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Indo-Fijians

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People of Indian origin constitute about 37 percent of Fiji's population.[1] They are mostly descended from indentured labourers brought to the islands by Fiji's British colonial rulers between 1879 and 1916 to work on Fiji's sugar cane plantations. These were complemented by the later arrival of Gujarati and Punjabi immigrants. They have adapted to the new environment with changes to their dress, language and culinary habits, although they have maintained their distinct culture. The Fiji Indians have fought for equal rights, although with only limited success. Many have left Fiji in search of better living conditions and social justice and this exodus has gained pace with the series of coups starting in the late 1980s.

The arrival of Indians in Fiji

The first Indian in Fiji

Indians had been employed for a long time on the European ships trading in India and the East Indies. Many of the early voyages to the Pacific either started or terminated in India, and many of these ships were wrecked in the unchartered waters of the South Pacific. The first recorded presence of an Indian in Fiji was by Peter Dillon, a sandalwood trader in Fiji, of a lascar (Indian seaman) who survivedsuk a dik loser a ship wreck and lived amongst the natives of Fiji in 1813.[2]

First attempt to recruit Indian labourers

Before Fiji was ceded to Great Britain, some planters had tried to obtain Indian labour and had approached the British Consul in Levuka, Fiji but were met with a nagative response. In 1870 a direct request by a planter to the Government of India was also turned down and in 1872, an official request by the Cakobau Government was informed that British rule in Fiji was a pre-condition for Indian emigration to Fiji. [3]

In January 1979, thirty-one Indians, who had originally been indentured labourers in Reunion, where brought from New Caledonia to Fiji under contract to work on a plantation in Taveuni. These labourers demonstrated knowledge of the terms of the indenture agreement and were aware of their rights and refused to do the heavy work assigned to them. Their contract was terminated by mutual agreement between the labourers and their employers. In 1881, thirty-eight more Indians arrived from New Caledonia and again most of them left but some stayed taking Indian wives or Island women. [4]

Arrival under the indentured system

The colonial authorities promoted the sugar cane industry, recognizing the need to establish a stable economic base for the colony, but were unwilling to exploit indigenous labour and threaten the Fijian way of life. The use of imported labour from the Solomon Islands and what is now Vanuatu generated protests in the United Kingdom, and the Governor Sir Arthur Hamilton-Gordon decided to implement the indentured labour scheme, which had existed in the British Empire since 1837. A recruiting office was set up in Calcutta, followed by another in Madras in 1902.

The Leonidas, a labour transport vessel, disembarked at Levuka from Calcutta on 14 May 1879. The 463 indentured servants who disembarked were the first of over 61,000 to arrive from the South Asia over the following 37 years. More than 70% were from impoverished districts of eastern United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh) and Bihar, such as Basti, Gonda, and Faizabad. Another quarter came from the emigration prone districts of Madras Presidency (now Tamil Nadu and part of Andhra Pradesh) in South India such as North Arcot, Chingleput, and Madras (now Chennai) (see Tamil diaspora). All, however, now speak a regional Uttar Pradesh-in origin dialect of Hindi which differs considerably from standard Hindi, and Indians other than the relatively recently immigrated Gujaratis and Punjabis have little notion of their particular regional origins in India.

There were smaller numbers from Punjab, Kashmir, Haryana, and other parts of India. Their contracts, which they called [girmits]-(Agreements), required them to work in Fiji for a period of five years. After a further five years of work as a khula (free labourer), they would be given the choice of returning to India at the expense of the British government, or remaining in Fiji. The great majority opted to stay. After the expiry of their girmits, many leased small plots from Fijians and developed their own sugarcane fields or cattle farmlets. Others went into business in the towns that were beginning to spring up.

Living conditions on the sugar cane plantations, on which most of the girmits worked, were often squalid. Hovels known as "coolie lines" dotted the landscape. The two-to-one ratio of males to females (the scheme brought in 31,458 males but only 13,696 females) created a social crisis as competition for wives and sexual partners led to occurrences of rape, murder, and suicide. Female girmits were exploited not only by male labourers, but also by colonial overseers. Public outrage in the United Kingdom at such abuses was a factor in the decision to halt the scheme in 1916.

