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RATU SIR KAMISESE MARA
IN HIS OWN WORDS The late, great statesman on Fiji’s road to independence Insert to Repúblika
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ION EDUCATTI ON REVOLU
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16 | Duty and destiny Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara led Fiji to independence in 1970, but politics was IN HIS OWN not his chosen career. WORDS Dutifully responding to Fijian and British arrangements preparing him for leadership, Ratu Mara did well at schools in Fiji and universities in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. He could reach across cultures and he earned the respect of the communities of Fiji as leader of the country’s dominant political party, the Alliance. Noone was better equipped to lead the country into independence, and at the age of 50, he accepted the task as an Statesman Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara worked across cultures and with other leaders to build an independent Fiji. inescapable chiefly duty. November/December 2013 | $4.95VIP aud/nzd
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RATU SIR KAMISESE MARA
The late, great statesman on Fiji’s road to independence November 2013
republikamagazine.com
BUDGET 2014
SPECIAL
INSIDE
Volume 2 | No 2
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What will Fiji Fashion Budget keep the dairy Week hits a special industry alive milestone coverage
EDUCATION
REVOLUTION smarter Fiji behind policy for n No child left scholarship scheme n Higher education focus and vocational n New schools
FEATURE
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION GREGORY RAVOI
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara in a February 1994 photo.
GREGORY RAVOI
FOTOFUSION PHOTOGRAPHY
SALON
30 | Milk and money Ricardo Morris on what’s ailing the dairy industry
REGULARS
32 | Fiji Fashion Week Lice Movono Rova on the event’s milestone
OPINION
ESSAY
6 | Briefing Photographer Rama’s new lease on life
13 | The Rising Ape Alex Elbourne on pop music and adults
21 | Politics Wadan Narsey on the maligning of Fiji’s past politicians
10 | Pasifika Post The search for Amelia Earhart
15 | The F-Word Roshika Deo on why politics is personal
42 | The Last Word Kalafi Moala on the Western view of the Pacific
38 | Coconut Cognition Gregory Ravoi on Hibiscus Festival
26 | Constitution Professor Satendra Nandan on identity and belonging
November/December 2013
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3
editor’snote ricardo@republikamagazine.com
@RicardoMorris
Lessons on leadership
R
atu Sir Kamisese Mara was undoubtedly one of Fiji’s greatest leaders who – despite his faults – was charismatic, eloquent and farsighted. In this edition, we bring you an interview with Ratu Mara, carried out in 1995 by New Zealand radio journalist Ian Johnstone, who asked Fiji’s first prime minister and, at the time, president what he remembered about leading Fiji to independence in 1970. While the interview was conducted 18 years ago and some of what it contains is not new, it still can be a revealing insight into the perceptions and experiences of a man who dominated Fiji’s national scene for many years before and after independence. Ratu Mara talks about the political conferences that led to the creation of modern Fiji and the compromises that had to be reached across cultures to ensure a painless and bloodless transition to independence. But what is striking is Ratu Mara’s revelations of his own feelings of being thrust into the national spotlight. For a chiefly and political leader of his calibre, it is poignant to realise that even at 75 years of age, Ratu Mara still wished he could have become a doctor. In an era in which individuality is cel-
ebrated, it can be hard to fathom how a person would humbly agree to decisions that would change their life. Knowing what history tells us about Ratu Mara, it is impressive that he was able to appear a natural-born leader and carry out his task without turning bitter about not becoming the magistratecum-doctor in the Eastern Division of Fiji that he would have much preferred. Despite this, Ratu Mara was a formidable leader and – along with some political rivals – steered Fiji peacefully out of 96 years of colonial rule to full sovereignty. The late paramount chief of Lau, took leadership in his stride and was prime minister when much of Fiji’s modern infrastructure was put into place – from highways to the Monasavu hydro-electric dam and the founding of the pine industry. But Ratu Mara also attracted criticism for his leadership, including some who accused him of not doing enough to avert the 1987 coup by Sitiveni Rabuka. In 2000, the week after his 80th birthday celebrations in May, George Speight fronted the overthrow of Mahendra Chaudhry’s government. One of the claims made by Speight was that
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Alex Elbourne
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Publisher & Editor Ricardo Morris ricardo@republikamagazine.com
Ratu Mara was selling out the country at the expense of common indigenous Fijians. Trying to remedy the devastating coup, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama declared martial law and attempted to abrogate the 1997 Constitution. With that act, he asked Ratu Mara – whose daughter Adi Koila Nailatikau was one of the members of parliament held hostage – to step down as president. It was a breathtaking move by the army, considered an insult by some including, apparently, Ratu Mara himself. With Ratu Mara’s death in 2004, the country’s last statesman of his stature had gone but his legacy can teach us a thing or two about leadership. After his death, then Vice-President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi praised Ratu Mara as a man of vision and compassion, who hated lies and lived by the truth. According to Ratu Joni, he was a man who did not differentiate between people but treated everybody alike whatever their race or religion. Others may have a different view, but at this point in our national story – and with a general election finally less than a year away – our political leaders and aspiring ones could do worse than to take a leaf out of Ratu Mara’s life. R
Gregory Ravoi
Netani Rika
greg@republikamagazine.com
Roshika Deo Wadan Narsey
Pacific Kalafi Moala
We welcome your comments, contributions, corrections, letters or suggestions. Send them to ricardo@republikamagazine.com or leave a comment on our social media pages. The opinions expressed in Repúblika are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. The editor takes responsibility for all nonattributed editorial content.
Published by Republika Media Limited | 8 Mitchell Street, Peace Embassy Suite A107, Suva | PO Box 11927, Suva, Fiji | Phone: +679 3561467 Mobile: +679 7748815 / 9041215 | Email: info@republikamagazine.com | Printed by Quality Print Limited, Suva | ISSN: 2227-5738 | Issue 7 4
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November/December 2013
inbox Your letters, feedback and viewpoints
What would you consider to be the three most pressing issues facing Fiji today? (Question posed to readers on Repúblika’s Facebook page) 1. Universal health care coverage for all Fijians; 2. Access to quality, holistic and affordable education for all Fijians; 3. Affordable and decent housing for all Fijians. These are not only issues -- they are rights and they should be addressed immediately if the Government wishes to see immense input into the Fijian economy and the improvement of the standard of living for Fijians. Wame Valentine, Suva 1. Good democratically elected leaders who are accountable to the people. 2. People-driven democracy under a constitution by the people. 3. A national agenda for civilian rule that is drawn up by the people. Rodney Yee, Suva
Who owns our water? Growing up in the United States was interesting because, 15 years ago and even today, most people in America knew very little about Fiji and where it is located on a map. Whenever somebody would ask me where I was from, I’d proudly answer that I was from Fiji. Their response would then be, “Oh, Fiji, like the water?” That being the only connection that they would make, I would shrug my shoulders in dismissal because everything all encompassing about the great island nation I called my home had been minimised into a corporate trademark that wasn’t, and still isn’t, Fijian-owned. Fiji Water is a company that has capitalised on the most precious source of life on the planet: water. It’s ironic that the biggest bottled water imported by the United States is now Fiji Water, since today in Fiji, clean drinking water is something a great deal of the nation
TALK BACK TO US November/December 2013
inbox@republikamagazine.com
doesn’t have the regular access to. More people in America have access to clean Fijian drinking water than people in Fiji do. Now typhoid outbreaks, parasitic infections and water shortages are common due to contaminated water sources and a deteriorating water infrastructure. How is it that a nation whose water has been branded as a “luxury” product is even facing a problem such as the lack of clean drinking water? The most disconcerting issue at hand is how dependent Fiji’s economy is on the export of our water; take away Fiji Water and you take away one of the main multimilliondollar export revenue lines. Foreign corporations, or any corporation for that matter, shouldn’t have this big of a stake in a sovereign nation’s economy. I am deeply disturbed at the realisation that the branding of the Fiji name is something being sold off to foreigners at far too low a price. In the eyes of the world, Fiji is the epitome of a remote, romantic destination, with pristine sandy beaches, spectacular diving, incredible surfing, and now, thanks to Fiji Water and its marketing, artesian water so good that even the President of the United States and David Beckham drink it. It is a vision of paradise capitalised upon through commercialisation brought into the country by overseas investors, supported by locals who will allow exploitation of this country’s resources for peanuts, when the development itself is a multimillion-dollar business. Fiji Water says that they are responsible for getting the name “Fiji” out to the rest of the world. It’s our country’s name, yet the water company has copyrighted “FIJI” in multiple countries including the US. As a Fijian, I can’t help but be offended that a corporation has branded the name of my country in multiple nations and that using the name FIJI by non-Fijians could potentially lead to a lawsuit. It may be true that Fiji Water is the reason many people may know about Fiji now, but does the fact that people
know where Fiji is on a map and that we have “good water” make Fiji a better place when that water is being stripped out of the local ecosystem and consumed abroad? Several years ago in the United States there was controversy surrounding the water company since the idea of bottling water from one side of the world and shipping it to another side is extravagant and inherently senseless, thus leaving an unnecessarily large carbon footprint on the planet. To offset the allegations, Fiji Water then started a campaign to reforest the area where their factory is located. The fact is if Fiji Water hadn’t come under fire, they wouldn’t have done anything like that at all. Their campaign to make good with the world was a cheap ploy to convince the public that the company is actually making the world a better place. Fiji Water is just another example of a corporation that exists to extract a resource in exchange for capital gains. Under the guise of corporate responsibility, it gives back to the community in attempt to balance out the bad PR it will consistently incur due to its underlying objectives. It is up to us as people of Fiji to stand up for our identity and refuse to submit to corporate bullying. It’s a difficult task, especially since our economy is currently so intertwined with their business that many can’t help but wonder if the company is actually necessary for our country. No matter how much they try to justify our need for them, at the end of the day we don’t need them because they are profiting upon our water resource. There are countless other ways to bring in revenue besides bottling and exporting our water. It is up to us as individuals to figure out other solutions and us, as a sovereign nation, to implement them for the benefit of all. Nakita Bingham Suva (In the October issue, we misidentified Nakita Bingham’s surname as Begum. We apologise for the error.)
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briefing The nation reviewed
news@republikamagazine.com
LAISIASA NAULUMATUA/COLOURING BY GREGORY RAVOI
LIFE THROUGH LAI’S LENSES
‘Confession’ made in Sereima death case, no arrests yet T
he inquest into the death of a 13-yearold girl from Tailevu more than six years ago is expected to take a dramatic turn this month with the introduction of a new witness who is expected to outline his alleged role and that of three other men in the girl’s rape and murder. Repúblika has from its first edition explained the case of Sereima Berwick Degei, who was found hanging from a small mango tree at the back of her house in Nabouciwa, Buretu district in September 2007. No conclusive investigation was conducted although police told the family it was suicide. However, Sereima’s aunt and uncle, who she lived with, soon suspected foul play was involved and a six-year campaign to find the truth ensued. The publication of Sereima’s story last year prompted an inquest to be ordered. The inquest finally began this September when several of Sereima’s relatives and persons of interest were called to give evidence. After a day of 6
| Repúblika | republikamagazine.com
hearing before a Nausori magistrate, the inquest was adjourned to this month. The man expected to testify had been living in Nabouciwa for about a year when Sereima died, and he had not been seen since soon after her burial. An uncle of Sereima’s came across the man by chance in a small town on Viti Levu in September just after the inquest began. He got talking to the man, who at first appeared uneasy about the memory of Sereima. However, with Sereima’s uncle’s encouragement he later voluntarily gave a statement to police outlining the alleged motive and plan for killing the class eight pupil, and the names of the others allegedly involved. His six-page statement details the manner in which the girl was assaulted and killed and how she came to be hanging from the mango tree. Criminal Investigation Department officers were looking into the case as this edition went to press. n
RICARDO MORRIS
NUMBERS
3.6%
Fiji’s economic growth forecast by the Reserve Bank for 2013, an upward revision from 3.2 per cent.
