Taonga

A N G L I C A N
E
A
S
T
E
R

2
0
0
7

|

N
o
.
2
4

|

$
4
.
9
5
TELLING THE STORIES OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN AOTEAROA, NEW ZEALAND AND POLYNESIA
Fiji at the cross roads: a special report
ANCLICAN 1ADNCA z
S
ione, my Suva driver, lets me
into a little secret: when the
Fiji side lost the fnal of this
years Wellington rugby sevens
tournament to Samoa, he says it
didnt hurt. Most Fijians in this sevens-mad
country were happy to see another island
nation take the spoils.
Fijis loss to Samoa in the fnal was, Sione
explained, almost irrelevant compared to
the almighty 310 hiding theyd handed
to New Zealand in the semifnals: in Suva,
that was the square-off that really counted,
that was the result that had them honking
their horns.
The Fijian team had been pumped up for
their match against Gordon Tietjens men
by a motivational talk by New Zealands
Minister of Sport, Trevor Mallard.
On the eve of the tournament, hed
told One News that the Fijian team wasnt
welcome. New Zealanders were obliged to
have them only because the IRB wouldnt
allow Wellington to host the tournament
The Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.
By now, that title such a mouthful at frst almost trips off the
tongue. Were sometimes asked: What does it mean?
One of the meanings, surely, is that Kiwi Anglicans are linked
with their brothers and sisters in the Anglican Church in Fiji and
therefore, some of us are groping for an understanding of the
dramas they must live through.
With four coups in less than 20 years, the country is at risk of
lurching violently from one extreme to the other; a middle way
seems dangerously elusive.
In February, at the invitation of the Diocese of Polynesia,
Lloyd Ashton travelled to Fiji. He struggled to come to some
understanding of how the tensions have come about, and he
heard some of the stories of how Fijis Anglicans are living through
turbulent times. This is his report.
At sixes & sevens?
ANCLICAN 1ADNCA j
in there somewhere. Where the
Wellington sevens tournament
was concerned, the New Zealand
Governments pronouncements about
Fiji backfred. Maybe, where this latest
Fiji coup goes, they havent been of
much help at all.
Perhaps it also shows that God or
more precisely, Fijian understandings
of God play a big role in the dramas
that have beset their country.
C
ut-price package holidays
in resorts. Blue lagoons,
coconut palms swaying
over white sands, beaming
waitresses with frangipani in their
hair, bearing ice-clinking drinks.
Ukeleles. Firewalkers. Bula. Bula
vinaka.
Thats the extent of most New
Zealanders experience of Fiji. Its only
part of the reality, a part that Fijians
seldom experience, unless theyre
waiting on guests.
The reality is that one in three
Fijians live in poverty, they work
(if, indeed, they can fnd paying
work) for pitiful wages, and they
live in ramshackle housing. Many
are malnourished, and 12.5 percent
of the population lives in squatter
settlements. Those squatter
settlements, says Bishop Gabriel
Sharma, are spreading like a brushfre.
Whats more, things are getting
worse. Mahendra Chaudhry, the one-
time trade unionist, overthrown Prime
Minister and now Finance Minister
in the military-appointed interim
government, says the country is on the
brink of economic disaster.
Economic growth rates are
plunging, 3000 jobs were lost in
December, and national bankruptcy
looms.
In early March Mahendra
Chaudhry announced an emergency
budget, which cut the salaries of civil
servants by 5 percent. We are, he
said, at a juncture where we either
sink or swim as a nation.
Many commentators and critics
of the deposed government say that
bleak picture has little to do with
the December 5, 2006 coup. Fiji had
been on a path to disaster for years,
plagued by corruption, economic
mismanagement and racial tension.
Fiji-Indians had been subjected to
hate speech and their temples and
mosques were being desecrated on
an almost weekly basis. Indian cane
farmers were being forced to walk
away from their plantations, homes
and livelihoods, because native land
owners wouldnt renew their leases.
The best-educated and most
talented of those Indo-Fijians usually
fed to other countries. Before the frst
coup in 1987 Indians had comprised
50% of Fijis population. They now
make up only about 35% of the
population.
The Indo-Fijians are not the only
ones who want out. Two days before I
left the country, I few from Nausori to
Nadi. To my surprise, one of my fellow
passengers was the offce secretary at
the Diocese of Polynesia.
Viti, who is Fijian, her husband
Eddie and their two daughters were
emigrating to Melbourne the next
day. Viti and Eddies goal? A brighter
future for their children.
#
Coup culture. The December 5 coup
was the fourth Fiji has faced in 19
years. Yet many Fijians say that this
last coup is fundamentally different
from the earlier three.
Sitiveni Rabuka, who triggered the
run of coups with the two he staged
in 1987, and George Speight, who led
the 2000 coup, did so in the name of
indigenous Fijian rights.
This last one, which was staged
by the whole military and not rebel
units, was carried out in the name of
multiculturalism.
Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama,
an indigenous Fijian, leading an army
and navy thats almost exclusively
manned by Fijians, says they rose up to
protect the multi-racial makeup of Fiji;
to ensure the economy would be run
for the beneft of all people, and not
just the business elite, and to root out
mismanagement and corruption.
And the reality is that this coup
feels fundamentally different from the
earlier ones, says Archbishop Jabez
Bryce.
In the frst coups, people were
afraid to leave their homes. From day
one following this coup, the military
At sixes & sevens?
without them.