Free immigrants

From the early 1900s, Indians started arriving in Fiji as free agents. Many of these paid their own way and had previously served in Fiji or other British colonies or had been born in Fiji. Amongst the early free migrants, there were religious teachers, missionaries and at least one lawyer. The government and other employers brought clerks, policemen, artisans, gardeners, experienced agricultural workers, a doctor and a school teacher. Punjabi farmers and Gujarati craftsmen also paid their own way to Fiji and in later year years formed an influential minority amongst the Fiji Indians. [5]

The name debate

Indians are defined by the constitution of Fiji as anybody who can trace, through either the male or the female line, their ancestry back to anywhere on the Indian subcontinent and all Government documents use this name. However, a number of names have been proposed to distinguish Fiji-born citizens of Indian origin both from the indigenous inhabitants of Fiji and from India-born immigrants. Among the more popular proposals are Fiji Indian, Indian Fijian, and Indo-Fijian. All three labels have proved culturally and politically controversial, and finding a label of identification for the Indian community in Fiji has fuelled a debate that has continued for many decades. Other proposed names have been Indian Fijian and Fiji Born Indian.

An Internet search using a popular search engine found 55,900 hits for "Indo-Fijian", 20,100 for "Fiji Indian", 24,700 for "Fijian Indian", 614 for Indian Fijian and 266 for "Fiji Born Indian".

Indians versus indigenous Fijians

In the late 1960s, the leader of the National Federation Party, A.D. Patel, who used the slogan, "One Country, One People, One Destiny" suggested that all Fiji's citizens should be called Fijians and to distinguish the original inhabitants from the rest, the name Taukei should be used for native Fijians. There was widespread opposition to this from the native Fijians who feared that any such move would deprive them of the special privileges they had enjoyed since cession in 1874. The Fiji Times started using Fiji Islander to describe all Fiji's citizens but this name did not catch on.

The United States Department of State gives the nationality of Fiji citizens as "Fiji Islander" and states that, "the term "Fijian" has exclusively ethnic connotations and should not be used to describe any thing or person not of indigenous Fijian descent."[6]

As the labels carry emotional and (according to some) politically loaded connotations, they are listed below in alphabetical order.

Fiji Indian

For a long time Fiji Indian was used to distinguish between Fiji citizens of Indian origin and Indians from India. The term was used by writers like K.L. Gillion and by the academic and politician, Ahmed Ali. The late President of Fiji, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, also used this term in his speeches and writings. The term was also used by the Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma, Fiji's largest Christian denomination, which had a Fiji-Indian division.

Indian Fijian

This term has been popularized by the academic and former politician Ganesh Chand [1], and a number of others.

Indo-Fijian

This term has been used by such writers as Adrian Mayer and Brij Lal. Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, Fiji's Vice-President from 2004 to 2006, also used it in his speeches. Its use has proved controversial among Indians and non-Indians alike: in August 2006, Cabinet Minister Jone Navakamocea called for the banning of the use of Indo-Fijian to describe Fiji's Indian community, claiming that it amounted to identity theft. Similar sentiments have also been expressed the Adi Litia Cakobau, a chief and former Cabinet Minister.


Political participation : early 1900s

The colonial rulers attempted to assuage Indian discontent by providing for one of their number to be nominated to the Legislative Council from 1916 onwards. Badri Maharaj, a strong supporter of the British Empire but with little support among his own people, was appointed by the Governor in 1916. His appointment did little to redress the grievances of the Indian community. Buttressed by the Indian Imperial Association founded by Manilal Maganlal, a lawyer who had arrived in Fiji in 1912, the Indians continued to campaign for better work and living conditions, and for an extension of the municipal franchise; literacy tests disqualified most Indians from participation. A strike by Indian municipal workers and Public Works Department employees, which began on 15 January 1920, ended in a riot which was forcibly quelled on 12 February; Manilal, widely blamed for the unrest, was deported. Another strike, from January to July in 1921, led by Sadhu (priest) Vashist Muni, demanded higher rates of pay for workers of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR), the unconditional return of Manilal, and the release of imprisoned 1920 strikers. The authorities responded by deporting Muni from Fiji.

Demands increased for direct representation in the legislature. In 1929, Indian immigrants and their descendants were authorised to elect three members to the Legislative Council on a communal roll. Vishnu Deo, James Ramchandar and Parmanand Singh were duly elected. Agitation continued for a common roll, which the colonial administrators rejected, citing the fears of European settlers and Fijian chiefs that a common electoral roll would lead to political domination by Indians, whose numbers were rapidly increasing.

Religious and social divisions : 1920 - 1945

Two major Hindu movements attracted widespread support in the 1920s, and relationships between Hindus and Muslims also became increasingly strained.

The Arya Samaj advocated purging Hinduism of what it saw as its superstitious elements and expensive rituals, opposed child marriage, and advocated the remarriage of widows, which orthodox Hinduism forbids. The Arya Samaj began by establishing schools and by using a newspaper of one of its supporters, the Fiji Samachar founded in 1923, to expound their views.

