GD writes: After his three part series on identity and belonging in Fiji, CommonMan turns more whimsical this week as he reflects on a recent visit to Australia and his enjoyment of traveling by train.
Australian railways are a far cry from the sugar trains that used to pass by CommonMan’s village in Nadroga. Not only are they fast and comfortable to Fijian eyes but whether it is short journeys on urban trains or trams or long journeys through the Australian “bush”, CommonMan finds that railway carriages are great places to think and reflect.
One day, perhaps, there might be a train linking Suva and the West. Now there’s food for thought.
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Being in this great country was such a pleasure. Some people may have issues with the socio-cultural aspects of Australia, but my experience there has been nothing short of privileged.
I think you have to have lived at length on one side of a spectrum to appreciate what is on the other. I have only ever lived in Fiji, so I very much appreciate the advantages of living in a developed country like Australia in terms of its first-class public amenities, services and infrastructure, advanced education, excellent health facilities, fair pay for a day’s work, etc.
I guess the opposite is also true. Many Australians are attracted to Fiji because it offers what Australia lacks, like culture, the warmth of a communal, village-like structure, and close-knit family oriented ambience. What one country lacks, the other has on offer. An exchange of sorts, like two niche markets marketing different things to different demographics with different preferences.
I enjoyed the train rides to and from work. To me, it is a novel experience. It seems that I find joy in the simple things in life. In addition, it is not just the level of comfort as you watch the passing and ever-changing scenery; it is also the efficiency of its systems. It is so efficient that they even tell you if it is running late. I might not have spent too long there, but I did not experience a train being more than 2 minutes late.
The passing scenery helps me unwind my mind and look back, in retrospect, at reels of my life through the train of time. It strikes me that most of us villagers live in a culturally manufactured comfort zone that normalises mediocrity. Preserving culture and protecting land is the end goal, so wanting more is naturally suppressed. We do not even notice it.
It is why development is so important. It gets people out of their slumbering existence, so we step out, step up and realise that there is more to life than merely existing, protecting culture and maintaining ownership of land. It helps us adjust our way of thinking so we can transition from financial stagnation to economic progress. Land holds the key.
But, it is important to first change our perception of land. The iTaukei perceive land differently from people in the West. Land is not just a physical object; it is a living entity just like the vanua. In fact, the Fijian ideology on land is intertwined with that of the vanua, so much so that the term ‘qele’ (literal translation – land) and vanua are often used interchangeably.
The root of our economic stagnation is not just systemic; it is also socio-cultural. We must begin to abandon traditions that are a hindrance to progress. However, there are also aspects of our culture that have a deeply profound meaning we must not lose. And must never reach a point where land loses its spiritual dimension, so that we end up exploiting and destroying the very environment that sustains us, much like the West has done all over the world. Two key words, Cultural adaptability and sustainable development.
In iTaukei culture, a person’s tethering to the vanua begins at birth. After a child is born, the umbilical cord is buried near the home, and either the clan’s totem tree or a fruit tree is planted on top of it. It is a symbol of a person’s untethering from his mother for sustenance and his connection to mother earth for his living and livelihood. A spiritual earthly connection. The tree and the ground around it become sacred. Land from that point on takes on a deeply spiritual identity and symbolism.
At home, I planted four yasi or sandalwood trees atop of my kids’ umbilical cords. They are of the indigenous variety (yasi dina) brought from my wife’s village in Bua. Bua, according to history, was the capital of the sandalwood trade back in the olden days. I have told my kids they can cut down their individual yasi trees on important personal milestones like marriage, etc. It’s a break from the old traditions.
Customarily, these kinds of trees are never cut down. They are considered sacred. But in many Fijian villages near cities and towns, such traditions have begun to lose significance.
Then each land owning unit has a totem animal, fish or bird, a tree, which are all considered sacred and cannot be ‘touched.’ There are other lands that are considered ‘tabu’ (sacred or forbidden) in iTaukei culture like old village sites, all burial grounds, particular reefs or fishing grounds, groves of trees, mountain peaks or ranges, ceremonial grounds, certain caves, etc.
Land has inherently innate value. It is not a commodity as in the Western sense. It is a living entity. An under-girding part of the vanua that attaches peoples’ culture and their spiritual connection to place.
The extension of that kind of cultural thinking is all-encompassing and extends outwards towards the whole. It is why there are bushes where there was once farmland or commercially viable locations are left to permanently fallow. It’s not necessarily that the iTaukei is lazy; do not get me wrong, some iTaukei are. But that is a skin-deep analysis and it misdiagnoses the underlying problem. It is that the iTaukei perceives land differently.
