university of fiji - uni matters - girmit edition - 21 may 2009

8/3/2019 University of Fiji - Uni Matters - Girmit Edition - 21 May 2009

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Distinguished visitors, friends of theUniversity, and members of the Universitycommunity: It gives me great pleasure towelcome you all to the University of Fiji tocommemorate with us the 130 th anniversary of Girmit in Fiji. Some of ourfriends who could not be here with us thisafternoon have sent us their best wishes. Iwish to thank Judge Dr Ajit Swaran Singhfrom Auckland, Interim Cabinet Minister MrFilipe Bole, Pro-Chancellor Pandit BhuwanDutt, and our High Commissioner inCanberra, Mr Kamlesh Arya, for their kindwords and messages.Girmit evokes a variety of emotions and

thoughts in people depending on whether they were direct participants in thatsystem, whether they are descendents of Girmitiyas, or whether they have just readabout it somewhere. The Girmitexperience itself has been well

documented by many, including our ownscholars such as the late Dr Ahmed Ali,Professor Brij Lal, and more recently bySatish Rai using film as the medium to tell

the stories.

There are those who argue that the Girmitexperience is best forgotten, and that it is

time to move forward.

I read Professor Nandans collection and

selected prose in Between the Lines withfascination, not only because each piecereflects a piece of Fiji, our country, but alsobecause each reflects facets of a writerdeeply committed to the essentialgoodness in each human soul. But here isno glorification of the weaknesses, thegreed, and the opportunism of humannature. He lays bare the racism, thehumbug of religious fundamentalism, thelack of commitment to the truth and thelack of commitment to principle orideology, all of which has featured in ournations development since 1987. Hewrites about corruption-that thecholesterol of corruption is politically and morally a most damaging aspect of adeveloping nation and about therelationship between corruption and thefear of the absence of power.

To me this is denying ones history, onesorigin, and ones memories. I would go so faras to say that May 14 should be declaredGirmit Day to be celebrated across thecountry because those who came to Fiji underGirmit, and their successors, have greatlyinfluenced the socio-political, agrarian,educational, business and economiclandscape of the country. And there are other

justifications: As diplomat Kamlesh Arya putsit, Girmit is a day for reflection not only on

the atrocities that our forebears weresubjected to but also on their unwavering resilience in moving towards a better future

that lay ahead. We must also reflect on thepositives that have come out of the GirmitSystem and not dwell overly on the negatives

that are bygones.

The location of the University itself takes us to the beginning of a story, the story of Girmit:

the magnificent hills and the cane fields onone side reminding us constantly of why ourancestors came to be in this country, and thegreat ocean on the other side telling us of thepath that led them here.

Ladies and gentlemen, Girmit is aboutdislocation, suffering, uncertainty and pain.But it is also about assimilation, hope,

He links this same fear to the most shameful

parts of colonialism, to racist ideologies and to fundamentalist religion. He says in hisessay on Corruption and Society, that whatcorrupts in Fiji is this fear of the absence of power.

And he links corruption to politics, to culture,and to racism, saying that corruption is more,much more than the World Bank definition of it as the abuse of power for public gain. In Fijiwith its complex social matrix itencompasses the falsification of history, in

the use of language, in the laws and statutesand in the institutionalized racism that is suchan entrenched part of Fiji.

These selections of Professor Nandanswritings show us the link between the fear of

the loss of power, the coups of 1987 and2000, the use of racism and politicaldishonesty by religious leaders and thedeliberate manipulation of religion.

Professor Srinivasiah Muralidhar

renewal and celebration, and for the youngergeneration, it is about acceptance and a newidentity in Bainimaramas united Fiji.

I urge the young women and men of allpersuasions present here today to make acommitment to realizing that noble vision.

This afternoon you will experience the story of Girmit through songs, readings, reflections,

journeys, remembrance and writing. I am sureyou will enjoy the experience.

Thank you all once again for joining us today,and on behalf of the University, I wish you avery pleasant afternoon. Vinaka, Dhanyavaad.

Ms. Nazhat Shameem

And these are the reflections of a formergovernment Minister, an academic, a politician

who has lived these experiences. A lover of thecountry of his birth, an exile from the country of his birth, a critic of the country of his birth anda son of the girmitiyas. How appropriate then,

that this collection of prose should belaunched on the 15 th of May on Girmit Day, aday set aside to celebrate the girmit dream.