After that little pep talk, the New
Zealand team was lucky to score nil.
Two weeks later, in San Diego, Fiji
won the next tournament outright.
Fijis coach and most famous player
Waisale Serevi his face is plastered
on billboards throughout the country
told the Fiji Times that he must give
credit where it was due.
I must thank the Lord, he said.
Without Him, we wouldnt have
achieved what we did
He told the reporters that the
Almightys favour was clearly evident
in the quarter-fnal. Theyd faced
South Africa with just six men and
had snatched a victory only in the
dying seconds.
God, said the great Serevi, was
the seventh player for us...
So whats all that got to do with
coming to grips with the Fiji coup?
Well, maybe theres an analogy
Fiji had been on a path to disaster for years,
plagued by corruption, economic mismanagement
and racial tension.
< Fiji at the cross roads >
ANCLICAN 1ADNCA q
has encouraged people to go about
their normal, daily lives. The crime
rate is down. People feel safer.
Thats a common testimony,
and its not surprising. With
military checkpoints at most major
intersections, youd probably expect
that.
F
iji has suffered from the same
disease as Northern Ireland.
Its been bedeviled by tribal
politics.
Politicians stand for parties
representing their own ethnic
groups while doing their utmost to
encourage the emergence of small
splinter parties in the other ethnic
group.
Fijis 1997 constitution which our
own Sir Paul Reeves helped bring to
birth grappled with that reality. It
encourages the formation of multi-
party cabinets.
The party that wins the majority of
the 71 seats in a Fijian election wins
the right to govern. Were used to
that idea. But whatever other parties
win, 10 percent or more of the seats
are automatically invited to join the
government, without conditions.
In last Mays election Laisenia
Qarases Soqosoqo Duavata ni
Lewenivanua Party (SDL for short)
won 80% of the indigenous Fijian vote,
and therefore won the right to form a
government.
Nine MPs from Mahendra
Chaudhrys Fiji Labour Party which
had won 80 percent of the Indian vote
entered cabinet.
That was a hopeful sign, surely.
A move away from tribal politics.
Trouble is, relations between the
government and the military were
already on the skids. Well look at some
of the reasons why in a minute.
But frst, well note something that
Fijians who are sympathetic to the
military are inclined to say.
Time and again, theyll
suggest, the army had warned the
government. It had made its demands
clear and said the government was on
a doomed course but the government
never seemed to heed those warnings.
As if to say: what else could
you expect but a coup? To a New
Zealander that sounds shocking. But
to many in Fiji, our thinking is nave
and unrealistic.
For a start, theres the fact that
Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama
has been a popular hero he was the
military leader who freed the hostage
MPs in 2000, and delivered the
country from George Speights gang.
But it goes deeper than that. The
Republic of Fiji Military Forces
(RFMF) believes it has a constitutional
mandate to infuence government
policy in the interests of Fiji however
those interests may be defned.
Thats a claim that remains
contentious, and has not been tested
by the courts. Yet.

David Robie, an associate professor
who heads a new school of Asia and
Pacifc Media Studies at Auckland
University of Technology, and who is
a veteran observer and commentator
on Pacifc affairs, has written that
Laisenia Qarase is not the paragon of
democracy portrayed by the media and
coup critics.
Bainimaramas hand was forced,
wrote Robie in the Listener on
December 23, because an ineffcient
police force failed to prosecute the
Speight coup perpetrators with
suffcient zeal, and by an arrogant
and racist government hellbent on
granting a general amnesty to Speight
and the plotters.
To understand where hes coming
from, we have to go back a few years.
Ten days after George Speights
coup of May 19, 2000, Commodore
Bainimarama declared martial law.
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, the
President, resigned (some say he was
forced to quit) and the Commodore
ended Mahendra Chaudhrys hopes
of being reinstated as Prime Minister,
justifying his actions by The Doctrine
of Necessity.
(According to one theory,
Bainimarama removed them both
from offce under pressure from the
Speight gang. And last Decembers
coup, those theorists suggest, was
the revenge of the Maras. One of
the most outspoken supporters of
the militarys move was Ratu Epeli
Ganilau, the late Ratu Sir Kamisese
Maras son-in law and hes now a
minister in the military-appointed
interim government).
In Mahendra Chaudhrys place,
the Commodore appointed Laisenia
Qarase, a relatively unknown banker,
as caretaker Prime Minister.
New elections were called for 2001.
Some say the Commodore expected
Qarase to step aside at that point.
Instead Qarase contested, and won,
the 2001 elections.
As time went by, the Commodore
became suspicious, then convinced
that Qarases SDL government was
pressing ahead with George Speights
agenda, by more subtle means.
He was alarmed at growing
corruption, by the presence of backers
of Speights coup in Qarases cabinet,
and in the senior ranks of the civil
service, and in particular by three
bills that Qarases SDL government
was driving through Parliament. They
were:
The Racial Tolerance and Unity
Bill, which aimed to grant a blanket
amnesty to all those who had been
fngered in George Speights 2000
coup;
The Qoliqoli Bill, which sought
to grant indigenous Fijians the right
to claim royalties from other ethnic
groups using coastal waters a piece
of legislation which the Commodore
claimed would have jeopardized
tourism and the livelihoods of all those
Fijians employed by it;
The Land Claims Tribunal Bill,
which was loosely based on the
Waitangi Tribunal legislation. But in
Fiji, where 83 percent of the land is
communally-owned by indigenous
Fijians and inalienable, the qoliqoli
and land bills were seen as double-
dipping.