And then our elite in the GCC and our academics tell us to protect our culture at all costs. I remember messaging the iTaukei Trust Fund Facebook account when they put up an EOI for Scholarships for iTaukei language and culture (Degrees, at USP. I enquired why there were no scholarships in STEM fields and Commerce, those being the fields in which the iTaukei are under-represented or lag. And the answer was that it’s important that we protect culture as we’re beginning to lose it.
While the prevailing academic discourse often frames these changes as a form of loss, I see it as an evolution of sorts. One where aspects of our heritage that no longer resonate with current realities are consciously shed. It is not necessarily loss of culture but rather culture that is adapting. Cultural adaptability is necessary for growth.
I also find it rather amusing that these academics all now live overseas enjoying Western lifestyles while pontificating to us about preserving indigenous culture. A certain academic loves to pontificate about the importance of preserving culture while sipping fine wine.
But still on trains, the only other train riding experience I have to compare Sydney’s tram service to is the sugar cane train. The freaking railway line is just meters away from my village.
Looking back, amazing as it was, it was quite dangerous. We would untether the last trailer from the train while it was moving at speed. But we would first move the marker flag to the second last trailer. We did all this around a corner so the train driver wouldn’t notice.
The trailer was then used to collect and transport firewood along the railway line to the village, transport the village rugby team members who had no bus fares to Lawaqa Park for club rugby, as transport to school for the more audacious, or the beach, for fun and a myriad of other things. When unused, we would lift it from the railway into the bush, camouflaged it with leaves and branches. Multi-purpose and multifunctional. It was a hell of a time to be young.
It saddens me that boys in the village now do not have the kind of experience we did. Today, the closest approximation kids have is the Railway-Run game they play on their phone screens. The train no longer runs because the sugar industry is in dire straits.
Sadly, the death of the sugar industry mirrors the death in the depth of leaders we have in the country. From the giant Ratu Mara who helped structure trade deals with the then European Economic Commission, like the LOME CONVENTION, envisioned and established regional organisations such as the South Pacific Forum to coalesce and unite Pacific voices so that the world stooped to hear us; to regional trade agreements with our nearest developed neighbours, Australia and NZ, via SPARTECA.
From the giants of those yesteryears who championed multiracialism and multiculturalism to the bigoted ethno-nationalists of today. Oh, how far our leadership stocks have fallen.
As I get off the train, I am reminded that some use government as a gravy train. So, they don’t want to get off. They are used to the gravy. On one hand is Frank Bainimarama, who tried to fleece the government of another $700 000 even though he’d been on a $328 000 salary for about a decade.
On the other hand Rudderless Sitiveni Rabuka, who has lost a lot of trust and public support but still says he will contest the 2026 elections as the PAP party leader.
Just recently, he disallowed a group of very competent ladies who had applied for certain diplomatic postings because, according to him, they did not have the desirable experience. Conveniently forgetting that his appointment of the High Commissioner to Australia ticked all the boxes for cronyism. This guy had even less experience than the ladies save for the fact that he was a co-founder of the People’s Alliance. Or that the designated Ambassador to the US had not even applied for the position.
Then there is the case of the lady on the other side of the spectrum who stumbles from one tragedy to another. She graduated from stealing husbands to now stealing from government by double dipping. To compound that is the astronomical cost of our ministers and the President. These guys treat public funds like it’s their personal bank account.
But that’s enough talk of gravy for one day, so this train of thought ends.
On the other hand, there’s Rabuka of whom so much was expected but has been nothing short of a big disappointment to many. In all appearances, judging by recent events, he has been influenced by the very same subsection of the ethno-nationalistic core and fundamental Christian zealots that had supported his coup in 1987, so that now you hear rumblings of the GCC forming a political party while the government has opened an embassy in Jerusalem.
As a leader, the timing of these two things couldn’t be worse, given the ongoing Israel-Palestinian conflict and the Fiji Airways Israel Dinau Tour. Not even funny that the same people had ridiculed Frank Bainimarama for the “GDP ni Dinau” comment.
The gravy train in Fiji powers on while the sugar trains become a distant memory.
Clearly,looking after the land has become a forgotten part of the culture when you see the amount of rubbish on the road side and left on the beaches after, out of the area families arrive for a day by the sea and leave soiled nappies, drink bottles and left over food and wrappings on the beach.
