Ro Teimumu, left, accepted the traditional offering on behalf of the GCC. Photo: fijivillage.com
An eminent Fijian academic is questioning whether the military's latest apology for past political turmoil will stop another coup.
Distinguished professor Steven Ratuva of Canterbury University was referring to the army's traditional apology to the country's high chiefs on Wednesday.
The apology, or matanigasau, was offered to the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) as part of the military's ongoing commitment to national reconciliation.
"The big question is, will it help to stop the coup culture as they [the military] said it will," Ratuva said.
"Because there are all kinds of political forces at play, not just the military and the GCC. There are political parties, there are political groupings, and there are of course the socio-economic dynamics of things and a lot of these things do contribute to political instability."
Fiji has had four coups since gaining independence in 1970, two in 1987, one in 2000 and the last in 2006.
Ratuva pointed out that Indo-Fijians were the main victims of the nation's first three racially-driven coups and deserved an apology too.
"Its very important that the military engage with Fiji's ethnic communities over the coups as well," he said.
"The Indo-Fijian community was very much the target of the 1987 and 2000 coups and an apology would be in order," Ratuva said.
He said that government policy, particularly to do with security, needed to change to reflect the country's multi-culturalism.
"It's a matter of making sure that government policies are fair and make people feel at home," he said.
Ratuva said the government needed to change its focus.
"The government is very pro-business, this is one of the reasons why poverty is getting worse and worse," Ratuva said.
"Fundamentally it is because the nature of Fiji's economic development is very much geared towards sustaining the business interests in the country."
He said the politics of coups change dramatically over time, adding that Fiji's high chiefs and the iTaukei were the main victims of the 2006 coup.
"There have been victims in all the coups, lets not forget that the perpetrators themselves became victims because of the trauma and guilt they suffered," he said.
Steven Ratuva Photo: University of Canterbury
The first two coups - in May and September 1987 - were led by the then-military lieutenant Sitiveni Rabuka, who is the current prime minister. Rabuka's coups were driven by ethnic nationalism.
The 2000 civilian-military coup was led by businessman George Speight, who removed the democratically elected government of Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Mahendra Chaudhry. Speight's coup also had racial motivations to secure political supremacy of indigenous (iTaukei) Fijians.
The 2006 coup, which was led by Frank Bainimarama, was driven by conflict between the military and the elected government of late Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase. Bainimarama was also responsible abolishing the GCC.
Ratuva said the relationship between the military and the high chiefs had been complex over the years.
"In the 1987 and 2000 coups there was a close alliance between them, then during the 2006 coup the relationship was broken," Ratuva said.
"Thats a result of (Frank) Bainimarama saying that the GCC should go and drink home brew under a mango tree, then he tried to eliminate them from Fiji's political life."
He said that while the GCC did not unanimously support Fiji's first three coups, it did not officially oppose them either.
Fiji's first Indo-Fijian prime minister - held hostage during George Speight's 2000 coup - has questioned the validity of the apology.
"Why apologise to them [the GCC] for the coups of 1987 and 2000 because the GCC fully supported those coups, they were behind them," Chaudhry said.
Mahendra Chaudhry (file image) Photo: RNZ
Speight led a racially-motivated, armed takeover of the government and held Chaudhry and his government hostage for 56 days.
Chaudhry, who was held at gunpoint and knocked unconscious during the chaos, added: "The GCC at the time did not issue a statement opposing the coups or condemning the coups, what's this folly all about?"
However, Ratuva said that the matanigasau has to be understood in the Fijian cultural context.
"The ceremonial apology is one way of engaging with conflict and broken relationships in the past, so this is where its coming from."
They're (the military) trying to use the cultural mechanism to move forward, because an institution to institution mechanism doesn't exist," he said.
Successive Fijian governments have said the four coups have had a significant long-term impact on Fiji's economy, costing billions of dollars.
