Builder in the Fijian Tradition

A builder by tradition

JONA BOLA
Tuesday, March 13, 2007 - www.fijitimes.com

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Akini Koroivalu in his boat building shed and a new boat in the background

TRADITION is a story or custom that is memorised and passed from generation to generation, originally without the need for a writing system.

Tools to aid the process include poetic devices such as rhyme and alliteration.

The stories thus preserved are also referred to as tradition or as part of an oral tradition.

One man who has learnt the art of building through tradition is Akini Koroivalu of Natacileka Village in the district of Dawasamu in Tailevu.

Traditionally, Mr Koroivalu is a mataisau, or traditional builder in the Fijian society.

In Fijian mythology, the mataisau clan are the descendants of the deity Daunisai, one of the sons of Lutunasobasoba who brought the Fijians people across the seas to Fiji.

Daunisai settled on Kabara Island in Lau when the Fijian people spread through the Fiji group from Verata.

Now at 72 years of age, Mr Koroivalu still practises his talent.

At the same time, he is passing his skills and knowledge to his sons, grandchildren and nephews in the village.

He said while he was a mataisau, what enhanced his skills more was that their mother was vasu to the mataisau clan and a direct descendant of Daunisai from Ucunivanua in Verata.

"It is in Verata where all the mataisau clan around Fiji originate from," he said.

His trade has made a name for himself around the Fiji group of islands.

He has left his mark, so to speak, because he has built most of the wooden boats that sail inter-island in the Fiji islands.

When we visited him last week he was doing what he likes best building boats.

"I started the trade of building boats on this beach at Natacileka in the early 1960s after coming out of Ratu Kadavulevu School," he said.

"My architectural skills were fine-tuned at RKS during my years there, from 1951 to 1958.

"I knew I was a mataisau and it was really the reason why I wanted to develop the gift which is a God-given talent.

"During my years at RKS, I was able to put all the skills I knew into practice and it really helped me a lot when I left the school.

"I was the headboy at RKS for two years, in 1957 and 1958, and was a member of Ma'afu House," he said.

It is interesting to know that Mr Koroivalu was never employed but did his own thing after he left school.

"I built boats for people in Yasawa, Lomaiviti, Naigani Island and other villages along the Tailevu coast.

"My work does not only involve building boats; I've built more than 100 houses.

"Most are village houses in Dawasamu and includes a couple of churches and schools," he said.

Some inter-island and village boats he remembered building include the Vasu i Darata, Gone Vasu, Tai Tiki and Rosi ni Toba.

"Most of the boats I built here on the beach and when I complete them, I would take it with my family to the owner.

"It was during one such trip that I found my true love at Kese in Naviti, Yasawa," he said with a smile.

"The feeling of satisfaction is something that comes in me when I see that the boat is near completion and we all enjoy the end product," said Mr Koroivalu.

He said the most important part of his work was when he taught his family about the art.

"It is something that I always stress to my relatives and that is to develop the traditionally God-given talent and develop it much further.

"From what I am seeing now, most of my nephews and grandchildren are quickly learning and know more, for which I am very grateful," he said.

Mr Koroivalu said he would continue with his work until he knew that he had done enough.

"God has a plan for each one of us and as long as he wants me to continue with my work, I will do so," he said.

Mr Koroivalu said tradition was frequently changed to suit the needs of the day and the changes quickly became accepted as part of tradition.

A National Identity for Fiji?

Fiji lacks national identity: Yabaki

Sunday, March 11, 2007

At the heart of Fiji's problems lies the lack of national identity, says Citizen's Constitutional Forum executive director, Reverend Akuila Yabaki.

The comment is part of Mr Yabaki's personal testimony to an audience including Queen Elizabeth II, at London's Westminster Abbey tomorrow Commonwealth Day.

Other high profile personalities to be present include the Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon, senior ministers and 2000 other people.