There are ironies: Bainimarama
What else could you expect but a coup? To a New
Zealander that sounds shocking. But to many in
Fiji, our thinking is nave and unrealistic.
Archbishop Jabez Bryce
ANCLICAN 1ADNCA y
vehemently opposed the blanket
amnesty proposed by the Racial
Tolerance and Unity Bill. But, as
his opponents quickly point out, the
Commodore has insisted on absolute
immunity for his actions when he
(allegedly) deposed a president in
2000, and last December.
Theres another twist here. In
November 2000, rebel soldiers (who
were secret Speight supporters)
mutinied and tried to assassinate
Voreqe Bainimarama.
They almost succeeded. He escaped
only by dashing through a cassava
patch behind Suvas Queen Elizabeth
Barracks. Four soldiers from this rebel
unit were later beaten to death by
loyalist troops.
That atrocity, say those opposed to
Bainimarama, is the real reason for
his December coup: they say the police
commissioner, an Australian called
Andrew Hughes, was hot on the trail,
and that arrests were imminent. The
Commodore himself, they suggest,
would have been charged.
On the other hand, commentators
like David Robie say that if
Commissioner Hughes had shown
more energy in chasing the real
perpetrators of the 2000 coup, the
December crisis would never have
happened.
Following the 2000 coup, a number
of soldiers who had joined Speights
coup were jailed for long terms.
This too angers Voreqe
Bainimarama. While the small fsh
have been caught, he says, the big
sharks get privileged jobs and power.
He seems to have a point.
The police commissioner at the time
of the 2000 Speight coup, Isikia Savua,
was widely believed to have helped
Speight with his coup master-plan.
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara accused him,
on television, of being a key plotter.
Savua denied the allegations, was
never charged and duly became Fijis
Ambassador to the United Nations.
Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, who played
a part in the earlier 1987 coups, was
Fijis ambassador to Japan and Korea.
Several people accused or convicted
of involvement in past coups were in
Qarases cabinet.
The rebel President in 2000, Ratu
Jope Seniloli, served less than four
months of a four-year jail sentence for
taking an illegal oath as the usurper
head of state.
Archbishop Petero Mataca, the
leader of the countrys Roman
Catholics, summed it up this way in a
letter to the Fiji Times.
Australia and New Zealands
shunning of the Bainimarama
administration, he said, was
regrettable and shallow.
Some Fijians, he wrote, believe
that democracy and the rule of law
were abused and circumvented long
before the military ousted the Qarase
government.
A
t the very top of the front
page of each days issue
of the Fiji Times theres a
red banner, on which the
following words are set in white italic
text: We will uphold media freedom
Cmdr Bainimaramas promise.
On the face of it, the Commodore
appears to have kept his promise.
The Fiji Times had publicly said
it would refuse to publish unless it
considered there was freedom to
publish: and it is still publishing.
The military has imposed a State
of Emergency but there is not the
harsh censorship there was after the
1987 coup. The report of the Eminent
More than 300 Solomoni people live at Matata, about 4km from
downtown Suva. Its a community that has no proper road
access or rubbish collection, and a ftful water supply. Many
adults in Matata are unemployed, and the community doesnt
have a secure lease on its land. Until the 1980s, the people of
Matata lived and farmed a 32-acre block. But when their lease
expired in the early 1980s, they had to make do with 8 acres. The
Solomoni descend from Melanesians blackbirded to work on
Fijis copra and cane plantations. The Diocese of Polynesia does
its best to improve their lot.
ANCLICAN 1ADNCA 6
< Fiji at the cross roads >
Persons Group, for example which
says the military takeover was un-
lawful, and unconstitutional, and that
it should go back to the barracks was
front-page news in the Fiji Times.
But there is, says one of Fijis most
senior journalists, a degree of self-
censorship. The media doesnt go
where it knows therell be trouble.
One newspaper photographer has
been beaten, reporters have received
threatening phone calls, and editors
have been summoned to the barracks
for questioning.
Under the circumstances,
explained my contact, the media
continues to do a good job. The
military does come up for regular
criticism and question, opposition
voices are regularly aired, and there is
active debate in the letters section.
But sometimes the military is not
questioned hard enough. Other times,
there is glowing and undeserving
coverage of military and military
fgures which is a bit disconcerting,
especially when one knows that some
of these fgures are behind some of the
human rights abuses and degradation
of people.
The militarys intimidation of its
most outspoken critics is, says this
journalist, the most despicable
thing about the coup and quite
unnecessary.
A lot of people from all races were
supportive of the overthrow of the
previous government, which really
was quite corrupt (Fiji had become a
haven for conmen like Peter Foster and
others) and which was running the
country into the ground with record
budget defcits, dangerously increasing
debt levels and a lethargic response to
rampant crime.
But the abuse, he says, is very
damaging for the military, and
quite stupid. There have been two
confrmed killings and the military
and interim government now have
blood on their hands. This makes
it even harder for the international
community to make deals with them.
Bainimarama has said he respects
human rights, and the Attorney
General has said that no one will be
taken to the army barracks. But this
is still happening, and it has created a
very oppressive atmosphere.
It gives the impression that a
renegade army unit, beyond even the
control of Bainimarama, is at work.
The thought of that, he notes, is
rather spine chilling.
So where to from here?
