Chapter 4: Before the Storm
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Reflections on the 1987 Fiji Coups Sanjay Ramesh
162 Fijian Studies Vol. 5 No. 1 Dialogue: Reflections on the 1987 Coup 163 gence Agency (CIA) was behind the coups. The reasons for what has been termed as the ‘CIA chimera’, are many and varied (see Lal, 1990, and Scobell, Reflections on the 1987 Fiji Coups 1994). Immediately after the coup, the Fiji Military Forces (FMF) embarked on a propaganda campaign, informing the coup sympathisers that the coalition had relations with the former Soviet Union and Libya and as such posed a direct Sanjay Ramesh threat to the western alliance and to Fijian traditions and values. Widespread rumours of the coalition being socialist and left-wing in orientation led some The coups of 1987 have become a bitter memory for the people of Fiji, observers to conclude that the CIA was involved. Other observations, such as but unanswered questions still linger about the whole incident. Did then Colonel US Hercules carriers making brief and suspicious stopovers at the Nadi Interna- Sitiveni Rabuka, who claimed that intervention of the army in Fiji’s political tional Airport; the presence of US Ambassador to UN Vernon Walters in the process was necessary to avert ethnic bloodshed (Rabuka, 2000: 9), act entirely country for talks with the coalition in response to the coalitions non-alignment on an instinct to save the indigenous Fijian race from the Indo-Fijian political policy; the appearance of retired US army officer Larry Mackenna at the US designs, or were there other forces at work? Embassy in full military uniform; and the dubious political activities of the The deposed Prime Minister late Dr. -
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. -
Elections and Politics in Fiji
i ii iii Co-Published by ANU E Press and Asia Pacific Press The Australian National Unversity Canberra ACT 0200 Email: [email protected] Website: http://epress.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Lal, Brij V. Islands of turmoil : elections and politics in Fiji. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 0 7315 3751 3 ISBN 1 920942 75 0 (Online document) 1. Fiji - Politics and government. 2. Fiji - Social conditions. 3. Fiji - Economic conditions. I. Title. 996.11 This work is copyright. Apart from those uses which may be permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 as amended, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the publishers. The views expressed in this book are those of the author and not necessarily of the publishers. Editor: Bridget Maidment Publisher: Asia Pacific Press and ANU E Press Design: Annie Di Nallo Design Printers: University Printing Service, The Australian National University Cover photo, Nukulau Prison, is copyright and used with permission (www.fijilive.com). Author photo by Darren Boyd, Coombs Photography. First edition © 2006 ANU E Press and Asia Pacific Press For the people of the Fiji Islands There is a dawn at the end of the darkest night v Contents Abbreviations vii Preface viii 1. The road to independence 1 2. Continuity and change 24 3. Things fall apart 49 4. Back from the abyss 77 5. Rabuka’s republic 100 6. Charting a new course 126 7. A time to change 155 8. George Speight’s coup 185 9. In George Speight’s shadow 206 10. -
Country Report
Country Report Fiji June 2005 The Economist Intelligence Unit 15 Regent St, London SW1Y 4LR United Kingdom The Economist Intelligence Unit The Economist Intelligence Unit is a specialist publisher serving companies establishing and managing operations across national borders. For over 50 years it has been a source of information on business developments, economic and political trends, government regulations and corporate practice worldwide. The Economist Intelligence Unit delivers its information in four ways: through its digital portfolio, where the latest analysis is updated daily; through printed subscription products ranging from newsletters to annual reference works; through research reports; and by organising seminars and presentations. The firm is a member of The Economist Group. London New York Hong Kong The Economist Intelligence Unit The Economist Intelligence Unit The Economist Intelligence Unit 15 Regent St The Economist Building 60/F, Central Plaza London 111 West 57th Street 18 Harbour Road SW1Y 4LR New York Wanchai United Kingdom NY 10019, US Hong Kong Tel: (44.20) 7830 1007 Tel: (1.212) 554 0600 Tel: (852) 2585 3888 Fax: (44.20) 7830 1023 Fax: (1.212) 586 0248 Fax: (852) 2802 7638 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.eiu.com Electronic delivery This publication can be viewed by subscribing online at www.store.eiu.com Reports are also available in various other electronic formats, such as CD-ROM, Lotus Notes, online databases and as direct feeds to corporate intranets. For further information, please contact your nearest Economist Intelligence Unit office Copyright © 2005 The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited. -