In his statement to be presented tomorrow, Mr Yabaki said the use of the term 'Fijian' to describe nationality was resisted by many indigenous Fijians.

"For example, the use of the name "Fijian" to describe all citizens of Fiji is resisted by many indigenous people," he said.

"Those who fear that the promise of equality before the law in a multicultural society threatens the protection of their own status.

"The other communities, such as the IndoFijians, who have lived here for three or four generations, feel alienated by the political system and find it difficult to identify with national symbols."

Mr Yabaki said Christianity was used by the indigenous majority to justify the political situation.

"I am working to keep alive the vision that all Fiji citizens can have a sense of belonging to the country of their birth," he said. "We in Fiji must move beyond racialised politics and military coups."

Mr Yabaki was invited by the Council of Commonwealth Societies.

The theme of this year's celebrations is "Commonwealth Respecting Difference, Promoting Understanding".

Meanwhile, Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon told AFP there was no reason in Fiji for a military leader to decide to take over the Government.

He said even if there was corruption identified and highlighted, that is no reason as there were the political and judicial systems to deal with that.

He said if people do not like a government, they could vote it out.

Fiji President's Health Under Scrutiny

People watch chief's health

Saturday, March 10, 2007

The Vanua o Vuda is concerned about its paramount chief and President Ratu Josefa Iloilo's age but will not ask him to step down and return to his people, it has been revealed.

His nephew and Taukei Sawaieke Ratu Tevita Momoedonu said the vanua (traditional subjects) had seriuously considered approaching Ratu Josefa to step down as President last year.

But he said it did not work out because the Great Council of Chiefs soon after re-appointed him to the vice-regal post.

Ratu Tevita said the idea was discussed in January 2006 but it was decided to put it on hold until the Great Council of Chiefs met in March 2006.

Ratu Josefa, 86, was reappointed by the council. Ratu Tevita said the vanua had considered approaching Ratu Josefa last year to step down because of his age.

"Considering his age we wanted him to come back home to the vanua," he said.

Ratu Tevita said they would just wait and accept whatever decision was made on the presidency.

"We have accepted the GCC's decision," he said.

"Until now, there is no other discussion to go and ask him to step down. The vanua will not do anything now unless he tells us."

It follows arrangements being made for Ratu Josefa to undergo further medical examinations overseas.

It is understood security arrangements for him and his entourage would be slightly amended because his military bodyguards would not be allowed to travel to Australia.

Secretary to the President's Office Rupeni Nacewa said Ratu Iloilo was entitled to overseas medical treatment once a year.

An Australian High Commission spokesperson said there had been no changes to the position announced immediately after the coup that Australia would restrict travel to Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, his supporters, members of the interim administration and their families.

It includes the travel ban of all members of the Fiji Military Forces.

Meanwhile, yesterday while launching the $100 note, Ratu Josefa urged everyone to work together and assist in moving the country forward.

"While we have problems to solve, we should not lose sight that we have opportunities that we can exploit in service areas like tourism and ICT (Information and Communication Technology)," he said."We cannot change the past, but we can do something to change the future. "I call on the nation and our people to hold on to that hope. We can, and we must, now look ahead and build the future for our children and grandchildren."

The vanua o Vuda has five yavusa Sabutoyatoya, which Ratu Josefa is the head of, Tububere which Ratu Tevita leads, Nakoivuda in Lauwaki, Draulunavuda in Lomolomo, Navatulevu and Viagoisaukova in Abaca.

Ratu Tevita said the Yavusa Sabutoyatoya and Tububere lived in Viseisei Village.

Chiefs take on the military. But where to from here?

By Samisoni Pareti -  Island Business

- http://www.islandsbusiness.com

Do traditional leaders have a role to play in a political crisis? Some people in Fiji surely think so, although the chiefs' claim to being the sole repository of God-given mana has been tested in recent times.

Chiefly talk... Ratu Sakiusa Makutu, Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara and Sitiveni Rabuka who are members of the Great Council of Chiefs.

