Dialogue: Poor future for Indians now cowboys in charge

NITYA REDDY* says the clear agenda of Fiji's new interim Government is to entrench Fijian dominance and disempower the Indians.

Questions abound as Fiji enters a post-coup chapter of terrorism, anarchy and lawlessness and ushers in the new interim Qarase Administration.

What future, if any, do the country's Indians have? Will Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and his team make any difference to their destiny? And does Fiji have a future without the Indians?

Behind a moderate facade, the Qarase cabinet of 28 is essentially a bunch of fierce nationalists, each an alter ego of the other. Collectively, they represent the quintessence of indigenous fundamentalism and the anti-Indian agenda.

There are at least six Taukei hardliners, some of whom make George Speight look moderate.

While all of them may not condone the destruction, devastation and destabilisation orchestrated by Speight, not one does not support his cause of entrenching Fijian dominance and disempowering the Indians.

The real power behind this Administration will be Apisai Tora, Inoke Kumbambola, Ratu Cokanauto, Adi Finau and, to a much lesser extent, Qarase.

It is significant that of the 28 in cabinet, only three are from the western provinces. Yet almost 80 per cent of Fiji's wealth is generated in this region through sugar, tourism and gold.

To some extent this illustrates the power play among the various Fijian confederacies and the fundamental fragility and impermanence of this Administration.

Qarase, in his first interview, rejected the 1997 constitution and its underlying, widely applauded, multi-party and multi-racial format of government. He declared his support for reserving the positions of the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister and key cabinet positions for Fijians, and radically changing the racial composition of parliament. Not content with that, he added: "We blame the Indians for our unhappiness for the election outcomes of 1977, 1987 and 1999."

That outcome was the rejection, through fair elections, of the entrenched oligarchy that revelled in unbridled power and corruption.

With that baggage of racial prejudice, Qarase cannot expect to achieve much as the Minister of National Reconciliation.

His blueprint of new policies foreshadows many initiatives in favour of the Fijians and gives no comfort to the Indians. It includes the transfer of all Government-owned land to the Fijians, taking their ownership to about 96 per cent of all land, the buyback of freehold land using public funds, complete tax exemption for Fijian business, the granting of 50 per cent of all import licences and preferential access to education, employment, business finance and housing.

Qarase has offered nothing to placate Indians' fears. Indians own only about 1 per cent of the land and there are thousands more who face being made landless as their native land leases expire.

Apisai Tora is best known for his infamous pre-independence call for the expulsion of all the Indians from Fiji by dumping them in bilibili - canoes made of banana leaves.

Later, he acquired added notoriety when he instigated the burning of 14 tourist resorts in a major Fijian-owned hotel complex.

Widely rejected as a misguided, unstable missile incapable of long-term loyalty, he sought political refuge in the Indian National Federation Party and was a two-term MP.

Tora's appointment to the cabinet promotes fear and insecurity among Indians. Arguably the main instigator of both the 1987 and this year's coup, Tora publicly committed himself to the overthrow of the Chaudhry Government within days of losing out at in last year's election, despite being the Prime Minister's coalition partner.

There could be no more foolproof way of increasing the Indians' insecurity than by assigning him the responsibility for land leases. His views on land have gravely alarmed the Indians.

Kubuabola, an Auckland-trained clergyman and the leader of the opposition in the deposed Parliament, was also a key player in the last two coups.

More suave than Tora, he enjoys deceptively warm relationships with some Indian businessmen and exudes his own distinctive brand of fundamentalism as eloquently as he delivers his Sunday sermon from the pulpit.

Tora and Kubuabola will be the co-pilots of this Government, the ultimate kingpins and the kingmakers. But in the euphoria of their accession to power, the enormity of their responsibilities in terms of delivering on their promises to the Fijians may not have dawned on them.

In their current stridency, it is quite easy and convenient not only to promote the dispensability and burdensome presence of the Indians but also to demonise them as obnoxious foreigners who have manipulated and exploited Fijians over the past 100 years, denying them their just rights and supremacy.

Like Sitiveni Rabuka, however, they will soon realise that the grand Fijian renaissance they have promised will always remain no more than a utopian dream unless they face up to the realities of the Indian contribution.

If they want a real nation, they must accept that it has to be on the economic pillars of the Indians.

The Indians, through their sugar income, small-business and professional skills, have been the engineroom of Fiji's economic and social development. Their savings constitute the largest single source of domestic investment capital.

Fiji's transformation from virtual bush to a vibrant economic powerhouse of the Pacific is due almost solely to the intellectual and physical capital of the Indians and their efforts. The three big post-independence chiefs - Mara, Cakobau and Ganilau - accepted this.

The sugar industry has been the mainstay of Fiji's economy for the past century; Indians produce about 90 per cent of the sugar. The industry employs about 60,000 directly and supports at least 50 per cent of the nation.

Qarase concedes this but is not willing to offer Indians a status and security beyond that of economic beasts of burden.

The turmoils of the past 13 years have made Fiji an international pariah. But for the 350,000 Indians, it will remain the glittering jewel of the Pacific, their dharti mata (place of birth) involving deep bonds of love and loyalties.

An insignificant minority who have the money and the skills will leave, but for at least 300,000 Indians, Fiji is their only anchor. Their cries to the international community for emigration assistance have fallen flat.

* Nitya Reddy, a member of the 1987 Bavadra Government, is chairman of the International Congress of Fiji Indians.