DOCSLIB.ORG

State Society and Governance in Melanesia

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
State Society and Governance in Melanesia Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies State, Society and Governance in Melanesia State Society and in Governance Melanesia DISCUSSION PAPER Discussion Paper 2009/6 THE HistoricaL TRAJectorY OF FIJIAN POWER Fiji’s army-backed interim regime is an INTRODUCTION ROBERT organisation of indigenous Fijian power Norton that paradoxically has been forged against supposed threats to the military A dialectical process has driven and the multi-ethnic nation from Fijian transformations in indigenous Fijian political ethnic extremism. It starkly highlights the leadership from late colonial times to the importance of distinguishing between present - a process centring on the assertion potentially accommodative institutional and containment of Fijian nationalism, and expressions of Fijian power and excluding the significance of institutional forms of Fijian nationalism. This difference is a feature Fijian power for this containment. Several of Fiji’s political development that can be paramount Fijian chiefs constrained and traced back over many decades to the times exploited this potential in building their of Apolosi Nawai and Ratu Lala Sukuna. This collective political leadership in the lead-up paper examines episodes in the trajectory of to Fiji’s independence. It is Fijian nationalism, Fijian power from those times to the present. the militant demand of “Fiji for the Fijians”, Fiji’s problem in political development has that has, since 1987, brought the army been in large part the dilemma of how to into the political arena, just as it was institutionalise Fijian political pre-eminence primarily this nationalism that gradually in a way that neutralises the aggressive undermined the political leadership of the nationalist potential. Could a constitutional high chiefs. One body of indigenous Fijian provision for a role for the army in the political power has replaced another, both founded system achieve this objective where other in late colonial institutions that established approaches have failed without entailing a indigenous Fijian power in the state: the deepening entrenchment of vested interests chiefly bureaucratic and political elite shaped that typically accompanies prolonged military in the Fijian Administration, and the officers interventions? of the Royal Fiji Military Forces (some of them chiefs). The Historical Trajectory of Fijian Power For all Commodore Bainimarama’s flexibilities that mark Fiji’s political life despite 2 rhetoric about his vision of a “non-racial” Fiji, the starkly contrasting visions of the nation the most significant fact about his army-based that have divided the main political parties. regime is its being the strongest expression of indigenous Fijian power. Commentators There have been three paradigms for nation have remarked on the striking irony in this: making in Fiji: the marriage, initially, of the major institutional 1. The ethno-nationalist: An aggressive construction of Fijian power, with leaders assertion of the indigenous Fijian claim of the group, the Fiji Labour Party, that had of their right to political power, allowing been viewed by most Fijians as embodying little representation to non-Fijians; the long-feared threat of Indo-Fijian political 2. Accommodative entrenchment of Fijian domination. The supreme apparatus of Fijian political paramountcy, allowing substantial power proposing to fulfil a vision of Fiji that representation to others; had long been diametrically opposed to 3. The liberal-democratic: a common the dominant Fijian political leadership and franchise and full equality of the citizens; ideology. emphasis on economic and other shared interests cutting across the ethnic divide The army which had once overthrown - affirming the importance of class rather the progressive Labour Party/NFP coalition than race or ethnicity. government, and its ideology, came eventually to adopt that ideology in alliance with the Rabuka’s two coups championed the first Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry of these visions in opposition to the third and two of his lieutenants. The Labour Bainimarama’s coup-based interim regime Party men have since left the regime. But champions the third against the first, albeit their universalist ideology rejecting political within the context of supreme institutional communalism and indigenous paramountcy Fijian power. The key to this paradox is the remains the regime mantra, including threat that Fijian nationalism came to pose particularly a determination to introduce the to the integrity and political independence of common franchise, the prospect of which the military institution itself, and personally to Fijians had once been encouraged by their its commander. leaders to fear as the greatest threat to their security. The current army-backed regime highlights the importance of distinguishing between Fiji’s modern political history is replete potentially accommodative institutional with ironies, particularly since the first coups expressions of Fijian power and antagonistic - beginning with the Labour Party leaders’ excluding Fijian nationalism. This difference support for Rabuka’s successful bid for the is a feature of Fiji’s political development that office of prime minister (against a Fijian rival) in can be traced back over many decades to the first elections under the 1990 constitution the times of millenarian Fijian leader Apolosi (Rabuka had promised concessions that he Nawai and comprador colonial high chief later resisted fulfilling). The Labour Party Ratu Lala Sukuna. had been the