When last Decembers crisis was
brewing, the Pacifc Forum (a kind
of mini UN of Pacifc states) resolved
to send the Eminent Persons Group
to Fiji to investigate the crisis, and
to produce a report on the best ways
ahead for Fiji.
That group visited Fiji from January
29 to February 1. Their report said the
RFMF takeover was unconstitutional
and unacceptable.
It urged the RFMF to return to
barracks; the commander to step
aside as interim Prime Minister;
and a lifting of the present State of
Emergency.
In one sense, their fndings werent
a surprise the Pacifc Forum could
hardly be seen to condone a coup.
But the EPG report didnt call for
the reinstatement of Laisenia Qarases
deposed government. Instead, it urged
the interim government to commit
without delay to a roadmap with
measurable milestones for a national
election.
The military and the interim
government agree that new elections
are needed, but say they cant be held
until at least 2010.
Why not? Well, for one thing,
The building above is a church or more accurately, its a worship centre at the Solomoni squatter community at Kalekana, near
Matata. Joseva Volivolitigau is a lay leader there, and the worship centre is in a spare room in his mothers house. Thats her standing
next to Joseva.
ANCLICAN 1ADNCA
< Fiji at the cross roads >
theres the clean-up many of the
senior fgures in the judiciary and
the civil service have been dismissed
or suspended, and the investigations
into alleged corruption and
mismanagement arent over.
For another, the military and
interim government say a new census
must be held before another election
can be held so electoral boundaries
can be revised, and voters registered.
That seems like a fair call, too. For
one thing, the 1997 constitution says
a census should be held on a regular
basis. The last Fijian census was held
11 years ago, and given the chaos at
the last elections, a new one is badly
overdue.
But no one, it seems, quibbles about
the need for Fiji to return to being a
full parliamentary democracy.

T
he press release from the
Rev Tuikilakila Waqairatu,
President of the Fiji Council
of Churches and Assembly
of Christian Churches in Fiji, pulled no
punches:
The overthrow by the army
of the democratically elected
government, said the statement, is the
manifestation of darkness and evil.
Maybe. Maybe not.
In terms of numbers, the Anglican
Church may still be the top dog in New
Zealand, but its a relatively minor
player on the Fijian church scene.
Over there, its the Methodists
who rule the roost. That goes back
to the 18th century when Methodist
missionaries evangelized the
indigenous people of the Fiji Islands.
The Anglicans came later and it
was hands-off where the indigenous
people were concerned.
Instead, Anglican work focused on
Indians; Solomon Islanders (who, in
colonial times, had been virtual slave
labour for the plantations); expatriates
and people from other Pacifc
Islands. Archbishop Jabez Bryce,
for instance, leader of the Diocese
of Polynesia for more than 30 years,
was born in Tonga and has Tongan,
Samoan and Scottish ancestry.
The relatively few indigenous
Fijians in the church have mostly
made a personal choice to move away
from their birthright Methodism
to embrace being Anglican. Bishop
Apimeleki Qiliho is one; Fereimi
Cama, Dean of Suvas Holy Trinity
Cathedral, is another.
One upshot of this is that Fiji
Anglicans are used to worshipping
with folk from other cultures and
ethnic backgrounds. Many Fijians, on
the other hand, are not. The pews in
Fijian Methodist churches are almost
exclusively populated by Fijians, and
in recent years, theyve often heard a
no-compromise nationalist line.
And sometimes the lines between
Methodism and militarism have been
blurred. Some of the decision-makers
in todays Methodist Church were in
the forefront of the 1987 coup.
On the New Zealand scene, its
hard to imagine the Methodists and
Pentecostals as soul-mates. But thats
not how it is in Fiji.
While the Pentecostal and
fundamentalist churches dont start
from a nationalist perspective, they
end up in the same place. They believe
that Fiji will be blessed only when
the heathen gods of other peoples are
driven out.
When Dean Fereimi Cama ran the
gauntlet and took Holy Communion to
the hostage MPs in 2000, he observed
that not all the ministry given to those
hostages was helpful.
Most of the Pentecostal churches
were given the freedom to go in and
out, and take their services. But they
These three men are gathered on the veranda of St Michael and All Angels Anglican Church, Matata. They are, from left: Sione
Makasiale, the Deans warden at Suvas Holy Trinity Cathedral; Joseph Abunios, a community worker; and Fr Jeke Samisoni Abunios.
Matata is struggling Solomoni community, on the edge of an industrial area about 4km from downtown Suva.
ANCLICAN 1ADNCA 8
would be using the scriptures in a
quite specifc way theyd pick from
the scriptures to support what was
going on.
For some, it seems, theres nothing
to stop them going even further.
The Hindu temples that have been
broken into and desecrated I think a
lot of us know that its Christians who
are doing this, says Archbishop Jabez.
Through his long ministry,
Archbishop Jabez has been big on
mission. The churchs frst task, hes
convinced, is to proclaim the good
news.
But thats hardly proclaimed by
desecrating Hindu temples and
mosques.
If youre talking about Fiji as a
nation, he says, it is for everybody.
There are Hindu people here, there are
Muslim people here and you dont
just rubbish them.
And that statement from Rev
Tuikilakila Waqairatu, President
of the Fiji Council of Churches and
Assembly of Christian Churches in
Fiji?
Well, Rev Tuikilakila is a Methodist,
and the Methodists presently
rule the roost at the FCC. And the
Assembly of Christian Churches in
Fiji is dominated by Pentecostals and
fundamentalists who want Fiji to
be a Christian state with only good
Christians in positions of leadership.
