Land and politics in Fiji: Of failed land reforms and coups

Journal of Pacific History

Volumn 36, Issue 3, 2001, Pages 299-315

  Kurer, Oskar ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0012901081     PISSN: 00223344     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00223340120096260     Document Type: Article

References (69)

1. R. Gerard Ward, Land Use and Population in Fiji (London 1965), 115.
2. Over 6,000 registered landowning mataqali are holding on average 243 hectares of land (Wolfgang Kasper, Jeff Bennett and Richard Blandy, Fiji. Opportunity from Adversity? (St Leonards, NSW 1988), 103).
3. The exceptions are the 'native reserves', set aside under the Native Land Trust Ordinance of 1940, to ensure a sufficient supply of land to native Fijians (Ward, Land Use and Population, 135-6).
4. In practice, there are many informal leasehold arrangements.
5. Michael Moynagh, 'Land tenure in Fiji's sugar cane districts since the 1920s', Journal of Pacific History, 13 (1978), 57.
6. Government of Fiji, Agricultural Landlord and Tenant Act (ALTA), Laws of Fiji, Ch. 270 (Suva 1976, Revision 1985), Section 40: Schedule.
7. Five per cent goes to the chief of the vanua, 10% to the chief of the yavusa, and 15% to the chief of the mataqali. A vanua consists of a group of villages, a yavusa embraces people connected to a common ancestor, a mataqali is an offspring of a yavusa expanding in numbers (Peter France, The Charter of the Land (Melbourne 1969), 166).
8. The British government justified the adoption of this formula in the early part of the centuiy by the significance the various chiefly components had in the traditional hierarchical structure, and the help they provided to preserve that structure, although custom varied and in some instances chiefs had no proprietary rights whatsoever (D.T. Lloyd, Land Policy in Fiji (Cambridge 1982), 220).
9. According to a survey, farmers 'commonly believed that only about 10% of the applicants for erecting concrete houses were successful. The farmers state that they were actively discouraged from building any concrete structures on leased land because eventually when the lease expired, there was no legal provision for compensation' (Prem C. Prasad, 'Fiji: Sugar Cane Production and Land Tenure', in Ben Acquaye and Ron Crocome (eds), Land Tenure and Rural Productivity in the Pacific Islands (Suva 1984), 107).
10. An MP declared in parliament that 'the 1992 UCV's declared by the Committee of Valuers appointed under ALTA are not practical, nor can they be considered fair and reasonable ... cane prices have not increased significantly enough to warrant such a large increase' (Hansard, 19 Nov. 1992, p. 1153).
11. See also Hansard, 24 Nov. 1993, p. 1272;
12. Times, 8 May 1993, p. 27.
13. Post, 18 Aug. 2000, p. 3.
14. Asesela D. Ravuvu, The Facade of Democracy. Fijian struggles for political control, 1830-1987 (Suva 1991), 58-60.
15. NLTB, Deed of Sovereignty (Suva 2000), 19.
16. Ravuvu, The Facade of Democracy, 60.
17. Ravuvu repeated this position publicly after he had become head of the Constitutional Review Commission of the Interim Government. According to a report in the Times, he claimed 'that for generations indigenous people have been brainwashed by modernised ideas of human rights, influencing them to allow people of other races to govern their own country' (Times, 23 Nov. 2000;
18. Reproduced in Brij V. Lal, Another Way. The politics of constitutional reform in post-coup Fiji (Canberra 1998), 153.
19. This is precisely the position ol the NLTB. A taukei government is to ensure 'that our people will be brought to par in areas where they lag behind' (Deed of Sovereignty, 7).
20. NLTB, Deed of Sovereignty, 4-5, 7.
21. R. Gerard Ward, 'Land, law and custom: diverging realities in Fiji', in R. Gerard Ward and Elizabeth Kingdon, Land, Custom and Practice in the South Pacific (Cambridge 1995), 248.
22. The NLTB distributed $F18,726,453 in 1998, of which 30% went to chiefs (NLTB, ALTA Task Force. Final Report. Volume 1. The Survey, Findings and Recommendations, Parliament of Fiji, Parliamentary Paper No. 4 (Suva 1998), 45b).
23. Government statement of its 'Blueprint for the Development of Indigenous Fijians and Rotumans', printed as an advertisement in the Times, 27 Feb. 2001, p. 24.
24. Post, 7 Feb. 2001, p. 1; 8 Feb. 2001, p. 19.
25. The Fiji Cane Growers Association called for a five year extension (Times, 1 June 1996, p. 1)
26. the Sugar Cane Growers Council for 10 years (Times, 11 Oct. 1997, p. 11)
27. Parliament was assured that 'decisions are taken on the future of these leases, well before expiry date' (Hansard, 29 Nov. 1993, p. 1338).
28. In his opening address to parliament three years later, the President pronounced that 'good progress is being made in facilitating direct dialogue between the landowning units and the tenants' (Hansard, 18 Mar. 1996, p. 2367)
29. and Rabuka pleaded for the house to be patient and 'that we can place our trust in the Native Land Trust Board and Bose Levu Vakaturaga' (i.e. The GCC) to develop 'fair and accommodating" proposals (3559).
30. As to the urgency of the problem, a government minister told parliament in 1993 that 'contrary to what has been now generally perceived as the dire urgency for renewal of leases under ALTA, the fact is, that by 1997, only 45 ... ALTA leases ... will expire' (Hansard, 29 Nov. 1993, p. 1337).