19 75 159
The number of pedestrians who make up the 31 road fatalities so far this year. Structural fires to 9 October attended to by the National Fire Authority this year.
Foreign investment projects registered from January-August with Investment Fiji, valued at $821.59m.
6784
Senior citizens 70 years and above who benefit from the government’s social pension scheme of $30 a month. November/December 2013
briefing
The nation reviewed
MEDIA
MILESTONES The Fijian government conceived and hosted the Pacific Islands Development Forum summit in early August, a response to the country’s suspension from the Pacific Islands Forum in 2009, but also a “more assertive, island-centred regionalism”, according to USP politics professor Sandra Tarte.
1
The country’s first mobile phone company Vodafone Fiji Limited marked 20 years of existence on 30 September. A lunch was held at the Holiday Inn, the place where the idea to form the company was fleshed out. At the event, former chairman Lionel Yee said: “The impact of mobile communication revolution on the socio-economic development of Fiji has been phenomenal and immeasurable.”
2
Rama gets new lease on life thanks to media friends A SIMPLE Facebook post in mid September by Fiji Sun photographer Rama about his pending heart surgery resulted in an unprecedented outpouring of support from media colleagues in Fiji and those who had moved overseas, including scores of well-wishers around Fiji who banded together and raised more than $13,000 within a few weeks. Rama, 59, underwent a successful open-heart surgery on 18 October in which a vein from his left arm was grafted in to replace a blocked blood vessel. Another two vessels were cleared of blockage in the six-and-a-half hour surgery at Suva’s Colonial War Memorial Hospital. He had been given a 50 per cent chance of making it out of the surgery and doctors told his wife that such a surgery was not normally carried out on a person of his age because of the risks and cost involved. Rama’s message moved his media colleagues, led by former Daily Post chief of staff Josephine Prasad, who organised a Facebook appeal that went viral and within days thousands of dollars had been deposited into Rama’s account or pledged to help make up the $6000 he still needed for the $25,000 surgery. A media colleague put in a good word for him, and although there was a moment November/December 2013
of hesitation, he was granted a waiver of 10 per cent of the fees by the health ministry. Former colleagues overseas also contributed, and a fundraiser was held at Traps Bar in Suva on 27 September. Colleagues in Labasa also organised a benefit event for Rama. Two weeks after his surgery, Rama posted a detailed description of what he went through and a thank-you to everybody who helped him. “I never dreamt or ever thought that I was loved by so many good people,” he wrote. From a family of seven, Rama had to drop out of school and his first job was handed to him by Sada Nand in 1978 as a driver at the (first) Fiji Sun – then operating out of Lami. He later began writing copy and taking his own images. His first camera was a Nikon manual when he started taking images in 1980. Rama has captured through his lenses the Royal family, global and regional leaders, Pope John Paul, Bollywood’s top actors and actress such as Helen, Hema Malini, Priyanka Chopra, Johnny Lever, Arjun Rampal amongst the many celebrities. Throughout this journey Rama say’s he is n RICARDO MORRIS still learning.
The Reserve Bank of Fiji has won the Regional Banknote of the Year Award for its flora and fauna banknote series launched in January. The award was made at the Reconnaissance International Limited Asian Middle East and African High Security Printing Seminar in Bangkok from 7-9 October.
3
England rugby sevens’ longest-serving head coach Ben Ryan was appointed to that position for the Fiji sevens team in late September. Ryan led England to five cup titles on the World Series in Dubai (2), New Zealand (2) and London between 2007 and 2013. In his role, Ryan will also develop local coaches and the game of rugby sevens throughout the country.
4
The Media Industry Development Authority announced in October the appointment of a chairman and director, several months after they were given the job. The first director is Matai Akauola, the former Pacific Islands News Association training manager. The new chairman is Ashwin Raj, an academic at the University of the South Pacific.
5
republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |
7
briefing
The nation reviewed
GREGORY RAVOI
THE BIG PICTURE
A farmer walks along the road at a dairy farm in Wainivesi, Tailevu.
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| RepĂşblika | republikamagazine.com
November/December 2013
briefing
The nation reviewed
National switch is money link ALL banks and financial institutions, including the bus e-ticketing system, are expected to be connected to the government’s new centrally controlled “national switch” by January 2014. Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama announced in his national budget speech that the FijiPay system and national switch were being finalised. The national switch will mean electronic transactions will be smoother between financial institutions and entities connected to the service. Companies looking to provide e-ticketing solutions (pictured, Vodafone’s M-PAiSA card) to bus operators will also have to connect to the national switch.
“This will ensure that there will be 100 percent interoperability between all systems that are introduced to the market,” Bainimarama said. “By January of next year, the equal distribution of land lease monies will be implemented through electronic means. Landowners will have the option to have their lease monies paid to individual bank accounts or through the FijiPay system.” The government has also allocated $250,000 for the International Standards Organisation and the payment card industry certification for the government data centre. “This will allow government ITC to provide services to the private sector,” Bainimarama said. n RICARDO MORRIS
HFC turns commercial HFC received its commercial banking licence from the Reserve Bank of Fiji on 11 November. HFC has injected $7-9m in the project, according to chairman Tom Ricketts. The banking operations are expected to begin in early 2014, with some of the current HFC staff being provided extra training to provide the new services. HFC has a management partnership with DFCC Bank of Sri Lanka, and has secured its banking solution from Ultra Data Australia Pty Limited. HFC Bank will be the first wholly Fijian-owned commercial bank since the collapse of the National Bank of Fiji. The project has been 18 months in the planning, following a feasibility study by KPMG in 2011.
November/December 2013
HFC chairman Tom Ricketts, middle, chief executive officer Isikeli Tikoduadua, left and, deputy chairman Vilash Chand, with the company’s approval to operate a commercial bank.
ON THE RECORD “They have taken a fair bit from our Bill of Rights, but they have an over-arching sort of provision whereby it’d be very easy for Parliament to disregard a human right, whereas in our case there was an article dealing with limitations.” Professor Yash Ghai comparing the 2013 Constitution to the draft drawn up by the commission appointed by Bainimarama and headed by Ghai last year. (ABC Newsline, 23 October) “We have had our challenges in the past. But I believe that whatever differences have existed have been contrived rather than being innate.” President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau addressing the nation on Fiji Day. (Ministry of Information, 10 October 2013) “Fiji’s Department of Immigration has not recorded the entry of Australian citizen Peter Foster through any of Fiji’s air or maritime borders.” Statement from the Ministry of Information on the claim by Australian conman Foster that he was in Fiji and was trying to seek asylum. (28 October) “Hope this photo is our [sic] some use to you, It is me reading the Fiji Sunday Times yesterday drinking kava.’’ Foster in an email to Fairfax Media on 28 October. In an interview with News Limited papers published on 27 October, Foster said he arrived in Fiji the day before after he claimed to have travelled on a fake passport.
republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |
9
pasifikapost Regional current affairs worth noting
news@pasifikapost.com
INSET: TIGHAR
Smithsonian Institution/NASA
Earhart theory gains momentum
A new search for the wreckage of Amelia Earhart’s plane - taglined ‘Optimism and Audacity’ - will launch in 2014, according to an organisation that has already launched several expeditions to the Pacific island of Nikumaroro in Kiribati. Earhart, a famed aviator, vanished in 1937 along with her navigator Fred Noonan. The two were attempting a flight around the world, and were last seen in Lae, (Papua) New Guinea. Ever since, theories have circulated that Earhart and Noonan did not die in a crash, but survived for at least a little while after an emergency landing on an uninhabited island. The castaway theory has focused on Nikumaroro, once known as Gardner Island. According to The International Group For Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), Earhart and Noonan may have survived for days or weeks after landing on the reef surrounding the island. Among the evidence were post-crash distress calls thought to have been sent by the stranded aviators. If TIGHAR’s researchers are right, Earhart’s Electra (a modified Lockheed Model 10E aircraft) would have been washed from the shallow reefs down a plunging cliff off the coast of Nikumaroro. Previous sonar explorations of the area have turned up bumps and strange shapes on the Cliffside — part of an underwater mountain of which Nikumaroro is the 10
| Repúblika | republikamagazine.com
peak. Now, TIGHAR plans to use submarines to explore an object captured photographically in 1937 by British Colonial Service officer Eric Bevington during a British colonial expedition. The Bevington Object, as it is known, was noticed in 2010. It’s a tiny speck in a wallet-sized black-and-white photo, but TIGHAR researchers believe it may show the wreckage of the landing gear of Earhart’s plane before it was washed down from the reef. Using the Hawaiian Undersea Research Laboratory’s manned submersibles Pisces IV and Pisces V, the TIGHAR explorers plan to search a mile-wide swath of ocean down to a depth of 3280 feet (1000 metres). They also plan to search the nearby shore for evidence of an initial campsite where Earhart and Noonan might have survived. TIGHAR estimates the 30-day expedition aboard the University of Hawaii oceanographic research ship Ka’Imikai-OKanaloa could cost us$3m (fj$5.5m), and they are looking for sponsorships and donations from the public to fund the trip. Fiji has long been the focus of part of TIGHAR’s research efforts. In 1999, Richard Gillespie, executive director of TIGHAR and his researchers were given unprecedented access to most government buildings in the search for a crate they speculate could contain Earhart’s
Amelia Earhart standing in front of the Lockheed Electra in which she disappeared in July 1937. On June 1, 1937, Earhart and navigator, Fred Noonan, left Miami, Florida on a round the world flight. Earhart, Noonan and their Lockheed Electra disappeared after a stop in Lae, New Guinea on 29 June 1937. Earhart had only 7,000 miles of her trip remaining when she disappeared. While a great deal of mystery surrounds the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, her contributions to aviation and women’s issues have inspired people over 80 years. INSET: The photo taken in 1937 by British Colonial Service officer Eric Bevington in which the socalled Bevington Object was identified in 2010.