There was collusion between the
SDL Party and the ACCF. Since last
Decembers coup, its emerged that the
previous government had bankrolled
the ACCF.
So perhaps its not surprising that
when the military ousted the SDL-led
government, the ACCF saw forces
of evil and powers of darkness at
work.
A senior Fijian journalist described
the situation this way: Race, and
unfortunately Christianity, were being
used by the government to divide
people and keep their minds off its
failings. The government was forever
invoking Gods name.
It had cleverly and successfully
bought off the Methodist Church
hierarchy with senate positions and
generous donations, so the church
remained a staunch supporter of the
Qarase government and turned a blind
eye to all its failings.
T
he New Zealand and
Australian governments
have condemned the
military takeover out
of hand, and adopted a variety of
measures that punish Fiji and its
people.
The Australian Foreign Minister,
Alexander Downer, from the safety
of Canberra, has even urged Fijians
to rise up against the military and
support Qarase a call which an
Australian clergyman whos lived in
Fiji for almost 30 years describes as
stupid, unrealistic and part of the
reason we have a State of Emergency
in the frst place.
Nevertheless, if you look at the
military takeover from the perspective
of democracy it stands condemned
in principle. The illegal removal of a
democratically elected government is
wrong.
Archbishop Jabez agrees but at
the same time, he gets frustrated.
Fiji has been a democracy for less
than 40 years, while the countries
which have no diffculty condemning
whats happened (including the UK
and the USA) have had hundreds of
years to fne-tune their systems. When
those countries were on the path to
democracy, they had ructions too.
Quite bloody ructions, at times.
In the last 10 years, says Bishop
Jabez, people in the Pacifc have
come to realize that the Westminster
system is not ideal for us. Its only
the educated elite who know how the
system works.
He points out that when you fy
from Suva to Nadi, and look down at
the villages beneath, the prominent
building is always the church, the
prominent person is the chief. In
essential ways, much of Fiji is still a
feudal society. So if the chief says: vote
this way, the villagers obey. Obedience
is the will of God.
Some of us have come to the
conclusion that we have to go through
some of these upheavals to try to
sort out what is the best system of
government for Fiji. And to sort out
how we understand democracy.
We live in a multi-ethnic, multi-
religious, multi-cultural society. I
think democracy will take time, and
there will be friction. Theres got to be
religious toleration, theres got to be
understanding and respect between
the races.
These are some of the things that
have to be taken into consideration
when you talk about democracy. What
some of our people are puzzled about,
is why our neighbours and friends,
like New Zealand and Australia who
know some things about Fiji why
dont they say: how can we help?
Rather than just sit there and say:
get back the elected government.
When we ourselves, sitting here, are
learning that it was a very corrupted
government?
Are we going to live through
another fve years of that or should
we correct it now?
That is the question.
Its one question, at least.
< Fiji at the cross roads >
ANCLICAN 1ADNCA g
B
ishop Gabriel Sharmas shoulders almost sag
with relief. This time, he says, its clear that
Indian people cant be blamed.
An open and shut case, surely. The Fijian
army under a Fijian commander rose up and threw out a
Fijian-led government. The Indo-Fijians had nothing to
do with it.
Trouble is, the Fijian nationalists dont see it that way.
They see one thing, and one thing only: they see payback.
Revenge for the previous coups, which had overthrown
Indian-led or Indian-backed governments.
And in the minds of some Fijian nationalists, their
suspicions are confrmed when they look at the man
who is the Finance Minister in the interim government:
Mahendra Chaudhry the countrys frst Indo-Fijian
Prime Minister, who George Speight overthrew in 2000.
Never mind whatever fne things Chaudhry may be
saying. In the minds of those nationalists, hes still after
the one thing hes always wanted. Land. He wants to
prise loose the grip of Fijians on their beloved vanua.
One things for sure. Suspicions runs strong in Fiji,
and Fijian politics are unstable. And thats why, says
Bishop Gabriel, many people feel insecure about making
long-term plans.
People who are educated, who qualify to migrate to
New Zealand and Australia especially - are moving
on. They are saying: lets fnd a better place for our
children.
Not just Indian people, either. The day before we
spoke, Bishop Gabriel had fown back from Auckland.
I was sitting beside a part-European, part-Fijian fellow
who was coming back for his sisters funeral. Hed left
Fiji in 1997 for the sake of his children.
Its a dilemma that Bishop Gabriel and his Fijian
wife Ana have struggled with themselves. In 2000, the
Sharmas were living in Auckland while he rounded off
his studies at St Johns College. Their third child had
been born while they were living in Auckland.
When George Speights gang overthrew the Chaudhry
what the next one will be like? It might be like what has
happened in Tonga: 100 mad people, and in an hour 300-
400 torched houses. It still bothers me...
But Bishop Gabriel also has hope. He believes that
if Voreqe Bainimarama achieves his stated goals and
doesnt get sidetracked then it will be for the betterment
of the people of Fiji as a whole. And especially for the
underprivileged people.
In fact, hes convinced that the events which have
unfolded since December 5 are an answer to prayer.
When the tension between the government and the
army was really high last year, the Great Council of
Chiefs urged us to pray for the nation, so that Gods will
would be done.
And everybody prayed. We prayed here at St Peters,
and we continue to pray. I believe strongly that God has
answered those prayers. Its just that people cant accept
what the answer has been.
