Dear Editor,
Voters in Fiji endorsed a multi-racial democracy last month in a general election. It was not a perfect election but it was certified as reflecting the will of the electorate according to international observers from the Commonwealth.
The military ruler, Frank Bainimarama, of the archipelago nation, who won the election, campaigned on ending a history of ethnic conflict between the indigenous Melanesians (who it is believed came to Fiji some 3500 years ago) and Indians who came during indentureship in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Fiji has been an ethnically polarized nation with voters casting ballots based on ethnicity during elections.
For the first time, Indians voted for a party not led by an Indian – primarily because the Melanesian leader promised the Indians security, freedom of movement, and the right to purchase land. The multi-racial party, Fiji First, though dominated by Melanesians, won the election. The party’s parliamentary composition has a majority of Melanesians although they constitute only about a third of its support base.
Fiji First, won 59% of the vote and 32 seats out of the parliament’s 50. The extremist Melanesian Party won 15 seats from its 28% of the vote. Indians make up about 43% of the population while Melanesians make up about 50% with the rest of the population a mixture of other ethnic groups.
Indians were the majority of the population during the 1980s to 2001 but many emigrated after two anti-Indian coups and a policy of ethnic persecution, victimization, rape and violence.
After my visit to Fiji, I wrote in the media that Bainmarama would win a comfortable majority and that the bulk of the Indians would support it and reject their own party.
I also noted that Bainimaram was struggling for support among his own people and that only a third of ethnic Fijians were backing him. The assessment turned out to be on target.
Indians overwhelmingly rejected the two Indian parties, NFP and FLP, which were struggling to meet the 5% threshold to qualify for seats. NFP barely crossed the threshold and got three seats – one of which was given to a Melanesian; the FLP failed to qualify for a seat. Two thirds of Melanesians still voted for their ethnic parties rejecting the multi-racial coalition of Bainimarama. The Melanesian parties campaigned on ethnic chauvinism threatening violence against Indians should they vote for Fiji First and cause it to win the election.
But Bainimarama promised to deal with the ethnic extremists should they target Indians for violence during or after the vote; the armed forces and the police also stated they would deal firmly with any who engaged in violence against Indians. In the end, Bainimarama handily won the elections and there was no violence as I had predicted. Although the opposition initially had stated they would not accept the election results, after foreign observers proclaimed the election as meeting international standards and reflecting the will of the population, the opposition backed down and accepted defeat.
This is the first time a multi-ethnic party has won elections in Fiji. There was a multi-ethnic coalition between a small Melanesian party and the two Indian parties in 1987 led by a Melanesian but it was toppled after a month in office. Another multi-ethnic coalition won elections in 2000 led by Mahendra Chaudhry (FLP Leader) but it was also toppled a year later. On both occasions, the coup-makers said they did not want Melanesians to have a government with any Indians in it. Now, they will have a government that will have about a third of its cabinet comprising Indians, including the Minister of Finance, the Attorney General, Minister of Education, and Minister of Social Services.
Fiji was expelled from the Commonwealth after each coup including between 2007 and 2013. The last coup was in December 2006 after the civilian party implemented a policy of discrimination against Indians and announced a planned pardon of the 2001 coup makers. Bainimarama, who was the military commander, seized power much to the delight of Indians. Chaudhry joined the interim government serving as Finance Minister until he resigned a few years ago over differences with Bainimarama. He was barred from contesting the latest election and his party suffered as a result of his absence. Fiji’s membership in the Commonwealth has been fully restored and India, New Zealand and Australia all of which had suspended relations with Fiji have restored normal relations.
Bainimarama won the elections because he campaigned on bringing racial healing to the nation and ending the policy of racial dominance that discriminated against Indians.
He stated all Fijians, regardless of ethnicity, were co-equals. He also expressed regret for the violence perpetrated against Indians between 1987 and 2006 especially after the coups. Bainimarama’s words and actions endeared him to Indians who rewarded him with victory. It shows that if treated fairly and offered protection from racist attackers, Indians (and perhaps other ethnic voters) will vote for a leader not of their ethnicity.
A note of caution – although Bainimarama has won the elections and has received the bulk of the Indian votes, there is deep ethnic tension in Fiji below the surface. Melanesians are seething with anger that they will not have dominance or govern alone in the country as has been the case throughout the country’s history.
They may try a thing as happened in 1987 and 2001 but Bainimarama would have zero tolerance with that kind of behaviour. Multi-racial governance and non-ethnic dominance is best for Fiji and for any polarized nation. One does not expect the long-simmering racial rivalry between Fijian ethno-nationalists and Indians to end overnight and with a democratic vote.
But at least the nation will experience a period of peace and tranquillity and not be considered an international pariah to enable it to proceed with development. Hopefully, over time the ethnic groups will learn to accept each other and live and let live. The Bainimarama model should be given some thought for Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