Research Commons at The
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Research Commons@Waikato http://waikato.researchgateway.ac.nz/ Research Commons at the University of Waikato Copyright Statement: The digital copy of this thesis is protected by the Copyright Act 1994 (New Zealand). The thesis may be consulted by you, provided you comply with the provisions of the Act and the following conditions of use: Any use you make of these documents or images must be for research or private study purposes only, and you may not make them available to any other person. Authors control the copyright of their thesis. You will recognise the author’s right to be identified as the author of the thesis, and due acknowledgement will be made to the author where appropriate. You will obtain the author’s permission before publishing any material from the thesis. An Elusive Dream: Multiracial Harmony in Fiji 1970 - 2000 A thesis submitted to the University of Waikato for the degree of Master of Philosophy, January, 2007. by Padmini Gaunder Abstract The common perception of Fiji, which is unique in the South Pacific, is that of an ethnically divided society with the indigenous and immigrant communities often at loggerheads. This perception was heightened by the military coups of 1987, which overthrew the democratically elected government of Dr. Timoci Bavadra because it was perceived as Indian-dominated. Again in 2000, the People’s Coalition Government headed by an Indian, Mahendra Chaudhry, was ousted in a civilian coup. Yet Fiji had been genuinely multiethnic for several decades (even centuries) before it became a colony in 1874. -
The Fiji General Election of 1977 by Ahmed Ali.Pdf
Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Journal of Pacific History Inc The Fiji General Election of 1977 Author(s): Ahmed Ali Source: The Journal of Pacific History, Vol. 12, No. 4 (1977), pp. 189-201 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25161057 Accessed: 19-10-2015 00:45 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Taylor & Francis, Ltd. and Journal of Pacific History Inc are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Pacific History. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 202.41.10.30 on Mon, 19 Oct 2015 00:45:27 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions CURRENTDEVELOPMENTS INTHE PACIFIC The FijiGeneral Election of 1977* AT THE END OF NOMINATION DAY, $ MARCH, 1$2 CANDIDATES HAD ENTERED THE contest for the 52 seats in Fiji's elected House of Representatives. The ruling Alliance nominated candidates for 52 seats, the National Federation party (NFP) for 35, and the newly formed Fijian Nationalist Party (FNP) for 17 seats. The NFP chose not to contest any of the Fijian or General Elector communal seats and two of the national seats: one Fijian and one Indian. -
1 What Significant Issues Were Deferred and Why? Fiji Has Had Four
The second Melbourne Forum on Constitution Building in Asia and the Pacific Manila, the Philippines 3-4 October 2017 Jointly organised by International IDEA and the Constitution Transformation Network Hosted by Department of Political Science, University of the Philippines Diliman What significant issues were deferred and why? Fiji has had four coups, and four constitutions, the last promulgated in 2013. The May 1987 coup and the 1990 constitution established a cycle of general election, followed by a military coup, followed by a new round of constitution making, and then a general election, and the possibility of yet another coup. Deferring of constitutional matters that were difficult to resolve and allowing for possible future review and inclusion of such issues were evident in the negotiations that led up to Fiji’s 1970 independence constitution in London. A critical stumbling block was the system for electing representatives to the House of Representatives. Although a compromise was reached between the Alliance Party which advocated for a ‘communal roll’ that amounted to ethnically reserved seats, and the National Federation Party which pushed for ‘common roll’ with ‘one person, one vote, one value’ with no ethnically reserved seats, there was an agreement that after independence, the electoral system would be reviewed and if agreed to, modifications would be made to the electoral arrangements in the constitution. To this end in 1975 a Royal Commission led by Sir Harry Street was appointed. The Street Commission’s recommendation that in the open seats to the House of Representation, the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system be introduced was rejected by the ruling Alliance Party and never debated in parliament. -
Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, I994
Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, I994 A review of Solomon Islands was not Tailevu seat to SVT'S candidate, Bau available for this issue. high chief Adi Samanunu Talakuli. Rabuka accused his Fijian detractors FIJI of disloyalty and treachery and asked The first significant event of the year his people for a second chance. They came in February when the country responded. The Indo-Fijian side of the went to snap polls following the defeat electorate preferred Jai Ram Reddy's of the budget in November 1993. The moderate, conciliatory stance to budget was defeated by 10 government Labour leader Mahendra Chaudhary's backbenchers who joined 27 Indo more aggressive tone. Fijian opposition members to vote Back in office with a secure man against it. Sitiveni Rabuka's oppo date, Rabuka promised the country a nents had hoped to use the election to "stable, decisive, consistent and coher oust him from office, but they miscal ent" government (PR, 21 Mar 1994). culated. Confounding critics and dissi To that end, he resurrected a previous, dents, Rabuka and his party, the hastily conceived proposal to include Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei the National Federation Party (NFP) in (SVT), returned to power with 32 of the a coalition government. The sugges 37 seats reserved for ethnic Fijians tion came in typical Rabuka fashion, under the 1990 constitution, and without consultation or prior discus formed a coalition government with sion with anyone, including his parlia the General Voters Party. On the.Indo mentary caucus. Neither his own party Fijian side, the National Federation nor the NFP knew precisely what Party increased its parliamentary Rabuka had in mind. -
Elections and Politics in Contemporary Fiji
Chiefs and Indians: Elections and Politics in Contemporary Fiji Brij V. Lal 1he Republic of Fiji went to the polls in May 1992, its first election since the military coups of 1987 and the sixth since 1970, when the islands became independent from Great Britain. For many people in Fiji and out side, the elections were welcome, marking as they did the republic's first tentative steps toward restoring parliamentary democracy and interna tional respectability, and replacing rule by decree with rule by constitu tionallaw. The elections were a significant event. Yet, hope mingles eerily with apprehension; the journey back to genuine representative democracy is fraught with difficulties that everyone acknowledges but few know how to resolve. The elections were held under a constitution rejected by half of the pop ulation and severely criticized by the international community for its racially discriminatory, antidemocratic provisions. Indigenous Fijian po litical solidarity, assiduously promoted since the coups, disintegrated in the face of the election-related tensions within Fijian society. A chief-spon sored political party won 30 of the 37 seats in the 7o-seat House of Repre sentatives, and was able to form a government only in coalition with other parties. Sitiveni Rabuka, the reluctant politician, became prime minister after gaining the support of the Fiji Labour Party, which he had over thrown in 1987, and despite the opposition of his predecessor and para mount chief of Lau, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. In a further irony, a consti tutional system designed to entrench the interests of Fijian chiefs placed a commoner at the national helm. -
Bearing Witness: Essays in Honour of Brij V.Lal