Im reminded of the story in Acts 12: Peter was in the
jail, and his followers and disciples were closed up in
a room, praying fervently: Lord, have your hand upon
him, and release him!
But when Peter was miraculously released from the
prison, and he came knocking at his followers door
the people wouldnt accept that their prayers had been
answered, and that it was him at the door.
We have prayed here in Fiji and this is the
outcome.
Gabriel acknowledges that sometimes his wife is
unconvinced by that logic. Ana, an ethnic Fijian, is
inclined to remind him that the overthrow of an elected
government is illegal. Plain and simple. Illegal.
At times, says Gabriel, we have heated arguments.
Thats because of who we are! But then, after we talk
some more I think we realize that there are certain
things that we both need to leave behind.
When both of us come to glimpse the reality of
what is happening in Fiji, then we tone down our
discussions
How many more coups?
government, they had real misgivings
about returning to Fiji. It felt like the
last place that responsible parents
would want to bring their Indo-
Fijian children to. They went home,
nonetheless, in obedience to Gods
call as they understood it and their
trust in Gods protection has been
vindicated.
Gabriel Sharma is now a bishop,
and he wont be leaving his fock.
Thats guaranteed. But in his human
side, as a husband and father, Gabriel
confesses that sometimes he still
struggles.
Im thinking how many more
coups? Whats going to happen next?
I mean, this one has been different
from the last one but who knows
< Fiji at the cross roads >
Gabriel Sharma and family in more relaxed times.
ANCLICAN 1ADNCA o
< Fiji at the cross roads >
F
lashback to May 19, 2000.
George Speight and his gang of armed rebel
soldiers have stormed the Fijian Parliament and
taken the Prime Minister and 35 MPs hostage.
They are imprisoned in Parliament, the Indians separated
from the Fijians, with hundreds of Speight sympathizers
inside the grounds, acting as human shields.
At the cathedral, meanwhile, Fereimi Cama (shown
opposite), is very much fnding his feet: hed been appointed
Dean just fve months earlier.
There are two Anglicans among those hostage MPs.
One, an Indian, shares a cigarette with a rebel soldier and
persuades him to ask for an Indian priest to bring Holy
Communion to the hostages.
The rebel soldier made contact with Bishop Jabez Bryce.
When the Bishop told me, says Dean Cama, I said that
sending in an Indian priest wasnt a good idea. Most of those
people who were in Parliament supporting Speight were
from the interior and they were people who had terrorized
Indian farmers.
Theyd forget that he is a priest theyd only see him as
an Indian. It was going to create a lot of problems.
I said: Ill go myself.
His plan was to go to the parliament after church on
Sunday: hed call the mobile of the soldier whod given the
green light for Communion to be brought and follow his
instructions. Carefully.
On the Saturday evening, Bishop Jabez called him again
when he realized there was no guarantee for the Deans
safety. Time to back out, if he wanted to.
I said to him: I will go.
On the Sunday, after Id called my contact, I asked my
warden, Sione, to drive me down to Parliament because
the people at the Parliament were hijacking cars that were
left unattended.
I was robed. At the gate I introduced myself, gave the
name of the person who was my contact and they opened
the gate for me.
I could tell those who were soldiers and those who
were not. The frightening thing was that the ones who were
handling guns were not soldiers. And they were jumpy.
Inside the gate, Speights men looked through the
Communion set: The books, the wafers, the wine and water
fasks. Everything was scrutinised.
Then they escorted him to George Speights second-foor
offce. Speight himself inspected the Communion set, while
the Dean was made to sit outside.
And then, at gunpoint, Dean Cama was escorted to the
frst-foor room where the Indian MPs were being held
behind a door guarded by two armed soldiers, with a
further one inside.
I was left alone with them. I introduced myself to the
gentleman who was an Anglican and he then introduced
me to Chaudhry and everybody else.
And after that, we had a
Communion service. There was
only one Christian among them
and 20 Hindus and Muslims.
But they were so glad to see
me. And on that frst day, they all
received Communion Hindu,
Muslim and Christian alike.
After that, Dean Cama was led
to the parliamentary chambers
themselves, where the Fijian and
female MPs were being held.
There were about 20 there, and
although most were Christian,
there was only one Anglican, and
two Roman Catholics.
All, however, were deeply
grateful to see him.
The Eucharists he celebrated
at Parliament was just part of his
ministry during the crisis.
When the coup had frst broken
out, the wives and families of
the hostages had approached the
Dean and asked to hold a prayer
vigil at the Cathedral. Hindus,
Muslims and Christians, all
wanted to gather to pray for the
release of their trapped family
members.
With the blessing of Bishop
Jabez, the Dean gave that idea the
Vigils and vigilantes
Every Thursday lunchtime since the December coup, folk have gathered at Suvas Holy
Trinity Cathedral for an interfaith peace vigil. Their meeting has an honourable history: in
2000, during the 56 days the MPs were held hostage by George Speight, the wives and family
members of the MPs Hindus, Muslims and Christians alike would gather at the cathedral to
pray for the safety of their family members.
The leaders of the present vigil are Sharon Bhagwan Rolls (in white, kneeling) and Tessa
McKenzie, standing at the right. On the day the photograph was taken, the women were joined
by Archdeacon Taimalelagi Leota (left), the former Anglican Observer to the United Nations.
ANCLICAN 1ADNCA
thumbs up, and every day of the crisis, from 12noon till
2pm, the women gathered.
