Distinguished Professor Steven Ratuva Photo: University of Canterbury
A military apology is "long overdue" to the Indo-Fijian community for trauma caused by past political turmoil, according to an indigenous academic.
Distinguished Professor Steven Ratuva of Canterbury University made the comment amid calls for the institution to engage with minority groups.
Indo-Fijians were the main target of the country's coups in 1987 and 2000, leaving intergenerational scars, Ratuva said.
Lieutenant Colonel Eroni Duaibe, a military spokesperson, told RNZ Pacific that the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) is forming plans to engage with the non-iTaukei community.
"The RFMF will reach and do whatever it takes (to build a better relationship) with all ethnic and religious groups, including Indo-Fijians," Duaibe said.
However, he declined to elaborate, saying he had been told by "the boss" (Commander Major General Jone Kalouniwai) to refrain from discussing their plans further.
Fiji has been rocked by four coups since gaining independence in 1970. The first two - in May and September 1987 - were led by then-military lieutenant Sitiveni Rabuka, who is the current prime minister.
Rabuka told a Truth and Reconciliation Commission last month the nature of the 1987 political upheavals were straight forward racial ones, ethnic differences coming to boiling point when iTaukei at the time felt there was also no other way.
In 2000 businessman George Speight overthrew the democratically elected government of Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry. Speight's coup was also racially-motivated and aimed at securing political supremacy for iTaukei (indigenous Fijians).
"The military was very much involved in the 1987 and 2000 coups, which had a lot of impact on ethnic relations in Fiji, particularly as Indo-Fijian individuals and families were the focus." Ratuva said.
"Businesses and temples were hit, particularly during 2000 when Indo-Fijian shops were burned down. So their personal safety was being threatened and a lot of them left the country."
iTaukei (indigenous Fijians) who opposed the coups were also victimised, he added.
"It's very difficult to estimate just how many left, but outward migration definitely spiked after the three coups."
"Any major political upheaval, anywhere, will have an intergenerational impact, the trauma is often passed down and manifested either directly or indirectly," he said.
Rabuka's admitted in his testimony to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that the coups led to the exodus of talented and professional people.
Ratuva said he believes the military will use a restorative justice approach, with a mixture of formal and traditional means of reconciliation.
"Often a culture-based process works because it's deep-seated, genuine and emotional and it's often a reciprocal process," he said.
Ratuva said a traditional apology, or matanigasau, similar to the one last month between the military and the country's Great Council of Chiefs, could be appropriate.
RFMF commander Jone Kalouniwai presents the traditional apology on behalf of the military on Wednesday. Photo: Screengrab / Facebook / Fiji One News
"It's often to do with the restoration of trust in a relationship, so a lot of things are happening in that space, including the use and acceptance of apologies and consensus over how to move forward."
Asked if the military had left it too late, Ratuva said: "Human beings are highly adaptive, so long as there's apologies, particularly in the Fijian context, some of the apologies which come decades later still have a lot of meaning."
"I think the military has been quite genuine when engaging with various communities, they're also trying their best to change the perception which people have developed over time, with the military's past intervention in politics," Ratuva said.
He said the military's identity was undermined by the political forces within Fiji which used the institution to serve their political interests.
Bainimara coup
Convicted former Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama was head of Fiji's military when he staged Fiji's fourth coup in 2006. He deposed the democratically-elected prime minister Laisenia Qarase and took on the top job in 2007. Itaukei were the main victims of the coup, which was driven by conflict between the military and Qarase's government.
Bainimarama was also responsible for abolishing Fiji's apex indigenous body - the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC), telling the chiefs "go drink homebrew under a mango tree".
Ratuva said the military pushed back against Bainimarama after the general election in December 2022.
"Bainimarama was trying to persuade the military to come back and get him back into power. They said no and I think that's a great sign they're moving in the right direction."
In parliament last week, Defence Minister Pio Tikoduadua said the RFMF acknowledged what the Indo-Fijian community had been through.
"Many Indo-Fijian families faced prolonged uncertainty about their safety, their livelihoods and their long-term place in the country," Tikoduadua said, while delivering a ministerial statement.
"Some relocated overseas, others remained but carried an ongoing sense of insecurity that influenced many family decisions, employment choices and community relationships."
Tikoduadua said the military recognised that the effects were ongoing and remained embedded in Fiji's collective memory.
"The military is aware that the circumstances surrounding all four coups were complex, they involved political horses, racial tensions, historical grievances and institutional decisions that intersected in ways that cannot be reduced to a single narrative."
Tikoduadua said the military is planning to consult individuals who lived through that period and document their accounts.
"It is exploring how it might frame an acknowledgement of harm that avoids generalisation and reflects the diversity of circumstances experienced within the community."
"It is also examining what form a request for forgiveness must take, it understands that it must not be symbolic but based on understanding and engagement that is meaningful to those who receive it, he said.
Successive Fijians governments have said that the coups have had a significant long-term impact on Fiji's economy, costing billions of dollars.
