Fiji's racial divide<\/p>\n
The situation in Fiji took a turn for the worse ... as
\nsupporters of coup leader George Speight looted the television
\nstation and fired shots aimed at harassing President Ratu Sir
\nKamisese Mara into resignation.<\/p>\n
For Speight, it is not enough that the president has sacked
\nthe country's elected prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, who,
\nalong with dozens of officials and members of parliament, has
\nbeen held hostage inside parliament for 10 days. Speight's latest
\ntactic is aimed at sapping Ratu Mara, who led Fiji to
\nindependence 30 years ago and whose daughter is one of the
\nhostages, so that no one with sufficient authority will stand in
\nhis way to becoming supreme leader of the country.<\/p>\n
With a victory for Speight, Fiji would probably return to
\nbeing a pariah nation, just as it became after another native
\nFijian, Sitiveni Rabuka, led troops to oust a democratically
\nelected government in 1987. Like Mr. Rabuka, Speight said he was
\nmotivated by an attempt to preserve the rights of indigenous
\nFijians who could not accept the descendants of Indian
\nimmigrants, now almost 50 percent of the population, as fellow
\ncitizens with equal rights.<\/p>\n
The Indians were brought to Fiji as indentured laborers in the
\n19th century to work on sugar plantations. When Fiji gained
\nindependence after 96 years of colonial rule in 1970, the country
\nwas also left with European, Chinese and Rotuman minorities.<\/p>\n
While the races managed to live side by side peacefully under
\nBritish rule, there was little integration among them and
\nvirtually no intermarriage between Fijians and Indians.<\/p>\n
Mindful of tension between the races, the constitution
\nprovided that the House of Representatives had an equal number of
\nFijian and Indian representatives, while the Senate comprised
\ntribal chiefs and members nominated by both the Prime Minister
\nand the leader of the opposition. Unfortunately, not even such
\nmeticulous effort to ensure racial harmony and political
\nstability succeeded in keeping chaos at bay.<\/p>\n
When a colony gains independence, one taxing issue it must
\naddress is the rights of immigrant settlers brought in by its
\nformer colonial master. The history of Fiji, and that of a number
\nof Southeast Asian countries where racial tension remains high,
\nshows a solution has yet to be found.<\/p>\n
-- The South China Morning Post, Hong Kong<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/fijis-racial-divide-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }