Book Reviews

MAINLY ABOUT FIJI: A Collection of Writings, Broadcasts and Speeches.

Published by Sir Leonard Usher, GPO Box 14432, Suva. Marketed by Desai Bookshops, Suva, 1987.

Reviewed by Stuart Inder ££ EMOCRACY, clearly, was ** B B alive and well in Fiji.” This last line in Len Usher’s book, Mainly About Fiji, made ironic reading at the book’s launching party in Suva re cently. The Governor General, Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, was to have launched it, but he sent last minute regrets that he was otherwise occupied with the military coup that destroyed democracy in Fiji. The gathering drank Fiji’s health anyhow.

Nobody could read this collection of Sir Leonard Usher’s newspaper editorials, broadcasts, speeches, lectures and occa sional pieces culled from the great number he has produced during 57 years in Fiji in many different capacities, without ac knowledging his deep commitment to his adopted country and his fellow citizens.

Thus one wonders how he copes in today’s political climate in Fiji.

Clearly he did not predict the coup.

What is the depth of his regret that Fiji is suddenly not the country he has known since 1930, when he arrived from New Zealand as a young schoolteacher? That he understands the genesis of the coup there could be no doubt, but to hear what he feels about it, and how deeply he feels about it, we may have to wait for the autobiography he promises us in his preface, and for which he says the present collection of mostly re cycled pieces is a curtain-raiser.

But until his memoirs appear with their personal views and insights, better half a loaf than no bread. And if the half-loaf is a little stale, it still sustains.

As well as his major pieces the book in cludes unsigned reports and editorials he wrote for the Fiji Times that were not eas ily identifiable as his, radio interviews whose tapes were not preserved, many eu logies presented at funerals, addresses made at school prize-giving ceremonies, talks to clubs and conferences.

He has now prefaced many of his pieces with brief introductions that add to the re cord. Those many who shared a spirited friendship with Sir Maurice Scott would, for instance, relish Usher’s preface to his eulogy on him, recalling that the former Speaker of Fiji’s Legislative Council left instructions that his coffin be of un dressed inch-thick damanu, a Fiji hard wood, resulting in the complaint of a pall bearing friend labouring under its weight: “The bastard was impossible when he was alive. He’s just the same now he’s dead.”

Len Usher is 80. From a junior teacher he went on to become headmaster,

government information officer and broadcaster, editor and publisher of the Fiji Times, and two years of dedicated community leadership which saw him four times Mayor of Suva.

His pieces reflect this broad involve ment with Fiji life. Well worth new study are his articles on pre-independence pol itics, the constitutional crisis of 1977, the Native Land Trust Board, Fiji land own ership, and the Great Council of Chiefs.

Looking back at some of these reports it is clear now that the Fijian-Indian relation ship was always explosive despite the gen uine and determined efforts of so many in promoting harmony. Thus Usher in the Fiji Times in 1968 pays posthumous trib ute to the political leader Vishnu Deo, drawing attention to the way he was held in respect and affection after “the years had dulled the bitterness of controversy”. Yet, as Usher points out in the same piece, early in Deo’s career, that controversy included his dramatic walk-out from the Legisla tive Council, to which he had just been elected, in protest at the defeat of Indian efforts to bring in a common electoral roll.

Fiji never did get one-man, one-vote elections, and perhaps never will, but the Indian desire for a common roll didn’t di minish, any more than did the Fijian (and European) determination to block it.

By Independence in 1970 the politi cians appeared to have made it up, but as Usher wrote then, it was “a honeymoon of mutual convenience rather than deep love”. Writers of political theses will no doubt find new meaning between the lines of some of these pieces.

Vulnerability Of Small States In

THE GLOBAL SOCIETY: Report of a Commonwealth Consultative Group.

Published by the Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough House, London, UK. £5. 158N085092280-1.

Reviewed by Sandra Rennie THIS BOOK defines small states as those with populations under one million and encompasses all such states in the Commonwealth the South Pacific, In dian Ocean islands, Asia (Brunei), the Caribbean and the Mediterranean (Cy prus and Malta). It stresses the inherent vulnerability of these small states in the face of external interference. Hence de velopment and security are directly re lated. Yet while a state may be regarded as weak because of a small population and inadequate resources, it still can be strong.

Widely-shared values among its people, family-based institutions and long-recog nised borders make a state strong.

The theme of security problems is dwelt upon in the book. A limited population

means essential security needs at various levels often cannot be met. A weak state also lacks the economic capacity to take countervailing measures or purchase se curity-related material. And, the book warns, external aggression can come in many guises. There can be both political and military threats as well as economic pressure for change. Social and cultural identity is often eroded.

In the Pacific, despite obstacles of dis tance, islands have created a sense of re gional identity. While in this region, the book says there is no marked sense of im mediate political and military threat, there is the deep-felt concern that stronger pow ers are exploiting Pacific islands for nu clear testing and dumping of nuclear waste.

Further, there are local issues which could have a disruptive impact, such as the bor der problem between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, the colonial issue of New Caledonia, and secessionist threats.

Having established the case for the vul nerability of small states, the book out lines means of reducing this vulnerability, such as: capacity to meet security needs; external assistance and training; diversi fied economic development; promotion of internal cohesion.

In meeting security needs, three guide lines are set. These are defence arrange ments with other states, regional co operation, and information networks. The book puts the case for a considerable role for development assistance. This assist ance can be related to provision of security technical assistance and co-operation in non-military areas such as smuggling and surveillance of the seas. □ The last chapters cover Conclusions and Recommendations. The conclusions reached are that there is a need to: en hance regional infrastructures; strengthen domestic security; develop a flexible and diversified approach to economic devel opment; exploit the patrimony of the seas; reinvigorate development assistance.

There is a wealth of good advice in this book which is valuable for anyone inter ested in the future of small states and their development. The focus on the relation ship between security and development is stressed. However, the security of small states is inextricably linked to the security of the superpowers. Hence programs of development assistance. This is not so much a result of an obligation felt by stronger states as a response to looking after their own needs political, eco nomic and security-wise. Beneficial de velopment occurs when a symbiotic relationship develops between stronger and weaker states, and the stronger states are as interested in assisting small states as they are in assisting themselves. □