spearhead of the coalition that Rabuka overthrew at gunpoint after its After Sukuna and fellow chiefs encouraged victory in the 1987 elections. Twelve years the colonial governor to keep the “disaffected later, the Labour Party won government native” Apolosi in exile on the island of with the support of Fijian nationalist groups Rotuma, Sukuna eventually became the that opposed Rabuka’s agreement to liberal founder of the chiefly bureaucratic-political constitutional reform which they viewed as elite whose successors were to dominate a betrayal of his coup objectives. Rabuka the national political stage from the late had hoped for a return to power in alliance 1960s until the first coup d’etat in 1987. In with Jai Ram Reddy, another of the Indian this paper I want to retrace the development leaders he had ousted in 1987, but who of this chiefly political elite, its attempt to ten years later worked closely with him for achieve a multi-ethnic vote base, its fateful constitutional reform. Ratu Mara, whose rule conflict with militant Fijian nationalism, how had been overturned by Mahendra Chaudhry the chiefs’ electoral defeat and the nationalist and colleagues in the election of 1987, response became the crucible for the army’s was now pleased, as President, to anoint political interventions, and the warriors’ Chaudhry as prime minister following his replacement of the chiefs (albeit with some 1999 electoral victory over Rabuka. Such high chiefly support) as the Fijian substance paradoxical twists testify to the intriguing of the state. The Historical Trajectory of Fijian Power Since late colonial times it has been on Apolosi remains largely confined to widely believed by indigenous Fijians that confidential files in the Fiji national archives, 3 state power should above all protect them, a book-length biography in Japanese by that the ending of colonial rule should return anthropologist Naoki Kasuga, and papers sovereignty to them, and that this right is by Ratu Sukuna, Timothy MacNaught, and enshrined in the relationship with the British Charles Weekes4. Throughout the colonial Crown established by the Deed of Cession era and even for some years after, there by which leading chiefs gave their islands was a tight restriction on research access to to Britain in 1874. It was a conviction that, the Apolosi files. This fact, and his several although partly encouraged by them, began forced exiles under a “disaffected natives” to greatly trouble senior British officials in law, are compelling evidence of the colonial Fiji in the last few years of their rule. The government’s and the leading Fijian chiefs’ Secretary for Fijian Affairs remarked in a apprehensions about him. Apolosi continued confidential despatch to London in 1962: to trouble the colonial officials and the “There is still a feeling among the Fijians leading chiefs through his emissaries, and that the Governor belongs to them, and that he inspired radical Fijian groups long after his he personally, or through his British officers, death in 19465. looks after them first and foremost, and that they are not interested in what happens to the Apolosi had tried to promote indigenous others”1. Governor Jakeway later reinforced Fijian participation in the business economy the assessment: “There is an element of by organising the Viti Kabani (Fiji Company) racial arrogance in the Fijian makeup which to supervise the harvesting and marketing of must be reckoned with. He really does copra and bananas, independently of non- regard this country as belonging to him…The Fijian traders. He sold shares to thousands Fiji Intelligence Committee has placed first of village people throughout the colony, and amongst possible internal security threats, began to challenge the colonial authorities the withdrawal of loyalty by the Fijians in and to encourage Fijians to look forward consequence of doubts as to whether the to the coming of a “new era” when they British Government is adequately looking would prosper and rule their
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Case of Fiji
    University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Volume 25 Issues 3&4 1992 Democracy and Respect for Difference: The Case of Fiji Joseph H. Carens University of Toronto Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, Cultural Heritage Law Commons, Indian and Aboriginal Law Commons, and the Rule of Law Commons Recommended Citation Joseph H. Carens, Democracy and Respect for Difference: The Case of Fiji, 25 U. MICH. J. L. REFORM 547 (1992). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr/vol25/iss3/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform at University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform by an authorized editor of University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DEMOCRACY AND RESPECT FOR DIFFERENCE: THE CASE OF FIJI Joseph H. Carens* TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................. 549 I. A Short History of Fiji ................. .... 554 A. Native Fijians and the Colonial Regime .... 554 B. Fijian Indians .................. ....... 560 C. Group Relations ................ ....... 563 D. Colonial Politics ....................... 564 E. Transition to Independence ........ ....... 567 F. The 1970 Constitution ........... ....... 568 G. The 1987 Election and the Coup .... ....... 572 II. The Morality of Cultural Preservation: The Lessons of Fiji ................. ....... 574 III. Who Is Entitled to Equal Citizenship? ... ....... 577 A. The Citizenship of the Fijian Indians ....... 577 B. Moral Limits to Historical Appeals: The Deed of Cession ............. ....... 580 * Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto.
