A Political History of Fiji
The Isles of Fiji has witnessed a great deal of international coverage with regards to it's recent dramatic military coups and political turn arounds, and in the process has made many rethink the assumption of the Pacific Islands as being a tranquil oasis in an increasingly turbulent world. As the nation's political contours are being redrawn along with the search for reconciliation, many are inquiring how this all began. Some attribute current ills to earlier constitutions that encouranged polarisation along ethnic lines while others point to Colonial misadventurisms in the past. The picture become less simplified when considering the cultural history of the country that extends thousands of years.
Geographically, Fiji is located in the Melanesian sector of South-west Pacific bordering the Polynesian cultural domain to the east, north and south east. Much of the inhabitants of the eastern Lau group are strongly Polynesian in physical traits and culture. The majority of the Fijians who live on the two main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu are Melanesian in character with some Polynesian admixtures. Rotuma which is under Fiji's administration, is largely Polynesian and so are the islands of Kioa(Tuvaluan) and a remote Lauan island(Tongan). A peculiar community of Micronesians have settled exclusively on the island of Rabi off the eastern coast of Vanua Levu. Origianlly from Banaba(Ocean Island), these islanders had to vacate their homeland due to over mining of it's phostphate reserves. The non-indegenous element of Fiji comprise over 47% of the population and chief among them are the Indians, who came via the indentured system, Chinese, Europeans and various mixed races of which Euronesians(Euro-Fijians) are the largest.
The linguistic and religious diversity of Fiji is reflected in the racial makeup it's people. Inherited from their British rulers, English is the nation's official language and is commonly used in urban centers. It serves as a link between the various communities primarily the Fijian, Indian and minority races. All Fijians speak the Bauan dialect of Fijian (vaka Viti) while at the same time having their own provincial dialects. The Indians have developed their own lingua franca known as Fiji Baat which is derived from Hindi. Whilst the majority of Indians came from Hindi speaking areas of India, significant Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati and Panjabi speakers also exist. Urdu which is mutually intelligable with Hindi is the choice of communication amongst the Muslims who are mostly Indians. Amongst the Chinese community, Cantonese is the main language and this is especially so with recent migrants. Many amongst the Chinese community use English on a daily basis as do the Europeans and mixed communities. Away from Suva or the major cities, English is normally replaced by either Fijian or Hindi as a means of communication. For instance in Taveuni almost everyone uses Fijian for all communication purposes and Hindi is used the same in say Ba and north-west Viti Levu. Inevitably many in Fiji are bilignual or even trilingual.
Religious wise, the Fijians are largely Christian of whom the Methodist church commands the most adherents followed by Catholics and other Protestant denominations. Indians are predominantly Hindu with significant large Muslim minority. There are also Christian and Sikhs amongst Indians. Chinese tend to be either Traditional religionists(Buddhism, Taosim and Confucianism) or Christian. Europeans, Euro-Fijians and Islanders are nominal Christians. It is interesting to note that Fiji has Christian, Hindu and Muslim holidays designated every year.
Some observers would base the current political turmoil on 120 or so years of British colonialism and it is easy to see why. Indeed during those of years of colonialism, a plantation economy was established and with that, the need for cheap and viable labour was required. This was certainly not a unique experience for Fiji as many other fledging colonies around the world were becoming active participants in the emerging 'global economy' that served mainly Imperial interests to the detriment of their subjects.
In Fiji's case the colonisers valued the authority of the indegenous Chiefly system and were reluctant to employ native labour on the sugar cane plantations. Initially, Melanesians from Solomons and Vanuatu were hired to do the work. This was known as the 'black birding' period where labourers were imported to the country under dubious circumstances. When this system of recruitment ended, another tried system of indentured labour migration was encouraged by the British. The source of manpower was to be from British India and it proved to be the most effective for the sugar industry.
Thousands of Indian migrants came to Fiji's shores over the period from 1879 to 1910. Many arrived to live in wretched conditions and working in virtual slave labour. At the end of their working contract the labourers were given the choice of either remaining or going back to India. Many choose to stay and consequently brought their families to their newly adopted home. For those who stayed back, many chose to work on sugarcane farms allocated to them under the terms of the Agricultural Land Tenants Act (ALTA) which was a signed agreement between the land tenant farmers and the indegenous land owners. If fact most of the land being farmed by the Indians were native land. Each contract signed between landowner and tenant also had an expiry date, but during that time, the terms of ownership lasted over 90 years. Not all Indians opted for an agricultural livelihood, and as a result entered various urban professions such as retail, construction, medicine, law and manufacturing. At the turn of the century voluntary Indian migrants arrived in Fiji to seek a new living. Many came from Gujarati and Panjab speaking backgrounds. These were more enterprising than their earlier counterparts and over the years have established large businesses throughout Fiji.