Good afternoon Ladies and perhaps a few Gentlemen:
By now most of you have heard of the coup in Fiji. About 30 of our people are
being held hostage. The President has been
forced to resign and the Constitution put in place in 1997 has been revoked.
The army has taken over and for the most part law
and order has been restored. Most of the World thinks that little is being done
to resolve the crisis. They are wrong.
I have been invited to this meeting as a Fijian, a housewife, and mother of
three. In addition, with my husband I look after my
Mother and a nephew. I was born and raised in Fiji, I am a Fiji Citizen, and
I intend to die and be buried in Fiji.
I do not represent any government or organization. I speak only as a Fijian,
which in Fiji is understood to mean- "Indigenous
Fijian." Other ethnic groups are called "Fiji Citizens", but
not "Fijians. When I say "Fijian" in what follows, I mean "indigenous
Fijian."
I want to speak to you from the bottom of my heart and try to explain certain
things about the Fijian values, customs, ways of
communicating, mode of leadership, and sensitivities. I want to speak to you
about the Soul of Fijians. I hope that I can touch the
souls of indigenous people everywhere.
We are a people who have occupied what is now the Fiji Islands for thousands
of years. When we came, as far as anyone knows,
no one else occupied the land. Our traditional oral history tells how we came
and how we settled. Fiji is our "Promised Land,"
the land of our forefathers. Our language and customs are at one with our people
and our land and our genealogy.
In 1870 our land was "ceded to Great Britain" under Queen Victoria.
We were under attack by our neighbors, the "Friendly"
Islands of Tonga. In addition, our dominant Chief Cakobau was being blackmailed
by the local American Consul and had no
means of paying the extortionate payment demanded by this man for having accidentally
burnt his own house down during a
drunken 4th of July celebration. American warships were on the way. Queen Victoria
rescued us from these situations at the
invitation of our paramount chief and we "voluntarily," if you can
call it that, became a colony under a Deed of Cession.
There were certain understandings at the time of Cession to Great Britain and
there were many things left unsaid. One was that
we would continue to be led by our own chiefs with our own style of government,
a style that is called "consensus." But Queen
Victoria also became our Queen. Another understanding was that while others
were allowed to use our land, there was no such
thing as the permanent alienation of our land, called "sale" in English.
In times of war, some Chiefs sold islands out from under
their people, but the intent here was to destroy or enslave the people, to detach
them from their roots and their livelihood, to
publicly humiliate them. If there is a meaning, this is the meaning of "sale
of land" in Fiji. Land is a sensitive issue in Fiji.
In fact there is no word in the Fijian language to describe the "sale"
of land, as the Western world knows it. It is not even a
concept. If you were to sell your land, you at the same time sell your forefathers.
The term "sale" is sometimes used, but it really
means "lease", "rent", or "use" of land. This
concept is familiar to many indigenous societies around the world, and it has
been a
source of great misunderstanding for people from around the world who have sought
to acquire and settle land, and agony for
those who thought it was perpetually theirs. We let people use our land and
were surprised when they built fences and chased us
away with weapons.
The British sent an expert to assess the economic potential of Fiji. This was
around the time of the American Civil War and
cotton was in great demand, so cotton was grown for a time. Later it was discovered
that sugarcane was a more economic crop.
Sugar became our major industry.
The sugar industry, like the cotton industry, required labor. We Fijians were
self-sufficient nutritionally and economically with
our abundance of sea and land resources. We were not interested in plantation
labor. The British brought many workers from
another of their colonies, India, to fill this need. These people worked hard,
multiplied, and were allowed by the British Colonial
Government to stay in Fiji.
At the time our chiefs ceded Fiji to Great Britain, we understood that other
people would come and use our abundant land, but
we did not foresee an open immigration policy or massive immigration. We did
not know that we would come to be
outnumbered in Our Sacred Homeland by people from another culture, many of whom
did not wish to join our Family
culturally.
We Fijians pride ourselves on our friendliness and hospitality. We welcome
visitors and we try to make them feel at home. We
invite them into our homes. But we do not expect them to take over our homes,
even if they arrive in great numbers. This has
confused people from other cultures who do not understand Fijians.