    [Show full text]
  • Before the Storm: an Analysis of the Fiji General Election of 1987
    BEFORE THE STORM: AN ANALYSIS OF THE FIJI GENERAL ELECTION OF 1987 Brij V. Lal University of Hawaii at Manoa On 7 April 1987, the people of Fiji went to the polls for the fifth time since attaining independence from Great Britain in 1970. After a long three-month campaign and a week’s polling, the newly formed Fiji Labour Party-National Federation Party Coalition won a convincing and historic victory over the long-reigning Alliance party, capturing twenty-eight of the fifty-two seats in the Fiji Parliament. Dr. Timoci Bavadra, the new prime minister, assumed power with quiet dignity but unmistakable firmness, and quickly set in motion a government intent on delivering early on its various election pledges. Bitterly disap- pointed with the unexpected results of the election, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, the defeated Alliance leader, conceded defeat in a terse statement and urged his party to accept the verdict of the ballot box. This surpris- ingly smooth, textbook transfer of power led Sir Leonard Usher, the doyen of local journalists, to write, with premature optimism as it turned out, “It had been a long--too long--campaign, and at times some unpleasant elements of bitterness had crept in. These were now set aside. Democracy, clearly, was well and alive in Fiji.”1 The 1987 election results both reaffirmed the dominant trends in Fiji’s ethnically-based electoral politics and heralded the faint begin- nings of a new era that promised to break away from it. In the circum- stances, it was change and the promise--as well as the fear--of further divergence from the established patterns of political behavior that Pacific Studies, Vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Ratu Sukuna: Soldier, Statesman, Man of Two Worlds
    REVIEWS 193 Ratu Sukuna: Soldier, Statesman, Man of two worlds. By Deryck Scarr. Macmillan, London, 1980. 220 pp. Fiji price $10.00. Fiji: The Three-Legged Stool. Selected Writings of Ratu Sir Lata Sukuna. Edited by Deryck Scarr. Macmillan, London, 1983. 528 pp. Fiji price: $15.00. RATU SUKUNA'S life spanned most of the period of British rule in Fiji. Born in 1888, fourteen years after annexation, he died in 1958, twelve years before independence. In that time he became the primus inter pares of the Fijian cadre in the British ad- ministration; a shining light of the indirect rule system. The son of a prominent chief of one of the three traditional ruling houses, Sukuna was educated at Wanganui Col- legiate in New Zealand, at Wadham College, Oxford, and the Middle Temple, Lon- don. He rose from a fifth-class clerk in the Colonial Secretary's Office in 1907 to become Secretary and later Chairman of the Native Lands Commission; District and later Provincial Commissioner at Lau; Native Member and later Speaker of the Legislative Council. He was a trusted adviser and confidant of a succession of British governors, and was frequently Fijian spokesman at important ceremonials abroad. As a 'man of two worlds', Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna bears comparison with his distinguished Maori contemporaries, Sir Apirana Ngata, Sir Maui Pomare, and Sir Peter Buck. Admittedly he went to Wanganui Collegiate, a private Anglican school which then had no Maori pupils, whereas they went to Te Aute, an Anglican school for Maori boys; and he went on to Oxford, thanks to an indulgent British ad- ministration, whereas Ngata and Buck graduated from New Zealand universities.