Girmit EditionExtracts from the Welcome Address by Professor Srinivasiah Muralidhar - Girmit Smriti 2009, The University of Fiji, 15 May 2009

Extracts from Ms. Nazhat Shameems Book Launching Speech: Remembrance & Writing


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Every nation, every people, everywherecommemorate a day to remember, to give

thanks: a day or an event that one can lookback with dignity and honour at history andinspire generations yet unborn. It is a

tribute the present pays to the past so that itcan reimagine the future.

It can be a day of Remembrance andReconciliation, Reconstruction andRedemption.

Girmit Day in Fiji, I think, is one such day; itreminds us that ordinary people are trulyextraordinary; that we can build and createon the suffering and sacrifice of others; thatno matter how deep and dark is the night, anew dawn is breaking behind the bluemountains, or across the black waters.

It tells us of the unconquerable humanspirit. What once may have been seen as anexperience of sorrow and afflictions turnsout be the celebration of the creative humanspirit: its survival, resilience and theremarkable gift of giving and living.

One such day in the life of our neighbours isANZAC.

In Fiji I think, theres no day like the GirmitDay. It is a unique fragment of history andour enduring heritage. Its symbols areprofound: it is about mateship; it is aboutship-mates: jehajibhais and jahajinns.Even today we are in the same ship, nomatter what cabin you occupy. Were in thesame sea. The ocean is a pathless world:

we must charter our own way to the shore;steer our own boat, paddle our own canoes.Shape our destiny the difference is that weare doing it Together. Now we cannot blameothers..

Extracts from Professor Satendra Nandans Speech

It is immensely significant that in Girmit all the people and powers were involved:Imperial Britain, Colonial Office in India, Fiji

the Crown colony,

Australian CSR; and the islands of Fiji across two oceans-Indian and Pacific. No other

event in our history had so many forcesshaping a small country, a small nationsdestiny, full of generous but brave people,both indigenous and immigrant. Theadventure of the Indenture is truly an epic.

We all know that. And this epic is about us:it is not about kings and queens, chosen

tribes and killing kingdoms. It is really thestory of our people: indigenous andmigrants: convicts and colonials, at a periodin human history where on many islands andcontinents, colonialism was decimating humanity. Here people where protecting one anothers ways of life, declaring their

deepest humanity in inhuman conditions.Perhaps the Attorney-General, who gave ushis message, can take a message from us.Make this historic day a remembrance dayholiday.

And the people of the west could make theGirmit Centre and the First Landing assacred sites for our children andgrandchildren to visit, remember and beinspired. Those who do not read theirhistory are likely to repeat it.

For the visitors to our shores, these will beworthy shrines to see: we build hotels and

motels but the Girmit Centre, where freeFijis PM and free Indias PM met andshared a day, can be a monument to thefreedom of our peoples.

Professor Satendra Nandan

Nothing can be nobler than that. It can beour light-house in stormy seas.

Thank you Aiyaz for being here andsharing your thoughts with us. ToNazhat, all I can say is that your

generosity of mind is shown in yourreading my book with such sensitivity andexpressing it with such eloquence .

I do want to express my appreciation toso many .

Thank you for your help in so many ways.Between the Lines is published with yourassistance, care and affection.

And to all present: Thank you for being part of this commemoration. Yourpresences at our University is inspiring and deeply appreciated.

Professor Nandan s background andqualifications themselves represent thegirimit dream, not only because he hasachieved respect, recognition and dignity ina world which does not lightly honourdreamers, writers and revolutionaries, butalso because he shows a willingness toconfront the unimagined, the unrecognized,

the unseen. After all , there is no real pointin being descended from the girmitiya if oneis unable to understand the ideology of thegirmit.

Of the Girimit he says:Whatever our perspective on the Girimitexperience, there is no doubt in my mindthat the Girimit people gave us our history and heritage, our culture and community;indeed by sailing in a new direction they discovered and created a whole new worldfor us. Girimit now has an immortalmeaning. And a new definition to an oldundefinable experience only the wordGirimit conveys the resonance of lives thatcould not be destroyed: Girimit the fallen

cannot be obliterated from the soil beneaththeir feet. And the earth beneath the solesof their feet became part of our souls.

Extracts from Ms Nazhat Shameems speech (contd)

Of democracy he writes: Democracy is not the art of the possible; it isthe science of possibilities. That is why politics is sometimes called the master

science it makes the practice of other sciences both desirable and practicable. Itsunique virtue is that it gives every person onevalue, one vote and through this process

governments fall and are formed .

