Are we free yet?
Commemoration of Fiji’s 52nd anniversary of independence
IN 1965, AD Patel, the then NFP leader while emphasising the need for independence said: “Political liberty, equality and fraternity rank foremost among the good things of life and mankind all over the world cherishes and holds these ideals close to its heart. The people of Fiji are no exception.”
The peaceful struggle and vision of the founder, leader of the National Federation Party paid off on October 10, 1970, when the then Prince Charles (now King Charles III) handed over the Instruments of Independence to Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara at Albert Park in Suva.
As the clock ticks forward over the half-century mark, towards Fiji’s 52nd year of independence, it’s a day where we reflect and remember the birth of our country as a sovereign and independent State, cognisant of our colonial history, while being firmly rooted in the present.
There are no words more apt to reflect on during this long weekend than directly from our national anthem, and the particular stanza:
“A land of freedom, hope and glory.”
And therein lies the rub. At 52 years old, is Fiji really free? Where is the hope and glory?
1969 Legislative Council debates
It’s perhaps useful to situate oneself back in time, and draw from the Legislative Council debates particularly from the year 1969, prior to the year of our independence in 1970.
The Legislative Council was the “form” that Parliament took for lawmaking, after Fiji’s first national elections in 1966 and was adopted from the Westminster Parliament and UK Government.
What will strike anyone reading the Hansard of the Legislative Council debates of 1969 is quite simply the effortlessly classy, dignified wisdom from both sides of the council chamber.
All Legislative Council Hansard should be mandatory reading for any keen student, practitioner, or follower of politics. It is bound to make any reader yearn for those days of political sophistication and refinement.
There is simply no competition with the obnoxious, belligerent arrogance from the FFP government side that has nauseated us all from the 2014 parliamentary sessions, right up until the most recent September 2022 parliamentary sitting.
These are the political standards of debate by which NFP as a 59-year-old political party has had tutelage. Yet, we’ve had to endure being dragged down into the muck and filth of parliamentary thuggery promoted by the ruling party, over the past eight years.
Even when there were opposing views – without Ipads or Qorvis scripts
– our nation’s founding fathers and mothers spoke cogently, putting their views forward while masterfully weaving in non-malicious political up(wo)manship, into their debates, mostly intended to generate laughter from both sides of the council chamber.
Water supply
On Tuesday, April 22, 1969 the Legislative Council Minister for Communications, Works and Tourism, Hon Charles Stinson was asked a question by the Hon Bill Yee whether the Government intended to do a comprehensive survey of the water resources in order to establish potential sites and locations for future water supply, irrigation, flood control and hydro-electric development.
The minister replied that data on rainfall and river levels had been collected, but records were incomplete and that there were never enough funds to do the job properly, but he anticipated an increase in budget as per the development plan.
The minister also said that detailed surveys were expensive, but they had hired consultants to make an initial report on the potential of the Navua River system, while the Rewa River system was being looked at by the United Nations, while some drilling had been done in the Western Division for groundwater potential with encouraging results.
He envisaged that the investigation would be extended to the Northern Division when a drilling rig from an Australian assistance program arrived. Remember this was in 1969 and the then minister was justifying the expenditure of $91,000 of public funds.
Now compare that to the present day, when the best that the minister responsible can say in The Fiji Times of May 26, 2022, is that water issues faced by Suva residents stem from a “mismatch” in the amount of water needed and amount of water available, despite the hundreds of millions of public funds cumulatively poured into upgrading water infrastructure since 2014.
On September 9, 1969, this Bill was moved by the then Minister for Social Services, Hon J Mavoa. (Full disclosure: This Legislative Council member is my late maternal grandfather).
In this amendment, the minister took the council through the second and third reading of the Bill whereby the then interim council of the USP would be permitted to guarantee the repayment of loans raised by staff of the university for the purchase of homes and motor vehicles, given that the then powers of the interim USP Council were not wide enough to do this.
That Bill passed through a second reading, and the Legislative Council read the Bill a third time and duly passed it.
It was yet another example of bipartisan unity within the Legislative Council to support an institution that would benefit the people of Fiji.
Contrast that to the present-day fiasco where the FFP government obstinately refuses to honour their approximately overdue $80 million grant owed since 2019, as a USP Council member and host country.
On January 29, 1969, NFP MP Irene Jai Narayan tabled a motion for “free and compulsory education” based on an education report that had highlighted that 20,000 children were not in school.
In her motion she said: “If we can realise the importance of providing free and compulsory education for all our children now, we would be making a huge saving in terms of time, money and energy in the future.
“I believe that the new nation that we are helping to build today would be more than adequately equipped to take care of itself in the future.”
In response, the then Minister for Social Services, Hon J Mavoa said that the Government had already accepted an objective of free education in the colony, but that it had to also ensure there were enough classrooms and teachers which was dependent on finances.
In the interim, the then Government had increased a grant of 10 shillings per child to all registered non-government schools to help parents that were unable to pay school fees.
He also detailed that the Government had introduced free textbooks costing £500 in 1967, that was increased to £20,000 the year after.
The then Legislative Council government was also assisting for the first time in 1968, payment to teachers at the rate of £15 per teacher.
The minister then moved an amendment to Hon I Jai Narayan’s original motion.
During the course of that insightful and robust debate with rich contributions from both sides, the Fijian Member Western Hon Ratu JB Toganivalu tabled further thoughts for consideration.
This included education for disabled children which was non-existent in Fiji then, and free bus fares for rural areas because children had to walk miles to get to school. He suggested the free bus fare would also alleviate the cost of building boarding houses at schools.
That motion plus the amendment was passed. Once again, bipartisanship for the greater good of Fiji and its people, won.
Is free education, free textbooks, disability access to education and free bus fares really the “unprecedented” intellectual property of this FFP government?
Freedom, hope and glory
These are but cursory examples of the foundations of our great nation, as laid down by our founding mothers and fathers.
From the first national elections in 1966 to Legislative Council deliberations all the way up until independence on October 10, 1970, there was conversation, compromise and understanding.
Fiji can only break the 16-year shackles of political bondage, at the upcoming polls. We all know this. We must all resolutely make it so.
By the time the nation turns 53 next October, surely we will all be singing our national anthem with passion and gusto, as a land truly of freedom, hope and glory.
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