Meeting 15 days after the Fiji military ousted the government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, Fiji's Council of Chiefs (GCC) was hard-pressed to come up with a solution that will be accepted by both the military and the government it toppled.

At the end of what was initially set to be a two-day meeting but dragged on to the third day, the chiefs decided to side with the law. 

Expressing "profound regret" at the "unlawful overthrow of Fiji's democratically-elected government," the chiefs went on to urge Commodore Frank Bainimarama and his men to return to the barracks to allow aging president Ratu Josefa Iloilo to form an interim government. 

In return, the chiefs will ask Prime Minister Qarase to resign given that his government "has been rendered ineffective and incapable of discharging its constitutional responsibilities".

Interestingly enough, Qarase when contacted after the second day of the chiefs' meeting, said he holds the GCC in the greatest esteem and he stands "ready to listen" to its decision. 

But Bainimarama and his soldiers would not play ball. Angry that the council had invited him as the military commander, thus not recognising his takeover of government and his consequent sacking of Iloilo, his deputy Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi and Qarase and his government as well as parliamentarians, together with some senior public officials, Bainimarama stayed out of the GCC meeting. 

When told on the final day of the meeting that a GCC delegation, to be led by chairperson Ratu Ovini Bokini, would like to deliver personally to him the council's decision, the army chief said he was busy and refused to receive them. 

"Now they want to recognise that I have the executive authority," Bainimarama told the Suva-based Pacific Islands News Association's news agency, PACNEWS.

"The only message I want to tell members of the (council) is for them to go to their villages and enjoy their Christmas and New Year. We don't recognise them."

Whilst Bainimarama snubbed the GCC meeting, he did allow one of his senior officers to attend-Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara-who heads the Fiji Military's 3rd Infantry Regiment. 

He is one of the three Lau province's representatives on the Great Council of Chiefs. Lau at this December emergency meeting was hopelessly split and could not put up an unanimous front. 

Mara, a lieutenant-colonel, was pushing the military's position, another rep from Moala was a die-hard Qarase supporter, leaving its third rep, Ratu Josefa Basulu, to walk the middle ground. 

Basulu is currently chair of the Lau Provincial Council and happens to be Qarase's chief. Whilst he agrees that his island of Vanuabalavu and the entire province of Lau are solidly behind the ousted prime minister, he admits that Mara and the military should get a fair hearing.

"I think we the chiefs are meeting fire with fire," Basulu told ISLANDS BUSINESS.

"If we really want to achieve something and resolve this crisis, we need to adopt a more softer approach."

But many Lauans wouldn't agree with him. He is even accused of being a traitor in the Qarase camp. There are, however, reasons for Basulu's cautious stance. He confirmed that his province's chief administrator, the Roko Tui Lau, has already been summoned to the Queen Elizabeth Barracks where he was warned by none other than Lt Col Mara.

"Tell Tui Mavana (Basulu's traditional title) to watch what he says or I will arrest him too," was Mara's message to the Roko.

Basulu said on another occasion, soldiers were found outside his home where he and a few other Lau councillors were meeting days prior to the chiefs' meeting.

Interesting is the young Mara's participation at the December meeting of the Council of Chiefs. Irritated by his constant intervention during the first day of the meeting, insisting-officials said-that the council offers its support for the military, a council representative from Tailevu province reminded the army officer to remember what the military did to his late father, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.

Haunted by the detention in parliament of his favourite daughter who was tourism minister in Mahendra Chaudhry's Government in 2000, Ratu Mara had fought hard to get the council to uphold the law and reject the George Speight-led coup. 

The GCC heeded Ratu Mara call and relented, only to have its position severely compromised when its supposed mediation committee entered parliament only for many of them to openly support Speight and his cronies. The Council of Chiefs' only commoner and life-time member Sitiveni Rabuka was then chair of the council. The life membership was the payoff he got when he executed Fiji's first coup on May 14, 1987. 

