necessary, therefore, to mediate between Colonial desires and perceived Fijian needs. It was this task which occupied much of Ratu Sukuna's ener­ gies and ultimately shaped his political stance. At first his efforts were concentrated on coun­ tering the belief in some elements of the Colonial Government that Fijians had no future. Increasingly he saw the need to act more positively. In November 1945 he told the Council of Chiefs that "the old regime is finished - today there are many new in­ tricate problems to consider and guard against". One of these was the role of the chiefs themselves. Although Ratti Sukuna spoke strongly against using the Fijian administration as a pretext for upholding the status quo and perpetuating outdated customs, at no time did he propose to halt the growing feudal 84 characteristics of tribal Fijian society. This con­ tradiction is extremely important and it is unfortu­ nate that Scarr fails to present more than a cur­ sory analysis of the conflicting forces which con­ fronted Ratu Sukuna and his schemes . Early twentieth century Fijian society was static,.Scarr notes. "In social affairs and opin­ ions the people were still led by their chiefs, men who were largely unimaginative and overwhelmingly concerned that change should not destroy their privileged positions" (p. 46). When Scarr talks of British policy being "destructive" and "retrogres­ sive" it is mostly because British policy failed to c r eate a n effective s u bstitute lito fill the mental aspect of the autocracy, the class that alone in exer (' ~·_.:;" . c' the cen t u ries had been in the habit of .::. t h e mi nd" (p. L+9). It is not unnatural then that Scare should crit­ ici z e Eu r opeans for seeing the dominant problem fac­ i ng Fijian society in terms of Turaga versus Leweni­ vanua, the chiefs against the people . Yet because o f his own declared stance, he falls into the same narrow perception himself. Hence development is seen only in terms of two opposing tendencies - ~o mmuni a lism and individualism. It is unfor tunate that Scarr a llows himself to become too jdentified wi th his sub ject. Ratu Sukuna, a product of chiefly society, c an at least be excused for the beliefs he he l d . It i s l e ss easy to explain the motives of his ~iogya phe y . In November 1922 Ratu Sukuna told the Council of r,h i e fs at Bau that Fijians viewed capitalist economic d e vel opment with apprehension because owe have not y et acquired the mental equipment necessary to a l ife o f individualism. our life still depe nds e n t i rely on custom" (p. 72). Faced with the inevitab ility o f change, Ratu Sukuna tried desper­ 1 ately "to crea t e the Fiji of his shildhood '. In eff e ct t hi s meant e nsur ing the continued paramountcy of chi e f ly interes t s . "Where you have tribalism", he once stated, "there i s no public opinion" (p. 114). The whole idea o f democL3cy was anathema to 8 5 Ratu Sukuna, simply oecause he believed only the chiefs were capable of wielding authority. Because he regarded the Lewenivanua as ignorant, democracy would only mean rule by "ignorance and prejudice!! (p. 112). Hence he cond~mned the commoner Apolosi Nawai because his Viti Company challenged chiefly authority. Ratu Sukuna makes the justification: Accustomed to an autocratic power that would have instantly punished with death any such utterance, the native cannot conceive any such statement be­ ing made except by a superior about an inferior (p. 50). What Scarr fails to connect is the traditional Fijian rivalry between Bau and the West which obvi­ ously shaped Ratu Sukuna's attitudes. Scarr notes that the only time when Ratu Sukuna was critical of chiefly rule was in conneccion with the West. "Their main characteristic of importance," Ratu Sukuna wrote (no date) of the Western people, " ... is their dis­ regard of all authority outside their own tribal chiefs, who are regarded as the repositories of ini­ tiative and judgement, and the first court of appeal in all matters" (p. 136). What might be acceptable in the East was clearly unaccepfable in the West particularly if it conflicted with Eastern paramount­ cy. Scarr choses not to comment, but later says in another context: He was very much the great Eastern Chief . insisting on the use of Bauan rather than the local dialects when he sat formal­ ly, and made all the more powerful by his government offices. As Talai he was just below God and the King, with only the Governor intervening (p. 137). The interests of the chiefly class were fore­ most in Ratu Sukuna's mind largely because he could not conceive of the Turaga and Lewenivanua as separate. Nevertheless, he recognized that this might not always be so. Against such a development, 86 he urged higher education to be restricted to a select few. An intelligentsia would be potentially subversive , "undermining and confusing authority for t h eir own needs" (p. 146). But the growth of a conflicting intelligentsia was not his only concern. Police reports in the early 1950s (no dates or sources given) suggested that "people had suffered enough from the chiefs who, brought up in a high, dignified manner, did not understand the poor man's difficulties". Earlier the young Ratu Mara had written to Ratu Sukuna from Oxford (again no foot­ notes) that if the Chiefs went: . the full hog in the process of Europeanization we would be drawing a "social curtain" between the Tura­ gas and the Lewenivanuas, that is the anathema which vilifies all societies but the Fijian (p. 173). Ratu Sukuna was fully conscious of this danger. Previously in 1945 he wrote: We need clearly to understand, and be always conscious of, the fact that we can only be sure of our people conti­ nuing to follow us provided they ap­ preciate that our authority is better than anyone else's. If we con- fine ourselves to pleasure seeking only, no useful purpose will be served in our maintaining our claim to chiefly status (p. 147). Ratu Sukuna's clear class perception and awareness that chiefs had to adopt a more positive (and justi­ fying) role, drove him deeply into the area of development after the mid-19 30s. Here again Scarr fails to corne to terms with Ratu Sukuna's perceptions preferring cursory comments intermingled with numer­ ous lengthy details of mekes and traditional wel~ comes to any analysis of Ratu Sukuna's strategies and development theories. In the first instance, Ratu Sukuna was obviously 87 discurbed by the expanding material gap between his people and the growing pros perity of the Chinese and Indian communities living in Fiji.
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