Preachers like Shri Krishna Sharma toured the country, promoting the education of women and the learning of the English language. More controversially, it called in 1929 for the forced conversion of Muslims to Hinduism. Legislators Deo and Singh were both Samaj activists. Deo was eventually arrested and forced to resign from the Legislative Council after making a public speech attacking traditional tenets of his own faith, ridiculing Hindu deities, and publishing extracts from the Hindu scriptures which the authorities considered to be obscene (source).

The traditional Sanatan Dharma, was more orthodox than the Hindu-reformist Arya Samaj. It affirmed traditional Hindu rituals, supported child marriage, discouraged the remarriage of widows, and adopted conciliatory policies towards Muslims.

The Fiji Muslim League was founded in 1926. It defended the Muslim community against Arya Samaj attacks, and appealed to the British colonial authorities for help.

Divisions also arose between Indian immigrants and Fiji-born Indians, who later became known as Fiji Indians or Indo-Fijians. A.D. Patel, who later founded one of Fiji's first political parties, the National Federation Party, arrived in Fiji in 1928 and advocated unrestricted immigration. He was opposed by the Fiji-born legislator Parmanand Singh, who argued that immigrants came with skills that gave them an economic advantage over the locally-born Indian community. Moreover, Gujarati and Punjabi immigrants often failed to assimilate with the Fiji-born Indians, and persisted with caste distinctions that had been largely forgotten by the native-born community.

The onset of World War II in 1939 heightened divisions, not only between indigenous Fijians and Indians, but also between the native-born and the immigrants. The Arya Samaj-inspired Kisan Sangh cane growers association wished to defer any strike action until the end of the war, but Patel and some supporters founded the more militant Maha Sangh in 1941. A strike organized by the Maha Sangh in 1943, while World War II was at its height, embittered relationships between the Indian community and the colonial government, and also the indigenous Fijian community. Forty-four years later, this strike was cited by supporters of the military coup which overthrew a largely Indian dominated government, as grounds for mistrusting the Indian community. Some claimed that the strike was politically motivated, with Patel seeing it as a means to strike at colonial rule.

Developments since 1945

A post-war effort by European members of the Legislative Council to repatriate ethnic Indians to India, starting with sixteen-year-old males and fourteen-year-old females, was not successful, but reflected the tensions between Fiji's ethnic communities.

Differences between ethnic Fijians and Indians complicated preparations for Fijian independence, which the United Kingdom granted in 1970, and have continued to define Fijian politics since. Prior to independence, Indians sought a common electoral roll, based on the principle of "one man, one vote." Ethnic Fijian leaders opposed this, believing that it would favour urban voters who were mostly Indian; they sought a communal franchise instead, with different ethnic groups voting on separate electoral rolls. At a specially convened conference in London in April 1970, a compromise was worked out, under which parliamentary seats would be allocated by ethnicity, with ethnic Fijians and Indians represented equally. In the House of Representatives, each ethnic group was allocated 22 seats, with 12 representing Communal constituencies (elected by voters registered as members of their particular ethnic group) and a further 10 representing National constituencies (distributed by ethnicity but elected by universal suffrage. A further 8 seats were reserved for ethnic minorities, 3 from "communal" and 5 from "national" constituencies.

Ethnic Indians outnumbered indigenous Fijians from 1956 through the late 1980s, but by 2000 their share of the population had declined to 43.7%, because of a higher ethnic-Fijian birthrate and particularly because of the greater tendency of Indians to emigrate. Emigration accelerated following the coups of 1987 (which removed an Indian-supported government from power and, for a time, ushered in a constitution that discriminated against them in numerous ways) and of 2000 (which removed an Indian Prime Minister from office).

Political differences between the two communities, rather than ideological differences, have characterized Fijian politics since independence, with the two communities generally voting for different political parties. The National Federation Party founded by A.D. Patel, was the party favoured overwhelmingly by the Indian community throughout most of the nation's history, but its support collapsed in the parliamentary election of 1999, when it lost all of its seats in the House of Representatives; its support fell further still in the 2001 election, when it received only 22% of the Indian vote, and in the 2006 election, when it dropped to an all-time low of 14%. The party currently favoured by Indians is the Fiji Labour Party, led by Mahendra Chaudhry, which received about 75% of the Indian vote in 2001, and won all 19 seats reserved for Indians. Originally founded as a multi-racial party in the 1980s, it is now supported mostly by Indians.