Then, the council sided unashamedly with Rabuka, praising him as a hero for ousting the Labour Government of Prime Minister Dr Timoci Bavadra.

Unbeknown to many is Rabuka's proposals to the December Council of Chiefs meeting. Many of his recommendations were already contained in a discussion paper the chiefs' secretariat had circulated to delegates. But three stood out as original and revolutionary. 

It included getting Bainimarama to resign but to continue to receive his military commander salary until he reaches the age of 55. As well, it was Rabuka who identified another source of the provision of immunity for members of the Fiji Military Forces. 

He says the president of Fiji has the "inherent powers as the fount of mercy" to grant pardon to Bainimarama and his men and women.

The third, which the chiefs ignored, was a drastic re-structuring of the Fiji military. Rabuka recommended splitting up the military into two independent services: the navy and the army with a non-executive commander to be named Chief of Defence Staff who will work with the Secretary of Defence under the Minister of Defence.

So with the chiefs' intervention reaching a stalemate, what's next then for Fiji? For one thing, the chiefs will need to revise their resolutions if they want the Fiji military to come to the negotiating table. 

While they want the president to form an interim government to take the country to fresh elections, they however are recommending a 10-member privy council to "advice him (the President) to establish the interim government of national unity." 

After enjoying uninterrupted and unfettered access to Iloilo, it will take more than a three-day meeting of chiefs to convince the military to give it up to a privy council that relegates it to a minority voice.

A Historial Event at My School RKS

Historical Event to Happen Tomorrow at RKS www.fijivillage.com Mar 1, 2007

Ratu Kadavulevu School old scholars and students are looking forward to a historical event in their school tomorrow when they will present a traditional apology to the landowners of the site where the school is built.

Principal Joji Tabua has confirmed that the "matanigasau" will be presented to the landowners asking forgiveness for the way in which their land was taken from them to construct the school.

Tabua said that Interim Education Minister Netani Sukanaivalu will also be present to witness the event which they believe will bring good fortune to the school.

It has been highlighted that RKS students have been facing a lot of problems in the past years, academically and in sports, and they hope tomorrow's event will be able to solve their problem.

Cakaudrove Provincial Scholarship Fund

Making the most of the fine weather

By Sitiveni Rabuka
Fiji Times - Sunday, February 25, 2007

Ni sa Bula! It is Saturday and a great day here in Savusavu and the whole of Vanua Levu.

People are out making the best of the fine day out here.

Men looking over their plantations to see if the standing crop will survive the effects of the heavy rains and strong winds of the past fortnight, or whether they will have to be uprooted for the usable to be used and the damaged, cleared for new ones to be planted.

The Soqosoqo Vakamarama of Cakaudrove had a soli day at the Cakaudrove Provincial Compound at Yaroi yesterday to collect money as the women's contribution towards the Province's Scholarship fund.

A few tikina sent in their request to be excused as they tried to clear the debris of the flash floods (I don't know why we call them flash floods we knew they were going to come when we blocked the natural waterways by cutting trees, building roads and houses where water used to run etc.!) that damaged houses and villages in parts of Vaturova, Tawake and Saqani.

Undeterred by the decision of those in the villages, those women from Vaturova and Tawake on the good roads side of the damaged road came along, and the Turaga ni Vanua of Saqani also left behind those that needed to work and brought the rest of the women to the soli because his daughter in law is of the Ai Sokula household and he did not want to embarrass her when the ladies of the Ai Sokula called for the soli, that his daughter-in-law would be seen to be disrespectful to her Naus by not coming to the soli.

It was a beautiful day and the women came in their different coloured muumuus and jabas and the few Turaga ni Vanua that came sat and drank yaqona in support of their ladies at the Vakatunuloa.

The singing was beautiful and weather great perhaps made greater by the company and the fact that we had just come out of a bad rainy and windy spell here in Vanua Levu.