bones. In 1940, a Fiji naval officer, Stanley Brown, found human bones on Nikumaroro. Fiji’s governor, Sir Harry Luke, ordered the bones shipped to Suva, where a British physician concluded that the bones belonged to a man of European or mixed-race origin, and the bones were crated up for storage. Experts who examined the doctor’s detail-filled report in the 1990s said they felt his measurements indicated that the skeleton was that of a white female of northern European background. The crate itself has vanished. The bones were last seen in 1941, together with a sextant box at the Suva offices of the Western Pacific High Commission. In 2011, Gillespie and another team returned to Fiji to resume their search for the box but were unsuccessful. They recently launched another appeal to find descendants of three Fijians who were close associates of a former head of the Fiji School of Medicine in Suva, Dr Kenneth Gilchrist, who it is believed may have taken possession of the box. The three Fijians were identified by TIGHAR as LavetaInise Waqanivere, Kalaviti Tukutukunabuka and Unaisi Tianai Reave who worked for Dr Gilchrist, a British surgeon who came to Fiji in the 1940s. n
Stephanie Pappas/LIVESCIENCE.COM/
ASSOCIATED PRESS/GRAHAM DAVIS November/December 2013
Regional current affairs worth noting
pasifikapost
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November/December 2013
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11
OPINION
Just shut the fox up! The Rising Ape with ALEX ELBOURNE
H
ave you heard the song? You know, that song. By those Norwegian brothers? What Does The Fox Say? If you haven’t seen or heard it yet, check it out: http://tiny.cc/FoxSayVideo. What did you think? Did you like it or did you, like several of my friends think it was the worst thing you’ve heard since someone decided to run their fingernails across a blackboard? Stop to cringe remembering that sound. Anyway, all this complaining about that song from people around my age needs to stop. Why? Because we come from the same generation that gave the world the Macarena. In fact, we (and by we I mean all us qase) should just be very quiet when young gang today are enjoying their novelty music because when we were young we listened to music that was just as bad, if not worse. The problem is, we all suffer from what I like to call “temporal chauvinism” - the belief that everything used to be better back in “my” day. Stop fooling yourself. If you’re my age i.e. 33 or thereabouts we had, like I already mentioned, the Macarena. Then there was Barbie Girl, Who Let The Dogs Out?, I’m Too Sexy and Do The Bartman. And those are just the ones I remember off the top of my head. My point is, what you think is irritating today was just as irritating to those older than you back in the long, lost days of your youth. Pop music is called that (popular music) because it caters to the demographic that can adapt and pick up new things and at this point, scream all you like, deny all you like, that ain’t us. Of course if you’re one of those young people I’m talking about, don’t be too smug. Because just like older people woke up one day and realised they could not relate easily to the world around them, the exact same thing will happen to you. I had a conversation with someone who is in her early 20s and she was going on about how boring “old” music is. I had to point out that what she thought of as “old music” was once the hot tamale. November/December 2013
The stuff that her parents used to whack their dance moves to and that one day the music that she thought was so awesome and so exciting would be looked upon with disdain and more than a hint of contempt a few years down the line. Ah, the circle of life. Isn’t it grand? Now, you’re probably saying, well who cares? It’s just music. Goddammit Alex I read your columns to hear you wax philosophical about stuff (that is why you read this right? Or is it just about the shouting?) Well, music is just an example really. What we think of as the so-called generation gap is really young people thinking that what they’re going through is somehow special or unique. Meanwhile, it really isn’t. We can invent and develop all the new gadgets and technology we want but the human animal remains the same. So besides a few cosmetic differences, we all go through the same thing: love, hate, anger, jealousy, loss, resentment, etc. All the things we call emotion. The same old story gets told time after time, generation after generation. So the young person thinks it’s new but you know better. So you try to help but get rebuffed by said young person. Well, where you see caring concern all they see is a control freak, trying to run their life for them. They won’t make the same mistakes you did, they’re different. They’re unique. It’s the most common illusion we have about ourselves: that we’re somehow special. It’s our biggest blessing and our biggest curse. And in the end it’s what makes us human. All our little flaws and cognitive bias rolled up into a packet of blood, bone and muscle to make what is called a person. Man, this is some strong grog! Moving on… The power of belief I was at a friend’s funeral last month. The service was held at an evangelical church. After all these years, I finally realised why church people make me so uncomfortable. The level of faith they have. It’s as simple as that. Maybe it’s just me but I find such blind faith uncomfortable. I’m not saying it makes them bad or anything. I guess, my problem is that I think
too much and I doubt too much. And you go to these places and these people and their belief in their god is as real to them as the magazine you’re holding. The majority of people are like that in this country. It just freaks me out some times seeing people praying or asking God for stuff. Makes you wonder though, how come we have so many social problems where everyone says they believe in deities which encourages love of others? But that’s a story for another day. Another goodbye Like I said earlier, I was at a friend’s funeral last month. It made me realise something. I’ve reached a stage in my life where I suddenly seem to be burying a fair number of people who were a part of my life. When I was a kid, I used to see my mum and my grandmother going to all these funerals and wonder what the hell was going on. Now, all of a sudden it seems, that’s me. And you know you’re not imaging it when you’re suddenly forced to remove all these different people from your contact list on your phone. In the last four years I’ve taken six people off my phone. It’s sad and scary and confusing all at the same time. We carry our roll call of the dead until the day we become part of someone else’s. To end things on a lighter note... You know why men and women can’t really get along? We’re too different. We are. I think most guys will understand this one. Why do women wear high heels when they hurt so damn much? I’m sure we’ve all seen this. Woman comes into work, looking all fancy with the high heels and all. She reaches the office, takes her heels off and puts on “flats” (just learned that). Why? If the blerrie things are so uncomfortable, why are you wearing them in the first place? I don’t mind dressing up on special occasions despite the discomfort but every single working day? A bit much, no? R Anyway, have a wonderful month! n Alex Elbourne is the Breakfast Show host on Legend FM. The views expressed are his own. republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |
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OPINION
Taking politics personally The F-Word RODNEY YEE/CITIZENS’ CONSTITUTIONAL FORUM
with ROSHIKA DEO
T
he phrase “the personal is political” was an important political slogan of the women’s movement in the 1960s and 1970s in reaction to the struggles of women all around the world who fought for the civil rights of girls and women. It refers to the theory that many if not all of the personal problems that we experience in our lives are as a result of systematic oppression and structural inequalities. When women discuss and dissect their own experiences with oppression, discrimination, sexism, and stereotyping, the phrase “the personal is political” captured the relationships women were finding between their own individual experiences and the broader fight for equal treatment and respect in society. Whether to be allowed to drink kava or wear pants in the village, to get married or not, to be able to walk on the streets of Suva day or night without being sexually harassed, to have children or not, to be allowed to become a priest or not, to feel safe in our homes or not, to dance to a “rape” song in Zumba or not, to be able to advocate for women’s rights without being attacked, to stand for elections or not, to make tea or sit at the table to talk issues — all of this and much more have a role in conversations about policy and politics. It is about politics. It is about power. Major political movements and social, economical, and cultural progress are frequently started by something personal. Take for instance how Rosa Parks’ refusal to move to the rear of the bus launched the civil rights movement in the United States; how Mahatma Gandhi started the passive resistance movement after being thrown out of a first-class railway compartment and then beaten up for refusing to give up his seat for a European passenger. Personal experiences and motivations for political actions in Fiji, in the Pacific and around the world are endless. People get involved in politics because of the way something affects
November/December 2013
The majority of those detained on 6 September for protesting against the Constitution were women.
their lives. Whether it is a movement for LGBTIQ rights, women’s rights, human rights, mental health awareness, environmental rights – these all are political, arising from our personal experiences and passion. If politics is not shaped by the personal then what is politics and its use? For me, the personal is intertwined with the politics, not only as a woman, but also as a citizen. Our personal lives, the way we live, the way we earn, the rights we have and don’t have, the freedom which we can exercise or not, how we interact with others, how we function in our homes, communities and in the world are all shaped by politics. Also, the personal decisions and choices we make are informed by political realities. It is impossible to isolate the politics from the personal or the personal from the politics Our day-to-day lives are shaped by politics. Whether we can drive or how we drive, or the road conditions – all determined by politics. Whether we rent or own our own home is also determined by politics – the economy, the availability of land, minimum wage, affordability of homes, loans schemes – all determined by politics. Any decision that gets made politically, affects our lives – going to the hospital for an emergency and the care, service and treatment we receive, whether we lose our life, or a limb, or the impact the care and treatment has on our quality of life – all personal. But it is the political decisions that will determine exactly how our experience at the hospital will be, whether we survive or whether our quality of life deteriorates. Our lived realities should inform
policies and shape politics. However politics is becoming abstract and is being manipulated by a few for their use and accumulation of power. This is evident when we say we are not interested in politics or that we don’t relate to politics. Our personal lives are affected by politics every day and yet a culture of political apathy is prevalent. What then is shaping politics and the governance of our country and citizenship rights? Is it the power of a few affluent people who make decisions for others without consultation or consideration? Or is it the leaders that do not like to be challenged or questioned? Is politics excluding the experiences and participation of young people and women? We should constantly pose these questions. Given our political history and instability, it is important that the personal is political, in order to bring about actual change. Actual change in the way our country is run, how the government is elected and how they function, how policies are made and the impact it has on our individual lives, and how we carry out sustainable development and build sustainable livelihoods. The personal is political should be a mantra for every person that relates to or has experienced oppression, discrimination and inequality whether it is based on your ethnicity, your socioeconomic status, your gender identity or sexual orientation, your beliefs, your gender, among other factors. R The personal IS political. n Roshika Deo is a feminist and human rights defender and has declared her candidacy in next year’s general election. republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |
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PHOTO MONTAGE BY GREGORY RAVOI
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November/December 2013
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Duty and destiny n This interview with Fiji’s first prime minister and former president, the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara was carried out by IAN JOHNSTONE at Government House, Suva on 24 January 1995
Born in the Lau group into an aristocratic family with Tongan and Samoan connections, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara held the titles of Tui Lau, Tui Nayau and Sau ni Vanua, an impressive pedigree reinforced by his wife’s chiefly rank of Roko Tui Dreketi from Rewa. Dutifully responding to Fijian and British arrangements preparing him for leadership, Ratu Mara did well at schools in Fiji and universities in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. An accomplished sportsman, he could reach across cultures and he earned the respect of the communities of Fiji as leader of the country’s dominant political party, the Alliance. No-one was better equipped to lead the country into independence, and at the age of 50, he accepted the task as an inescapable chiefly duty. But politics was not his chosen career. In the 1940s he had gone to New Zealand intending to qualify as a doctor. November/December 2013
M My time at Otago Medical School I always thought of as the best years of my life. I played a lot of sport, made a lot of friends, and was able to get through my exams without much difficulty. I eventually played for Otago in cricket and rugby; in athletics I got a New Zealand Universities record for the high jump; and won the drinking blue in Dunedin – I created a record of 1.8 seconds, which stood for some time. It was a bolt out of the blue when I got a letter from Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna. They’d been discussing my future with the Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, Mr Bowra, and thought I’d be more useful to Fiji if I left medicine and studied economics. The letter instructed me to report to Wadham on 13 October. My passage would be arranged by the Bank of New Zealand in Fiji. I arrived prepared for the course and went to see Mr Bowra. ‘Ah, yes, Mara, you’re Sukuna’s nephew … we did decide you should read
economics, but I’ve contacted him and you should read modern history – best course for you. So there you are.’ So I said, ‘Modern History … how long will that take?’ ‘You must take the Honours course, that will take three years.’ As well as that I completed the ‘Devonshire Course’ which was training to be part of the colonial administration anywhere in the empire. Malaysia and Kenya were highly paid places and I think the best of us went there, and I would probably have liked to go there for three years or so, but they found out I came from Fiji, and I had to come home. My first appointment was as ‘Governor’ of Navua! My senior officer, a Mr Sykes, said, ‘If you do well you’ll get a pat on the back … if you don’t you’ll get a kick in the BTM!’ I didn’t feel any awkwardness serving the colonial power here in Fiji. I enjoyed it and I though the people enjoyed it too. I was very proud to there as a magistrate (third class, in small letters). Fijians called me ‘Magistrate of the Europeans’. Content to be a colony Surprisingly, I had no sense here in the fifties that the colonial period had to end. We thought we were not going republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |
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INDIAN CULTURAL CENTRE/INDIAN HIGH COMMISSION, SUVA
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Global reach ... Ratu Mara, as Permanent Secretary for Fijian Affairs, with Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and delegates from Fiji on a visit to India in March 1961.
to become independent. We were part of the Queen’s regnum; we were happy – why should we change things? We heard about the winds of change overseas … but we thought it was a remote hurricane warning, that would never come to Fiji. I belonged to the school that believed that we should not be parted from the United Kingdom, and there were countries like the Island of Man and the Channel Islands who were on their own yet they were part of the UK. And I think the Virgin Islands was still a virgin! Our first reaction was that we should adopt that status. We said why should we … we ceded our islands, as far as we’re concerned, we’ve given the authority – how can we bring it back? This is not chiefly. The move to get the United Nations to come in was in response to the desire of the Indian community. In the Legislative Council they were banging the table, saying we should be independent and have a common roll. And there were remarks against CSR (Colonial Sugar Refinery) and big firms who were ‘exploiting the people’. I felt in the early days that was the legitimate reaction of people who’ve
been exploited by their employers. They wanted to get rid of them. It only came out later that they really wanted those people to move out and leave us. It wasn’t until the Kisan Sangh (Indo-Fijian sugarcane farmers’ association) wanted to strike and stop sugar-milling that Fijian members got together and formed the Fijian Association and declared support for the government and the CSR. That’s how our first political organisation started. Then the Alliance was formed before the 1965 conference in London. Negotiating independence I enjoyed both London conferences. Of course, everything was new. At the time I didn’t realise that the destiny of my nation was being discussed. I was trying to score points from across the table from other people. We did a lot of work as an Alliance. We studied all the constitutions of colonies from India onwards, put them on the table and said, ‘We like that … but not that.’ By the time we finished we thought we had a good constitution, and put our work down and the others just criticised it. They had no alternative.
