Indians

The East Indians in Fiji have several of the factors that increase the likelihood of rebellion or protest in the future: persistent protests in the past; high levels of group organization and cohesion; traditional instability of the government and the partial nature of democratic governance in recent years; and significant political and economic restrictions. The future of the East Indians will likely depend on whether they are able to convince the native Fijians to negotiate a political compromise. To date, the Fijians have rejected any electoral victories by the East Indians. It remains to be seen if the majority community is willing to reach an agreement that would allow the institutionalization of a power-sharing agreement that would give a voice to both of the two groups who comprise the country's population. Furthermore, in light of the recent coup by military leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama, it seems unlikely that any agreements will be reached soon. The East Indians are widely dispersed across the country, although many are laborers on the country's sugar cane plantations. There has been no significant migration among regions within the country. Group members speak Hindi which is in contrast to the Fijian language that the majority community uses (LANG = 2). The East Indians follow different social customs than the native Fijians, and they are also primarily Hindus or Muslims while the majority group is mainly Methodist Christian (BELIEF = 2). As they are descendants of Indians who moved to Fiji from India, the East Indians are also racially different from the indigenous Fijians who are of Melanesian or Polynesian descent (RACE = 3). When the British colonized Fiji in 1874, they chose to govern through indirect rule, following divide and rule policies that favored the indigenous Fijians to the disadvantage of the East Indians. By cooperating with the British, traditional Fijian chiefs were able to maintain their political and economic advantages. In order to exploit the potential of Fiji's sugar cane resources, the British required a large workforce. As a result, from 1879 to 1916, some 60,500 Indians were brought to the country to work as indentured servants on the plantations. The politicization of ethnicity in Fiji came to the forefront in the 1940s when Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, paramount chief of the Bau, demanded that the traditional chieftaincy system be maintained as democratic rule could threaten the political dominance of the indigenous Fijians. By this time, the East Indians were reported to outnumber the native population. In 1966, the Alliance Party (AP) was formed with the mandate of protecting the political rights and interests of the native Fijians. The Alliance Party ruled Fiji for the first seven years after independence (1970-77). However, the Indian-dominated opposition emerged victorious after the 1977 elections. Fearful of how the native community would react, the opposition did not form a government. In the mid-1980s, the Fiji Labor Party (FLP) was created as a result of a coalition between East Indians and labor organizations. The FLP went on to win the 1987 elections with Timoci Bavadra becoming the country's first East Indian Prime Minister. Bavadra's rule was to be short-lived as his government was overthrown in a military coup by Lt-Col. Sitiveni Rabuka, who alleged that his actions were undertaken to preempt communal violence. What followed was widespread communal violence along with demonstrations pressing for the reinstatement of Bavadra (PROT85X = 2). Thousands of East Indians left the country after the coup. The native Fijian Great Council of Chiefs approved the country's 1990 constitution which entrenched indigenous political domination through the reservation of legislative seats for each community. Rabuka became Prime Minister. Through the first half of the decade, the East Indians protested against the racially-biased constitution while extremist indigenous groups supported th