Abstract
Chapter 3 presents a micro-analysis of the history as well as the structural make-up of the island of Fiji. This chapter presents a description of the different ethnic group that makes up the country such as native Fijians (Melanesians) with some having a Polynesian ancestry, and Indo-Fijians whose descendants are the Indian indentures. It attempts a difficult examination of the system of administration in that country. This administration comprises a number of geographical areas called yasana which were ruled by governors. The administration was further extended to have districts as Park (2006) referred to as tikina. Each district had various villages with a mix of people and cultures. This chapter points out that divisiveness of Fiji was in part due to the settlement pattern of the different groups. This chapter then examines the way the different ethnicities were accommodated into the political system. One mechanism, for instance, that was discussed in this chapter was the reformation of the Fijian Constitution, including a Bill of Rights, to ensure the rights of all groups in the country.
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Notes
- 1.
In the case of Guyana, see Bissessar and La Guerre 2013.
- 2.
Much of this literature has been taken from a well-researched thesis by Aubrey Parke 2006.
- 3.
Parke (2006, pp. 9–14) provides the bulk of the data in this chapter. The table is taken from page 9.
- 4.
Ali 1980.
- 5.
According to Lal (2006) the then Governor Gordon’s land policies ensured that 83 per cent of all land remained inalienably in Fijian ownership. The justification for this policy was that without land the traditional Fijian community would collapse and suffer the fate of other dispossessed communities in the Pacific islands. He notes that Today, as Crown land (Schedules A and B—either not claimed by any landowning units or whose owners had died out) has come under the jurisdiction of the Native Land Trust Board, more than 90 per cent of all land in Fiji is now owned by the indigenous community although it has to be said that large portion
- 6.
Much of this data is taken from Brij V. (Lal 2006). Islands of Turmoil. Elections and Politics in Fiji. Australian National University: Asia Pacific Press/Co-Published by ANU E Press and Asia Pacific Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200.
- 7.
For a more detailed account of cross-voting and communal roll, see Brij V. Lal (2006).
- 8.
The Federation Party won all the Indo-Fijian communal seats, and increased its majorities.
- 9.
Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei) was a party which dominated politics in the 1990s and was the mainstay of coalition governments from 1992 to 1999.
- 10.
The Christian Democratic Alliance, better known locally by its Fijian name, Veitokani ni Lewenivanua Vakarisito (VLV), was a Fijian political party that operated in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
- 11.
Voreqe Bainimarama, also called Frank Bainimarama (born April 27, 1954, Kiuva, Fiji), Fijian military leader who led a 2006 coup that resulted in his becoming acting president (2006–07) and later acting prime minister (2007–09) of Fiji. He was sworn in officially as prime minister in September 2014 following his victory in the country’s first elections since the coup.
- 12.
Laisenia Qarase (pronounced [ŋɡaˈrase]; born 4 February 1941) served as the sixth Prime Minister of Fiji from 2000 to 2006.
- 13.
Fiji’s social-economic development, post-election” given by HE Mr Solo Mara, Fiji’s High Commissioner in London. Mr Mara, who has served in the UK since late 2011, is a career diplomat. Following various government posts, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2000 and was appointed Permanent Secretary in 2008. Discussion at the Pacific Island Society of the UK and Ireland 07 Nov 2013; CPA, Palace of Westminster.
- 14.
2014 Fijian Elections Final Report of the Multinational Observer Group.
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Bissessar, A.M. (2017). Fiji: A Fractured Society. In: Ethnic Conflict in Developing Societies . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53709-2_3
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