Fijians live in a communal lifestyle, which survives by sharing. We give and
we receive. When the missionaries came and told us
it was more blessed to give than to receive, this was nothing new to us. Most
Fijians adopted Christianity readily. We found the
values consistent with our own. Fijians are very generous people, but within
our own system, there are also obligations. Some
people from other cultures do not understand this. They think that when someone
gives you something, it is a "good deal", a
"bargain", and you should take more, and more, and more.
The British brought non-indigenous people to Fiji for their colonial economic
purposes. They came in great numbers. They were
of a different culture with different customs from our own; they married young
and multiplied rapidly. For the most part they
rigidly clung to their native cultures, religions, and value systems. Only a
few joined ours. When the British left us Independent in
1970, they also left us with a majority non-indigenous, not very well-integrated
population. The British did this in a smaller way
all over the World. Perhaps they did not see the problems it would create. Perhaps
they did and slyly washed their hands of it. In
some cases in Africa, people and their descendants uprooted by the Colonial
Government were offered citizenship in Britain. So
many wanted to go to Britain that they had to create two classes of Citizenship.
Not everyone who became a British Citizen in
the Colonies was then entitled to settle in Britain.
Now Fijians welcome all kinds of people into their families. We especially
like people who learn our language and customs. We
have many instances of intermarriage and there are no taboos in this regard.
But like all human beings, we tend to like people
who like us. If people do not respect us, do not learn our customs, do not learn
our language, do not learn to pronounce the
names of places in Fiji correctly, after multiple generations living in Fiji,
we tend to be suspicious of them. We especially don't
like it if we perceive that such people try to take over our land and our government,
and use fast economic growth, foreign aid,
their concept of "democracy", and "strictly legal" means
to justify it. This is not our way.
We do not like confrontation. When our people disagree, they remain silent.
As you can well imagine, this is often misinterpreted
by people who demand or expect that we tell them to their faces what we do not
want. We want them to be sensitive enough to
"feel" that we don't agree. This is part of our culture.
Economically, Fijians like to do things in their own good time. This is not
always fast enough for other people. We have no
objection if they move quickly or move on as long as they do not "step
on."
Politically, we like to make sure everyone agrees before we move forward. We
don't like to dominate minorities with majority
rule. We like people to feel good about any decision. We are a small place,
everybody knows most everybody, and people who
try to push their own way get nowhere in the long run. Our value system has
much to offer the World. We intend to preserve it
and offer it to others. But we are only 350,000 people in a very large World.
Size does not bother us. Our rugby teams are
among the best in the World and beat countries 500 times our size. We are known
as Peacekeepers with UNIFIL. The world
needs to learn more harmonious ways of living and we have some good tips. But
harmony usually requires the setting of and
understanding boundaries of all kinds. We have our limits.
The current situation in Fiji is complex. There are many forces at work. The
outside World sees primarily a racial issue. Fijians
know that there is also a reconfiguration of power amongst the Fijians. There
is a struggle between traditional Fijian
Confederacies, there is a call for a new Confederacy, there is a struggle between
the new middle class and the older traditions,
and we women have also recently come into the political limelight. Reconfiguration
of the Fijians is definitely our problem and
no one else's. We will deal with it in our own good time. We welcome your views
and un-tied assistance, but we will deal with it.
It is our relationship with our non-indigenous population that has attracted
the interest of the World. The World media loves to
talk about, exaggerate, and exacerbate the problems of "race". It
provides prime time coverage and makes people not directly
involved feel superior, no matter what they have inside them.
For more than 100 years, Fijians have lived side by side with our non-indigenous
neighbors. We did not invite them, but we
nevertheless welcomed them. We help them; they help us. We sometimes go to their
houses and they often come to ours. We
respect each other. We work together. We often drink and eat together. But for
the most part, our cultures, and to a large extent
our values, remain distinct. We believe that the vast majority of this population
just wants to live and work peacefully in Fiji. We
welcome this. We even allow them to get rich in Fiji, when few of us Fijians,
because of our communal sharing oriented society,
can ever aspire to this. Many of them, when they can afford it or have the opportunity,
move on to more developed countries
with greater opportunities. Some choose to stay and live in harmony with us.