I thought it might have been unruly tourist’s causing the problem until I witnessed rubbish being thrown from local vehicles.
Maybe this is the younger generation, but shows that they are not being taught by the elders that this is unacceptable.
I recall a Letter to the Editor, Fiji Times published about 1980 advocating a railway line between Suva and Nausori to utilise the “free” excess electricity from the newly opened Monasavu HEP power station.
It mentioned “building it now while land is available, and before it is built up”. What an opportunity ignored and wasted, one reflects, when one is stuck daily in the bumper to bumper traffic queue of smoky buses and taxis.
A breath of fresh air.
Thanks for the insights on iTaukei and the Vanua.
Wish CommanMan the best.
Unfortunately those who hold such ideals will never hold the reins of power long enough for meaningful change
Hope I am wrong
Fiji needs someone like Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore.
The Asian model actually works.
Look at Japan,China, Asean and dare I say it India.
CommonMan, as I read your articles I feel my respect and affection for the Fijian people renewed. We all benefit from your knowledge and wisdom. Vinaka.
Better understanding and learning how to do things the right way is always welcome. We also welcome your insight on how to adjust to the demands of a changing world. These are important questions to be addressed with sensitivity.
But for now, let’s just consider your conclusion last week that Sitiveni Rabuka and Frank Bainimarama must face justice.
Yes, I agree they should be called to account as part of Fiji’s political development towards widespread agreement on what is acceptable and what is not.
However, these two former coup leaders also presented themselves to people and were endorsed by them as their democratically elected prime minister. Regardless of what we think about them and their time in office, they have served the people and have already had their fate decided by them.
More venality and incompetence is being called out, the RFMF have stayed out of politics and no doubt the next bunch with hopefully better plans for the country will be supported.
So Fiji’s politics may be changing and moving on from the coup culture? There are some things that can help this process.
The first it is consultation and consensus-building through talanoa, and the second, recognition and application of the concept of karma. This is where a good action creates good karma, as does good intent. A bad action creates bad karma, as does bad intent.
Through talanoa on this question will we develop a better understanding of the rights and wrongs of the past, and second, for the cure, we apply good karma.
The talanoa should acknowedge that violence begets violence. There is more than enough of this bad karma in Fiji’s past: of tribal and foreign wars, of cruelty in the indentured labour system and of corporal and capital punishment.
This bad karma came out in the brutality of 1987 and the subsequent disrespectful and violent manner in which ordinary people, women and respected figures were treated. Let’s not forget what happened to the democracy protesters, to Dr Timoci Bavadra, Mahendra Chaudhry, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, Laisenia Qarase and Dr Brij Lal.
To move on from this dark history the cure is good karma that comes in part from recognising there were many enablers supporting them who also need to change their thinking. How do we achieve that?
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission offers one point of reference for this talanoa. However, their brief is to look at what happened from 1987 onwards. To deal with the bad karma, we will need to look further back and recognise what came out of the seismic pressures of migrant communities living alongside a protected first nations people.
Part of this is to acknowledge that a race-based voting system arguably made the coups almost inevitable, not accidents of history. All parties must present themselves on multi-racial, mutli-cultural basis.
In the past we have had race-based political parties on both sides of the system fanning flames. On one side we have the more radical supporters of Rabuka and Speight. On the other there were those voting as one with NFP and Labour who having failed to win power via Bavadra in 1987 and Chaudhry in 1999, then shifted their support to Bainimarama between 2006 and 2022. This wasn’t surprising as he had control of the RFMF and was determined to suppress those who had supported Rabuka in 1987 and Speight in 2000.
None of this absolves these two main characters or their enablers of responsibility. But the cure has to be the good karma that comes out of talanoa, truth-telling and reconciliation – where communities come to terms with the past and agree on how to go forward.
A first step then is to recognise the incendiary effect of the communal voting system. Any retreat from one person, one vote and equal rights for all citizens introduced in 2013 would be a mistake.
Sadly, Commonman, you have described the “train wreck” that Fiji has become too well. And you have also provided an interesting and insightful read, with thanks.
I think one challenge to which academics and informed villagers need to work through together and thoroughly, is how to balance preserving culture, and allowing culture to adapt. When this doesn’t go at a slow and conscious/informed pace, we end up in the current gravy train situation. You make a very solid point that culture does need to adapt, and so does the mindset around land preservation, use and ownership.
