Wanted:A man

for all seasons

Alliance government stagnates and drifts aimlessly.

Patel, a brilliant criminal lawyer, aged and ill, a stranger to Fiji, a man who does not speak Fijian nor understand the Fijian political ethos, continues to make emotional public statements which lead only to a widening of the gap between himself, the Fijian establishment and a large section of the Fijian community— all of this further polarises both groups.

The Australian politicians in Fiji, as of old, know of no other interest and cater to none other than their own narrow commercial ones—they have invested in neither political nor social goodwill in Fiji.

As a community, the whites have lived apart, away and above the main stream of life in the islands—as a consequence most of them are strangers in a land where they have large investments.

Europeans' days numbered

Represented in the current legis lature out of all proportion to their numbers in the polity, the Euro peans’ days of political domination are numbered—they know this and their reaction has been expressed in the language of absolute intransig ence which can only make their eventual demise a lot more painful and humiliating.

The Fijian establishment is caught in a pincer movement—that of the revolution of rising expectations of their own community (expectations which have largely remained un fulfilled) and a desire to preserve it self as a modernising autocracy.

Its future is shaky—it may already have missed its last chance—its fate will probably be decided by a new Fijian leadership educated abroad, impatient for Fijian commoner pro gress and capable and willing to make some bold decision.

Failing this and facing the situa tion squarely, it might neither be unkind nor untrue to say that the Fijians, already out-numbered and economically dominated by the Indians, will increasingly find them selves at the bottom of the totem pole—the end result of this could be tragic. Though the hour is late, something might yet be done.

Perhaps one of Fiji’s main problems is what might euphemistically be described as a “crisis of leadership”.

There are no leaders in Fiji who

command respect across ethnic lines.

There are Fijian leaders who lead and are accepted by the native Fijian section of the population—but even here none of these leaders have a Fiji-wide Fijian following.

The present set of Indian repre sentatives in Legislative Council — mainly full-time lawyers and part time politicians—simply represent Indians.

1966 voting

If one examines the 1966 voting returns one is able to see that while the Federation Party has some justifi able claim to representing a majority of the Indians, the Indian minority which did not support the Federa tion is not small. The 1966 returns show clearly that the Federation has very little cross-ethnic support.

The “Europeans” (and Chinese) who comprise the smallest section of the electorate occupy an increasingly lonely niche in the contemporary Fiji political scene. There are no Euro peans, part-Europeans or Chinese who can or do claim any independent organised mass following either in their own groups or among Indians or Fijians.

There is a wide open opportunity for someone with a grasp of the all- Fiji situation to step into the breach, but the political qualifications re quired of such a leader are high.

He must be of Fiji—a local man; he must be tri-lingual in English, Fijian and Hindi; he must be able to be at home equally among Indians as he must be among Fijians; he must understand the pre sent plight of the Fijians who are now a neglected minority in their own country; he must see and under stand the Indian point of view on some of their crucial problems; he must also be able to command the respect of Europeans in Fiji and make them feel that their investments in the country are secure but he must, at the same time, make it clear that the old days of white domina tion are over.

Facts for Indians

Such a leader must also have a deep understanding of Fijian tradition, Indian religion and the role of the Christian Church—he must com mand their respect and make them feel that they have an important role to play in making the Fiji of the future.

Indians must recognise certain facts of political life in the islands. They must recognise that they are con sidered by the Fijian to be vulagi (visitors).

Now, from a legal point of view,

second and third generation Indians born in Fiji and who know no other borne but Fiji may consider it an insult to be so classified. But the fact Df the matter is that Fijians have bad it drummed into them that Indians are vulagi and it is what the Fijians believe that determines their attitudes and political behaviour to wards the Indians.

So the Indians must be taught and they must learn to respect Fijian views, for only by so doing can they reasonably expect to gain the con fidence of the Fijians—and gaining Df Fijian confidence is a major part Df any strategy of Fijian/Indian political co-operation in the future.

Patel and his colleagues, it seems to me, cannot and will not accept ;heir being vulagi —consequently any hope of their allaying the fears of the Fijians is very doubtful—perhaps impossible

Investments 'secure'

I would like to suggest very strongly that there is neither any threat now —nor is there likely to be any threat in the future—to Australian invest ments in Fiji. Australian investments in Fiji are as secure as Australian in vestments in Australia.

But Australian businessmen in Fiji must realise that their days of political domination and economic dictation in the islands are over— local political leaders having the in terests of the people of Fiji at heart will take steps to see that Australian investors in Fiji recognise that they have responsibilities to our people— we will educate them to these grave responsibilities and we will help them to meet them.

We have no intention of “killing the goose that lays the golden eggs” —we just want a few of the golden eggs for the people of our islands.

All we want, in short, is a “fair go” —and that is eminently Australian.

There is just beginning in Fiji the stirrings of a new political movement, a movement which recognises the role Fiji must play in the modern Western world, yet retains a respect for the ancient traditions of the people; a movement which sees that the way to achieve racial harmony and a stable government in a plural society is through the politics of moderation, remembering that dif ferent sections of the population have conflicting views on important con troversial issues, and that narrow sectional interests must sometimes be sacrificed to the common good, always, bearing in mind that political might does not make right, and that the Fijian, though outnumbered must never be outdone.