I never thought a common roll was a starter. Swamping was at the back of my mind if we had a common roll and the population figures were changing, one moving up, the other stationary or being surpassed, and who knows, in ten years’ time it was indicated that we would be a minority in our own land. The amazing thing was I think we were the first country that became independent, in the 1970s, without a common roll. During this time we did a roundthe-world trip and the first country we went to was the United States. We were entertained by a Mr Samuels, I think, of the State Department and over drinks he asked where we were going. I told him from here to the West Indies, to Jamaica, to Trinidad, Guyana, then on to England, India, Malaysia, Singapore. ‘So you’re going to the old colonies.’ ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘that’s why we’re starting right here.’ During this period, the 1960s, A. D. Patel and I were political enemies. We were both in charge of ministries and there was a strong undercurrent of rivalry: I’m going to do my job better than he does his, a friendly rivalry, with a lot
Some significant events since independence in 1970 1970
1972
General election won by Alliance led by Ratu Mara
18
1977
Election won by National Federation Party. Alliance reinstated after NFP leader fails to command a majority of the MPs.
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1982 General election won by Alliance led by Ratu Mara
1987
Election won by Fiji Labour Party led by Dr Timoci Bavadra. Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka seizes control in two military coups and declares Fiji a republic later that year with former Governor-General Ratu Sir Penaia as president and Ratu Mara as acting prime minister
1992 Ratu Mara appointed
president. Election won by Rabuka’s Soqosoqo Vakavulewa ni Taukei
November/December 2013
COVER
DESTINY DECIDERS
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara
Ratu Sir George Cakobau
In August 1969 a series of discussions took place between the Alliance Party and the National Federation Party to consider further constitutional changes (a follow on from the 1965 Constitutional conference) and, on 3 November 1969, the two major parties agreed that Fiji should become independent by way of Dominion status. This sudden, amicable agreement was possible because in October 1969, during the negotiations, the leader of the NFP, A. D. Patel, had died. His successor, Siddiq Koya, a lawyer by profession, proved flexible and conciliatory towards the Alliance Party and its leader
Ratu Sir Edward Cakobau Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara; also, the gesture on the part of the Fijians temporarily forced the IndoFijians to shelve their demand for common roll. During the series of discussions in August 1969 the Alliance favoured Dominion status, with the Queen as constitutional monarch, represented in Fiji by a Governor-General. The NFP envisaged Fiji as an independent state, with an elected President of Fijian origin as its head, but Fiji should be a member of the Commonwealth. Both parties agreed on Commonwealth membership and that Fiji should proceed to independence. Events
of consultation in council meetings. But I didn’t have a lot of time talking to A. D. Patel outside work. There was some relationship, though, because during the difficult times of the war, 1943-4, when there were cane strikes, when I came back on leave Ratu Sukuna used to take me round to talk to A. D. Patel and S. P. Patel and have meetings with their group and I got to know them. I found out later of course that he went to the London School of Economics. Westminster-type constitution I wasn’t worried that a Western-style constitution with a government and an opposition might fracture the country along racial lines because we were already fractured. We had already the Indian view and the Fijian (iTaukei) view. They were no co-incidental and therefore they were in opposition. It was not violent but it was already fractured. Indeed, the Westminster system was the only parliamentary system I knew. If were to move to independence, it had to be with this system. There had to be an opposition and a government side.
1993 Death of President Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau
1999
General election 2000 won by Fiji Labour Party led by Mahendra Chaudhry
November/December 2013
A. D. Patel
abroad had again influenced their decision; this time it was the violence in Mauritius, on 12 March 1968, the day of Independence. Following the broad agreement between the two parties, Lord Shepherd, the British Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, visited Fiji from 26 January to 2 February 1970, “to acquaint himself at first hand with the position reached in the talks”. The parties agreed on most issues except on the composition of the Legislature and method of election. The Constitutional Conference was subsequently held at Marlborough House in London from 20 April
The late 1960s were a difficult time. But when I started the Alliance, I thought I’d found the solution: get all the races together and we could run Fiji with all races represented and playing their role in the governance of the county. But when I failed to attract Indians to my side, and those who came were regarded as traitors by the rest of them, that was the time when I think the scales fell from my eyes, so, well, what’s the next solution? I was still looking at way of getting people together. I found people who were willing to come together. At first the novelty of the ideas brought a lot of people in but I must admit we ourselves were not clear in articulating the needs of all the races, because we were feeling our way: what would the Fijians say about this … and what would the Indians say about this …? They wanted to know exactly – what about our desire for equal representation? We couldn’t come up with that. I had to say, we have to go now to the Council of Chiefs … I think we didn’t play our role as well as we could have done. In spirit the various communities of
Bankrupt business George Speight seizes control, takes prime minister and Cabinet hostages, declares himself acting premier. Ratu Josefa Iloilo appointed president by the Great Council of Chiefs
Siddiq Moidin Koya
2001
Irene Jai Narayan to 5 May 1970. On 30 April, in the course of the Conference, Ratu Mara announced that agreement had been reached on the interim solution. He told the Conference, in plenary session, that he had discussed the matter further with Koya, the Leader of the Opposition. n
Extracted from ‘Fiji: coups in
paradise’ by Victor Lal, published by Zed Books, London, 1990. n
To read the report on the 1970
constitutional conference, visit republikamagazine.com
Fiji wanted to work together. I believe this because we very nearly … I’ll just go ahead another 10 years. In 1981 I proposed a government of national unity before the election because I wanted the two parties to agree on that and then go to the election and say after the election we’ll have a government of national unity. To me that would be the best construction of the two different groups. There was a lot of detail to be filled in. I assumed it would be a Fijian (iTaukei) prime minister and an Indian deputy and more or less equal numbers of ministers, each with a particular expertise – going back to the experience I had with A. D. Patel and John Falvey. The 1970 constitution was certainly complicated. As I said, much of our work wasn’t well done. For instance, we did no translate that 1970 constitution into good Fijian. We didn’t succeed in doing that, but for the constitution, I believe it was the best Fiji could have – and I still think that today. Independence was achieved on 10 October 1970. It was a great day. We decided that we shouldn’t follow the others
General election 2004 won by SDL party led by Laisenia Death of Ratu Mara Qarase
2006 Commodore
Bainimarama seizes power in a coup
2009 ‘New legal order’ established
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COVER
by getting up at midnight when people are rather sleepy, to see one flag going down, another going up. We decided to lower the British flag one day, with a Retreat, then at 10 the next morning, raise the new flag. I still feel it today; the thrill; the expectation of great things to come; all the people of Fiji there; all the religious people and bodies were there; and the Prince of Wales handing over to me, and I accepted and knelt down and performed the cobo. The most heart-warming day was the Sunday when we had the ecumenical service with all the religions there, Christian, Muslim and Hindu and I think those religious leaders really meant what they said when they were coming together to form a new nation. We continued with the old governor as our new governor-general, partly because of the person concerned. Personality counts a lot. Foster was a gentleman and we thought we could carry on and if there was any conflict he could tell us. He was very free and open with his advice. Anyone who wanted to discuss matters could do so. The appointment had the consent of my colleagues. I had a wonderful person, a great facilitator, in my early leadership – Ratu Edward Cakobau. He seemed to find the solution to any difficulty. People looked to him. In cases like the appointment of a governor-general, I would talk to him and he’d say, ‘Leave it to me. Don’t worry, I’ll see the others.’ The Indo-Fijian community In the early days I spent time with Indian communities in Fiji. It was the result of my district officership. As DO I had to manage Fijian and Indian schools. Although Indians at the time were starting their own schools, we liaised with them about government subsidies and health. I was chairman of the Native Land Trust Board District Committee, a very important committee. It felt the pulse of the Indian people as far as land tenure was concerned. We received applications for new leases and for renewal of leases; we had to go into their homes. For the first time I realised you can’t just terminate a lease and move people out – because there’s a school and a temple [nearby] and people would be completely lost if you removed them from that environment. It was a great lesson in human affairs. I’ve always been comfortable in In20
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dian communities – found no difficulty whatsoever, surprisingly. I cannot speak Hindi, I understand some word and the drift of the conversation. But I felt my district was my kingdom and I must serve it. I think Indians like firm leadership and I can give it to them. In the years following independence, leading by example was important. Right from the early days I’ve always thought that even if you can’t talk well, at least your example can be more loquacious than you are. Leading by example was the greatest thing I have, I think. And we were aware in the early seventies that Fiji itself could set an example to others. I attended the first heads of Commonwealth meeting in 1971 in Singapore. In a discussion, I made a remark that we were the only multicultural country in the world. Lee Kuan Yew pulled me up very, very quickly and very, very quickly I said yes, I agree, you’re right! His country, Singapore, was another example. I became very friendly with him. We seemed to have great empathy in discussing our development. He was all for doing things yourself and not relying on other people for help, unless there is some unique way in which only they can help you. But do it yourself and then you’ll find the right people will come to help you. What I admired in Lee Kuan Yew was his strict adherence to principles, and to law and order. I found that was the way you ought to run a multiracial country. Be firm, be tough, people will respect you. Different religions, different races will respect you if they know that is the way you behave. If you waver … First Cabinet By the time we selected the first Cabinet, we’d already formed the Alliance with European, Indian and Fijian sections. I just found out who in the various races would be good for this or that. Doug Brown – former principal of Navuso Agricultural School – who better for Minister of Agriculture? Charlie Stinson, although he didn’t stand for us, had been a successful businessman, so I put him in Finance. Ratu Edward was Home Affairs and deputy (prime minister). They seemed to fall into place … AttorneyGeneral was John Falvey … We had no problems working together. Ratu Edward was my facilitator and if anything became difficult, he’d say don’t worry.
