Pacific Magazine > Magazine > July 1, 2002

Fiji Focus

Affirmative Action...An Illusion or A Recipe For Success?

By Samisoni Pareti

Officially, government's affirmative action programme came into force on March 1, this year. Yet the programme has been in existence much longer, introduced only a few months after Laisenia Qarase, now prime minister, was asked to lead Fiji¹s unelected but interim administration following a May 2000 coup.

In the absence of a parliament then, the programme came into force through decrees. But not now. The Social Justice Bill was one of the first bills Qarase's Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL) party introduced in parliament. It was passed by both houses in February.

Basically, the affirmative action programme is two-pronged. One is exclusively for indigenous Fijians and Rotumans, the programme that is sometimes referred to as the blueprint for Fijians and Rotumans. This programme is based on the indigenous peoples' right to self-determination. A budget of F$28 million has been set aside for the programme this year, a figure this government has been quick to add is only 3% of its national budget. Prominent features of the blueprint include:

- a review of the 1997 constitution, Fijian administration and the Native Land Trust Board.
- transfer of certain state lands classified as schedule A & B to their original owners.
- conferment of full ownership of fishing grounds from the state to traditional owners.
- establishment of a land claims tribunal.

The other aspect of the affirmative action programme aims at addressing what Qarase¹s government has identified as disparities or opportunity gaps in society. Whilst most of the recipients are indigenous Fijians and Rotumans, some of these programmes rope in other races too, including Indians.

"Unfortunately, these opportunity gaps are identified with a particular ethnic group," says Jioji Kotobalavu, permanent secretary in the Prime Minister's office. "For example, the 1996 census showed that 54% of the population live in rural areas, and out of that rural population, close to 60% are indigenous Fijians. ³And the UNDP poverty survey report in 1997 identified our rural people as the households with the lowest income on average in Fiji, which means that bulk of the households with the lowest level of income are Fijians."

As senior aide to Qarase, Kotobalavu is towing the official line. Critics, however, have been quick to label this aspect of the government's affirmative action programme as "racist and discriminatory". Poverty, they say, knows no ethnic boundaries, and such a programme must be inclusive, not exclusive.

To a certain extent, Qarase has recognised this, which is why a number of initiatives under its affirmative action programme are for all members of the community. Out of the 29 initiatives under the programme, 17 are for all races, 10 for indigenous Fijians and Rotumans, and the remaining two for Indians and other minority groups. Inclusive affirmative action initiatives include:

- housing assistance for the poor.
- family assistance scheme.
- subsidised medical care.
- rural water and electricity schemes.
- subsidised shipping.
- increased assistance to rural schools.

Total allocation for 2002 is F$66 million. Criticisms against the programme have not only centred around its "exclusivity" clauses, but to a large extent on the boldness, if not the abrasiveness of the government in pushing for it.

Qarase and his government hide no bones about its intention to help its own people. They say the disparities existing among major races in the country have been a cause of instability, and its affirmative action programmes will go a long way in erasing such feelings of insecurity.

Kotobalavu puts it this way: "For the first time, we now have a government that said: Now, let's be open and transparent. If the Fijians lag behind as an ethnic community, let's address it on the basis of ethnicity."

The senior public servant holds the rare distinction of serving four of the five prime ministers Fiji has had since independence from Britain in 1970. While acknowledging that affirmative action programme for indigenous Fijians and Rotumans is not new, past initiatives, he said, have been "half-hearted". "The Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT) government (of Rabuka) was interested in its CDF (Commodity Development Frame-work) programmes only in funding agricultural projects for exports. The People's Government (of Chaudhry) shifted the focus from export projects to family, people-based agriculture. This government has completed the shift. And it's making wonders."

Critics, of course, would not be as quick as Kotobalavu. Already, the government's own blueprint committee comprising all assistant ministers have identified two main weaknesses:

- the immense delay in the drafting of accompanying regulations to effect blueprint initiatives, and
- stringent lending policies of the Fiji Development Bank.

Head of the blueprint unit in the Prime Minister¹s office, Malakai Tadulala says remedial actions have already been put in place. Strict lending policies of the bank, for example, had been blamed for the low utilisation of funds in the small business equity scheme introduced for indigenous Fijians and Rotumans. Of the F$1.5 million allocated in 2001, only F$0.5million was exhausted, while the F$0.5 million provided for other races was almost fully subscribed.

G

etting the bank to relax its lending policies, like exercising leniency on a corporate or company plan and past performance in business, will only fuel criticisms, not douse them. Critics felt such initiatives are not going to succeed, as recipients are not being exposed to the real cut-throat world of commerce. Indigenous Fijian entrepreneurs will never be able to stand on their own two feet and compete effectively through such archaic and protectionist measures.

Such doomsayers may be right. But an initiative that could reward this nation handsomely in the years to come is the insistence on the basics and the focus on income-generation, not exports. "This PM is very clear in his mind that it is not enough to improve infrastructure and utilities like roads, shipping, electricity, or water. While all these are good, they are not enough," Kotobalavu tells Pacific Magazine.

"If rural people are to sustain their living standards through their own efforts, we also have to pay equal attention to creating opportunities for income generation. We must help rural people to create income so that they are able to maintain their electricity supply, their water supply, even their schools."

For Kotobalavu and his team, theirs is the hope that such a noble intention materialises under such a programme. For Qarase and his ruling government, their challenge will be ensuring that their blueprint programmes are not red-carded and hijacked through massive abuse and nepotism.