Franchise Delicate Issue In Fiji

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31167, 17 September 1966, Page 5

Franchise Delicate Issue In Fiji

THE political pot i near the end o centre, are absent fr round the big questi

is beginning to boil in Fiji, and the brew is a mixed one. When the Crown Colony holds its first elections >f this month, personalities, not politics will decide the results. Party politics, in the sense of left, right and 'om the Fijian scene as yet. And, more or less by common consent, all sections of the community are tip-toeing ion mark that has provoked considerable racial disharmony in Fiji in recent years—the land question.

Till now in Fiji, government has been carried on by the Legislative Council with a majority of “official” members, appointed by the British administration, augmented by a minority of “unofficial” or elected members. This has ensured that all legislation passed by the Legislative Council has been acceptable to the administration —in effect the British Colonial Office.

Now, under the new constitution, there will be for the first time a form of representative government in Fiji, with votes for all. Weighted However, the franchise is weighted. The Fijian community, including Rotumans and other Pacific islanders, who number 208,338, will have nine seats, with two additional members elected by the Council of Chiefs, making 11 Fijian members in all: 235,338 Indians will have nine seats; and 26,258 “general electors,” comprising Europeans, part-Europeans and Chinese, will have seven seats.

In addition to voting once on racial lines, every voter has three “cross-voting” candidates, one from each major race, for each of whom he

must cast a vote. So that each citizen has in all four votes. Cynics’ View Cynics in Fiji have drawn attention to the fact that in Australia, where voting for the Federal Senate is equally complicated, more than half the votes are informal.

What will be the outcome, they ask, in a country where total illiteracy is quite common among both Fijians and Indians?

They forecast the results of these elections may be a big surprise to everyone. However that may be, there is a lot of dissatisfaction with the new constitution among the Indian community, on the grounds that it does not offer the country true democracy—one man, one vote. The other question that causes the Indian citizens of

Fiji to run a temperature is the system of land tenure. Other than the small amount of freehold land sold before the cession of Fiji to Queen Victoria, and the even smaller amount owned by the .Crown, all land in Fiji belongs inalienably to the Fijians. Most of it is communally held by the “matanngali” or clan, and it may not be sold. It may, however, be leased, and it is in this area that the worst friction has arisen between Indian tenant and Fijian owner. A few months ago, the Landlords and Tenants Bill brought some peace of mind to tenant farmers, who up till then could be put off their farms at short notice. The new bill ensures security of tenure for 10 years, with the opportunity of extensions test of 10 years. A one-man tribunal will decide on the renewal of the lease after the first 10 years.

Sleeping Dog

Most Indians would like to see perpetual leases, but the new bill is considered an advance on the old conditions, and in the hurly-burly of political campaigning the land question has, by mutual con-

sent, been let lie. But there is no doubt that it will raise its head again soon after the elections.

All in all, there are plenty of hot issues to warm up debates in Fiji’s Parliament-to-be. Internal development is another. Large-scale commerce in Fiji is exclusively in the hands of a few big firms, who, owing to a restrictive system of “permits” granted by the administration, have the fields of trading and manufacture virtually to themselves. This is a sore point with the locals. There is little or no competition for labour. Wages are pitifully low —the average unskilled worker gets around 2s an hour. There is a lot of unemployment and the standard of living is poor. Roads Needed Under-developed Fiji has apalling roads —if the goattracks and stony river-beds that pass for feeder roads can be dignified by the term. Not only the engine of the bus has moving parts in Fiji. Every bit of bodywork on the country buses jiggles loose in a matter of months. And the corrugated, tortuous

progress of Viti Levu’a one to locals and tourists alike. Much of the agricultural fringe country of Fiji could important motor road between Nandi and Suva is a deterrent be brought into production, given roads of a decent standard. Unemployment Inadequate water systems are another brake on agricultural development. Insufficient and badly-staffed schools i hinder the progress of all I races. A lack of jobs for a i burgeoning population leads to apathy and ultimate delinquency. There is no doubt that the economy of Fiji needs a shot in the arm. The new Government will have a chance to adminster this life-giving shot if it gives this fundamentally rich and; !happy group of islands the; opportunity of realising its' full potential. Remedies Fiji has labour, climate and natural resources. It needs capital, imagination, enterprise. A great deal of the fear and tension that hangs over I these glands could be dis-

persed by the prosperity that would result from equal status for all citizens and plenty of jobs for everyone.

This is the first of two articles on the Fijian political scene specially written for “The Press” by KATHLEEN HANCOCK.

The Fijian elections will be held from September 26 to October 8.