Regrets? Looking back to independence I have no regrets at all. I thought we were lucky to come the way we did. Many other countries had difficulties. We didn’t. Mauritius is a prosperous country now, but soon after independence they had a bit of a hiccup, and we didn’t have any. The Indian representatives walked out of the Legislative Council in 1968, I think, on [the] common roll [issue]. We carried on. I was advised at the time not to fight the by-election when all the Indians walked out. But I wanted to test the water. I wanted to find out how many Indians will stand for me. And we had 31 per cent I think, and that’s the highest percentage of Indian support I ever had. Later, it went right down to 8 per cent and I lost. Looking back 50 years to my days at Otago, time and again I’ve regretted I didn’t complete medicine. And I think if I did complete medicine I would have opted out of the administration, like my uncle Ratu Dovi. My ambition, as well as becoming a doctor, was to be district commissioner and district medical officer at the same time for the Eastern Division. That was my ambition. When I got there, the government would provide a boat and I’d visit all the islands and be a doctor and also a magistrate – what more do you want? This is Moses coming down from heaven! But I had to work on a rather larger scene than that. I can’t say, honestly, at any time I thoroughly enjoyed this job. It has been a struggle from the day I left medicine. Particularly the constrast. When I thought I was going to slide down the slope and get a degree, and then I had to go and struggle on a subject that’s such a contrast from precise, scientific studies … every book you pick up is different from the one you read next. It’s R been a struggle right through. n This interview is an extract from New Flags Flying: Pacific Leadership, edited by Ian Johnstone and Michael Powles p u b l i s h e d in 2012. It is reprinted with permission of Huia Publishers, Wellington. New Flags Flying contains interviews with Pacific leaders who led their countries to independence during the 1960s to the early 1980s. The book can be purchased at the USP Book Centre and all good booksellers. November/December 2013
OPINION
Maligning the ‘bad old politicians’ By Professor WADAN NARSEY
S
ince 2006, it has become a popular pastime for every Tom, Dick, and Harry to malign the “bad old politicians” of Fiji, and this trend will no doubt become a frenzy as “new politicians” offer themselves. Many who write thus to the media are perhaps too young or ignorant to know what the “old politicians” did or did not do, compared to the new politicians. But one does not expect the same song from Sir James Ah Koy, himself an “old politician” who personally benefited from the political largesse of several “old politicians” and Prime Ministers of Fiji (and received a knighthood from PNG “old politicians”). Of course, such a message about “bad old politicians” is useful propaganda for a government which strangely contains a couple of “old politicians” (like Bole and Kubuabola), yet still claims it is the “first” government to do anything worthwhile for Fiji. Nevertheless, it is the solemn responsibility of the older generation to set the record straight about what the old politicians did or did not do, compared to what the new politicians are doing. It is also useful for future voters to examine the political record of “old politicians” like Ah Koy, who was once a Minister of Finance in Rabuka’s Government, and who is offering himself up again as a “new” politician. Ah Koy as “new politician”? Some political historians might scratch their heads at how Ah Koy once entered Parliament as a Chinese “General” voter, then later managed to get elected as an indigenous “Fijian” November/December 2013
MP for Kadavu, then rediscovered his Chinese roots to become Ambassador to China, and is now offering himself as a “born-again” new politician, ready to serve in Commodore Bainimarama’s party-to-be. Economic historians with nothing better to do, may scratch their heads as to how and why Ah Koy was appointed in the first place as Minister of Finance in Rabuka’s SVT Government, replacing a performing Berenado Vunibobo. But all economic historians (and future voters) must examine Ah Koy’s performance as Minister of Finance, and especially his disastrous decision to create the ATH telecommunication super monopoly, in order to sell Government’s shares to Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) at the inflated price of $253 million, thereby “coincidentally” covering the cost of the National Bank of Fiji (NBF) disaster. (Those interested can read about the Ah Koy years and what that entailed here: http://tiny.cc/NarseyOnATH and http://tiny.cc/ATHmonopoly) Ah Koy also convinced many members of the public to buy ATH shares whose values were destined to fall in the long term because of inevitable competition in the telecommunications industry (and they have fallen significantly to the dismay of their holders). Another still ongoing negative effect is that FNPF, to recoup its massive investment, has had to exploit ATH’s monopoly power through higher telecommunication prices, thereby hurting not just ordinary consumers, but also holding back the telecommunications based industries for more than a decade, and stifling economic growth. The same Ah Koy is today trumpeting the current batch of unelected leaders as the “best politicians” this country has
ever had, even though some of them, as Ah Koy well knows, had their fingers in all the coups of 1987, 2000, 2006 and 2009. But what do the facts say about the actual performance of the “old” politicians as opposed to that of the “new”? What old politicians did Of course, there were “bad old politicians” who were responsible for the military coups, or the NBF disaster or the several vote-buying agricultural scams we have had over the years under virtually every Prime Minister (except Bavadra). But there also have been dozens of “old politicians” who have provided good leadership either as part of Government, or as the Opposition whose keen scrutiny helped keep governments in line. Unlike the current “new politicians”, these old politicians were elected to Parliament or they were nominated to Senate by the elected governments and oppositions, to look after the interests of “their” electorates, whether communal or national, as lawfully defined by the existing constitution and electoral system. We have had prominent names like Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, A. D. Patel, Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, Ratu Sir George Cakobau, Siddiq Koya, the Toganivalu brothers, Jai Ram Reddy, Doug Brown, Josevata Kamikamica, Mosese Qionibaravi, Charles Walker, Jone Naisara, John Falvey, Tom Vakatora, Irene Jai Narayan, Vincent Lobendhan, and even a Khaiyum, once my colleague in Parliament. [Disclaimer: While I served in the Fiji Parliament from 1996 to 1999, I have been told by my legal adviser that I am not an “old politician”, being neither old nor a politician]. 4CONTINUED PAGE 24
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OPINION
Seidenbinder/Protestant Service Mission DEFAP
God and politics ...The late leader of the former Fijian Association Party, Josevata Kamikamica, was also a lay Methodist preacher. Kamikamica is credited by some with the revival of Fiji’s economy after the 1987 military coups, when he served as Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. In June 1990, the Soqosoqo Vakavulewa ni Taukei party was founded by a resolution of the Great Council of Chiefs. 1987 coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka defeated Kamikamica in the first SVT caucus leadership vote after the 1992 general election. But at the presentation of the budget in late 1993, Kamikamica led his supporters in voting against it, causing the downfall of Rabuka’s government, and yet another general election just a year and a few months after the previous one.
3FROM PAGE 21
Many old politicians served their electorates, with great energy and dedication. Most made no personal fortunes themselves, when many could have made more money or had easier lives by ignoring politics altogether. These old politicians helped Fiji to build roads, hydroelectric dams, ports, water and sewerage systems, schools, and health centres. They presided over a healthy sugar industry with twice the current sugar output, grew a buoyant tourism industry, started massive mahogany plantations, fostered many other industries such as gold and fisheries, began the Fiji National Provident Fund, and built a Fijian economy which was the envy of all other Pacific Islands. In partnership with private education authorities, their governments helped build an excellent education system, which staffed a good civil service for three decades, and even facilitated tens 24
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of thousands to emigrate and obtain excellent jobs and incomes abroad. There were good “old politicians”, both in government and opposition, who guided our country through turbulent periods such as the military coups and financial disasters like the NBF collapse. Many of our “good old politicians” (like Jai Ram Reddy and Sitiveni Rabuka) patiently guided the revision of the racist 1990 Constitution through peaceful, democratic parliamentary processes, cooperation and the power of ideas and goodwill (not by military force). Some old politicians, like Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, provided astute regional political leadership to the South Pacific countries (including a giant like PNG), while playing leading roles in international agreements such as the Law of the Sea and the Lome Convention. Many old politicians, in the service of their people and Fiji, often neglected
their families, who today cannot but feel deep dismay and pain that the “old politicians” are all being tarred with the same brush, and maligned so unfairly and ignorantly, by today’s politicians and brash political aspirants. Facts on the “new” politicians? This maligning of the old politicians is even more astonishing given the facts on the new politicians. Under the “new politicians”, the Fiji economy stagnated between 2006 and 2011, with the sugar industry in ruins, formal sector employment declining, real incomes falling by more than 30 percent, and poverty correspondingly increased. The economy has grown since 2011, but it is barely making up for five years of stagnation. The parts of the economy that have kept Fiji afloat (such as tourism and large foreign remittances which are twice the sugar industry earnings) owe nothing whatsoever to the “new politicians”. November/December 2013
OPINION
COUPFOURANDAHALF.com
Law and politics ... Jai Ram Reddy served as the leader of the National Federation Party from 1977 to 1999. In 2000, Reddy, a lawyer by profession, was appointed President of the Fiji Court of Appeal. He resigned in the wake of the overthrow of the constitutional government of Fiji in 2000, but was reappointed to the post in January 2002. He resigned the presidency of the Court of Appeal on 18 April 2003 to serve as a judge on the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda until 2008. He now lives in New Zealand.
Yes, there are new roads being built currently, but they were also built before, except that no one today knows the current unit construction costs with tax-payers’ money flowing freely through the Fiji Roads Authority, while the public debt is increased astronomically. The facts also show that none of the “old politicians” ever prevented the Auditor-General’s reports from being published for six years, and none received unknown ministerial salaries paid through a private accounting company (even today). None signed commercial agreements for large loans and other projects, whose details have been completely hidden from the public. None secretly approved investor projects totally undermining the strict marine environment protection laws that exist today. None ever trashed a draft constitution they had themselves commissioned, in order to design and November/December 2013
approve another constitution granting themselves immunity for unknown criminal actions, stretching from 2000 till 2014, while simultaneously jailing a former Prime Minister over minor charges. Loss of historical memory Fiji, sadly, suffers from a severe loss of institutional and historical memory that allows unfair generalisations about the “old politicians” to be made with impunity and without public challenge. This is partly because of the massive emigration of our intelligentsia and partly because of the inti amidation of those remaining. Partly also, the media (television, radio and print) has been forced by draconian application of the media decree, to become instruments of government propaganda, which by any objective criteria of space and time devoted, is completely out of proportion to the few opposing views that are allowed to trickle through.
Nevertheless, it is the solemn civic duty of the older generation to defend, through whatever media is available to them, the reputation of the many “good old politicians” who they once elected to parliament, and who served them and Fiji, in an open, transparent and accountable way, whatever their faults. Any society which does not defend its own former good leaders is guilty of selfish ingratitude. They are also failing in their civic responsibility to remind the younger generations that the foundations of the quality of life they enjoy today were built by the older generations, led by the “old politicians” who are being gratuitously maligned today in an indiscriminate fashion. Some day, the “new politicians” will find that what goes around, comes R around. n Professor Wadan Narsey is an economist and former lecturer at the University of the South Pacific. He blogs at narseyonfiji.wordpress.com republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |
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CONSTITUTION
True colours ... School boys in Labasa during celebrations in the town last month to mark Fiji Day.
