Mission Possible

THE hum of workers breaks through the calm of this South Pacific island paradise, where swaying palms and sleepy lagoons bely Fiji's history of high intrigue and coup plots. The Indian High Commission at Suva is being spruced up for the new occupant, I.S. Chauhan. The political appointee, former vice chancellor of Barkatullah University and M.P. Bhoj Open University, is expected to assume his duties as the new high commissioner this May-marking the return of the Indian government's presence in the island idyll after a gap of nine years.

"I am very excited about returning. I have a daughter who was born in Fiji," says the 58-year-old Chauhan, who did his field work here when he was swotting for a doctorate in sociology at Australian National University many years ago. He's clearly not looking back to that black day in the annals of Indian diplomacy in 1990, when Indian diplomats were given 24 hours to pack up the High Commission, after being accused of interference in Fiji's domestic affairs and even of hiding arms caches in the building.

Chauhan's return is a red-letter day for the ethnic Fijian Indians. The three-and-a-half-lakh strong group made up half the country's total population in 1987, when Lt Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka led two bloodless coups, in May and September. When the newly-elected Indian-dominated government toppled, Fijian Indians left in droves. The British, who ruled the islands until 1970, had brought in migrant labourers to work the sugarcane fields many decades ago. Post-coup, it was the descendants of that labour who fanned out to Australia, New Zealand and Canada. A return to India was not on the cards-that would amount to lowering their living standards.

Fiji was dismissed from the Commonwealth after the second coup in 1987; three years later, a racially biased constitution was introduced that reflected Fijian unease over Indian economic ascendancy. Indians are not allowed to own land in Fiji; however, they exercise control over the service sector, tourism and business and have triggered the country's economic well-being. This was brought home forcibly to Fiji when the government tried, and failed, to introduce Chinese labour from Hong Kong some time ago.

With a further revision to the constitution in 1997, more seats-including the prime ministerial post-were made available to Indians. The revision earned Fiji a return to the Commonwealth. Now Fiji has recognised the need to make its peace with India and to introduce a multi-party democracy-even though the Indian population is down to 43 per cent, according to a source in India's Ministry of External Affairs.

Some experts feel that India is also to blame for the temporary coolness. "The Indian High Commission should've projected itself as having an equal interest in the welfare of the local population-but it never did," says one longtime analyst. Prior to the coup, the leader of the Indian-supported coalition, Dr Timoci Bavadra, didn't spend as much time as he should have on consolidating his position. Instead, he concentrated on bringing Fiji closer to the non-aligned position, and on building ties with Russia. In the process, he alienated the west and provided more fuel for the junta's fire.

Problems remain, showing up in small but significant areas. It irks Fijians that while India offers university scholarships to Fijian Indians to study in India, not a single one has gone to a local Fijian. In a legacy from British days, suspicion has kept the Indians out of the army and the police force.

In a broader sense, India's return to the South Pacific cannot come too soon. China and Japan both have satellite stations on nearby Kiribati. "India's blue water policy can be realistic only if we have such an interest," says an expert on the South Pacific. This became amply clear after the Indian nuclear tests last year. The United States tried to exploit the sentiments of the South Pacific Forum (spf), which had adopted a nuclear weapons-free zone following the French tests. But India did little lobbying of its own. "Delhi should have tried to win over some of the countries on issues like a moratorium on further testing," adds the South Pacific expert. "But India has been very slow and is still slow." This is hardly likely to help India in its current push to become a dialogue partner of the spf, headquartered in Fiji.

Fiji will be reopening its doors with Chauhan's entry in May. With some astute diplomacy and help from India's new foreign policy mandarins, the sun could shine brighter over these islands once again.