When individuals move from a village and poverty mindset to a gravy train mindset, they behave like adolescents who party too hard and have no one setting boundaries. Sure, there may be boundaries in the systems around Ministers, but very few (perhaps no one) is enforcing them; so it’s a big spend free orgy that is embarrassing. Indeed, it is the village life without boundaries (wonderful aspects as well as violence and sexual abuse with too much closeness) that challenges people’s ability to develop their own personal self-discipline. Many westerners who employ Fijians continue to be flabbergasted by the lack of self-discipline and constant lasulasu. And the proliferation of the kerekere system with the Coalition has seen a spectacular degradation of boundaries between professionalism, government and personal life and connections.
Sadly I have heard too many iTaukei in a hurry to convert more land to freehold so they can sell up and make their clans rich. This would just be more partying-gravy-train behaviour that would end up in too much foreign ownership. Short term riches and long term poverty as the loss of the connection to land and culture results.
The Coalition has failed to appreciate the importance of having grassroots iTaukei involved in political life as well as Expats from the West who have experience of boundaries and land ownership in culture so that there is some hope of a slow cultural adaptation of Fiji’s village life to Western ways. Both Fiji and the West can learn from each other as Fiji slowly develops. The often heard phrase that “we are Fijian, we do things the Fijian way” is holding Fiji’s development in a straitjacket.
The visual I see is a very young and immature democracy chasing riches like a bull in a china shop knocking over every system and everyone in it’s way, rather than appreciating that the West and Expat expertise can help them apply the brakes for meaningful cultural adaption.
Spot on. Rules, boundaries and mentoring are essential. For many there has to be a fundamental shift around kerikeri, work and lifestyle behaviour.
Accountability, Accountability, Accountability !
Totally gone out the window.
Does accountability exist in the I-Taukei Culture ??
It certainly doesn’t in the current Rabuka Coalition Government – the Gravy Train Government as CommonMan rightly refers to it as.
I believe accountability is non-existent in the iTaukei culture.
Instead, we have a forgiving culture. You can do wrong and then present a matanigasau. All is good after that. Until the next time you stuff up again. Then another matanigasau.
I am not sure if this is traditionally an Itaukei culture, or part of the Christianity influence which is big on forgiveness.
We all need to learn to take responsibility for our own actions.
Accountability and Fiji Government or generally the Fijian way of life are 2 ends of a bridge, you can’t have both.
It’s got a lot to do with Christianity by people who proclaim to be true Christians. They read a bible saying love thy neighbor and are racist as f**k towards a person who looks different to them even though that person may be their child’s teacher, a bus driver or even a doctor or nurse who treats their parents.
Wouldn’t it be just great to have that East-West Train Express as CommonMan envisages.
Imagine all those pontificating academics sitting in the common economy carriage with all the jet setting politicians of Fiji , not forgetting ex-Finance Ministers , ex- AG’s , legal eagles who keep a check on certain print media , Snakes and snake charmers , Sugar daddies who call our Youth leaders kids….Might do them abit of good .Seeing how common folk live and let live as the train snakes it way through the valleys ,mountains , rivers of this nation.
What a delight! Nadroga – The West is the home of the CM.
Down memory lane, many in the Fiji-Indian community also bury their children’s umbilical cords in the soil near their homes . I remember choosing a citrus tree for my child and sealing it with a prayer to the earth and sky to look after this tree and my child .The child grows up caring for that tree and should never cut it in the near future.
Yes CM , we have so many , so called academics trying to sell their outdated ideologies from abroad .Especially those who seem to have a theoretical framework for everything happening in Fiji .What are they doing abroad if Fiji is so dear to them ? The hypocrisy is just unbelievable.
Till your next one…Best ~CM .
CW.
“Wouldn’t it be just great to have that East-West Train Express …”
CM speaks sincerely of a possible utopia. A distant dream that has long since been shattered to smithereens in 1987.
A rail system is not exactly a novel idea if we recall not so long ago the former AG known as ASK suggested the same not just from east to west but also between nausori and suva to significantly reduce travel times and traffic congestions all around.
Dont forget ASK was laughed out of the room, so to speak.
More importantly, such prospective development proposals will be met with fierce opposition by bus operaters, mini bus operaters, taxis, and, wait for it, land owners.
Another impediment would be stray animals and stray people with the relocations of urban and rural housing areas next to the tracks to sell sila, pineapple, mango, banana et cetera. Oh, and baggage thefts galore.