Hope and home Professor SATENDRA NANDAN, a member of the ill-fated Professor Yash Ghai-led Constitution Commission, writes about the document that replaced the 2012 draft. Nandan argues the 2013 Constitution - Fiji’s fourth offers the country a road map to lasting democracy and raises hopes of erasing the racial divisions that have marred this multicultural country’s 43-year post-independence history which has seen four coups. For the first time the Constitution offers a sense of identity and belonging. 26
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F
Fiji’s first daily newspaper, The Fiji Times, founded in 1869, a fortnight before Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, boasts in its masthead: “The first newspaper published in the world every day.” The International Dateline crosses through Fiji and the Fijians are the first to see the rays of the rising sun over the largest ocean in the world, deceptively named the Pacific. On 6 September, the country’s new Constitution was promulgated as the supreme law of the land by the President of the Republic of Fiji, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. It is the fourth birth certificate of a small but complex nation since its independence 43 years ago. November/December 2013
CONSTITUTION
Fiji was granted its independence on 10 October 1970, exactly 96 years after the date it was ceded to Queen Victoria. Initially the Queen was reluctant to accept a small jewel in her crown but the mischief created by her subjects from Australasia forced her royal hand: Fiji became a crown colony, with the dubious distinction of surrendering its sovereignty in a Deed of Cession on 10 October 1874. The Deed of Session became subsumed in the day of independence. The Deed of Cession, possibly the first in colonial history, was done by warring tribal chiefs recently converted to Christianity and their European advisers. The colonial masters, with their penchant for invented traditions for annexing states and islands, immediately created a Council of Chiefs to facilitate their rule over the native population and keep the few rebels in their place. The chiefs consolidated their political paramountcy through special schools, colonial patronage, honours, privileges, military medals and self-importance. But the colony needed some financial viability for future political stability. The enlightened agents, with colonial experience and interests, knew what their compatriots had done to the Aboriginal people in Australia, and to the Maori in New Zealand, two of Fiji’s largest migrant neighbours. Because the brutalities suffered by the native populations elsewhere were so terrible, by the time the islands of the South Pacific were evangelised and colonised, the imperial powers had developed a better understanding of the native cultures and their uniqueness in the decimated world of imperial conquests. Generally, the islands of the South Pacific escaped the fate of many an indigenous community common since at least 1492. The island nations are some of the smallest in the world - one has a population of barely 60 inhabitants; Fiji’s population is smaller than a million.
idea of paradise has persisted for some privileged wanderers on civilising missions of various denominations and dimensions. Some islands will go under the waves as global warming contributes to sea-level rise. Into this Christian cauldron were transported Indian indentured labourers from United Provinces of British India, and from Bihar and Madras provinces from 1879 to 1920. Peasants were uprooted, transported and transplanted into the islands of Fiji — 16,000 kilometres away from Mother India. The indenture system was finally abolished on 1 January 1920, thanks to the agitation led by Mahatma Gandhi and his ardent follower Rev C. F. Andrews. Gandhi was shaped among the indentured and small Indian merchants in South Africa and understood racial subjugation better than most because of his formative 21-year stay in Natal. Although the hundred years of servitude was finally abolished on paper, the colonial attitude persisted and the descendants of the labourers were treated as second-class citizens without full and fair human rights. The first Indians, as British subjects under this system, arrived in Fijian waters on 14 May 1879. They gave the colony some semblance of economic sustainability; all together 60,939 children, women and men were transported in 87 ships under an “agreement” which the illiterate labourers heard as “girmit”. And girmitya they became. Their girmit was signed and sealed with their left thumb mark. It had an expiry date after 10 years of bonded labour. But few returned to their villages; having crossed the kalapani, or dark waters, they had lost more than their caste marks. In their wake came small merchants, teachers, policemen and preachers. Fiji was transformed by the Indian presence unlike any other island country in the region.
cians were implicated in the coup, an act of treason which triggered unprecedented violence and violations. Subsequently, the colonel was persuaded to have some figment of a constitutional government, a fig leaf of democracy. When Dr Timoci Bavadra died in 1989, a broken and betrayed Prime Minister, the colonel received a 21-gun salute in Australia’s expensive Parliament built in 1988 - the bicentennial year. Rabuka’s 1990 Constitution was so racially designed, with electoral apartheid as its centerpiece, that allowed for a commission to review the document within five years. Finally a commission set up, chaired by Sir Paul Reeves of New Zealand. The Reeves Commission produced a document of 800 pages which few read but many claimed was the answer to Fiji’s internecine troubles which dwarfed for a generation the humanity of a multiethnic nation of great potential and decency. Elections were held under its provisions in 1999 and the Fiji Labour Party won a landslide victory. After a year, a disastrous coup followed, led by disgruntled, sacked soldiers and a handful of bankrupt businessmen whose gravy train had been derailed by the Labour Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, a former trade union leader and a close friend and confidant of Bavadra, Fiji’s first Labour Prime Minister. The Prime Minister and his MPs were kept captive in the parliament complex for 56 dreadful nights. The 1997 Constitution was abrogated by the Fiji Military Forces. Although the Supreme Court subsequently ruled that the abrogation of the 1997 Constitution was not valid, the Chaudhry government was not reinstated. Instead the then military commander, Commodore Voreqe Frank Bainimarama, installed a banker, Laisenia Qarase as the interim Prime Minister.
Colonial reshaping of Fiji The South Pacific has always had a paradisiacal aura in the European imagination from 1768 when Louis-Antoine de Bougainville first beheld the stunning naked beauty of Tahiti, both in nature and in the natives. Since then the islands have been heir to all the imperial ills of the French and the English: nuclear tests are just one of them. All the nuclear bombs have been dropped in the Pacific Ocean. But the
History of coups It was ironic, therefore, that a thirdranking colonel, Sitiveni Rabuka, partially trained in India, staged the first coup in the Pacific on 14 May 1987 in the Fiji Parliament with 10 masked gunmen, exactly 108 years after the arrival of the first batch of Indians to serve Fiji and to ensure that the native way of life was not dislocated. Rabuka’s coup changed Fiji for the worse. Several prominent Fijian politi-
Racial turn When the general election was held, Qarase’s racially oriented party won a majority in a Parliament of 71 seats. The 1997 Constitution’s good intentions were never realized in the formation of a multi-party Cabinet. The Great Council of Chiefs had the exclusive power of selecting the President and Vice-President of the Republic of Fiji. Rabuka had in his act of treason dethroned the Queen of Fiji on 25 Sep-
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CONSTITUTION
‘The most just coup’ After months of failed persuasion, the commodore staged his coup — what some have called “the most just coup” or the “best of all coups”. It was like surgery after three heart attacks, necessary and urgent, painful but life-saving. It was an extraordinary act of deposing an elected government, done with quiet and swift expediency and efficiency, unlike any of the three previous ones in Fiji’s independent history. The region showed its displeasure — the usual suspects and experts made their noises: Fiji was expelled from the Pacific Islands Forum and suspended from the Commonwealth. Australia and New Zealand instituted sanctions. China and a few others moved in to fish in troubled waters of the blue Pacific. India showed its quiet support in a variety of small acts of assistance on a bilateral basis. It could and should do more when you consider the historical ties with Fiji over more than a century. Fiji had to seek newer friends to survive the smart sanctions of old allies who showed an abysmal lack of understanding of the Fijian situation for almost a quarter of a century, since 1987. Rabuka had got away with his mischief, so why not others? But what most did not know was 28
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MINISTRY OF INFORMATION
tember 1987 when he staged the second coup, which was more fatal than the first. Hitherto the Queen appointed the Governor-General of Fiji. Sadly for Fiji, Qarase, though elected, began pursuing policies steeped in racial discrimination and dispossession especially against peasant farmers on leasehold lands. Fiji has a unique landtenure system — 90 per cent of all land is communally owned; this has prevented the displacement of the native population unlike in Australia. Small farmers, mainly of Indian descent, lease farmlands for sugar, rice and vegetable cultivation, from the landowning units whose interests are safeguarded by the iTaukei Land Trust Board. They also acquire land to build their homes, big and small. However, some of the intended legislation of the Qarase government was so blatantly motivated by ethnic calculations that Bainimarama warned him not to pursue such damaging policies which could bring Fiji economically to its knees and divide the nation into racial fragments.
Dance day ... Students entertain during Fiji Day celebrations in Lautoka last month.
that Bainimarama was a different, determined leader and a man of considerable courage. He had escaped death by a few seconds in the military barracks— and that defined his many actions for he knew how ruthlessly some in Fiji would follow their calamitous policies, no matter what happened to Fiji as a nation or to its many defenceless people. These racial extremists were prepared to create chaos and organize assassinations. With the help of a few dedicated officers and leaders (Chaudhry was initially part of the Bainimarama cabinet as Finance Minister), the Commodore set about changing not only the direction of the ship of state but the course of Fiji’s future. The People’s Charter, through the National Council for Building a Better
Fiji, defined a new roadmap for Fiji. Even hardened cynics saw a new way of moving Fiji forward as a nation, uniting its multiethnic mosaic into a composite whole. The new Constitution After almost eight years, Fiji, on 6 September 2013, adopted a new Constitution— it is now the supreme law of the land. It is an historic document enshrining many universal principles of democracy on which Fiji can build its modern institutions and political structures. It will not be easy but it is full of promise for the most interesting multicultural nation of the South Pacific. For the first time in Fiji’s turbulent racial history and communal fantasies, all citizens are called Fijians, after the name of their nation, now called Fiji November/December 2013
CONSTITUTION
and not the Fiji Islands. This may appear a small change but it is of radical significance. The indigenous people are now defined as iTaukei. More than 30 postcolonial nations changed their names to accommodate citizens of many descents and lands with a common national name and identity. Fiji never had this national definition of its citizens because equal citizenry was not part of its founding vision. Now the word Fijian is as important, politically and psychologically, as Australian, American, Canadian and New Zealander which relate to countries to which over 200,000 former Fiji citizens have migrated after the three racist coups since independence. Bainimarama, by giving them a common name, equal citizenry and value for their vote, has changed the contours of Fiji’s communal electoral arrangements integral to the three previous Constitutions. Towards democracy For the first time in Fiji’s Constitution, we have an electoral system of one person, one vote, one value. This is common in mature democracies — in Fiji it creates anxieties in communal politicians who have thrived by raising imaginary fears in their communities. They came first, their communities second, and the country was placed last. It was difficult to think outside the boxes in which the communal constitutions had placed them. It had become the nation’s way of thinking and manufacturing consent. The present constitution goes even further: in a bold and imaginative leap Fiji will now have only one constituency and every voter will have a single vote, as it is in Israel and the Netherlands. Voting age has been reduced from 21 to 18 — a much larger constituency for the youth of the nation and a daring device to empower them with a ballot paper. Fiji has perhaps the most educated youth population, of both men and women, in the South Pacific. There are no special parliamentary seats for any group — the bane of the country’s past political compromises for myopic gains. The number of elected members of Parliament has been reduced from 71 to 50. There is no second chamber like the Senate. The President is elected by Parliament. And the Leader of the November/December 2013
By giving Fijians a common name, equal citizenry and value for their vote, Bainimarama has changed the contours of Fiji’s communal electoral arrangements integral to the three previous Constitutions Opposition’s position is substantially strengthened as the alternative Prime Minister. The term of the elected Parliament will normally be for four years, not five as in the previous three constitutions. The Parliament is the supreme body for legislation and amendments. Social justice The land issue — the fear of land alienation from native owners — has been put to rest in the preamble of the 126-page document. A very significant feature in the new Constitution is the emphasis on social justice. The three previous coups had harmed the economic development of Fiji in a variety of ways — poverty has increased demonstrably. Political instability is given as the main cause; the other is the massive haemorrhage of skilled people to more open societies which give migrants security and selfrespect as citizens. The present Constitution, for the first time has provisions for multiple citizenships and permanent residency, from which Fiji’s larger neighbours have benefited enormously. This will encourage many former citizens to return to Fiji for business or work or to simply enjoy living in the land of their birth in the climate in which they grew up. Those with Fiji citizenship have also the right to vote; to stand for election, however, you have to have only Fiji citizenship. Tourism is the fastest-growing industry in Fiji and now many tourists are descendants of the girmitya who had to leave Fiji after the coups. The Fijian diaspora has its own momentum and energy,
as diasporas often do. And this will make a difference to Fiji’s emergence as a genuinely, democratically pluralistic society. The Constitution is originally written in English but the document has been translated into the Fijian language and Hindi. It makes three languages — English, Fijian and contemporary Hindi — compulsory in schools, with English as the pre-eminent language of communication and education, nationally, regionally and internationally. Fiji is surrounded by English-speaking nations. The new Fiji Constitution has elicited a generally positive response in the region, despite some Fijian politicians’ protests. New elections Banimarama has indicated that he will lead a new political party in the next general election, scheduled to be held no later than 30 September 2014. Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has shown himself to be a courageous and modern leader. His greatest challenges lie ahead in dealing with political forces in Fiji with the ability of a confident, caring statesman. And becoming the elected Prime Minister of Fiji. The new Constitution offers all Fijians equality of citizenship and a home to cherish without the fear of being evicted overnight or becoming homeless in their own homeland. This is an achievement of momentous importance. It is an optimistic beginning for a nation that has suffered the consequences of self-inflicted wounds over 27 years, because of race and religion, origin and ethnicity. Fiji needs all the help to make this new enlightened Constitution part of the Fijian political psyche and daily practice — as daily as a loaf of bread or the daily newspaper. Paradises lost can be regained but only after suffering and expulsion. Fiji has been through a lot. It has been terrible to witness a young, vibrant nation undoing itself with unnecessary coups. Fiji can be another four-letter word for hope and home. The new Constitution offers possibilities and opportunities, unimagined and unexperimented on until now. R n This article was first published in the 4 October 2013 print edition of Frontline magazine, India. Satendra Nandan is an academic, writer and former politician and was a member of the 2012 Constitution Commission. republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |
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INDUSTRY
WHAT AILS THE
LAND OF MILK AND MONEY? A dairy consultant describes Fiji’s dairy industry as “collapsing for the past 30 years” but still hanging on. Indeed various governments have made commitments to boost the industry, which for some reason has managed to stay alive in a kind of agricultural purgatory. In a bid to revive the industry, Rewa Co-operative Dairy Limited was split into two by the government in late 2010. The cooperative was renamed and a processing arm created by government under the name Fiji Dairy Limited. Last year, the government sold its 80 per cent stake in FDL to Southern Cross Foods Limited, hoping that private sector innovation would give the industry a boost. However, while improvements are evident, some farmers still struggle to stay afloat while adapting to the realities of dairy farming today. By RICARDO MORRIS n Photography by GREGORY RAVOI 30
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November/December 2013
INDUSTRY
F For city dwellers, it’s hard to imagine a typical work day beginning at 3am. But for hundreds of farmers in the centre of Fiji’s dairy industry in Tailevu, it’s a way of life. They get up at the witching hour to milk their herds before the milk is chilled to await collection trucks that transport the white liquid to the processing factory in Nabua outside Suva. Yet many would not put much thought into how the milk that sits on their table or in the fridge came to be there – or how the farmers responsible for some of it are faring. Farmers big and small across Tailevu have been trying for years to keep up with the demand for the 77 million litres of milk Fiji consumes every year. Last year, it was estimated Fiji’s farmers could only supply about 10 million litres, but there are hopes that this would rise to 15 million litres by 2015. Economically, it has been cheaper to import powdered milk than to process local milk into dairy products. Established at the end of the First World War by British settlers on land given by Fijian chiefs, the dairy industry has been remarkably resilient. In 2000, at the height of the civil unrest unleashed by George Speight’s seizure of parliament in Suva, gunmen took over the police station in Korovou. Farms in the area were looted of their cattle and root crops which were taken to feed the civilians who had poured in to the parliamentary complex at Veiuto. An industry that had long struggled November/December 2013
to remain viable for its farmers took a battering. In the 13 years since then, dairy farming has remained a challenge, not only because of the politics but also because of disease outbreaks, raising costs of feed and supplies, loss of skilled labourers, soaring demand and uncertainty over expiring leases. Off the King’s Highway past Korovou town at Wainivesi is the 700-acre farm – large by Fiji’s standards – belonging to the Harness family. At its peak five years ago, the farm could supply up to 2000 litres of milk a day. Nowadays, it is averaging 1300 litres a day. Managed by Martin Compain, the son-in-law of the estate’s matriach Michael Harness, the farm has been hit by outbreaks of brucellosis that devastated its herds. In 2009, a brucellosis outbreak resulted in the culling of 93 milking cows in the span of two days. When the outbreak died down, the farm had lost 600 cattle – more than half its stock. Quite apart from the animal health issues, the Harness’ are faced with a lease that is expiring in six years’ time with little progress on issue on the part of the iTaukei Land Trust Board. The Harness farms is just one in the dairy land of Tailevu North, but what’s happening here reflects similar issues faced by other farmers in the area, on whose backs rest much of the industry. In December 2010, seemingly motivated to clean up Rewa Co-operative Dairy Limited of what the government said was mismanagement and abuse, something perhaps brought to the forefront by the brucellosis outbreak that shook the industry the year before, the government signed a decree into force to restructure the industry. The milk supply and the processing
functions of the farmers’ cooperative were split. Rewa – which was owned by the farmer-members for more than 70 years – was renamed Fiji Cooperative Dairy Limited (FCDL). It would continue to supply milk to the processing entity set up by the decree. The new processing entity, Fiji Dairy Limited, was 80 per cent owned by government, while the remaining 20 per cent of the shares were held by the 256 farmer-members of FCDL. In August 2012, the government sold its stake in FDL to Southern Cross Foods Limited, a subsidiary of CJ Patel Group. Southern Cross paid $10m for the shares, and also took on the entire debt portfolio amounting to $17m. Part of the conditions linked to the sale included the setting up by Fiji Dairy Limited of chilling plants in Ba and Lautoka, the upgrading of the company’s Nabua factory and the developing of dairy farms (which FDL calls its model farms). The opening of chilling plants is a condition the government hopes will develop dairy in the Western Division. At the opening of the Ba chilling plant in April this year, Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama said it had only been possible because the government had involved the private sector in restructuring the industry. “We need to modernise and become efficient without losing sight of the need to provide sustained livelihood and opportunities for all,” Bainimarama said in his speech at the opening. Indeed the government has provided incentives to encourage dairy farming through tax breaks, reduction in tariff rates and specific funding through the Ministry of Agriculture. republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |
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ALL IMAGES GREGORY RAVOI
INDUSTRY
Hard knock life ... The Harness farm in Wainivesi, Tailevu occupies 700 acres and supplies about 1000 litres of milk daily. Managed by Martin Compain, pictured next page, the meticulous records are kept on farm activities.
In August, FCDL chief executive officer Sachida Nand said he was confident the cooperative was “doing something right” because of the marked increase in the supply of premium quality milk from farmers. “I believe that I can say with confidence that this is a young refreshed dairy industry, with a new enthusiam,” Nand said in a statement. But modernising while keeping sight of the sustainability of the industry is proving a challenging balance for farmers in the industry’s backbone of Tailevu – perhaps even more so for farmers outside that zone. Martin Compain, who is also a board member of FCDL, says the industry restructure is still under way but high production costs mean many farms still function at a loss on milk sales. He admits that if it were not for the meticulous records kept by his fatherin-law, the brucellosis outbreak in 2009 and earlier this year would have shut the 32
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farm down. Because of the records, farm hands were able to keep track of suspect calves and other cattle and identify them for culling to prevent the further spread of the bacteria. The records show that it currently costs the Harness farms about $1.08 to produce one litre of milk, the biggest cost factor being stock feed and supplements. When the price paid by FCDL increased earlier this year, the price of copra and mill mix increased by 67 per cent and 87 per cent respectively, all but negating the benefits of the price increase. The milk is sold to FCDL for less than the $1.08 it costs to produce, and with the three-tier grading system, the lower the quality, the less the farmer gets. Milk supplied to FDL is categorised as premium (for which FCDL pays farmers 78c a litre – 90c VAT inclusive), first grade (65c a litre VAT exclusive) or second grade (52c a litre VAT exclusive).
FDL pays FCDL $1 a litre for premium grade milk and FCDL has also begun paying a 1-cent bonus for each litre of premium grade milk supplied by farmers. On these figures alone, even if the Harness farms only produce premium grade milk and receive the bonus, they would still make a loss. On smaller farms certain costs might be lower, Compain acknowledges, but he reckons they would still struggle. “The main issue now is government telling us we want milk. But who is going to supply milk at that high cost?” Compain asks, while seated in the farm office that’s rugged but neat with record cards, filing cabinets, implements – and the occasional hen and her chicks – occupying the building. Mel Eden, an independent dairy consultant from New Zealand, hired by Southern Cross Foods, believes the uncertainty in the industry over the years is “an obstacle to progress simply November/December 2013
INDUSTRY
because dairying is a long-term investment compared to planting a cash crop which brings a quick return.” He first came to Fiji in the late 1970s to work with Rewa Dairy and he says many of the issues identified then still trouble the industry today. “When I first came to Fiji in 1977 the industry was collapsing then. It’s still collapsing now,” Eden quips, referring to the description of an industry that’s constantly struggling. Eden told Republika some farmers appear to concentrate on their ‘costs’ of milk production rather than overall ‘profitability’ as “a fair proportion of the income from a dairy farm comes from the beef it produces so profitability depends on the beef price too.” Eden developed an artificial insemination programme for the Fiji dairy industry in the 1970s and in 2010 was hired again to draw up a report on the industry for then Rewa Co-operative Dairy Company chief executive officer November/December 2013
Ratu Savenaca Seniloli. Eden’s in-depth report dated 3 March 2010, included recommendations that could be carried out to improve performance. One point made in the report is the supply capacity. “If a production increase is genuinely desired by farmers – and shared by all – then it can be done, relatively quickly and simply. The answer is not ‘more cows’ or ‘free feed’ or better roads, it is doing a lot of small things just a little better,” Eden wrote in his report to Seniloli. Eden says many of the issues the issue is grappling with are being overcome “making me much hopeful for the future.” Eden says the industry would always exist in some form in the future, but many farms must now also subsidise to remain afloat with cash crops such as taro giving relatively quick turnaround. “I am totally biased in that I want the industry to succeed – providing income
for rural families, using local labour, making good use of the fertile soils, a continuity in a livestock industry providing food, etc. It has been my dream to be able to help and I will do so whenever possible.” For Compain at the Harness farm, he still is yet to see the trickle-down of much of the government assistance allocated to his sector. In the 2013 budget, $750,000 was allocated for “dairy industry support” and $1m for a dairy development programme. But what this translated to on the ground in the past year is not entirely clear to Compain. Similar allocations were made in the 2014 budget and Compain hopes those responsible for putting it to use, do so for the benefit of the industry. While he waits for that to happen, however, the cows still need to be R milked every day at 3am. republikamagazine.com | Repúblika |
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November/December 2013
RepĂşblika
Colours of the Pacific MENA Spring/Summer 2014 ... The Loheni sisters, who are behind the Samoan design house MENA, were part of the highlights of the finale show at MHCC Fiji Fashion Week 2013. They are seen on the runway here with New Zealand Samoan actress Teuila Blakely, centre, who is MENA brand ambassador and who walked at MHCC FJFW 2013. Blakely plays Vasa on Shortland Street. Image courtesy Fotofusion Photography/FJFW
salon Cultural stimulus for the curious mind
PAGE 36
Blossom ... By House of Dimani Fashion - Riddhi Damodar
By LICE MOVONO ROVA
A
Repúblika | salon
November 2013
t the completion of its sixth year of organising fashion events, Fashion Week Ltd was able to walk away from a Fiji Fashion Week in October and say it was a resounding success. The MHCC Fiji Fashion Week as it was this year called, given naming rights sponsorship by retail giants Carpenters, the operators of Suva shopping mall MHCC, bore success in all areas, its managing director Ellen WhippyKnight. “The designers produced garments which were world-class,” WhippyKnight said. “We were finally able to bring Australian buyers and fashion
Kabu ni Vanua ... by Kuivit - Epeli Tuibeqa
bloggers to the show and representatives from IMG, the world’s best when it comes to organising fashion shows, stayed all week. Our staging performance indicators were all achieved and finally for the first time, ticket sales went through the roof on our final night. So all in all, I was very happy with the outcomes of the show,” she said. “I never rest on my laurels but I can finally tell my team that this year it was excellent. We surpassed our own expectations and for the first time we also enjoyed ourselves immensely.” While Whippy-Knight never reveals FJFW gate takings, she was able to say the event finally broke-even and made “a little bit” of money, enough to finance a promotional show in Papua New Guinrepublikamagazine.com
Tiri .. By Essence of the Pacific - Michael Mausio
ea in November. The show’s charity fundraiser enjoyed similar success, raising more than $11,000 for Homes of Hope South Pacific, a residential rehabilitation facility for survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Since it began, FJFW has almost doubled its charity fundraising from year to year. “Last year, we raised just over $6,000 for Dilkusha children’s home after raising $3000 the year before for the breast cancer research. And this year we were able to raise $11,000, so it looks like our fans have their hearts in the best of places.” The MHCC Fiji Fashion Week is a week-long event, which this year included an educational forum with speakers from Singapore, London and
ImageS courtesy Fotofusion Photography/FJFW
RFX ... Rachel Fairfax
Australia. This was followed by the charity luncheon which included an Oprah Winfrey-style on-the-couch discussion about how developments in the fashion industry could contribute to economic development. The final three days packed a Pacific-themed show, a show dedicated solely to new designers, a student designers showcase, a children’s wear designers’ show and the finale, the night when established designers test new trends on the runway. Representatives from the International Management Group (IMG), which organises Australia Fashion Week, New York Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week and London Fashion Week amongst other big fashion week
The Grand Pacific ... By Fiji Markets - Robert Kennedy
events, returned to Australia with praises of the show’s progress. Emily Weight, who looks after marketing and communications at IMG Fashion, said the organisation would mentor FJFW and its designers. “During your event, we experienced all levels of the design talent in Fiji and the Pacific region. From the student collections, emerging designers, kids’ ranges and the established designers, we really enjoyed the design talent on show,” Weight said. “It is this talent that makes us confident, with a champion for the industry such as you, the Pacific region has the potential to be a globally recognised event.” Weight and her colleague, Louise republikamagazine.com
Dee’Elle ... By Delores Hennings
Islin, who is the designer relations coordinator at IMG Fashion, both echoed Knight-Whippy’s weathered calls for government support. “To enable growth and long-term development, the government needs to invest in education and training,” Weight said. “This can be done by providing technical skills to develop a mature fashion industry, as well as soft skills such as business management, product development, R designer and market research.”
