Some described it as a case of looking back to go forward.

This past week in Fiji — a place where politics, race, the army and tradition mix together in an often potent stew — the Great Council of Chiefs, a organisation banished for almost two decades, came together to re-establish its place in modern Fiji.

It came on the same week a regional body of traditional leaders, including a Māori king and princess, Samoan king and Fiji’s chiefs, met on Fiji’s sacred island of Bau to discuss ways of becoming more entrenched in politics and the big decisions affecting the region.

• READ MORE: Other Great Council of Chiefs reports
• Other Lice Movono reports

This new push comes at a time when governments in countries such as New Zealand are pushing back against traditional influence, with Māori language and specific social services being abolished.

For some commentators, it reflects a new Fiji and a more mature Pacific region: something that should be encouraged to meld together aspects of traditional life into modern society.

Yet for others, it brings back memories of a time of fear and division.

“The Great Council of Chiefs has committed a lot of mistakes in the past, including being used by some as a leverage for ethnonationalism and racial hatred,” political sociologist Professor Steven Ratuva told the ABC.

“It needs to rise above that and must function and be seen as a unifying, reconciliatory and peace-building body.”

Fiji’s highest chiefly political body, the Great Council of Chiefs has reconvened for the first time in 16 years.

ABC Pacific’s Lice Movono reports from Bau Island in Tailevu, Fiji. pic.twitter.com/6gfbDNcpMa

— ABC Pacific (@ABCPacific) May 25, 2023

‘Times have changed’
The Great Council of Chiefs (GCC), known as Bose Levu Vakaturaga in Fijian, dates back to colonial times. Established in 1876, the council was used as an advisory body for the British colonial rulers.

After Fiji’s independence in 1970, the GCC became entrenched in the constitution, with chiefs acting as a significant part of Fiji’s Senate. During the next three decades it had periods of waxing and waning influence, with its independence and political interference often under the spotlight.

Most notably, as an organisation to promote and represent indigenous Fijians (the iTaukei), it was accused by some of sidelining Fiji’s substantial Indo-Fijian population — which makes up about 35 per cent of Fiji — and in turn stoking racial tension.

In his 2006 coup, military strongman Voreqe Baninimarama took over the country and eventually abolished the GCC, which he considered a threat to his autocracy, famously telling chiefs to “go drink homebrew under a mango tree”.

But after winning the December 2022 election, and in turn removing Bainimarama’s 16-year grip on power, Fiji’s new prime minster Sitiveni Rabuka, himself a former coup leader, re-established the GCC.

Rabuka last week told the 54 chiefs of the GCC — of which only three are women — that “peace must be its cornerstone”.

“While the body is intrinsically linked to the governance and well-being of the iTaukei [traditional Fijians], it carries a profound obligation to embrace and advocate for every member of our diverse society,” Rabuka said.

Ratu Viliame Seruvakula, a military commander under the former Fijian government who worked with the United Nations for almost two decades, was last week elected as the GCC’s new chairperson.

“Times have changed,” Seruvakula said.

“It’s quite obvious that for the last 15 years, people have become more aware in looking [for] something to help guide them forward.”

And in a move that has drawn parallels to Australia’s failed Indigenous Voice to Parliament, he wants the GCC to be a “statutory body with its own machinery and own mechanism.”

“I think this is heading in the right direction [to] really go forward and move iTaukei forward.” he said.

The ‘politics of prestige’
About 60 percent of Fiji is indigenous, with the  iTaukei population, particularly in regional areas of Fiji, dealing with emended issues of systemic poverty, drugs, crime, unemployment and domestic violence.

Some in Fiji think the re-establishment of the GCC will help address these issues.

Yet, for Professor Steven Ratuva, political sociologist and director of the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Canterbury, it is not an easy fix.

“The question of how the GCC will serve the interests of the iTaukei needs serious discussion,” he said.

“Simply using the old style of chiefly protocol, politics of prestige and struggle for power have not worked in addressing the worsening situation — in fact, these contributed to some of the problems youths today are now facing.”

And, he said, the racial issue must be addressed.

“How will it protect other ethnic groups? This has to be made very clear to ensure that the anxiety and worries are addressed amicably and trans-ethnic trust is established.”

The professor in comparative politics at Victoria University of Wellington, Jon Fraenkel, agreed.

“It has played a questionable role [in Fiji] in the past,” he said. “But I think [overall] that the restoration of the GCC is a positive move.”

The GCC will meet later this year to establish its goals and timeline.

GCC leaders will also be part of a Pacific Traditional Leaders Forum to be held in Hawai’i in June, a new body established last week on Bau Island — which met before the GCC meeting — to promote the input of traditional leaders in decision-making.

Professor Fraenkel said that at this early stage it was difficult to know whether it was part of a concerted trend across the region for traditional leaders to have more say.

“Again, to have greater links between government and community leadership is a positive thing,” he said.

“It’s the case in many countries in the Pacific that the village level or the local level, chiefs can still be extremely important.

“But I don’t think that linking traditional leaders up with their people is going to be done in Hawai’i, it’s going to be done back home, in the community.”

Republished with permission from ABC Pacific News.