    [Show full text]
  • 468 the Contemporary Pacific • Fall 1998
    468 the contemporary pacific • fall 1998 The Pacific Way: A Memoir, by Ratu Mara’s life might easily have taken a Sir Kamisese Mara. Honolulu: Uni- very different course, for when Sukuna versity of Hawai‘i Press, 1997. Isbn directed him to study economics and 0–8248–1893–8, xvi + 280 pages, history at Oxford in preparation for maps, appendix, glossary, photographs, the career in government, he had index. Cloth, us$42; paper, us$14.95. almost completed medical studies in New Zealand. Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara is the presi- Wittily recounted in a light and dent of the Republic of Fiji and the last graceful style, Mara’s memoir strikes of several paramount Fijian chiefs an engaging balance between personal groomed for high office by the British life and affairs of state. Appendixes in the last two decades of colonial rule. include the famous Wakaya Letter of For many years these chiefs dominated 1963, in which Mara and fellow Fijian leadership and were at the center leaders insisted to the UK government of dialogue with Indian leaders on that Fijians must approve any constitu- issues of land and constitutional tional changes leading to self-govern- change. Even as Fijians of “com- ment, his address to the UN Assembly moner” status became prominent in after Fiji’s achievement of indepen- government, the chiefs continued to be dence, and his moving tribute to the the core symbols of ethnic identity and late Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau. Photo- the source of legitimacy. In part their graphs range from the youthful pose in security in these functions enabled a students’ production of Romeo and them to become mediating and stabil- Juliet, to his chiefly installation as the izing national figures in a multiracial Tui Nayau, and meetings with world society, facilitating the transition from figures.
    [Show full text]
  • 2017-12-Phd-Rokolekutu.Pdf
    INTERROGATING THE VANUA AND THE INSTITUTIONAL TRUSTEESHIP ROLE OF THE ITAUKEI LAND TRUST BOARD (TLTB): UNDERSTANDING THE ECONOMIC MARGINALIZATION OF ITAUKEI A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE DECEMBER 2017 PONIPATE ROKOLEKUTU Dissertation Committee: Nevzat Soguk, Chairperson Manfred Henningsen Noenoe K.Silva Hokulani Aikau Tarcisius Kabutaulaka Copyright 2017 By Ponipate Rokolekutu ii Dedicated to: my late paternal grandparents: Ilaisa and Elina Kalouca late Nei: Lice Tinai Matatolu & late mother: Miriama Soronaqaqa Rokolekutu iii Acknowledgments I never thought that this part of the dissertation would be difficult. But it is difficult to acknowledge those who have made this journey bearable, meaningful and even enjoyable. My journey to the academic summit would have been insurmountable without God’s grace and the enduring love and support of my loved ones. This journey would also be impossible without the support of my committee chair, and the invaluable advice from the members of my dissertation committee who distinguish scholars in their fields. It would have been certainly unbearable without the friendships and collegiality of significant individuals whom I have had the privilege to interact with, both within the academic environment, as well as, around the kava bowl and the so many meals shared in homes and eatery places most certainly in Hawaii, at other times in California, and occasionally in New York. Please understand that I feel completely inadequate in providing these acknowledgments. First and foremost, I wish to acknowledge God Almighty for His provisions and for giving me the strength to persevere in the pursuit of a vision.
    [Show full text]
  • A Life of Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara1
    32 Fijian Studies Vol 13, No. 1 childhood, education in Fiji, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, early career in the colonial administration with all its frustrations and opportu- nities, his political evolution and international experience, portraits of Making and Unmaking of a Fijian Colossus: people with whom he had worked or clashed, the major events of post- A Review Essay of Tuimacilai: A Life of Ratu colonial Fiji. I say tantalizing because the book is brief and important epi- Sir Kamisese Mara1 sodes and events of great significance were left unexplored, crying out for deeper analysis and reflection, especially his own role in them. But it was Brij V. Lal a memoir after all, a warm, guarded synopsis rather than a critical explo- ration. Five years after his death a substantial biography has appeared. The Ratu Sir Kamisese Kapaiwai Tuimacilai Mara was the pre-eminent author of Tuimacilai is retired Canberra-based English-born historian of Fijian leader of his generation. By virtue of training and temperament, in- the Pacific islands, Deryck Scarr. Tuimacilai addresses some of the points stinct and intellect, and charisma and cunning, he stood head and shoul- omitted in the earlier account, and provides more information, though not ders over his other Fijian contemporaries, both literally as well as meta- necessarily more or better insights, into the major controversies of the Fi- phorically. He became Fiji’s first Chief Minister in 1966 and Prime Min- jian leader’s career. On paper, Scarr is eminently qualified to write this ister at independence in 1970, an office which he occupied continuously book.
