Fiji turmoil re-opens Indian exodus

Fiji turmoil re-opens Indian exodus
Michael Field

SUVA, JULY 10: For Fiji's remarkable Indian population two letters can make all the difference. PR (Permanent Residency) is a much sought after stamp on their passport, giving them the right to live in Australia or New Zealand. "All my friends want PR," said a 20-year-old Muslim student who did not want to be named. "But we don't want to go and we are all sad. We love Fiji and we want to stay here."

Others feel betrayed by a country their families have been in for four or five generations. "Our people built this country and now they are destroying it," says a mother who is applying for Australian PR. She says she will not look back. It is not the first exodus of Fiji Indians. During the 12-year regime of Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who staged two coups in 1987, around 60,000 Indians left. Many are in New Zealand, a big chunk among the electorate of Foreign Minister Phil Goff, whose strong statements on Fiji reflect the 10 per cent Fiji-Indian voters on his local electoral roll.

Still, his government, reflecting a discreet national concern about the number of ethnic Indian immigrants, has made it very difficult for Indians to apply for PR, or even visitor permits.

A year ago, ethnic Indian Mahendra Chaudhry became Fiji's Prime minister, and drawn by their undimmed passion for the island, many Indians returned. The dream ended on May 19 when failed businessman George Speight and soldier Ilisoni Ligairi seized Parliament and took 27 hostages, including Chaudhry, his cabinet and ruling MPs.

They have since made no attempt to hide their raw racism toward Indians. So Indians are having to pack up again. One of the more celebrated Fiji-Indian exiles is Australian National University (ANU) historian Professor Brij Lal, who has just published a book of essays, Chalo Jahaji On a journey through indenture in Fiji." It tells of the experience of Fiji's indentured labourers, the "girmit" or "girmitiyas", a corruption of the word "agreement" which saw the men and women sign up to come to Fiji.

As a British colony, Fiji was part of the "king sugar" industry of the 19th century, which saw places as diverse as Mauritius, Trinidad and Fiji turned into labour-intensive sugar plantations. Slavery was no longer available and the indenture was the next available option. During the indenture period 1.3 million Indians were scattered across the British empire; 60,945 to Fiji between 1879 and 1916, with 45,439 of them from north India. The first of them went to Fiji on the ship Leonidas, which cleared Calcutta in 1879 carrying 498 people, 273 men, 146 women, 47 boys and 32 girls. The voyage across the Kala pani or "dark water" destroyed caste and status in the long they were crowded aboard the ship. "The voyage was a great leveller of hierarchy and status: The immigrants were coolies all in the eyes of the sahibs.

Some protested, and others tried to cheat their way through or bypass the normal channels, but to no avail." When Leonidas arrived the white planters did not want the workers. Only after they started working did the plantation owners realise their value. "The girmitiyas are gone now, but their imprint is etched indelibly on the landscape of their adopted homes," Lal writes.