And we have enough trouble with bus cards and assaulting bus and taxi drivers. The train drivers will be sitting ducks passing bush areas, and no one will be able to control free riders.
CommonMan probably realized none of the above are even remote factors of concern. If we think personal safety concerns in Fiji are shaky now, a rail system will add to our personal safety security in any rail system.
This is Fiji, after all where rape, assaults, robberies, drugs, beggars and the homeless, judiciary double standards, police double standards – with crack (pun intended) drugs unit and serious crimes unit and a vaunted online commission, all led by an incompetent, corrupt government, to welcome one and all.
All aboard!
Very soon if not already, CommonMan’s identity will be known with the clues revealed! Of course initially there will be half a dozen individuals incorrectly identified by local detectives and the coconut wireless before the real CM will be located.
Should that happen may it be a positive event for him, rather than becoming fodder for his detractors and more so a catalyst for improved race relations in Fiji.
OK, gang. We’re looking for someone in Nadroga who recently visited Australia and likes trains.
Good luck! 🙂
Blinky Bill?
The CommonMan citizen has too much intellect, cultural and traditional knowledge and an exceptional grasp of the English language. CM displays a tsunami of depth, introspection, and tolerance in his writing.
We can be sure it is not methnol jambalaya Blinky Bill.
The views espoused and articulated by CommonMan could not have just formed overnight and in isolation
Would be educational for the ill informed if an insight was forthcoming as to how he came to his conclusions so we all learn from it.
Surely the Indo Fijian are not responsible for everything that’s wrong in paradise?
Besides they will be ‘gone’ in another 10 years or so.
Will we blame tribalism or the Tongans next?
My suggestion to get rid of the present lot?
Let’s see who has the balls to bring a No Confidence motion!
A no confidence motion on the floor of the parliament has no hope of succeeding. Rabuka has used your money to buy off more than half the former FijiFirst opposition. And they are now aboard the Gravy Train Government with ministerial salaries double that of their former salaries and all the other perks of office.
A Gravy Train Government leading a gravy train nation, surviving on foreign loans, foreign gifts and budget support and the remittances of Fijians living overseas who are also being ripped off my visiting Fijian ministers double-dipping on their expenses. Plus a mainstream media which is also aboard the gravy train and receiving government handouts – some of them posturing rent boys and whores masquerading as journalists.
That’s the legacy of the “New Order” and the example being set for our young people. The new Fiji. Every man and woman for themselves. Get what you can while you can from wherever you can. Until the music stops and the train comes to a shuddering halt.
The only certainty is that it isn’t going to end well.
CommonMans identity is irrelevant. He uses a nom de plume for a reason. He wishes to remain anonymous.
What is important is that he gives us an insight into the cultural aspect of the major issues Fiji faces currently.
Hopefully the knowledge of this extra dimension will help us solve the problems. Or at least help us voters choose politicians who are better decision makers at the next general elections.
We do not deserve the useless, corrupt and thieving lot we have currently.
Agree. I was being tongue in cheek about the guessing game. I’d imagine he will go public when he is good and ready. But would you want all those shysters on your case, cajoling or threatening you to take a certain position?
Agree 💯. We need to focus on the message and not worry too much about the messenger.
CommonMan uses his time and resources (knowledge on so many fronts) to freely share his thoughts.
The less we worry about the identity, the better.
S/he deserves our appreciation and gratitude.
So far, yours truly would not have ever known the cultural and traditional information s/he has so generously shared.
One thing is for sure, CommonMan is a well-read person and has shown courage and commitment to step forward.
Thank you, CM!
The chickens of 87 have come home to roost.
Water under the bridge now.
However none of the Uncle Tom’s in parliament should be reelected.
As for the NFP, they know the writing is on the wall and they will be decimated in the next polls.
I bet they all will relocate overseas especially the so called Indo Fijian turncoats
For goodness sake. Seriously, the aim is not to uncover CommonMan the individual. And strangle the golden goose. Or expose him to the aimed or stray bullets in the front line trenches. Unless he chooses to come forward himself.
Rather it is to know enough of what constitutes or makes up the character and environment of CM so that more persons like common man can be replicated or uncovered to bring about betterment in Fijian society.
Some of these have been revealed about him eg exposure to reading books and a mum as a teacher. Generally social change will not be entrenched in society by legislation alone if the mind or heart is not educated towards it. One can punish the youth for throwing stones at their neighbors property but if the behavior persists then other methods to educate the youth to stop their destructive behavior by self realization is the way forward long term.