When the hostages had received Holy Communion,
they would give messages to Dean Cama to relay to their
families, who would be anxiously waiting for his return to
the cathedral.
The wives would show me photos of their menfolk, so I
would know who to pass the messages on to. One would say
to me: What about this gentleman?
And Id say: Oh, hes OK.
It was, says Dean Cama, an intense and emotional time.
And so it continued, Sundays and Wednesdays, for the
duration of the 56-day siege.
I was once asked a very awkward question by one of the
rebel soldiers: As a Fijian, what do you think about what we
have done?
I said: First and foremost, Im a priest and I preach
about love and care for all. That is all I can tell you at this
point in time.
Naturally, when the hostage crisis was fnally over, many
people no longer felt the need for the vigil.
Even so, on the 19th of every month (the 2000 coup
broke out on Thursday, May 19) women still gathered at the
cathedral to pray.
And when last Decembers coup happened, it was easy to
reactivate the vigil.
A number of women, dressed in black and wearing sky
blue ribbons the colour of the Fijian fag gathered in a
central Suva park in a demonstration of peaceful resistance
to the military regime.
The women, who were from civil society groups and non-
government organisations, walked through the streets of
the capital to the cathedral.
And every Thursday, between 1 and 2pm, you will see
women there still, bearing witness to their hope for a just
peace, non-violence and a democratic future for Fiji.
Dean Fereimi Cama: The frightening thing was that the ones
who were handling guns were not soldiers. And they were
jumpy.
ANCLICAN 1ADNCA z
T
he in memoriam columns
in the February 10 edition of
the Fiji Times displayed fve
photos of dearly departed
souls. One catches my eye: an informal
shot of a handsome young Fijian man
with a three-day stubble, refective
sunglasses pushed up on his forehead
and the stock of a military rife nes-
tled against his right shoulder.
Blessed are the peacemakers, the
text says, for they will be called sons
of God. The serial number beneath
the photo confrms that this was a
23-year-old private, killed on some
foreign feld.
There are now more than 2000
Fijians serving with the British Army,
mostly in Southern Iraq, with another
1000, mostly ex-RFMF soldiers, in
Iraq as hired guns for security frms.
A University of the South Pacifc
economist has said that mercenary
work was transforming Fiji into a
remittance economy like Tonga and
Samoa.
The hired guns and the soldiers
send home about $F300 million, which
now makes up almost 10% of Fijis
gross domestic product.
Last June the veteran Pacifc Is-
lands reporter Michael Field wrote:
Iraqs mess swallows up as many
unemployed young men as Fiji can
provide.
Peace in the Middle East, he wrote,
would be Fijis worst economic night-
mare.
There is, as the in-memoriam photo
suggests, a cost in shed blood. In the
six weeks before Michael Field wrote
the paragraph above, 14 Fijians had
returned home to Nadi in body bags.
The irony is that in death those
soldiers and hired guns present their
families with a gift unthinkable had
they survived. Where the security
guards are concerned, Lloyds Insur-
ance pays NZ$252,000 to each family,
which is wealth beyond measure in the
villages.
Since the coup, however, the British
Army has stopped recruiting Fijians
into its army.
Tourism? That was to have been the
saviour of the Fiji economy, and may
still be but the December 5 coup and
military checkpoints at most major
intersections havent done much for
the Friendly Fiji image.
Sugar, meanwhile, accounts for 35
percent of Fijis GDP, and the incomes
from the cane felds keep 40,000 fami-
lies going. The sugar industry has been
heavily subsidised by the European
Union, but thats about to end, and
world sugar prices are expected to fall
this year.
Worse still, the Europeans had
promised to come up with a F$350
million investment and loan package
to upgrade the 100-year-old sugar
mills and their infrastructure. Within
hours of the coup, the EU warned
that this desperately needed package
would be reviewed.
If the sugar reforms dont take
place, says an economist at the Uni-
versity of the South Pacifc, thousands
will lose their jobs, and this will lead
to further political and social strife.
On the day of the coup, in unrelated
but equally bad news, Emperor Gold
Mines announced that it would shut
its Vatukoula mine, with a loss of more
than 2000 jobs. Emperor has been
operating at Vatukoula for 71 years,
and last year gold exports tallied
F$218 million, around 7% of Fijis total
exports.
All this in a country where the going
rate for labourers is $1.75 an hour. And
the picture isnt too appealing for the
countrys brightest and best-educated
young people either: in February the
Health Ministry reported that 102 of
last years medical school graduates
couldnt fnd work, and the ministry
was still trying to fnd jobs for gradu-
ates from the previous year.
The public sector unions, on the
other hand, which were a powerbase
for the deposed government, have
done their best to insulate their mem-
bers from hardship.
Public sector salaries and wages
account for around 40% of govern-
ment spending with debt servicing
accounting for another 43% leaving
a mere 17% for social services or devel-
opment projects.
Yet in April last year on the eve
of the May 2006 elections the now
deposed SDL government struck a
Partnership Agreement with the Pub-
lic Sector Unions under which they
would be granted generous, automatic,
cost of living adjustments (COLA).
In July last year when the frst
COLA was paid out the deposed gov-
ernment only managed to scrape to-
gether enough dollars to pay the COLA
by shaking down various ministries,
and putting a halt to all government
capital projects.
By the start of this year, the govern-
ment was already $80 million in ar-
rears in its scheduled payments under
the Partnership Agreement. Had the
COLA payments and other public serv-
ice salary increases continued, F$250
million in total would have been paid
out by the end of this year.