31. Hansard, 18 Nov. 1996, p. 3590.
32. Opening speech to parliament bv HE the President (Hansard, 21 July 1997, p. 4).
33. After a lengthy debate in parliament (Hansard, 2-6 Mar. 1998).
34. Times, 7 Mar. 1998, p. 7.
35. Hansard, 6 Aug. 1998, p. 2820-1;
36. Hansard, 29 Nov. 1993, p. 337;
37. Quoted in the NLTB Final Report published in 1998, pp 48-64.
38. According to the figures of the report, land farmed by Indians would be reduced from 77,000 to 18,000 hectares (NLTB, Final Report, 48-64).
39. Hansard, 6 Aug. 1998, pp 2820-22.
40. Tunes, 14 Feb. 1998, p. 1;
41. The role of Sitiveni Rabuka as head of government and member of the board of the NLTB is an interesting one. The official policy of the government of being accommodating to the demands of the tenants and the recommendations of the NLTB are difficult to reconcile. It is not surprising that he was savagely attacked in parliament for duplicity: neutralising government committees and handing the review process to an agency likely to produce a partisan report (Hansard, 24 July 1997, pp 108-11).
42. Behaviour meekly accepted in parliament by a government minister (Hansard, 7 Aug- 1998, pp 2879; see also 6 Aug. 1998, pp 2820-22).
43. That this was NLTB policy was explicitly announced in parliament (Hansard, 19 Nov. 1998, p. 3781).
44. Jon Fraenkel, 'The triumph of the non-idealist intellectuals? An investigation of Fiji's 1999 election results', Australian Journal of Politics and History, 46 (2000), 86-109.
45. See Inoke Kubuabola's speech in parliament (Hansard, 25 June 1999, p. 444;
46. Times, 27 Sept. 1999).
47. Post, 16 Aug. 1999, p. 3;
48. Rabuka quotes the GCC as having delegated to the Native Land Trust Board its authority to negotiate directly with the Parliamentary Select Committee on land (Hansard, 6 Mar. 1998, p. 1547).
49. Schedule A and B land. Schedule A land is land whose mataqali is extinct. Schedule B land is land that was unclaimed at the time of cession. Unsurprisingly, Schedule B land is generally of a relatively poor quality (Ward, Land Use and Population in Fiji, 123).
50. 'There are presently more than 79,000 hectares of Schedule A land and more than 50,000 hectares of Schedule B land. Of Schedule A land, more than 19,000 hectares are under lease through 2,341 leases. Of Schedule B land, more than 7,000 hectares are under lease through 484 leases' (Hansard, 19 Feb. 1999, p. 4628).
51. Currently all rent from A and B land is paid to the Fijian Affairs Board for the benefit of ethnic Fijians (Hansard, 19 Feb. 1999, p. 4628).
52. Ratu Joeli Ritova, Tui Labasa.
53. Government of Fiji, Constitution of the Republic of the Fiji Islands (Suva 1997), para. 185.
54. Changes in the constitution are hedged in by similar provisions.
55. Vijai Singh in Times, 1 Feb. 2000, p. 1.
56. The prime minister's promise in parliament that 'my government will ensure widest possible participation in the decision-making process' and that the opposition members 'will be consulted fully' were more likely to arouse than to alleviate Fijian suspicions (Hansard, 25 June 1999, p. 251).
57. Macuata MP Mr Leweniqila.
58. Most prominent among them Kubuabola and Tora. Inoke Kubuabola is reported to have called lor the violent overthrow of the Chaudhry government after the SVT lost the elections in 1999 (Bruce Connew, 'Two Countries Called Fiji', New Zealand Listener, 9 Sept. 2000, p. 58) and became Minister of Information. Apisai Tora, one of tire-organisers of the street demonstrations leading up to the coup, was appointed Minister of Agriculture with ALTA in his portfolio.
59. Government Advertisements in Times and Post, 14 July 2000;
60. Sun, 9 Dec. 2001, p. 3;
61. This is the relevant passage of such a letter: 'under Section 41 of ALTA, the Board intends to claim compensation for dilapidation, deterioration or damages, which has occurred or been caused to your agricultural holding as a result of your acts or omissions. The amount of compensation ... should be ... not less than $13,000.00. You are therefore reminded not to dismantle, remove or destroy any improvements on land which shall only increase and raise the quantum of compensation under this provision'.
62. Even if the bill was being paid now, this only 'may' restore the right to the 'grace period'.
63. 'On 2nd March 1978, the government of Fiji resolved to make provision annually for the payment of the Board of such sum as may be necessary to meet the estimated cost of staff emoluments and contributions to the Fiji National Provident Fund' (NLTB, Annual Report, 1990-1996, p. 29).
64. The NLTB was unable to submit annual reports from 1990 to 1997. This led to a significant discomfiture of the prime minister - NLTB Board member since 1991 - in parliament (Hansard, 23 July 1996, pp 3169-73).
65. It took several rounds of questioning before the NLTB managed to match revenues and expenditures (Times, 24 July 96, p. 2; 9 Apr. 1997, p. 9; 8 Apr. 1997, p. 1; 21 May 1997, p. 3).
66. Oskar Kurer, 'ALTA and Rent: Who exploits whom?', Working Paper, Dept of Economics, University of the South Pacific, Suva, 2001.
67. Even those who are responsible for the intellectual respectability of the exploitation thesis had to accept that much (John Davies and Courtney Gallimore, 'The Reality of ALTA-rents', Sunday Times, 30 July 2000, pp 12-13;
68. 'For a fail' and equitable rent', ibid., 27 Aug. 2000, pp 16-17).
69. France, The Charter of the Land, 174.