    [Show full text]
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • Random Thoughts of an Occasional Practitioner
    6. Random Thoughts of an Occasional Practitioner Deryck Scarr Like many other contributors to this volume, I came to life writing quite by chance and I hesitate to add reflections that touch upon theory in any shape or form, unless in argument against paying overmuch attention to psychological analysis even of the living let alone of the dead. The authorities who deal in psychology were once likened to ‘Romans consulting Sibylline books’, but admittedly by a novelist in wartime.1 And while I have always greatly admired works like Carola Oman’s Life of Nelson, I had never particularly seen myself as setting up as a biographer in any major way, and had not much more idea of it than that the subject should be central and have left a sufficient direct record to be able to speak up for him or herself to a considerable degree. If I had gone ahead with a history of sixteenth-century Plymouth at the Institute of Historical Research in London, as envisaged during my final months as an undergraduate in England, instead of venturing, via the Research School of Pacific Studies, into the South Seas when I graduated and becoming entrapped by tropical islands, Francis Drake and John Hawkins would presumably have made appearances as sea dogs ashore but perhaps not much more. The first thing of any size that I ever did – a study of the Western Pacific High Commission (WPHC) based on archives admirably housed at that time in seductive Fiji – was actually rather criticised by an examiner for lacking biographies.
    [Show full text]
  • Vessel Will Provide Medical Services for 40,000 Fijians
    SUNDAY JUNE 3, 2018 l 16 PAGES l ISSUE 11 VOL 9 l WWW.FIJI.GOV.FJ Fijij Focus Mobile hospital The Veivueti after being commissioned in Suva. INSET TOP: Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama with medical staff on the vessel. INSET BOTTOM: Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama on the bridge of the Veivueti. Photos: ERONI VALILI Vessel will provide medical services for 40,000 Fijians NANISE NEIMILA out emergency surgeries, take X-rays, as for someone to have an operation, sel was much needed. screen for pulmonary tuberculosis, the patient is airlifted to Suva. But “The travelling cost from Taveuni LOSE to 40,000 Fijians living perform urgent dental procedures and with the new vessel and services pro- to Labasa and return by boat is about in the maritime islands will more. vided on board this is very efficient,” $60 and we have to think of accom- Cnow access better and mobile “The medical facility is a promise Mr Soqoi said. modation. We are lucky to have rela- medical services on new Govern- fulfilled by my Government. Mereseini Dakuna, 68, who lives tives otherwise it’s an added cost but ment Shipping Services vessel the This vessel will be constantly mov- near Mualevu Village on Vanuaba- with the new vessel providing such Veivueti. ing; its current schedule consists of lavu, shared similar sentiments saying services, it will be a great help to us,” Commissioned by Prime Minister 10 week-long trips, through which Fijians living in the maritime islands she said. Voreqe Bainimarama, the $8million more than 10,000 patients from the would not spend a lot of money to “We are thankful to the Government vessel was specifically designed and far reaches of Fiji are expected to be travel to Suva now.
