Fiji Opposition

Will Go To Polls

With Plan For

Independence

From a Suva correspondent

Seventeen men and one woman, all Indians, handed in nomination papers at three centres in Fiji—Suva, Lautoka and Labasa—on July 26 and set the wheels turning for Fiji’s Legis lative Council by-election for the nine seats vacated by the boycotting Federation Party.

Polling, for the Indian community alone, begins on August 31 and the last vote will be cast on September 7, with results coming in in the following 24 hours.

The Federation Party Opposition walked out of the council chamber on September 1 last year when the Alliance Government refused to accept a motion moved by Federa tion Party leader Mr. A. D. Patel calling for the scrapping of the con stitution, a new constitution and new elections on a common roll.

Two full meetings later, the nine truants were without seats—which is what they wanted.

“We’ll win all the seats back again in the by-election,” they said.

Some wiseacres think they are taking a risk. The loss of even one seat and the cutting of the majorities they had in the 1966 elections would boomerang. But they are confident they won’t lose a single seat, not even the seat which was held by lawyer Mr. M. T. Khan who resigned from the party because he thought Mr.

Patel was leading the Indian com munity along the wrong path.

He turned up again on Nomina tion Day at Lautoka as an Alliance candidate and will fight for the seat in his own backyard, Tavua, which is in the North-East Viti Levu con stituency. His opponent is Federation Party stalwart Mr. C. A. Shah.

Alliance supporters think they will be able to teach the Federation Party

a lesson by taking some of their seats.

They claim they are winning support in the rural areas. Judging by the appearance of new Alliance Com mittees among the Indian community, there may be a swing, but it will have to be a big one. If there is, Mr. Patel might be the one who started it.

In almost every (if not all) Indian house there are two coloured prints on the wall—the Queen and Prince Philip. They are genuinely proud of the link with the British Throne and they want it to continue.

Own Head of State

The Federation Party says it wants to continue the link, but Mr. Patel, for the first time in years has pro duced a spelled-out policy. One of the most important things in it is provision for a Head of State.

“This party’s aim is to work for immediate independence and to set up a democratic republic with a parliamentary government within the British Commonwealth,” said Mr.

Patel.

He also proposed: “In order to maintain a link with the past, a person who is ethnically a Fijian will be elected as the Head of State by a plebiscite based on adult suffrage at five-yearly intervals.”

His opponents were on to that right away. “He wants to cut the link with the Throne”, they accused.

Some Fijians took it that h planned to tear up the Deed c Cession. There were Indians wh were very perturbed about it. Bn the Federation Party supportei weren’t. They argued it meant notß ing of the kind.

What Mr. Patel wanted, they sai« was a status for Fiji similar t that enjoyed by other independei countries in the Commonwealtl India had a president but it sti recognised the Queen as Head of tt Commonwealth. A Fiji ruled by th Federation Party would have a Hea of State but it would recognise th British Sovereign as Head of th Commonwealth.

The other points offered by Ml Patel included free education for a children, old age pensions, unemplo:« ment benefits, free medical service a minimum basic living wage fo workers, cheaper food and o operative sugar and oil mills.

No one will quarrel with suo aims. They are in the carpet baj of every politician everywhere. TM only question to be asked so far Fiji is concerned is where will tK money come from to pay the bill?

Mr. Patel plans to soak the rio to benefit the poor.

He plans to nationalise the go*

More than 1,000 Fijians and Indian recently gathered at Rakiraki village, B [?] in a traditional ceremony to hear Fiji Chief Minister, Ratu K. K. T. Mara, spea [?] and answer questions. Here greeting are exchanged between Ratu Mara and Mr. Ramjash, treasurer of the Ellington Branch of the Indian Alliance Part Centre is Mr. K. S. Reddy, Assista [?] Minister for Social Services. Minister for Social Services, Mr. V. Vijay R. Singh, w [?] also present. -Photo: Rob Wright.

ines which operate with mainly ustralian capital: and prevent “un ttered exploitation”. That could use a flight of foreign capital out Fiji with a consequent departure high-salaried people and a drop the income from income tax.

If the Europeans with money got it, the future might be bleak for e merchants, the Gujeratis, who xild be the only milch cows left.

But Mr. Patel hasn’t done any itering down since. He is relying i his newly-declared policies finding vour among the poorer people.

Fijian recruits

Already, posters and leaflets are pearing in the towns and villages ling the poorer classes how much tter off they will be with the deration Party in the saddle.

One leaflet tells the people the rty will rid them of their chains d abolish their slavery. So far, ;re is no evidence that anyone s taken that one seriously.

But one move has gained the party me support among the Fijians, icy have recruited two Fijian chiefs, itu Julian Toganivalu (who has dared that he is ready to die for i country) and Ratu Mosese irasekete (who hasn’t gone that ■ yet).

They are earning their keep, or ue of it.

They have carried the Federation rty’s gospel into the Fijian villages d, as one Fijian said who didn’t ree with the transfer of allegiance, :y are chiefs and as such will be :ened to with courtesy and respect the Fijian people. They will gain ne converts but, as the by-elections : for Indian communal seats, how uable the two chiefly newcomers the party are will not be known til the general elections.