A new Fiji magazine published by a New Zealand-based media collective made its debut this weekend to mark Fiji’s 50th Independence Day anniversary.

The first monthly edition of Fiji Dynamics was launched yesterday, 10th October 2020 – Fiji Day.

The editorial team is made up of senior Fiji journalists and media personalities who now live and work in Aotearoa-New Zealand.

• READ MORE: Children recreate the Deed of Cession to mark 50 years of freedom – The Fiji Times
• Graham Davis: Happy 5oth Independence Day, Fiji

Fiji Dynamics aims to help inspire and further enhance the rich diversity of New Zealand’s multicultural communities.

One of the organisers, Rachael Mario, from the Whānau Community Centre, is delighted at having a place for community groups to share their stories.

“By promoting our views, identity and culture, ths magazine will unite our communities, and help inspire our youth,” she said.

“The new magazine reflects and defines the Fiji community. With this being Fiji’s 50th anniversary of independence, and also Fijian Language week, it makes this even more special.”

One of the articles published in this inaugural edition, was this reflection below by Professor Steven Ratuva, director of the Macmillan Brown Pacific Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Canterbury:

REFLECTIONS FOR THE PAST 50 YEARS: FIJI’S CHALLENGES AND HOPES

By Professor Steven Ratuva

I vividly remember that memorable day, 10 October 2970, as a young village boy attending Yale Dustrict School in Kadavu, when the British flag was lowered for the last time and the new sky blue Fijian flag with its colourful design was hoisted amid the cheers and tears.

It was a moment of youthful hope and optimism, and now 50 years later, I am reminiscing and reflecting on a journey so full of intrigue and challenges as well as resilience and hope.

Governments and constitutions have come and gone, either through democratic elections or illegal use of force, but Fiji as a collective of ordinary people living their ordinary lives, remain the cornerstone of hope in a country scarred by ethno-political tension, economic inequality, contestation of power by competing groups and abuse of authority by leaders.

Since independence, Fiji underwent a multicultural experiment under Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, which saw two main contending forces, communal nationalism (ethnic and cultural groups demanding attention) and civic nationalism (unity and common identity) competing for supremacy in syncretic and complex ways.

There were moments of contractions and accommodation taking place simultaneously and by and large there was a sense of equilibrium until the first coup in 1987 when communal nationalism expressed itself in a seriously violent way with the help of the military.

This was repeated in 2000. While the 2006 coup was meant to reverse the trend using the fallacious “clean-up” narrative, it merely entrenched an ethno-business and political patronage under the tutelage of an all-powerful despotic clique.

The neoliberal reforms which followed have led to the dysfunction of the civil service, accumulation of crippling debt, nepotism and the formation of an ethnic clique system operating under the guise of “merit” and “de-ethnicisation”, which undermines the spirit of multiculturalism, equity and diversity.

Despite these setbacks, the sense of shared resilience and collective benevolence of the people is a reason why we have not had an ethnic civil war as we have seen in Rwanda, Solomon Islands, Bosnia and Sudan.

• Read the full article at Fiji Dynamics

At precisely 10am 50 years ago today, Fiji gained its independence from Britain when HRH, the Prince of Wales, handed our founding Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, the formal instruments of independence and the Fijian flag.

Our noble banner blue – was hoisted for the first time over Suva’s Albert Park.

It’s hard to convey the sense of excitement that gripped the entire nation at the time. Fiji was united as never before as the jockeying for influence that had marked the pre-independence negotiations was set aside and the nation set its eyes on the future.

• READ MORE: Fiji businesses hoping for a boost during national day celebrations
• Memories of Fiji Independence Day in pictures

Yet there is plenty of evidence of that excitement in the films that were taken at the time (it was before the video age ) and they are well worth watching.

The first begins with the government’s official Independence Day film Independence for Fiji 1970 that was made by the Australian Government Film Unit.

Independence for Fiji 1970 – Part one

As someone who was caught up in the excitement myself, I remember seeing it when it was first released and it is a strange feeling to view it again half a century later.

It’s treatment of Fiji and the event itself has an element of the cliche and in retrospect, aspects of it are decidedly quaint.

Captures the elation
But it nonetheless faithfully captures the sense of elation and anticipation that gripped the nation on that brilliant sunny morning 50 years ago today.

The film begins with the lowering of the Union Flag for the last time on the previous evening after 96 years of British rule.

It’s been striking to read in the Fijian media this week the recollections of some of those who were there that they felt a deep sense of loss when the “Union Jack” came down.

Colonial rule in many other places was unhappy but to a far lesser extent in Fiji. Most people, in fact, had a great affection for Britain, the Queen and the Union Flag.

The formal end to almost a century of British rule triggered deep emotions among many people, coupled with pride that we were now an independent nation making our own way in the world.

It has been one hell of a journey with a great deal of happiness as well as success, and Fiji as a nation is demonstrably still a work in progress. But this is how it all began.

Grubsheet Feejee is the blogsite of Graham Davis, an award-winning journalist turned communications consultant who was the Fiji government’s principal communications adviser for six years from 2012 to 2018 and continued to work on Fiji’s global climate and oceans campaign up until the end of the decade. Other articles here.

• View the other four parts of Independence for Fiji