    [Show full text]
  • Tribes of Viti Levu and Their-, Origin Places
    ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS 13:5 TRIBES OF VITI LEVU AND THEIR-, ORIGIN PLACES BY E. W. GIFFORD UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES 1952 TRIBES OF VITI LEVU AND THEIR ORIGIN PLACES BY E. W. GIFFORD ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Vol. 13, No. 5 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS EDITORS: E. W. Gifford, R. F. Heizer, J. H. Rowe Volume 13, No. 5, pp. 337- 376, plates 30-31 Submitted by editors May 8, 1951 Issued February 3, 1952 Price, 50 cents UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON, ENGLAND PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PREFATORY NOTE This paper is the fourth by the author based on material obtained during the University of California archaeological expedition to Fiji in 1947. This expedition was generously financed by the Viking Fund, Inc. I am indebted to Dr. Lindsay Verrier, Departmental Statistics and Demography Branch, Southern District Medical Office, Nausori, Fiji, for 1946 census figures on the Fijian population of Viti Levu and near- by smaller islands. On Viti Levu proper the Fijians numbered 64,681, on the small satellite islands 6,004. This paper is little concerned with the latter. iii CONTENTS Page Prefatory note .................................. iii Introduction ................................... 337 Tribes without recorded origin places ....... 338 Tribes from Polynesia ............. .. .. ... .. .. .. 339 Tribes from the Kauvandra Mountains ....... 340 Tribes from origin places other than Kauvandra .... ....... 346 Origin places with more than two tribes .... ......... 346 Origin places with two tribes ..... ............... 349 Origin places with single tribe ..... .............. 352 Sources of tribal names ........ ................... 370 Literature cited . ................................ 371 Plates ....................................... 373 MAP Viti Levu Island, Fiji, showing provincial boundaries ..
    [Show full text]
  • Reflections on the Fortieth Anniversary of Fiji's
    Where Has All the Music Gone? Reflections on the Fortieth Anniversary of Fiji’s Independence Brij V Lal On the whole it is better to explore history rather than to repress or deny it. edward said, Culture and Imperialism It is not enough to stand at a tangent of other peoples’ conven- tions; we should be the most unforgiving critics of our own. tony judt, “on being austere and being jewish” [There is a] difference between the silence after the music, and the silence when there is no music. vincent o’sullivan, in John Mansfield Thompson: Notes towards a Biography On 10 October 2010, Fiji marked the fortieth anniversary of its indepen- dence from the United Kingdom after ninety-six years of colonial rule. It was a predictably subdued affair. The guest of honor, Sir Michael Somare of Papua New Guinea, failed to turn up for the celebrations. There was in truth little to celebrate. The Public Emergency Regulations in place since April 2009, when the constitution of the country was abrogated, severely curtailed mobility and free speech, threatening retribution to anyone who questioned the conventional wisdom of the day—all this in marked con- trast to the joy and (misplaced) optimism that attended the severance of 7KH&RQWHPSRUDU\3DFL²F9ROXPH1XPEHU¥ E\8QLYHUVLW\RI+DZDL©L3UHVV 412 dialogue lal 413 the colonial umbilical cord in 1970. What a tumultuous forty years it has been in the ill-fated history of that otherwise richly endowed coun- try: coups and constitutional crises, state-sponsored constitutional engi- neering, more coups, and endless cul-de-sacs.
    [Show full text]
  • The Spirit of Minerva: Notes on a Border Dispute in the Pacific
    The Spirit of Minerva: Notes on a Border Dispute in the Pacific Elisapeci Samanunu Waqanivala Abstract This paper examines the territorial dispute between Tonga and Fiji over Minerva Reef – an atoll located in the Pacific Ocean to the south of both countries. The dispute escalated in mid-2011 when Fiji destroyed navigational beacons erected by Tonga on the reef. This paper traces the history of the dispute and explores the positions of Tonga, Fiji and other parties on the question of who owns Minerva. The paper argues that in order to understand the dynamics of the dispute, it is vital to take into account the indigenous histories of both Tonga and Fiji. These must be considered alongside the rise of British influence in the Pacific in the late nineteenth century, various developments in the United States and, finally, the adoption of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in the 1970s. All of these factors, the paper argues, contributed to shifts in indigenous understandings of ocean boundaries and affected the parties’ positions in the dispute. Introduction This paper examines the dispute over Minerva Reef between Tonga and Fiji. This border dispute escalated in mid-2011 when Fiji destroyed the navigational beacons erected by Tonga on Minerva Reef as a security and safety measure to aid mariners, ships and yachters sailing near the area. The 1887 Tonga Proclamation was revisited in 1972 by the King of Tonga when he took his royal entourage to Minerva Reef. At the ceremony, the King declared that Minerva Reef belonged to Tonga. The 2011 standoff between Tonga and Fiji was triggered when Roko Ului Mara (also known as Lieutenant Colonel Ratu Tevita Mara), a senior Fiji military officer, escaped sedition charges but was rescued by a Tongan vessel in Minerva Reef.
    [Show full text]