The passersby might have wondered why so many ladies and some men spent so much time most of the day, sitting, singing and some drinking yaqona.

I told those few men I was with that the Cakaudrove Provincial Scholarship fund is for the good of Fiji not just the recipients, their families or Cakaudrove.

When I was in Secondary School at Queen Victoria School, all boys from Cakaudrove received $27 which was the fees for one term at that school at that time. The fee for the whole year was $81 probably the highest of all the schools of that era.

Cakaudrove students at Queen Victoria School, Ratu Kadavulevu School, Adi Cakobau School and Navuso Agricultural School were the original beneficiaries of the provincial scholarship, and those that went to Ballantine Memorial School, and Lelean Memorial School later also qualified for the scholarship.

I said Fiji benefited because the sons and daughters of Cakaudrove that were helped through their secondary school education by the scholarship later became great servants of Fiji, some distinguishing themselves alongside the distinguished sons and daughters of the other provinces and Rotuma and the other races capable of holding their own among the elite of our nation.

Those a few years ahead of me and those of my age group whom I can remember include my generation of the Lalabalavu, Ganilau, Kubuabola, Lesuma children, Ratu Inoke Vakataraisulu Tabualevu a great rugby and cricketing son of Cakaudrove, the late Ratu Jone Filipe Radrodro, a long time permanent secretary in the civil service of our country, Sekonaia Tui Mailekai, a long time head of the former Inland Revenue Department and founding head of the new Fiji Islands Revenue and Customs Authority and his wife Ulamila, Doctor Laisa Naivalulevu, a former national table tennis gold medalist, the late Deputy Commissioner of Police Aseri Tagicakiverata, the ever-so-humble late Savenaca Siwatibau, the Gonelevu brothers Vili and Tomasi of Vanuavou, Vaturova, former senator Ratu Seru Buliruarua, the recently dismissed CEO's Sakiusa Rabuka and Anasa Vocea of Drekeniwai, Navatu, our own Roko Tui Cakaudrove, Waisele Wainiqolo of Korocau, Cakaudrove, who also served as Roko Tui in Namosi and Ba before coming to serve in his own Province, and I will also mention my two sisters one recently retired as a long time Head Teacher at Namaka, Nadi and the other still at the Institute of Applied Sciences in the Laucala Campus of USP.

We all owe so much to those leaders of our vanua who introduced the scholarship.

So to those who might have wondered why we spent so much time at Yaroi on Friday, I can say we were sacrificing one day to raise money for our provincial scholarship that will fund the further education of our sons and daughters to better prepare them to be servants of our country.

My sincere thanks to the two ladies of the Ai Sokula household who came to our villages at the behest of our Paramount Chief, Na Turaga Bale na Tui Cakau, to inspire our women to take up this great challenge and help our province support our children to help Fiji.

Vinaka Di Mitimiti, vinaka Di Kavu.

And it was great to see my wife among so many ladies from all the other thirteen provinces and Rotuma the "marama vakawati mai" supporting their adopting province.

Perhaps the Cakaudrove Scholarship is just as much a national investment as a provincial one.

Vinaka Vakalevu.

The GCC and its Place

The GCCs lost aura

ROBERT MATAU
www.fijitimes.com - Friday, February 23, 2007

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August but silent...members of the GCC at a meeting

The ever assuring voice of the Great Council of Chiefs has helped shape Fiji into what it is today. Without this august body we would not have modernisation in its present form, nor would we have adopted the Western concepts of governance and democracy.

In the absence of their voice through their current stand-off with the military, we take a look at the GCCs history and the consequences that shaped this institution up until recent times, in this three-part series.

SINCE that first shot was fired on May 14, 1987 in Fijis unknowing parliament, the fluidity of Fijian politics has never recovered from the so called coup culture.

It has become the main catalyst to legitimise the overthrow of any tyranny of democracy in Fijian politics.