But we have our limits. We have our land, our people, our leaders, our customs,
and our Souls. We want to be led by our own
people who understand us and respect our customs. We cannot alienate any of
our land any more than we can alienate our
forefathers. Whatever the economic situation, the political situation, there
is a boundary behind which we must fight for our
survival as a people. No economic threats, bribery, media hype, or international
organization will step across this line. Some
people call this "indigenous rights." It is the "right to survive",
have self-determination and ownership of our resources as an
indigenous people in our homeland. This is in spite of TV, soap operas, The
Simpson's, X-Files, global immigration and trade, all
of which we enjoy in moderation just like you.
Recently, perhaps though the influence of TV, broader and better education,
and general awareness, our people have become
more vocal, and some even more belligerent. The emergence of previously quiet
unspoken, usually smiling Fijians in our land is
not unlike the emergence of women worldwide. We were not quite like this at
the time Great Britain left us with a legacy of
parliamentary government and a multi-racial population. We listened to our chiefs
and our chiefs listened to the Queen of
England.
The recent coup in Fiji was conducted at gunpoint by a handful of Fijians and
their spokesman, George Speight. Some guns
were fired; these people shot no one, although they did put a hole in the roof
of our new Parliament building. They took some
40 parliamentarians hostage and some 10 have been released because they were
either ill, or willing to sign away their positions
in the former government. One was allowed to go home to her mother 's funeral,
and then return. Even in crisis, we practice the
Fijian way.
The verbal manifesto of these rebels included revocation of the 1997 Constitution,
resignation of the President, and installation of
their own group of people to run the Government.
Some self-appointed "supporters" of the coup went on the rampage
burning, smashing, and looting the capital city of Suva.
Some even stooped to racial violence, which was totally unnecessary and uncalled
for. This is what happens when things get out
of control. Every society has its hooligans with a grudge against the World.
Our police were caught by surprise. Fortunately,
there was surprisingly little violence. A few days later, the first real casualty
was a policeman whose car was shot at by some of
the rebel supporters when he ventured into an insecure area. Our ordinary policemen
do not, and never have, carried guns.
Why then, didn't the police and/or the army march in and stop this? Why do
the Fijians allow a small band of armed rebels to
take over their government? Why did security limit itself to restoring law and
order in the streets and not the Parliament?
The answer is simple. While most people were disgusted with the violence, the
causes espoused by the rebels had a considerable
amount of mass support, some of which was out in the open - thousands of people
marched - some of which was implicit -
refusal to act against the rebels. Strong feelings of resentment have been suppressed
by Fijians for decades. To this day, the
degree of support for the rebel cause is unknown because no one on the outside
really knows what lies at the bottom of the
heart and soul of every Fijian. The police force was divided on the basic issues
as was the army. One can assume that the whole
of the Fijian population is divided or uncertain on the issues involved. We
need time to self-examine, time to discuss, time to let
our traditional leaders know in our traditional way. The answer is not obvious.
Fortunately, outside nations did not step in. They are watching anxiously,
but they are waiting to see if Fijians can solve their
own problems. This is good. Bloodshed has been largely avoided, even while the
threat and potential exists. Fijians need to be
left to solve their considerable problems in their own way and on their own
schedule. It takes time to reach a consensus.
Interference can make matters much worse and not solve the underlying problem.
The news media is impatient. Every Fijian knows that the whole of Fiji is a
hive of talk and activity. Formal and informal
meetings are being held. The pubs are alive. The village kava bowls are flowing.
The telephones domestically and internationally
are a-buzz. Gradually the chiefs will learn how their people really feel on
the main issues. This is not a time for telling people
what they want to hear, spouting religious moralisms, or pushing conventional
wisdom. This is a time for searching out ones
deepest beliefs and communicating them. Are we going to allow ourselves to be
absorbed into the mediocrity of the modern
world, or be dominated politically and economically by a foreign culture numbering
nearly 1 billion people worldwide, or are we
going to remain self-reliant and proud of our own culture of some 350,000 people?
