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Journal of South Pacific Law - Fiji Islands Crisis A KNIFE IN THE HEART
By Eric Waddell, University of Sydney*
A knife has been driven into the heart of Fiji as a result of the criminal actions of George Speight and his armed gang. The rapid intervention of the forces of law and order in the country would have had the effect of immediately isolating and thwarting a violent gesture posed by a very small number of people of dubious motives. But such was not to be. First looting, then hesitation by the authorities and by key interest groups in the country - the police, the army, the president, the churches, the business community - gave the artisan of the hostage-taking the opportunity he needed. A wild, isolated act was transformed into a coup d'Čtat and the entire ethnic Fijian community chose to give its undivided attention to the appeals of an embittered member of the country's new part-Fijian business elite. This incredible turn of events has had the effect of paralysing the rest of civil society and condemning, once again, the Indo-Fijian community to the status of silent and fearful witnesses. Whatever the final outcome, all of Fiji will bear the scars for years, if not for generations to come, of Speight's violent, anti-democratic actions.
Indo-Fijians will be reminded as each new day dawns that they are 'marooned' in Fiji. Ethnic Fijian society will be permanently fractured, the army will lose credibility, the economy will be shattered, the strength of the country's democratic institutions will be undermined, the status of Fiji within the Pacific will be eroded, the country will be marginalised by the international community. All the Fijian people, irrespective of their ethnic and geographical origin will suffer terribly. That is, unless the architects of the crisis and all those who hold the country's future in their hands choose to abandon their partisan interests. For those of us here in Australia who have known Fiji - as our mother country, as a place of residence and work, as an island nation where we have family, friends, colleagues, memories, loyalties - we make this appeal to those of you who are in a position to determine the outcome of the current crisis. We urge you to plunge deep into your memories and resurrect the Pacific Way that was repeatedly voiced on the occasion of the birth of the modern Fijian nation. It was a Pacific Way which stressed consensus in the decision-making process, and which condemned no individuals, no groups to exclusion. And it was this same Pacific Way which celebrated the practice of welcoming into the Island community the strange from distant shores.
We ask Ethnic Fijians to recognize once and for all the simple
Fact that, for Indo-Fijians, Fiji is home. There is no other home for them, except the one that fate may condemn them to construct as new immigrants in foreign lands. Further, if their ancestors came from a distant continent, it was not as conquerors but as victims of history, as cheap labour in Great Britain's Imperial Design. And as latecomers, without land and as victims of policies of exclusion, they had no choice but to seek solace in the cities and through formal education.
Likewise we invite Indo-Fijians to accept the fact that land is at the heart of Melanesian identity. Without land, the ethnic Fijian people are empty and powerless. They have no soul and there can be no meaning to their existence. And we ask both communities to recognize the fact that neither is ultimately responsible for the crisis which divides the country. It was British colonial policy which favoured Ethnic Fijians, celebrated their culture and protected their land, created many of the traditional' institutions and marginalised Indo-Fijians. And it is current strategies of national and international development which thrust increasing numbers Ethnic Fijians into the city without work and without the tools
To survive and succeed. Given that such problems are both inherited and imposed from outside, it is essential that all ethnic groups within Fiji draw together in search of a common solution to these problems.
For all these reasons, we urge you not to support those who, beneath the veneer of a collective discourse, seek to further their individual goals of material gain, and who are motivated by greed and by wealth accumulation for the selected few. Such aims are in direct opposition to universal principles of social justice and equality of opportunity. And they are the very antithesis of traditional Melanesian values.
Finally, to those of you who stand fearfully in the sidelines, watching the crisis unfold before your very eyes, we ask you to accept this expression of our solidarity and immense respect. For we too share your dream.
If you agree with Prof Waddell’s views, he has requested that you indicate this by sending a copy of this item to him with your name and institutional affiliation as soon as possible at Edgeworth David Building F05, Sydney, Australia or by fax: +61-2 9351 0184, or e-mail to: ewaddell@mail.usyd.edu.au.
* Professor Eric Waddell is Head of the School of Geosciences at University of Sydney.
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