BEARING WITNESS ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF BRIJ V. LAL BEARING WITNESS ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF BRIJ V. LAL EDITED BY DOUG MUNRO AND JACK CORBETT STATE, SOCIETY AND GOVERNANCE IN MELANESIA SERIES Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at press.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Title: Bearing witness : essays in honour of Brij V. Lal / editors : Doug Munro, Jack Corbett. ISBN: 9781760461218 (paperback) 9781760461225 (ebook) Subjects: Festschriften Indentured servants--Fiji--Biography. East Indians--Foreign countries--Intellectual life. Fiji--Politics and government Fiji--History. Other Creators/Contributors: Lal Brij V. honouree. Munro Doug, editor. Corbett, Jack, editor. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design and layout by ANU Press. Cover image: Oil painting by Jane Ricketts, Suva, 1996. This edition © 2017 ANU Press Contents List of Illustrations . vii Contributors . ix Acknowledgements . xv Brij Over Troubled Waters . 1 Tessa Morris-Suzuki Editors’ Introduction . 3 Doug Munro and Jack Corbett In His Own Words 1 . Indenture and Contemporary Fiji . .. 13 Doug Munro 2 . From the Sidelines . 29 Vilsoni Hereniko 3 . Curtain Call . .47 Jack Corbett Indenture 4 . Brij V . Lal: Rooting for History . 65 Goolam Vahed 5 . Girmitiyas and my Discovery of India . 87 Clem Seecharan 6 . Reflections on Brij Lal’s Girmityas: The Origins of the Fiji Indians . -
WILLIAMS COLLEGE LIBRARIES Your Unpublished Thesis, Submitted
WILLIAMS COLLEGE LIBRARIES Your unpublished thesis, submitted for a degree at Williams College and administered by the Williams College Libraries, will be made available for research use. You may, through this form, provide instructions regarding copyright, access, dissemination and reproduction of your thesis. _ The faculty advisor to the student writing the thesis wishes to claim joint authorship in this work. In each section, please check the ONE statement that reflects your wishes. 1. PUBLICATION AND QUOTATION: LITERARY PROPERTY RIGHTS A student author automatically owns the copyright to his/her work, whether or not a copyright symbol and date are placed on the piece. The duration of U.S. copyright on a manuscript--and Williams theses are considered manuscripts--is the life of the author plus 70 years. _ I/we do not choose to retain literary property rights to the thesis, and I wish to assign them immediately to Williams College. ;,de('tlni~ this wili tn the lln~ III 1,0 '.\.n \tudem lunhor from later pUf!lishirig his/her \vorl-;: the studem would, however. need to contact the Archi ves for a form. 'rhe Archi ves wOllk! be li\~e ill this lU abo grant pel'nll\S!On small sections fruln the thesis. would thcr(~ be Hny iTl.hon for tlk /\rchives to gnm1 pe!.·IHI:SS!O!l to another party IU tlh~ thesis in its if sueh a situation amse. the Archive,; would in touch \\ith the mnhor to let them know that such request had heeu madt\ L~we wish to retain literary property rights to the thesis for a period of three years, at which time the literary property rights shall be assigned to Williams College. -
The Social and Religious Scene in Fiji Since the Coups
Uncertain Sequel: The Social and Religious Scene in Fiji since the Coups John Garrett Fiji's political stability since the coups of 1987 has depended partly on the interplay near the political summit between two high chiefs and a com moner. Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, the president of the interim government of the republic, was in April 1989 invested as Tui Cakau, the highest title in the province of Cakaudrove, within the Tovata, one ofFiji's three tradi tional confederacies. Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, the interim prime minister, is the bearer of the high titles Tui Nayau and Tui Lau in the same confed eracy. His authority extends over both southern and northern Lau-the eastern islands of the Fiji group (see Garrett 1988). Major-General Sitiveni Rabuka, the soldier-commoner, does not have the hereditary power of the other two members of the triumvirate. A professional warrior, he is largely a self-made man (Dean and Ritova 1988). He acquired his present power by dissolving a constituted Parliament at the head of troops schooled in abrupt intervention in the Fiji Battalion of the United Nations International Peacekeeping Force in south Lebanon. His troops have seen Israeli units in action. THE PARADOX OF RABUKA Ratu Ganilau and Ratu Mara conform to the pyramidal Polynesian struc tures and mores of ethnic Fijian society. Rabuka, through his upbringing, works within the same framework. He affirms the loyalty and customary duty he owes to high chiefs within a rank-order determined by birth. His activity in the two coups, and as minister for home affairs and commander The Contemporary Pacific, Volume 2, Number I, Spring 1990, 87-II1 © 1990 by University ofHawaii Press 88 THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC· SPRING I990 of the security forces since, presents a paradox.