Author and political commentator on Fiji affairs, Rajendra Prasad, who authored Tears in Paradise – Suffering and Struggles of Indians in Fiji 1879-2004.

Corruption was the fastest growing industry during the
era of democratic rule in Fiji. It is not to claim that it has vanished but it
is being addressed. Much maligned Prime Minister Bainimarama and
Attorney-General Aiyaz Khaiyum have declared their assets, which gives
startling comparison to the wealth of leaders who were Prime Ministers of Fiji
except Rabuka who had the harvest but was not astute enough to hold it in his
granary. All others, except Rabuka, are multimillionaires. It clearly shows
that there is prestige, power and unlimited wealth that draw many, not through
genuine desire to serve, but to take advantage through such placement. Some say
Rabuka chose a different lifestyle and either misunderstood or underestimated
the treachery in Fiji politics. Once a hero to his people, following the
military coup of May 14, 1987 but today he is shunned and no political party
needs him or wants him. His plight is no different to George Speight except
that he is serving his sentence and Rabuka will remain a prisoner of his conscience
for the rest of his life.

In
the build up to the 2014 elections, racial attacks through the media or other
public forums, a common feature in the past elections, was demonstrably absent.
However, the Internet is being extensively used, sometimes savagely, where the
Blogs and Facebook sites give opportunity to people to rant and rave to their
hearts content. What is good about this
medium is that Internet is an even playing field where everyone can contribute
on issues of common interest. The voices of the weak cannot be stifled. Undoubtedly,
the political parties are also using this medium to their best advantage. But on the ground and in public, racial
comments and open display of racial hostility is not visible. Credit must go to
the Bainimarama Government for facilitating this remarkable change and for the
first time, equality and dignity of every citizen of Fiji is not only being
seen but felt across the nation. It has not only given dignity to Fijian
citizenship but also raised sense of patriotism in Fijians as never before.

FRANK BAINIMARAMA- credited with implementing policies to stem out racism and divisive politics, the fruits of which are evident in Fiji as witnessed by the Author.

It has contributed to a demonstrable change, as the two
dominant communities’ live in harmony and go about their day to day business
without rancour or bitterness. Go to the towns, markets or sports arenas, the
people of Fiji are one happy lot who relate well with one another. There is
happy and respectful exchange of greetings and hearty banter, followed by
laughter that is an evolving as Fiji Way, replacing the meaningless Pacific
Way. Letters to editor columns carry the same spirit and not the nasty
‘snarling’ of the past. Indo-Fijians
follow the Fiji Sevens team with same fervour as the iTaukei, including
Indo-Fijian women. Bollywood has also infiltrated the iTaukei hearts and minds,
drawing them to the TV screens and rigid following of their favourite
programmes. Go through the iTaukei settlements and it is not unusual to hear
the Bollywood beats echoing, as they do from Indo-Fijian homes. This medium is
also enhancing race relations, which is also transforming hearts and minds of
Fiji’s peoples, as they realize and accept they are one people and Fiji is
their home.

There
has also been a physical transformation, which cannot go unnoticed. ITaukei
girls, with their frail features and straightened hairs, adjusting to modern
fashion trends, are easily mistaken for Indo-Fijians. The effect of the roti
and curry across the nation is palpable.

Those muscular features
of the iTaukei are diminishing and the Policemen in sulu, without the bulging
calf muscles, look starved. On the Indo-Fijian front, the kava has contributed
to the diminishing physique. Indeed, there is physical harmony among the
peoples of Fiji that cannot be apprehended. However, Fiji can only become the
utopia of our dreams if there is political harmony. This can come about when
advocates of racism are disabled in the interests of the nation. Racism has
favoured a few who benefit from the spoils. Racism does not build but destroys
nations. Fiji has suffered too much from it for too long. Those closure of the
racial ‘kennels’ has brought about perceptible change that needs to be nurtured
with care, caution and thoughtfulness.

Indeed,
democracy in Fiji was a label without the basic ingredients of equality,
justice and dignity. Democracy that is reconfigured to pursue racial
discrimination is not democracy but tyranny. Both form and
content comprise its inseparable limbs. Worldwide such autocratic democracies
abound and it usually entails the tyranny of the aristocracy, propped by the Armed forces, against the
majority. Fiji has had a parting of ways between the two on December 5, 2006
and a new era in Fiji politics began, much to the disgust of the ruling elite
who had a long reign, using it to restore it to power whenever it was lost, as
in 1987 and 2000. With this detachment, a new era in Fiji politics began,
which will culminate in first democratic elections on September 17, 2014. The
field is open and those deposed in 2006 and their associates are back with
their ideologies and banners to retake what they considered to be their birth
right. Truth, morals, ethics and principles will become the immediate
casualties, as victory at any cost becomes the name of the game.

What
amused and also saddened me was the sheer lack of remorse and moral conscience
of some of the leaders, convicted for abuse of office or violation of taxation
laws, as they campaigned for their political parties. They moved around defiant
and dismissive of their past when common decency expected them to leave the
public domain. Indeed, the fodder of deceit and lies are
aplenty and the simple and gullible sometimes fail to distinguish between the
grain and chaff.

An unholy alliance, and marriage of convenience, where political enemies become friends for political expediency? [Fiji Sun Photo]

Sometimes, it is beyond the bizarre, as one person, a recent
arrival to the mainland from Vanua Levu told me that the Government was wrong
in fining Chaudhry F$2 million, as he was paying the farmers evicted from their
leased land $28,000 each from the funds he held in Australia! He genuinely
grieved that now the poor farmers cannot be helped because the Government had
taken all the money in fines. I was gobsmacked by the naivety of the person
whose seriousness in his belief was inscrutable. Will this election be won on
deceit and lies or will it be won on truth and understanding? Only time will
tell. God Bless Fiji!

[About the Author: Rajendra
Prasad is the author of Tears in
Paradise – Suffering and Struggles of Indians in Fiji 1879-2004), former Ba
Town Clerk and an analyst on Fiji’s struggling efforts to seek an appropriate
form of democracy.]