Impact of the Church and Religious/Ethnic Politics

The Church plays a major role in Fiji politics.[7] Often some leaders appeal to Fijians addressing them as "Christians", even though Hindus are 33% of the population in Fiji, compared with 52% Christians.[8] The 2000 Fijian coup d'état that removed the elected PM Mahendra Chaudhry, was supported by the Methodist church.[9]

Some Methodist Church authorities have continued to advocate the establishment of a Christian state. In a letter of support from the then head of the Methodist Church, Reverend Tomasi Kanilagi, to George Speight, the leader of the May 19, 2000, armed takeover of Parliament, Reverend Kanilagi publicly expressed his intention to use the Methodist Church as a forum under which to unite all ethnic Fijian political parties.[10] The Methodist church also supported forgiveness to those who plotted the coup in form of so called "Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bill".

In 2005, Methodist church general secretary Reverend Ame Tugaue argued that practice of Hinduism and other religions should not be guaranteed in law:

"Sodom and Gomorrah were only destroyed after the Lord removed the faithful from there and not because of a few would we allow God's wrath to befall the whole of Fiji. It was clearly stated in the 10 Commandments that God gave to Moses that Christians were not allowed to worship any other gods and not to worship idols. One thing other religions should be thankful for is that they are tolerated in Fiji as it's naturally a peaceful place but their right of worship should never be made into law."[11]

Following the military coup which deposed the government of Laisenia Qarase (which was widely regarded as unsympathetic to Indian interests), Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu of the Fiji Council of Churches and Assembly of Christian Churches has stated that the coup is "un-Christian" and is "manifestation of darkness and evil". He claimed that "52% of Fijians are Christian and the country's Christian values are being undermined."[12]

Demographic factors

Ethnic Indians are concentrated in the so-called Sugar Belt and in cities and towns on the northern and western coasts of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu; their numbers are much scarcer in the south and inland areas. The majority of Indians are Hindi speakers, with large minorities speaking Bhojpuri, Urdu, Tamil, Bihari, Gujarati, and Punjabi, among others. Almost all Indians are also fluent in English, and in the younger generation, English appears to be gradually replacing Indian languages.

According to the 1996 census (the latest available), 76.7% of Indians are Hindus and a further 15.9% are Muslims. Christians comprise 6.1% of the Indian population, while about 0.9% are members of the Sikh faith. The remaining 0.4% are mostly nonreligious.

Hindus in Fiji belong mostly to the Sanatan sect (74.3% of all Hindus); a minority (3.7%) follow Arya Samaj. There are smaller sects, as well as numerous unspecified Hindus, comprising 22% of the Hindu population. Muslims are mostly Sunni (59.7%) or unspecified (36.7%); there is an Ahmadiya minority (3.6%). Indian Christians are a diverse body, with Methodists forming the largest group (26.2%), followed by the Assemblies of God (22.3%), Roman Catholics (17%), and Anglicans (5.8%). The remaining 28.7% belong to a medley of denominations. There is an Indian Division of the Methodist Church in Fiji. About 5000 Indians are Methodist.[13] They are part of the Methodist Church in Fiji and support the position of the Methodist Church in Fiji,[14] rather than the rights of Indians.

Emigration

Former Prime Minister Chaudhry has expressed alarm at the high rate of emigration from Fiji, especially of Fiji-Indians, and also of educated indigenous Fijians. "If the trend continues, Fiji will be left with a large pool of poorly educated, unskilled work force with disastrous consequences on our social and economic infrastructure and levels of investment," he said in a statement on 19 June 2005. He blamed the coups of 1987 for "brain drain" which has, he said, adversely affected the sugar industry, the standard of the education and health services, and the efficiency of the civil service.

References

  1. ^ "Fiji Bureau of Statistics". Retrieved 2007-06-19.
  2. ^ Davidson, J.W. (1975). Peter Dillon of Vanikoro: Chevalier of the South Seas. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. pp. p. 31. ISBN 0195504577. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ Gillion, K. L. (1962). Fiji's Indian Migrants: A history to the end of indenture in 1920. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. pp. p. 3. ISBN 0195504526. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ Gillion, K. L. (1962). Fiji's Indian Migrants: A history to the end of indenture in 1920. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. pp. pp. 68-69. ISBN 0195504526. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ Gillion, K. L. (1962). Fiji's Indian Migrants: A history to the end of indenture in 1920. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. pp. pp. 130 - 131. ISBN 0195504526. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1834.htm U.S. Department of State
  7. ^ Let us pray, churches say, Fiji Times Online, November 29, 2006
  8. ^ Background Note: Fiji, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, September 2006, U.S. Department of State
  9. ^ Fiji military dismisses GCC and Methodist support for reconciliation bill, Radio New Zealand International, August 25, 2005
  10. ^ International Religious Freedom Report 2003, Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State
  11. ^ christianaggression.org, extract from Fiji Times, March 27, 2005
  12. ^ Fiji military monitoring the media, Radio New Zealand, December 6, 2006
  13. ^ http://www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/wc_fiji03.pdf
  14. ^ http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=53198

See also


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