United we stand
April 11 2014
IF not for anything, this year’s general election could well be remembered for the rise from the ashes of one of Fiji’s oldest political parties, and a greater sense of the acceptance of multiracialism.
For the first time in its 50-year history, the National Federation Party, has as its president an indigenous Fijian, also a woman, and one whose political and biological bloodlines make her a royalty of Fijian politics. Adi Tupou Draunidalo, daughter of former deputy Prime Minister Adi Kuini Vuikaba, and former SDL Minister Colonel Ratu Savenaca Drainidalo, is the second woman (after Irene Jai Narayan) to preside over the party founded by the pioneer sons of Fiji’s “Girmitiyas”.
NFP, with Adi Tupou, and new party leader Biman Prasad, economist, at the helm, could now make great inroads towards creating the political and economic stability once envisioned by former party leader and statesman Jai Ram Reddy.
It was Reddy’s mature leadership in 1999 that saw the party teaming up with Sitiveni Rabuka’s SDL in a grand bid for national unity, and in the process becoming the first Indo Fijian ever to address the Great Council of Chiefs. And who can forget Reddy’s impassioned plea to the chiefs for national unity? It brought tears to many of the traditional rulers’ eyes.
Alas, that national unity bid was rejected by the people, and the country saw the last of Reddy, one of its greatest leaders, and with him, the demise of the NFP.
With Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry now convicted on Exchange Controls Act charges and could face a jail term or a hefty fine, there appears to be a spanner in the works of a Labour campaign. The conviction effectively rules Chaudhry, the country’s first ethnic Indian Prime Minister, out of the race in the September poll.
This could actually see be the beginning of the end of Labour.
Whether that gives Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama and his Fiji First Party the upper hand, and a bigger slice of the Indian votes, remains to be seen.
While Biman Prasad has said the NFP will not go into a coalition with another party, experience tells us that it could all change when election results are declared.
High chief Ro Teimumu Kepa’s Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) has made it clear that it is keen to work in a coalition. Labour may have been its partner of choice, but NFP may now be the more attractive alternative.
For NFP, known for its mature leadership in pioneering visionaries like AD Patel and Siddiq Koya, the time may be right in again taking the national unity approach with allies of a similar vision.
Wracked by four coups from 1987, the last thing Fiji and its people need is more instability and insecurity. With harsh lessons learned from the hardships of the past 27 years, it is now time for those who harbour political aspirations to put their needs aside and work for the good of all.
As Jai Ram Reddy said in his historic address to the Great Council of Chief:
"We seek a country whose children of all races grow up with deep understanding and respect for each other's cultures languages and traditions.
"We seek a country which encourages the best and the brightest indeed encourages all its people of all races to work together.
"We seek not to threaten your security; but to protect it, for in your security lies the basis of our own."
-Arvind Kumar
IF not for anything, this year’s general election could well be remembered for the rise from the ashes of one of Fiji’s oldest political parties, and a greater sense of the acceptance of multiracialism.
For the first time in its 50-year history, the National Federation Party, has as its...
IF not for anything, this year’s general election could well be remembered for the rise from the ashes of one of Fiji’s oldest political parties, and a greater sense of the acceptance of multiracialism.
For the first time in its 50-year history, the National Federation Party, has as its president an indigenous Fijian, also a woman, and one whose political and biological bloodlines make her a royalty of Fijian politics. Adi Tupou Draunidalo, daughter of former deputy Prime Minister Adi Kuini Vuikaba, and former SDL Minister Colonel Ratu Savenaca Drainidalo, is the second woman (after Irene Jai Narayan) to preside over the party founded by the pioneer sons of Fiji’s “Girmitiyas”.
NFP, with Adi Tupou, and new party leader Biman Prasad, economist, at the helm, could now make great inroads towards creating the political and economic stability once envisioned by former party leader and statesman Jai Ram Reddy.
It was Reddy’s mature leadership in 1999 that saw the party teaming up with Sitiveni Rabuka’s SDL in a grand bid for national unity, and in the process becoming the first Indo Fijian ever to address the Great Council of Chiefs. And who can forget Reddy’s impassioned plea to the chiefs for national unity? It brought tears to many of the traditional rulers’ eyes.
Alas, that national unity bid was rejected by the people, and the country saw the last of Reddy, one of its greatest leaders, and with him, the demise of the NFP.
With Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry now convicted on Exchange Controls Act charges and could face a jail term or a hefty fine, there appears to be a spanner in the works of a Labour campaign. The conviction effectively rules Chaudhry, the country’s first ethnic Indian Prime Minister, out of the race in the September poll.
This could actually see be the beginning of the end of Labour.
Whether that gives Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama and his Fiji First Party the upper hand, and a bigger slice of the Indian votes, remains to be seen.
While Biman Prasad has said the NFP will not go into a coalition with another party, experience tells us that it could all change when election results are declared.
High chief Ro Teimumu Kepa’s Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) has made it clear that it is keen to work in a coalition. Labour may have been its partner of choice, but NFP may now be the more attractive alternative.
For NFP, known for its mature leadership in pioneering visionaries like AD Patel and Siddiq Koya, the time may be right in again taking the national unity approach with allies of a similar vision.
Wracked by four coups from 1987, the last thing Fiji and its people need is more instability and insecurity. With harsh lessons learned from the hardships of the past 27 years, it is now time for those who harbour political aspirations to put their needs aside and work for the good of all.
As Jai Ram Reddy said in his historic address to the Great Council of Chief:
"We seek a country whose children of all races grow up with deep understanding and respect for each other's cultures languages and traditions.
"We seek a country which encourages the best and the brightest indeed encourages all its people of all races to work together.
"We seek not to threaten your security; but to protect it, for in your security lies the basis of our own."
-Arvind Kumar
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