Professor Nandan writes of the consequences,

moral, social, and economic of the exodus after the coups of 1987 and 2000, of the exile of whole communities and of the sense of betrayalsuffered. But he writes also of the growth of theFiji Indian Diaspora, of the free societies theseexiles are now a part of, and of theachievements of these migrant people,acquired through energy, intelligence andmaterial possessions. Evil then can producegood. While the results can never exonerate

those who do evil, the message is one of hope.And that after all is the Girmit message.Survival and hope, with the dream of dignity,equality, and peace. It is that message thatis expressed most poignantly in this

collection of essays. Professor Nandanacknowledges that even as he writes aboutwriting in Writing Fiji in Asia-Pacific:

Writing then is your inner home: astruggle, a journey into the self. It is aclarification of the convulsions andconfusions of history.

It is also an art of hope even when one iswriting about despair sometimes so deep

that you could simply die.

And of the impact of coups on the FijiIndian writer: We know we were a

banished people even from Mother Indiabut home was where ones heart was,where one was born and bred and hadbroken bread with people who later betrayed with such casual brutality. Thecoups, I think became the defining moments for the Fiji Indian writer .

We had not realized that the innocenceand evil were so closely intertwined in our paradise There is nothing like abloodless coup. How much blood do you

see in the breaking of a heart? Or in theinward death of a country?

These writings, the beauty of theirlanguage and the poignancy of thesubjects, will inevitably move the reader.They moved me. It gives me greatpleasure to launch this publication today.


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In searching for information for thispresentation, I asked our landlords about

their families, whether they are decendantsof girmitayas. In the conversation, they said

there was an old lady who was a girmitiyaliving in Lovu. I was surprised, thinking thatall our Girmitiyas had gone on to the next life.Anyway, last Friday afternoon we went to visither. Muniamma is a beautiful lady, now 100

years old. She was born in Nakaikogo inNausori to girmitiya parents, who got marriedhere in Fiji. They lived a hard life. Her firstcontact with Fijians was when she was 8years old when they shifted here to Drasa.Some Fijian girls made friends with her andused to take her swimming, which shegreatly enjoyed. Later on she developed aliking for yaqona, which she still likesdrinking. Those were the only contacts shehad with Fijians, as she got married at 9years old and began her life as wife andmother. In talking to her, through ourlandlady, Seema, who was interpreting, Irealized just how isolated Muniammas

parents and her own generation were from the Fijian community, and by extension, howisolated the Fijians were from the Indiancommunity.

When I first came for boarding school inSuva, my parents were working in Bua inVanualevu, and later on they were posted toLakeba in Lau.

We used to travel in the copra boats. And atNasilai, we would see the bow of the Syriasticking out of the turbulent sea where it waswrecked.

At first, for me, the Syria was just anotherwreck. Later on it became a landmark - fromSuva, when we neared it, we knew we werenearing the open seas, from the islands,when we saw it, we knew Suva was near. As Igot older, I began to wonder about those whohad traveled in the Syria. Why had they come

to Fiji? Their long sea journey must havebeen far worse than what I and otherislanders endured. What had they beensearching for? What had happened to the438 people who had survived the Syria ? Howdid they react to the Fijian people of Nasilaiwho came to help rescue them and whosheltered them in their village?

What were their dreams beyond the 5 yearcontracts? How successfully had they and

their children managed to plant themselvesin this new land of small islands, so differentfrom the vast continent they had left behind?

I wondered about my father who spoke fluentHindi and had great respect for his Indianfriends and great admiration for the Indiancivilization. For me and my siblings andcousins, and for most of our generation, theIndian people were always held up, by our

Ms Rejieli Racule

parents, teachers and other significantadults in our lives, as our role model of success and achievement in the face of much hardship.

Today I remember the Syria : in my youth itwas a landmark in a turbulent sea; today I

think of this ship as a symbol of a groupof people, the Girmitiyas, who had

traveled across the seas of life, their journey a turbulent one as a sacrifice for their descendents, to whom they have lefta rich inheritance. For all of you who arein any way connected to the Girmitiyas,and for all of you here today, I wish you allfair weather in your own journeys as youpursue your dreams.

Extracts from Ms Rejieli Racules Speech Girmit: From a Fijian Perspective

Extracts from Associate Professor Cliff Bensons Speech: Commemorating Girmitya

The Chief Guests, invited guests, colleaguesand students from the University. I amdeeply grateful to my colleague, ProfessorSatendra Nandan, for giving me thisopportunity to express a few thoughts about

the girmit period of 1879 1916, when60,537 indentured labourers were broughthere by the British colonial government.

Like everyone else, I have become more andmore shocked and saddened, the more Ihave learnt about this dark period not only of Fijis, but the worlds history. At the same

time, the legacy of the girmitiyas is a delight to be part of.