n Lice Movono Rova is a communications and public relations consultant at Fiji Fashion Week Ltd.
PAGE 38
Repúblika | salon
November 2013
Hibiscus from the heart Coconut Cognition with King GREGORY RAVOI
M
any people don’t realise how difficult it is to get on stage and answer questions in front of a live audience as is the case every year at the Hibiscus Festival. The truth is, it can be terrifying even for a self-confident person. You can prepare all you want but when you get on the stage, you will not only be judged by the panel but by the audience at the venue, the television viewers at home and the couch critic who takes to the cyber courtroom of Facebook to post their judgements about what they see on TV. It’s not bad to criticise; criticism is good because it helps a person refine themselves. The important aspect though is that before we criticise and judge others, we should put ourselves in their shoes. Say what you want but be courteous and tactful and if you can’t say certain things to someone in person, then don’t say it on Facebook or other social media. In a setting such as Hibiscus, one moment of hesitation on stage can be disastrous. I admit I used to be one of those ubiquitous couch critics, watching from the comfort of my home and giving answers to the questions handed to contestants and wondering why they didn’t nail it. You’re in a whole different world on the Hibiscus stage. Viewers get to see only portions of what the person standing on stage is experiencing. What you don’t see is the crowd and that cameras right in front of you; you don’t feel the pressure of the question when sipping your cup of tea at home. You hear the question loud and clear on TV with the volume up high but what you don’t hear is the chattering in the crowd, the silence in the tent that follows, shadowed by the noise
from the other stage up front where entertainment is provided which explains why some contestants do not hear their questions properly. It’s through Hibiscus that I realised how bad we can be sometimes. Well, more like how bad I was. I didn’t understand how judgmental and narrowminded we can be even when we do it unintentionally. We never put much thought nowadays into how the other person feels or what may have been some major factors that contributed to a mistake. It is the norm to be quick to judge and ridicule others for their faults but in do- ing so does it make us any better? It isn’t easy getting up on stage and experiencing the negativity that comes your way. Are those who haven’t had the courage to get on stage any better to throw in their 2-cent bit and shoot down those who do step on stage to make a change in society? It’s like a bird that hides in the nest all its life and makes fun of the other bird that finally tries to fly and leave the nest. The bird that leaves has a funny way of flying but the sky is the limit for it now. On the other hand there’s the bird that never left the nest and hides in it while making fun of the bird that’s now soaring in its own funny manner. Moral of the story: if you can’t make a positive change in society don’t poke fun at those who actually are trying to. Hibiscus is a journey that can show you how special you are. It makes you realise that we are all different and unique in our own little and amazing ways. Hibiscus has made me accept my strengths hand-in-hand with my weaknesses. Whatever insecurity we have secretly tucked deep within us, we should not let it hold us back. The journey made me realise that I am who I am, with my strengths and weaknesses. After all, I didn’t have to be like anybody else to feel secure or worth something. Hibiscus taught me that we should republikamagazine.com
be content and grateful with who we are because we are all unique. It makes you appreciate that you’re blessed to have people in your life who will accept you for who you are. Whether you are an underachiever or the smartest, the skinniest or the largest, despite your complexion, your religion or ethnicity, we are who we are and if society chooses to make us feel less than what we are because of our differences, then that’s society’s problem. We are all amazing. The secret is realising it sooner rather than later. We may not be the best at a lot of things but that does not mean that we are worthless or should feel inferior. Hibiscus is a journey that makes you realise how much potential you could hold. It is an experience that allows you to understand why you should have moved out of your comfort zone and challenged yourself earlier in life. We should never be afraid to try, never be afraid to be the best you can possibly be. As Marianne Williamson wrote in A Return to Love: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.” Many of us don’t believe in ourselves as much as we really should. If we don’t believe in ourselves, who will? Yes it is important to never be too proud, boastful or arrogant but we sometimes need to give ourselves a little credit for the things we achieve. Life is too short to be watching it go by. The sky is the limit and our only inhibition is ourselves. It does not matter how you start in life. It’s all about how R you finish. n Greg Ravoi is the reigning Hibiscus King and a second-year journalism and politics student at the University of the South Pacific. He is also an editorial and graphic design intern with Republika Media Limited. This is the first of a monthly column for Salon.
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By KALAFI MOALA
A
cry is being heard from almost every corner of the Pacific; a cry against injustice, a cry against the harsh hand that has been dealt against us in the centuries old deliberate attempt by the powerful West and their allies to shape us and our social culture, to become like them. In this colonisation of the Pacific peoples to transform them into Western thinking and ways, the overall effect have been devastating. We’ve been abused from the back when we were not looking or when we lacked knowledge, but now we are being abused from the front, when some of us knowingly chose to be subservient rather than assertive. You annexed whole island nations like Hawaii, imprisoning kings and queens, giving the leadership of that sovereign kingdom nation to your European business friends. You took our lands and destroyed our culture, and have turned our shores into bases for your powerful military. Many of our nations, as in Kiribati and Tuvalu, face a crisis that threatens to sink the islands from the sea-level rise effect of climate change, and our ocean environment in many places have been ruined by the same effect, scientifically proven that it is caused by global warming, a condition caused by reckless Western industrialisation. Oh thou Great and Almighty West, when will you understand? When will you stop to think that what you have done and are doing to our peoples have hurt us more than helped us? You’ve set yourself up to be our problem-solver. Your attitude is that you know more than we do what is best for us. It’s like a drug-based health care; the medicine often produces worse effects than the disease. Our ancestors suffered from diseases foreign to our shores, diseases introduced to our region through your intrusions, causing epidemics that wiped out whole village populations. You fought your wars on our shores, tested your nuclear weapons on our islands, and the suffering of our peoples in French Polynesia and Micronesia is 42
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still being felt with the fatal effects of exposure to radiation. You created geopolitical divisions and partitioning among all of our island nations, so that it would be easier for you to control us. You divided us among your allies: British, American, French, Australian, and even the Kiwis were given a share. We felt like war spoils being shared around. You would not leave us alone because now you need someone to control, which is characteristic of your imperialist nature. But even when some of our nations have been decolonised politically, you’ve continued the re-colonisation process through education, media, and other social configurations. And we have become so aid-dependent, we lack the knowledge of what else to do, because we have been trained by you not to think creatively but only to think what we’ve been taught. You mined our gas and petroleum resources, and sold them to the tune of billions, yet our people in those island states remain poor. You exploited our forest resources, and now those areas are barren and our balanced ecosystems have been forever altered. You signed agreements with our governments for seabed mining, fishing rights, and to abstract whatever you need from our ocean life. For thousands of years our peoples were proud to be self-determined and had homegrown solutions to their problems. They sailed our great ocean lanes to trade, to explore, and even to make a fight or two. But thanks to you we are no longer independent as you have given us a system of civilisation that makes us dependent on you, and in the process we have lost our dignity and our determination not just to survive but to live thriving meaningful lives. In our desperate plight to survive, in a world where you control almost everything, we’ve welcomed the willing help offered us by countries like China, India, UAE, Japan, Korea, and others from the non-Western world; but you have insulted us by saying that we are just changing aid dependency from one colonial power to another. You would rather we continue the dependency on you than on others you’ve held in spite
of their success in self-determined development. Well, for whatever its worth, we don’t recall China or India ever taking over by force our sovereign nations. They did not test their nuclear weapons on us – you did. Is it any wonder we welcome their help more than we do yours? In a world where the standard of success set by you is measured by political, economic, and social wellbeing, rather than by meaningful relationships and its effects of peace and happiness, it is no wonder why it is so hard for us to make it in your world. Some of our people are relegated to the corners of poverty, ignorance, and high crime rate, in your cities. We speak your language, learn your culture, and operate in your system of things, yet you do not respect us enough to learn our language, observe our culture and values. The solutions you have given to us is that we need to be transformed to be like you – we need to learn your systems, practice your culture, in fact, think like you do, and we then can make it in your world. Now that our non-Western friends like China are becoming more involved in our region, you’ve decided to come back in, but your basic mentality, attitude, policy, and practice have not changed. You are the same brutal imperialist power that brought suffering to our forefathers, and we have inherited their unjust plight. The basis of unjust policy and practice must be replaced with that of justice. But that is not going to happen until the mighty and powerful decide to come to their senses and forego the misguided illusion that might is right, and power cannot be unchallenged. As the steps to a long journey begin with the first one, it is time Pacific peoples start thinking and doing what needs to be done so as to start them on their journey to freedom. This is a freedom that only them know when it happens, a freedom that restores independence, R self-determination, and dignity. n Kalafi Moala is publisher and managing
director of the Taimi Media Network in Nuku’alofa, Tonga. A version of this article was first published on pacificpolitics.com, by the Pacific Institute of Public Policy, Port Vila. November/December 2013
*But facts are sacred. ~ CP Scott
Lamentations from the Pacific
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