Dne thing is clear, however, with ; arrival of nomination day, and it is that all the rumours about deration Party members wanting break away from the party came m the lying jade. With one excep n.

The rumour current for many eks of Mr. M. T. Khan’s change heart turned out to be true. The

other eight ex-members of the Legislative Council have, however, remained loyal.

On the other hand, the Alliance wasn’t exactly overwhelmed with Indians clamouring to be Alliance candidates. There are plenty who would have liked to win a seat in Legislative Council and they would have liked to carry the Alliance banner, but most of them had the same trait—they didn’t want to risk being beaten.

But the Alliance got their nine candidates and for the race card here they are (along with their Federation Party opponents): Suva: P. K. Bhindi (Alliance), Mrs. Irene Narayan (Federation).

South-Central Viti Levu: A. G. Prasad (All.), Ujagar Singh (Fed.).

North-East Viti Levu: M. T. Khan (All.), C. A. Shah (Fed.).

West Viti Levu: Dr. Saukat All Sahib (All.), S. M. Koya (Fed.).

South-West Viti Levu: Manikam Filial (All.), A. D. Patel (Fed.).

Tailevu-Rewa: M. Y. Khan (All.), K, C.

Ramrakha (Fed.).

North-East Vanua Levu: Albert Jayant (AIL), James Madhavan (Fed.).

Northern and Eastern; R. D. Mlshra (All.), Ramjati Singh (Fed.).

North-West Viti Levu: Keshore Govlnd (All.), R. D. Patel (Fed.).

Eight of the 18 candidates are lawyers.

Legislative Council meets

Towards the end of the month the Legislative Council met for three days with the nine empty seats still muting the proceedings.

There were no wrangles and no long turgid speeches either. The members polished off 20 bills, most

of them amending measures, and the usual motions about finance.

For the first time the people of Fiji discovered that the British Gov ernment’s action in devaluing the currency cost Fiji £320,000 in invest ment losses.

Many people also discovered for the first time that there has been discrimination in Fiji against white people and Chinese.

New divorce law

One new bill, the Matrimonial Causes Bill, brought out a new charter for married couples and cut out a few anomalies.

One of the anomalies was with regard to divorce. Under the exist ing laws, Fijians, Indians and part- Fijians can obtain a divorce in a magistrate’s court.

Legco member Mr. Harold Gibson, who should know—he’s a lawyer— said the divorce cost thirty bob.

But Europeans and Chinese have to go to the Supreme Court for a divorce and that means to Suva or Lautoka, and the whole knot-cutting operation can cost as much as £lOO —again Mr. Gibson’s figures.

The new bill changed that so that, when it becomes law, anyone, what ever his race, can get a divorce in the magistrate’s court.

There was one small bill, a most innocuous one, but members, from Chief Minister Ratu K. K. T. Mara downwards used it to blast the Fiji Broadcasting Commission.

Members said it was asleep, it was lazy, unimaginative, failed the people

Fiji's Governor, Sir Derek Jakeway, and Lady Jakeway, are carried ashore in a punt by warriors of Natewa village, Vanua Levu, during a recent tour. The Governor leaves Fiji in November at the end of his term.

Natewa is the only village in Fiji where the turban of smoked masi is worn, and it apparently stems from ancient times. Also exclusive is the black and red body paint. -Photo: Bob Wright.

of Fiji and had not had one new idea in the 14 years it had been on the air.

A lot of people had thought those things for a long time, but Legislative Council members had suffered in silence until the other day.

What caused the blow-out?

It transpired that the government had prepared a series of releases, a sort of capsuled communique, on what the various ministries had achieved since the Governor, Sir Derek Jake way, outlined the govern ment’s policies earlier this year.

The FBC was asked to broadcast the releases and shocked the govern ment with its reply: “No, not while the by-election is in progress”.

Its view was that this was election propaganda, though ministers have said the releases would have been prepared by-election or no by-election because any government has to tell its people what it is doing.

Suffered in silence

So far, the commission has suffered the verbal battering in silence. To date there have been no resignations but at the next meeting of the Legislative Council members will debate a motion to appoint a Select Committee to go into the whole question of Radio Fiji.

It would have been much more interesting had the Opposition been in existence when the question came up because the Federation Party has repeatedly accused the FBC of being biased against it.

Which thought brings us back to that party.

What will it do after the by election when the Legislative Council sits again? Will the members again walk out?

The party, through its Press, has said it will if its demands for a new constitution and elections on a common roll are not met. They won’t be met, not in the lifetime of this government, so most people think.

Therefore, they will walk out again.

Then there will be another by-election and then another. Or will there?

It’s not beyond the bounds of possibility for the government to engineer a change in the constitution if such an absurd situation was reached.

With a change in the constitution, the government could bring in an election regulation banning an ex member of Legislative Council from standing as a candidate for a term of, say, five years, if he had forfeited his seat through refusal to attend the meetings of the council.

It’s an interesting thought!