One such delightful legacy is the close day to

day interaction between the girmitiyasdescendants and their Fijian brothers andsisters. One finds many commonalities in

their beliefs and values, so such closeness isnot surprising. Indeed, both Fijians and Indo-Fijians share a common root experience in

that both communities faced a daunting and treacherous journey across the Kala pani(Fijians from Asia and Indo-Fijians fromCalcutta or Madras) to Fijis warm andultimately hospitable shores.

Today, I lament the lack of knowledge of their own histories among Fijis young people. This University is playing a crucial

role through its Centre for IndigenousStudies in redressing the education systemsdeficiency in terms of treasuring the past of Fijis people and ensuring that the youngerFijian generation knows where they arecoming from.

I wish to suggest that we also promote Girmitstudies, perhaps through our Tappoo-GandhiCentre for Writing, Ethics and Peace Studies.

I also dream that we could play a role inredressing the status of Fiji Hindi, the richlanguage forged by the girmitiyas to

transcend their differences.

In preparing for todays occasion, I hadlooked forward with excitement to making afirst visit to the Girmit Centre, expecting tofind a treasure trove of literature andartifacts which young people could beencouraged to explore. I did not even make

the visit, having been told that it is a GirmitCentre only in name!

Young people of all races in Fiji need adeeper knowledge of their own history. It is a

truism to say that we can only fullyunderstand and appreciate the present whenwe know about the past.

I believe the Fiji Social Science/Historycurricula have very limited coverage of ourown past. Not only could this Universitycontribute to redressing this lack, but we canalso have inputs into the English, Fijian andHindi language curricula.

It amazed me, once I had recently read J SKanwals highly informative, readable and

moving fiction account of the Girmitexperience, The Morning (Savera), thatsuch a book has never found its way into theEnglish Curriculum.

Associate Professor Cliff Benson

In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, Iquote the simple but moving key words of hope in J S Kanwals novel and on which

the title is based.I will first read the quotation in Hindi and

then a translation by Ms Vijayta Singh,Part-Time Assistant Lecturer in Hindi at

this University.

Savera aayega. Jeevan mein kabhi to suraj chamkega. Tab raaho ke rodhe hat jayenge. Tab bikhare kaante udh jayenge Aur saare bandhan kat jayenge

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Morning will come Some time in life the sun will shine. Then the things that

hinder your path will disperse. Thenthorns too will fly away And the chains of bondage will break.

Vinaka, Malo, Shukria and Dhanyavaad.


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Joji Uluinakauvadra

The fact remains that the two major raceswill determine the trend of our governance

to our destiny.

I wish you both- the Attorney General & MsNazhat Shameem success in all your futureendeavors. Please convey our best regards

to the Prime Minister and others in yourgovernment. We pray to our heavenly father

to equip you with wisdom & knowledge andlead us to peace and prosperity. We now bidyou farewell, Ni sa moce, Thank you, Dhanyabhad, vinaka vakalevu.

Mr. Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum- The AttorneyGeneral, Ms Nazhat Shameem- FormerJudge of the High court of Fiji, I wish to thankyou indeed, on behalf of the Vice Chancellor,

the Registrar, Professors, Deans & Staff &Students for giving us very informative andencouraging speeches.

The books that you have launched today willcertainly increase our volume of reading

materials written by citizens of Fiji or formercitizens of Fiji, that will force to believe thatboth books contain many stories related toGirmitia Smriti . I wish to thank all the otherspeakers for contributing more facts about

the Indenture Labour Migration, whichstarted arriving on 15th May 1879 and wascompleted in 1916. Today is 15 May 2009and I am truly thankful to the Department of LLC for organizing this celebrative get

together. I am also requesting the Dean of the School of Humanities & Arts to work with the other Deans & the Vice Chancellor tomake this a yearly celebration and if possible involve many more members of ourcommunity.

Its high time that we learn more about theHistory, Geography, Politics, and Economy of Fiji alongside those of our neighbors, our

trade partners & the World. This first wave of Indenture Labour Migration arrived on 15 May1879 on an agreement to work for a certainperiod and were given the choice whether togo back or start a new life in Fiji. I am very

thankful to Almighty God for encouraging alarge number of them to start a new life in Fiji.We know from records that all of them went

through some ill treatment during their labourdays. But to go through a lot of hardships for5 years, then decided to stay and make Fiji as

their new home, that decision, to me showeda lot of courage.

