Fiji’s colonial hang-over
Thank you for voicing your opinion as to whom you prefer to be the Tui Nayau. The whole issue was not about who was to become the Tui Nayau – that is a side issue!
A major issue one would have thought was the deception or fabrication that the Lauan and the people of Fiji have been subjected to up until today by their own chief Ratu Sukuna & Ratu Mara – the fabrication of the birth certificate by Ratu Sukuna in order to make Rt Mara a vuanirewa sibling to become a Tui Nayau. Which families in the vuanirewa clan have had to be pushed aside in order for this to have occurred? The VKB was initiated by Ratu Sukuna and be assued that this has been fabricated big time too! Is this not a concern for the Fijian indigenous people – the VKB being inaccurate and subjective to the extent that it has been fabricated big time by the very person that initiated it during the colonial days? That is an issue that one hoped the Lauan people and Fijian people would pursue to substantiate and resolve. Obviously when you live with this deception for so long, you accept the consequences of the rule of a non-biological descendant of the vuanirewa clan. And it seems that this deception has become an accepted one judging by defensive comments.
It is funny how indigenous Fijians cannot entertain for one moment the thought that the two big Lauan chiefs – Ratu Sukuna and Ratu Mara – are the origins of all these secondary issues that have evolved today.
Let me list a few major issues that “the big two” have created – the mess Fiji is in today! And may I add that their descendants (together with the opportunitists) are wanting to enforce us to adhere to that structure………(but wait, most of Fiji have had their eyes opened being also educated).
A. Native Land Trust Board (NLTB)
We have many graduate lawyers in Fiji today who have been well versed with a “Trust”. The ownership of assets of a trust belongs to the trustee of the trust. In the case of ALL mataqali land in Fiji – it is an asset of the NLTB (a trust) – and therefore my fellow mataqali native Fijians, let me tell you what the government has not told you all this time – “you are legally no longer the owner of the mataqali land”. The irony is that the person responsible for this setup was none other than Ratu Sukuna – I believe a law graduate! He and the British colonial administrators of the day set this up to our mataqali disadvantage today! Problem today? Oh yes ….Big time!
Even the “kovuti ni qele” within this setup is questionable! Many of you mataqali owners will identify with this and have wondered who to take your grievance to as the buck stops there! The abolition of the Trust null & void needs to occur for you as native land owners to retrieve what is yours according to the UN Indigenous rights and First nation people land rights.
We have been for too long living under a false pretense that the mataqali Fijian title land is still ours! Wrong!
The government of the day is the real owners of the land, not the “i taukei”! The appointees of the government of the day, who are NLTD Trustees are the real owners!
And all the above – NLTB, VKB & “kovuti ni qele” – were all done by the law graduate, Fijian Administrator, most respected chief of the day – Ratu Sukuna. And Fiji exalts him, by having a Sukuna Day! And a statue to magnify him and his contribution to Fiji! The contribution that Ratu Sukuna has brought to Fiji – was a legal separation of the “taukei” and his mataqali land – and this is not heresay, it is legal.
Where to from here “Taukei” (First nation people)?
a) Lobby with an MP to submit a Bill in parliament that overturns the NLTB Acts – that is in a normal democratic government setup
b) Take your case up to the courts – preferably the International Courts, as the one we now have in Fiji is very subjective.
B. The type of government structure we have had since Independence Day (10 Oct 1970) has been a West Minister Abbey type.
The British colonial days has not been over. British Administrators may have gone out on 10 Oct 1970, but my oh my!…they are very much alive and well in Fiji. Ratu Sukuna and Ratu Mara have continued to allow the British Administrators to rule and reign today through the system that we carried on prior to Independence Day. Fiji is still in that structure that was introduced to Australia, New Zealand and the other ex-British colonies. Their Executive system, Government system, and Judicial system do not condone the Fijian indigenous rights and the uniqueness we have in Fiji.
The Land system is not the right structure for Fiji. Look at what is so controversial today! Mataqali(s) should be the legal land owners, not the government!
The parliament system is not the right structure for Fiji. We need a something similar to the Canadian system where the First Nation people’s rights are recognised.
The Judicial system is not the right one for Fiji. The Indigenous land rights must be incorporated into the Judicial system.
Yet our two big time Administrators – Ratu Sukuna and Ratu Mara – who were supposedly University graduates – could not see what was best for the “i taukei”?
We need to get rid of the ungodly “colonial” mindset.
The coups today will continue if we are only changing the “captain and crew of the boat” and not the “whole entire structure of the boat”.
newbloodforfiji
If only you had come in with those remarks initially instead of spewing lies about Ratu Mara’s origins ..
You speak to the matter of birth certiface fabrication
as if you were eyewitness to the coupling between Ratu Mara’s mother and the British bloke in the an island of Mago you make mention.
Were you ?
talei2
August 19, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Since there isn’t a Member of Parliament Fiji citizens can lobby it might be a great idea for you to make use of your time and put forth your elaboration on NLTB and Land to Voreqe Bainimarama himself and see where that takes us. Ke dua na ka me na yaga mai na coup qoka, perhaps that is it.
veivueti
August 19, 2009 at 8:02 pm
If you want to throw mud at two men who are icons, not only in Fiji but internationally, it might be a good idea first to learn the difference between “West Minister Abbey” (sic) and the Palace of Westminster. As for derisively referring to Ratu Sukuna and Ratu Mara as “supposedly” university graduates, your appalling ignorance of this most basic point makes me wonder whether you are one yourself.
David Cannon (Wikipedia ID – User:Davidcannon)
Auckland, New Zealand
davidcannon
August 19, 2009 at 11:37 pm
51 years after his demise, I still think Ratu Sukuna was brilliant!
cikinovu
August 20, 2009 at 1:35 am
@talei2
AS far as we are concerned, newbloodforfiji has thrown down the gauntlet and your attempt at damage control don’t change our views as to who is spewing the real raw deal in here.
@cikinovu
Big deal. Rt Sukuna might seem brilliant to you only because none of the other chiefs of Fiji were educated like him in those days. Fact simply is that he was just a shrewd calculating ambitious man.
dabea
August 20, 2009 at 7:59 am
@dabea nee newbloodforfiji
On the contrary my dear; there’s no damage. However, I asked 2 very simple questions because you opened the doors
1) your name — you failed to give your name hence the opportunity to remedy.
2) you seem to want me (since I can’t speak for others) to believe your truth and given the benefit of the doubt I accorded you — the chance for you to say “yes, I was indeed there as I was the person carrying messages between the two (English bloke and Qolikoro) and it was in my house that the young duo spent nights; I of course made tea and scones to serve them in the wee hours of the mornings before the Borron fella made his way back to Mago ..”
Or something to that effect
talei2
August 21, 2009 at 3:38 am