'Symbol of a worldview': Understand the GCC and its role first, Fijian academic says

As a review of Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) is currently underway, a New Zealand-based Fijian academic warns people must first understand the cultural significance of the council and the need for its existence in modern Fiji before criticising it and calling for changes to its focus.

There are several viewpoints emerging about GCC's role and place in the country. Some believe it should modernise and be inclusive to meet present day societal realities, while others want the body to "rise above politics" and reinvent itself as a representaitve institution.

But Victoria University of Wellington manager of Asia Pacific programmes Maciu Raivoka says it was not sensible to start thinking about the future without a thorough understanding of what the GCC represents primarily.

"We have to look at some of those deeper psychological kinds of conversation, the foundational stuff for which cultures are founded on because you cannot isolate culture from the GCC as an institution, because they depend on each other," Raivoka said.

"In fact, GCC is a representation of that culture," he said.

"Without a proper understanding of what those are, and prioritisation of those things that we should not let go, that GCC represents the best at that level. The risk is, if you do not, you will get off course."

Raivoka, who is also chair of the university's Pacific leadership committee and co-chair of the Aotearoa Fijian Research Collective, said while there is a need to look at how the GCC will serve the people in the future, it was critical everyone critiquing the council fully grasp the cultural significance of the body.

He said the first GCC meeting in Bau held two weeks ago was needed to remind iTaukei and Fijians in general of the culture that has made Fiji a unique place to live in.

"What I would like to share and this is my observation is that what is missing from the conversations out there publicly is the kinds of spotlighting that is given to the GCC and the apparent absence of a very authentic view or the appreciation of what the GCC represented on that day in terms of exchange, in terms of GCC as an institution," Raivoka said.

"The GCC was the epitome and a symbol of a particular worldview."

"[It] was the demonstration of what the [indigenous] Fijian worldview prioritises as important for them and you cannot put a price to those things," he said.

"You can critique it from any modern angle, but the truth remains that this is an expression of culture in which culture had dictated that this is the best of us. And it can only be demonstrated at that level," he added.

The traditional ceremonies that took place during the opening event [on Bau] would have raised the understanding of Fijians living outside of the country of "who we are as Fijians in communal living, the communal thinking, the communal appreciation of our world", Raivoka explained.

Misunderstandings

Raivoka applauded Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka in his statement that the GCC cannot be modernised and its membership will not be changed as members are installed chiefs because of their genealogy and heredity.

According to him, a lot of people misunderstood what Rabuka meant.

"The GCC had its own set of values and traditions that cannot be altered to date," he said.

"In my mind, Rabuka understands that the GCC is a symbol of pride for indigenous Fijians and must be upheld. That those values we believe to be true, that defined Fijians, that they can be the best as they can be, through those socialisations has stood the test of time and survived.

"It is our totem that we live and stand and demonstrate and serve the world with these values, and It is the same for any other cultures in the Pacific," he said.

He said Rabuka was "quite confident in his own articulated understanding that the GCC is not just an institution."

"[But] physically, socially and emotionally it is a representation of what [indigenous] Fijians believed to be true and authentic about themselves."

He said it was unfair for people to use contemporary framings of gender and inclusiveness to critique the GCC because it is not government and not parliament.

Chiefly diplomacy

Understanding that Fiji was never a united country in the past was also critical, Raivoka said.

Tribal wars were fought, and territories won as a result over the years, with warriors taking over as chiefs because they won the battles.

It was the consensus of chiefs agreeing to peace and stability that led to Fiji coming together as a country.

"We forget that Fiji was not a united nation. It was not a united tribe. We could never make Ratu Seru Cakobau king," he said.

"I feel people undermined the ability of culture to pull people together, for chiefs to achieve that kind of confederate thinking, that unity can be maintained through consensus. And the Pacific is the only region in the world that can still do that for leadership."

This, he said, was unique.

He used the example of the Turaga na Vunivalu na Tui Kaba, Ratu Epenisa Cakobau, when he invited people to Bau for the GCC meeting.

"I mean it was so good to hear the Vunivalu [Ratu Epenisa] inviting anyone from around Fiji or around the world, saying there is a house for you here [and] when you come we will show you that is your entry point," he said.

Raivoka referred to this approach as "modern day diplomacy".

"You have an embassy here [Bau], so to speak, and it exists in the Fijian culture and for time immemorial."

"If we try to articulate our understanding of what those values and those foundations for which that founded the [indigenous] Fijian world, and how it became to be in 1876, it will give us a lot of clarity, it will give us hope."

Analysis of GCC criticisms

However, Raivoka said he agreed with some of the points raised by critics.

He supports the call for chiefs to be connected to their people first, for the GCC to then be able to stay united.

"Of course, if we had to critique GCC, now we ask the question, 'why chiefs are being pulled together into one big grouping detached from its people?'"

"That is a worthwhile conversation. The GCC should not be a fixed body isolated from the very foundation in which each chief sit."

He said that should be the starting point and affirming the chiefs with their people first, making it a fundamental right that chiefs must be well-connected to their own people first.

"The survival and success of GCC depends on chiefs and people in their own locality and their own contexts and if they strengthen that then the national body can be strengthened and enhanced as well."

He said the challenge remains on how indigenous Fijians can preserve this world view for the next century, adding the GCC has spurred Fijians, especially those living outside of Fiji, to have a deeper sense of appreciation and be proud of the values that make them who they are.

A Review team is currently receiving recommendations from around Fiji on the GCC and its future. They are expected to present their final report to the GCC in early August.