The rebirth of Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs taking place on Bau Island - The traditional welcome ceremony includes qaloqalovi, vakamamaca, sevusevu, yaqona vakaturaga, wase ni yaqona vakaturaga. 24 May 2023 Photo: Fiji Government
The high chief of the Kubuna confederacy- the hosts of Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs (GCC), meeting today - says the reinstallation of the body is good for the indigenous people.
Ratu Epenisa Cakobau said the native people have "tolerated a lot things" over the past 16 years, since their main representative group was dissolved in April 2007.
He said indigenous people are here to stay, but also the GCC has to change and cater for everybody.
"Fiji has changed. And this is a new beginning of the GCC after 16 years. And we have to look at it in a much broader way," Ratu Epenisa said.
"Everybody makes Fiji...so I think the GCC has to be much more open to these kind of things and more modern, that is very important."
The Council - regarded as the apex of traditional Fijian leadership and also accused of being a racist institution - was discarded by the former prime minister Frank Bainimarama following his 2006 military coup.
At the time, Bainimarama told the chiefs to "drink home brew under the mango tree".
But 16 years since it was removed, the GCC is returning under Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka's coalition government.
More than 3000 people are gathered at Bau Island to witness the reinstallation of the Great Council of Chiefs.
Ratu Tevita Mara Photo: Loop Tonga
Ratu Tevita legal status clarified ahead of GCC meeting
Meanwhile, some uncertainty around the legal status of exiled Lau chief Ratu Tevita Mara, who is leading the lau delegation to Bau, has been clarified by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, Lee Burney, said there would be no reinstatement of charges against Ratu Tevita following a review of the matter.
Ratu Tevita was charged by the police for making seditious comments in 2011. A nolle prosequi (formal withdrawal of a charge by the State) was filed in court in 2014 ending the proceedings.
The Assistant DPP stated on Tuesday that following a review of the police file and the evidence, there was insufficient evidence to support any criminal charges.
The docket has been returned to police with the instructions that Ratu Tevita Mara's name be removed from the watchlist and no further action is required.
Ratu Tevita is now on Bau Island attending the GCC meeting.
He led a delegation from the chiefly Vuanirewa family of Tubou, Lakeba in Lau and the province of Lau to the Turaga na Vunivalu na Tui Kaba, Ratu Epenisa Cakobau on Tuesday.
Ratu Tevita and the delegation went to present their traditional request of entering Bau or isevusevu and also presented traditional gifts to honour Ratu Epenisa's installation a few months ago as the Turaga na Vunivalu.