Indigenous rights and the crisis in Fiji.

• Jurisdiction: Australia
• Author: Maclellan, Nic
• Date: 01 January 2001

Recent crises in Fiji and the Solomon Islands have provoked a new bout of concern about the rise of 'ethnic tension' in Melanesia, and media commentary about the 'arc of instability to the north of Australia'. (1) The temptation to blame these conflicts on communal politics and ethnic rivalries, however, downplays the impact of neo-liberal policies of economic reform in the Pacific islands, which have set the context for the militarization of longstanding political, social and cultural tensions. The media shorthand of 'ethnic conflict'--Fijians versus Indians--also blurs the interplay of class and ethnicity in the Pacific. The ongoing crisis in Fiji suggests the need for a multilayered analysis of these conflicts.

Ethnicity is certainly one of those layers. The status and rights of indigenous Fijians, Rotumans and other communities have been central to public debate following the coups d'etat and military takeovers in May 1987 and May 2000. (2) The 1997 Fiji Constitution sought to entrench 'Fiji Islanders' as a term to cover the multiracial citizenry of the country. But the name has never taken, as inter-1. communal tensions have left their mark on indigenous Fijians, Indo-Fijians (the descendants of the girmitya, indentured labourers who were brought to Fiji between 1879 and 1916) and so-called general voters (of European, Chinese and Islander heritage). Ongoing emigration since the coups reflects Indo-Fijian concern that they are seen as vulagi, or foreigners, in the country of their birth.

The coups gained support from Fijian nationalists expressing concern about threats to Fijian identity and the fear of erosion of a land tenure system through the Native Land Trust Board (NLTB) that grants native title over eighty-three per cent of the land. Fijian culture and language are perceived as under threat, with the dominance of news, TV programming and films by Hollywood and Bollywood. And there are calls for greater Fijian involvement in business and commerce in the face of perceived Indian domination of business (perceived, in that key sectors of banking, tourism and mining are owned and controlled by transnational corporations such as ANZ, Westpac, Sheraton and Emperor Gold Mines, and Fijian investment capital plays a significant role in the economy). Above all, there is a demand to maintain Fijian political paramountcy, with an indigenous Fijian as President and Prime Minister.

Fijian nationalists have expressed the fear that they will be reduced to the status of other indigenous minorities in the region --the Kanaks in New Caledonia, Chamorro in Guam, Kanaka Maoli in Hawai'i and Maori in Aotearoa. International human rights standards have fostered a general acceptance by governments of a formal obligation to treat people fairly and equally without regard to race, gender and religion, but for indigenous peoples of the Pacific, their rights as first peoples of the land have sometimes been counterposed to 'equality of rights' for all indigenous and non-indigenous citizens. In support of principles outlined in the United Nations Draft Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, indigenous activists have argued that real equality can be undermined by a failure to recognize the distinct collective rights of indigenous peoples as part of the global human rights regime. (3)

Ethnic nationalism, however, was never the dominant political force in Fiji. While inter-communal marriages are rare enough to merit stories in the media, a multiracial work force with new perspectives has developed amongst the forty-six per cent of the population now living in cities. Inter-communal cooperation was already evident in the cane fields in the west and north of the country, and a lively non-government organisation sector works to transcend old religious and communal divides.

Fijian nationalist fears crystallized around opposition to the coalition governments elected in 1987 and 1999, led by members of the social democratic Fiji Labour Party. After the 1987 coups, the military-backed interim administration moved to assert Fijian political paramountcy, introducing constitutional changes in 1990 to preserve elite Fijian dominance with the stated objective of 'affirmative action' for Fijians in the electoral system, education, land ownership...