I truly wish to thank them for creating history.They started living side by side with our Fijianforefathers, helping one another to build ourFiji, up to where it is now. This ETERNALTRUTH is here until ETERNITY. Two heads orsources of intelligence are better than one.Latter waves of migration came later to makeus multicultural- multi-ethnic society in Fiji.

Extracts from Dr. Jyoti Nandans Reading: A Remembrance Day in May (From Between the Lines)

Extracts from Joji Uluinakauvadras Thanks-giving Speech

Fourteenth May is an iconic date in Fijishistory: the date of our first coup; and itmerges into 15 May, Girmit Day. And inMay theres Ratu Sukuna Day.

For some it is a day of betrayal; for othersof dispossession; for yet others historys

deception, and a peoples resilience andresistance; and the celebration of Leadership in a single life: soldier,statesman and man.

But the person who changed Fijis politicallandscape most radically was not theColonel with a gun but Timoci Bavadra witha new, alternative political vision for Fiji,whether we admit it or not that vision isstill alive for a Fiji people care for.

The Colonels entry into Parliament mayhave been more dramatic; Bavadraslegacy will be more enduring.

In Fiji one electoral defeat and the traditions of tolerance, the customs of ourcivilization, the ceremonies and protocolsof respect, collapsed. The Colonel marchedin with his masked gun men; the mask of multi-racialism slipped.

A culture of violence and violations wasintroduced into Fijis political world, as if we had been infected by an alien diseasefor which we had no remedy.

Many institutions and individuals felt violated to the core of their being. None of the coups that followed the 1987 coup would evercompare with the betrayal, the breaking of faith, the shattering of dreams, the shock andgrief of many men and women, most of whomhad known no other home, no other country.

The brutality of 1987 was calculated andcallous. Its shock sharp and deep. Itsconsequences festering.

So 14 May merges into 15 MayGirmit Day. It took 40 years to get 60,000 indenturedIndians to Fiji. In 20 years after 1987, more

than 120,000 citizens of Fiji have gone toother countries, and not Fiji Indians alone.

It is, I think, the largest migration from aSouth Pacific nation. The hemorrhagecontinues.

Despite the immense suffering, the sense of

betrayal, exile from homeland, most of ourmigrants have gone to free societies where they are respected as citizens, rewarded asworkers, and where all share a commonidentity, whatever other problems they and

their children may face in the future.

They come from many cultures, but theybelong to one nation.

A generation of men and women have gone.

Dr. Jyoti Nandan

Despite their differences, their ambitions, they, I feel, had a sense of nationhood.There was an element of nobility in theirstruggle for equality, dignity and politicalrecognition. The Prime Minister was firstamong equals; the Leader of theOpposition was the alternative PrimeMinister. All that changed on 14 May: a day

can be so devastating.What 14 May should remember is Dr.Timoci Bavadra. His decency, laughter,generosity and the dignity born of humanpainand what we do to each other forpetty ambitions. It is a sad reflection on us

that there isn't even a memorial Lecture inhis honour. Perhaps we can choose a dayin May as our National day of Remembrance and Reconciliation in thememory of so much we share, both thegrief and the glory of belonging to Fiji.


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Photo Gallery

In Exile at Home : A film by Mr. Satish Rai

Mr. Satish Rai

The University of Fiji: Private Mail Bag, Lautoka, Ph: (679) 6640600, Fax: (679) 6640700, e: [email protected], w: www.unifiji.ac.fj

Satish Rai, who is a Visiting Fellow/Producer at the FIT, has been producing feature and documentary films and TVprograms in Sydney, Australia since1998. He migrated from Fiji in 1980 andis participating in a Girmit event after a

lapse of thirty years.He started his academic research on Fijiin 1996 for his MA degree. In 2004 hecontinued this research as part of hisDoctor in Creative Arts candidature inResearch and Film Production, a major

component of which is a 90 minsdocumentary drama film titled InExile At Home . This film documents

the history of Indians in Fiji since1897 till the events of 1987 markedmass exodus of Indians from Fiji.

The University of Fiji is extremelygrateful to Mr. Satish Rai forscreening In Exile at Home at thisyears Girmit Smriti


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Photo Gallery

The University of Fiji: Private Mail Bag, Lautoka, Ph : (679) 6640600, Fax : (679) 6640700, e: [email protected], w: www.unifiji.ac.fj


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Photo Gallery

The University of Fiji: Private Mail Bag, Lautoka, Ph : (679) 6640600, Fax : (679) 6640700, e: [email protected], w: www.unifiji.ac.fj

university of fiji - uni matters - girmit edition - 21 may 2009

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