Many Indo-Fijians prepare to leave

By Amit Baruah

SUVA, SEPT. 9 Mr. Shalen Shandil is 23 years old. And today is his last day as a citizen of Fiji. Mr. Shandil, who is migrating to New Zealand, is one of the many Indo-Fijians who are abandoning their country of birth.

Mr. Shandil, a radio journalist, hopes that New Zealand will provide him with better prospects. Since 1987, when Mr. Sitiveni Rabuka staged his first coup since the country became independent in 1970, around one lakh Indo-Fijians have left the shores of this South Pacific island nation.

Like Mr. Shandil, they have left in pursuit of better prospects. In Fiji, ethnic Fijians continue their domination of the State structure. In the military, ethnic Fijians number 99.3 per cent, in the police force 75 per cent, and in civil bureaucracy, 70 per cent.

Like the others who have left Fiji, Mr. Shandil is educated and skilled. But for many other Indo-Fijians, wage labourers and ordinary workers, Fiji will remain their home.

``I have contempt for those who are leaving. They are not real Indians. We have to live and die here. This is our home,'' Mr. Fayyaz Ali, a taxi driver, told this correspondent.

The Indo-Fijian community, marginalised in the State structures, has little to clutch on to. The Mahendra Chaudhry Government led to the coup of May 2000, a sore point with ethnic Indians, whose vote for Mr. Chaudhry seems to be an effort at asserting their rights.

Ever larger number of Indo-Fijians have voted for Mr. Chaudhry's Labour Party in the August general elections, but there is little chance of their being able to assert their rights under a new Government that should be in place early next week. The former leader of the National Federation Party (NFP), Mr. Jai Ram Reddy, was one of those who helped in the passage of the 1997 Constitution, which restored the right of an Indian to become Prime Minister.

Today, the NFP is in the doldrums. While it got no seat in the May 1999 polls, it managed to get one in the just- concluded elections. Not many would like to be in the shoes of the NFP leadership these days.

Ironically, the power-sharing arrangement envisaged in the 1997 Constitution has fallen victim to the adversarial politics of the last few years. There appears to be little chance of restoring the spirit of the Constitution.

What are the fears of the ethnic Indians? An Indo- Fijian policeman, who chose not to identify himself, was open in expressing his fears. ``At midnight, there will be a knock on my door. The demand will be for matches. Or something else. I have to comply. Complaining is useless.'' Doesn't the fact that he is in the police help? ``Not at all comes the reply. My complaint will not be addressed,'' he said.

There is little doubt that many Indo-Fijians feel that they are ``less than citizens'' in the land where they were brought as indentured labour or ``girmityas''.

Those like Mr. Shandil who can leave will do so. But others will remain. And they will want to be treated as full citizens of their country. Many of them have four generations born here and apart from watching Bollywood films and hearing Indian music, there connections with India are tenuous.

As some prepare to leave and others are resigned to stay, the ground realities dictate that Fijians and Indo-Fijians must live together as part of a process of give and take. The tragedy is that not many here are thinking on such lines.

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Section  : International
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