How had the deposed government
intended paying for this years COLA
adjustment and salary increase? The
SDL governments budget for 2007
would have increased the VAT tax by
2.5 percent to 15 percent, which would
have dragged in another $90 million
in taxes.
In simple terms: poor people were
being forced to stump up for civil
service pay rises under a deal hatched
between the public sector unions and
the Qarase government on the eve of
an election. Some might call it vote-
buying.
When the interim government
came into power in January Mahen-
dra Chaudhry a former trade union
offcial himself made clear that it
would scrap the VAT increase and the
Partnership Agreement.
And in the emergency budget that
Chaudhry delivered on March 2, pub-
lic salary salaries and wages were cut
across the board by 5%.
It remains to be seen what the fall-
out from that move will be.
But theres little doubt that the most
serious opposition to the interim gov-
ernment comes from within the civil
service.
And more will be heard from them.
Blessed
are the peacemakers
< Fiji at the cross roads >
ANCLICAN 1ADNCA z
ANCLICAN 1ADNCA j
W
hen Monica Raghwan refects on her
countrys turmoil shes just thankful, she
says, that many people in Fiji know the
Lord. When people know Christ, they have
an understanding of love, patience and tolerance. If they
didnt, wed have a major problem.
She pauses: I just thank the Lord that we havent come
to civil war.
Monica is a committed parishioner at Suvas Holy Trinity
Cathedral, and Polynesias representative on the Youth
Covenant Commission.
And for six months last year, Monica was an MP. She
contested and won the open constituency of Samabula-
Tamavua for the Fiji Labour Party at the May 2006
elections.
Why did she stand for Parliament?
Im the fourth generation here, she says. My dad, Vijay
Raghwan, had been in local politics for 12 years. He was
the Lord Mayor of Suva immediately after the frst coup.
Weve been in business (Raghwan Construction, one of Fijis
largest frms) for 37 years. We had no intention of migrating.
The logical thing, given that we want to stay on, is that
we needed to give back something and we wanted to be
part of the decision-making. If everything was fne, I think
I would have just stuck with our business.
Shes one whos convinced, for example, that the civil
service is in urgent need of reform.
You might assume, therefore, that Monica whose
boss, for those six months that she was in Parliament, was
Mahendra Chaudhry is quietly comfortable with the
events that have taken place since December 5.
Many are. And indeed Monica is convinced that
Mahendra Chaudhry is the right person to deliver the
reforms her country is in dire need of.
But the coup itself?
To me, you look at the principles: if 1987 wasnt right, if
2000 wasnt right I cannot possibly see how 2006 can be
right, either.
It shouldnt be happening in this way. Thats why you
have laws. Thats why you have things in place to fx these
problems. Why else do you have a Constitution?
A cleanups good. Were all happy to be getting rid of
corruption. But what happens when the army moves out,
and the next government comes in? And what happens if
you get people back who are corrupt?
How do you secure yourself against those things? As
long as you have corrupt people, youll have corruption.
How does all this help us 20 years from now?
One fundamental problem, Monica believes, is that Fiji
doesnt have the legal checks and balances in place to nip
corruption in the bud.
The 1997 Constitution said that within fve years we
needed to have a legislated code of ethics, a code of conduct.
Its been almost a decade now, and nothing has happened.
Unless and until we get those checks and balances into
place, theres almost no point
Giving something back
< Fiji at the cross roads >
ANCLICAN 1ADNCA q
< Fiji at the cross roads >
N
athaniel Raj is Bishop Gabriel
Sharmas right-hand man.
Hes the vicars warden at St
Peters Church in Lautoka.
In 1998 Nathaniel started Potent
Electric, an electrical contracting
business that now employs 23 men.
When I visited Nathaniel and his
wife Rachell in mid-February, the
outlook for business in Fiji wasnt too
bright. Its the credit squeeze. Since
the coup, lending has dried up. The
banks in Fiji arent giving out any more
loans.
And if youve got a business thats
linked to the construction game, thats
a problem.
If it werent for the credit squeeze,
prospects for Potent Electric would
be quite rosy. Theyve already been
awarded the wiring contract for a new
F$8million accommodation block at
the University of the South Pacifc in
Suva. Thats another eight months
work for those 23 men. And there are
other even bigger jobs in the pipeline.
But with loans frozen, construction
work at the USP has ground to a halt,
and that means Potent Electric cant
do its thing, either.
When I spoke to Nathaniel and
Rachell in February, their men were
working six days a week to complete
jobs they had started last year. They
had enough to keep them going like
that for another couple of months.
After that? Well, that was a matter
for prayer.
At all costs, Nathaniel told me,
theyd try to avoid laying people off. If
the work began to dry up, theyd eke it
out by cutting the mens hours back.
Nathaniel and Rachell kept their
business together through one coup,
and survived the crisis when their
factory was accidentally burned down,
so they know how to ride out tough
times.
The Bible says we have to face
these kinds of things, Nathaniel says.
Our Lord Jesus, he faced a lot of
things. So whatever comes our way, we
just pray, and we know that our Jesus
is in front of us, and hes going to carry
us through.
Rachell agrees: The Word of God
says that in the last days, these things
are going to happen.
Theres contentment and peace in
that understanding, she says. The
only thing is we are thinking about our
workers and their families
potency of prayer
Trading on the
ANCLICAN 1ADNCA y