Are we going to claim our "indigenous
rights", or are we going to join the soap operas of the world.
There are numerous examples of indigenous peoples who have either disappeared
from the face of the earth or have been
marginalized in their own land. We can look around the Pacific Rim at New Zealand,
Australia, the United States, and Canada at
countries where the indigenous people are found mainly on welfare rolls and
in the prisons. They are an "endangered species".
Why? Because they had different customs and traditions that did not stand up
well to the onslaught and pace of colonialism and
capitalism. Their souls were broken by their captors. They were, and still are,
human, not material oriented, communalistic, but
slower and less acquisitive. They had no powerful weapons. In addition, open
or selective migration was promoted by the ruling
cultures, so that the majority rule of democracy finished off the political
marginalization process.
This will not happen to Fijians. We are drawing the line. Some are openly fighting
for our beliefs. We do not know yet how
many will join in non-violent support. We will wait and see because we do not
want a blood bath and we trust our people and
our traditional leaders.
What about our adopted non-indigenous brothers and sisters? They are part of
Fiji. They have helped us as they helped
themselves over the years and we sincerely hope they will continue to do so.
We are basically a very peaceful and hospitable
people. We espouse Christian values and we respect all religions. But we have
learned the hard way that there is such a thing as
giving away too much. We will not give away our sovereignty, our nation, or
our souls. We will not allow our culture to be
dismissed, absorbed, or outpaced. We will do things in our own way and in ways
we choose to adopt, because these are the
ways we know best and the way we will not be tricked into something we don't
want. We reserve the right to bicker amongst
ourselves and move slowly without fear of being taken over by a united non-indigenous
majority. This has been a problem with
our electoral system. This is why many feel that we need a Constitution that
while offering everyone some participation
guarantees us our land, our leaders, and our ability to live and operate within
our own cultural modalities. Such a Constitution
would have to recognize and protect, in perception as well as in legalese, the
indigenous rights of Fijians. We will have
affirmative action in our Constitution, not in our welfare roles.
I repeat, we welcome and sympathize with our non-indigenous neighbors. We invite
and want them to stay, in spite of the
current turmoil. They are our friends and they have contributed much to the
development of Fiji. They contribute in a major
way to our economy. But they must accept our inalienable ground rules. Our own
people will lead our own country as long as
we have people to lead. And we will not divide our country. We are a difficult
people to understand and especially to lead
because our customs and traditions are different, and we tend to protect them.
We would not wish this difficult task on anyone
who is not fully accepted by our people.
As always, we want people who respect our culture, traditions, and language
to join us and remain with us. We welcome
everyone to our house, but please don't get the idea you own or should be the
head of our house. As long as everyone
understands these fundamental ground rules, Fijians will be at peace and continue
to help bring peace to the rest of the world.
As this is a meeting for women, let me assure you that in Fiji we still believe
very much in family values and we have roles for
all ages, genders, and relationships. While we have only recently risen to political
prominence, political participation and women
chiefs and other leaders have always been with us. There is more work to do.
At this critical time, let me just say that I am
moved by my heart to join my Fijian brothers, uncles, and fathers in support,
no matter which side they are on, as we go
through this Identity Crisis as a culture and a nation. Fiji is all we have
and we will keep it and maintain our God given right to
share it with whomever we want to when we decide to, without pressure from anyone.
Thank you all and I hope that I have stimulated some thought in you concerning
us so-called "indigenous people." While it
sounds like some kind of species, we are really the same as all of you. We will
protect and share our culture with you. We have
our roots and our Ancestral Homeland. You are all invited to come to Fiji and
share our hospitality and friendship. We will
welcome you into our homes, our hearts, and our hotels. This is part of being
Fijian. We are proud of it and we will cherish and
protect it always.
Vinaka vaka levu and thank you,
Taina
Trokotui@yahoo.com
June 8, 2000
Te Karere Ipurangi
Maori News Online
Fiji Coup Supplement
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