Caught in this vice-like grip is the Great Council of Chiefs, the last bastion of the Fijian race. For many years Fiji has looked up to the Great Council of Chiefs for answers to a wide range of its problems in its darkest hours.

And many times they have bailed out a nation on the brink of collapse with their wisdom and aura.

That is why it has been revered and tagged with the label, august institution. However, the 2006 coup and the leadership problems that continue to plague Fiji, have given fuel to the growing number of critics who are losing confidence in this institution.

The continuous silence on the part of the chiefs has also fuelled rumours that the GCC may have been too politicised, and, that what the public now hears is only the voice of the institution called the GCC making decisions but without the full mandate of all chiefs.

This school of thought is also bold enough to claim that the GCCs aura and manna have been lost.

Interim Prime Minister Frank Bainimaramas public swipe at the GCC, though considered harsh by many, has also given fuel to that same school of thought.

The erosion of chiefly rule, stemming from the 1987 coup, was sensed and opposed strongly by the late Josevata Kamikamica.

He said the chiefly body should be apoliticial, with reference to the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei Party the first political party to receive the backing of the chiefly body.

Mr Bainimaramas slating the GCC was blasphemy in the eyes of any Fijian. But could it be that he knew certain truths within the roots of all things chiefly that gave him the ammunition to conduct the so called clean up campaign, starting with the GCC?

In the absence of the chiefly voice maybe it is an opportune time to review the roles of this institution, its origins and what its initial functions were.

To do this we have to go back into history to fully understand the initial establishment and purpose of the GCC. The Great Council of Chiefs was a brainchild of William Pritchard, the British Consulate who initiated the first ever general meeting of chiefs in Levuka on December 14, 1859 to pave the way for the cessation process of Fiji to the British Crown. Like the 1997 Constitution, the old Matanitu could understand what its true purpose and benefits were.

Their ignorance of understanding the issues was interpreted by the Colonialists as a major threat to their chosen leading chiefs led by Ratu Seru Cakobau the then Vunivalu of what was to be regarded by many, as the leading military and naval power in Fiji, supported by white historians.

He was under threat from the Americans to pay up the debts for the burning of the US Counsels residence in Nukulau on July 4, 1846, which plagued Cakobau for the next 20 years. Pressed from all corners to avoid the same fate that Veidovi of Rewa in 1840 faced for his crimes against visiting American ships when he was shipped out of Fiji in chains by Commodore Wilkes to America to answer for his crimes, Cakobau needed a way out.

At the same time, Cakobau, who became fascinated by the Hawaiian monarchial system through his secretary Samuel A St.John, assumed the title Tui Viti. He was sending out the message that he held absolute power throughout the divided yet pocket and strongly entrenched matanitu that made up Fiji.

Each matanitu operated under a sophisticated and civilised system of its own chiefdoms your chief did not recognise the other, hence the adage manu dui tagi (you only rule in your own land) common to the chiefs of Kadavu. Even more true to this debate were the Colo states that now come under Naitasiri.

Each small state had their own chief and there was no recognised paramount chief in their eyes.

The opportunity to consolidate his position through the first of many coups (with the overthrow of the principle chief of Bau the Roko Tui Bau) during his own lifetime and his continued skirmishes, armoured with muskets and fierce warriors was a war itself against the ancient Fijian chiefly hierarchy. A hierarchy that had stood the test of time over 15 generations before his time.

In the eyes of the old matanitu or old guard if you may, the uprising Bau matanitu was a junior state yet it had the gall to challenge the old ways.

To achieve his goals, Cakobau subjected the seniority of many other matanitu and gave prominence to the lesser matanitu that gave him their support forming the provinces to be their leader. Many of these old matanitu were at war with the emerging power for a long time including that of Rewa, Verata and Lau under the Tongan prince Enele Maafu.

(Next we look at the assessment of the British advance party to check Ratu Serus claims as Tui Viti)