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Fiji's Chiefs: a story of twists and turns
- B.M. Allsopp
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) has long fascinated me. As far as I know, it is a body unique to Fiji and its deliberations can be somewhat mysterious. For example, the media were not permitted to cover Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka’s opening speech to the GCC which is meeting today. Of course, this only makes everyone more curious about what he has to say. No doubt a press release will be issued later.
Earlier this year, an elaborate opening ceremony for the GCC's new home took place, six years after their previous building was destroyed by fire in 2019. But this disaster was merely the most recent chapter in a complex story which began long ago. Here follows a simplified account of the major incidents.
How the Great Council of Chiefs began
When a group of 13 hereditary high chiefs in Fiji ceded the government of the islands to Queen Victoria in 1874, civil rule and war were conducted by shifting alliances, including those who opposed becoming a British colony. The Deed of Cession recognised the continuing rights and interests of the chiefs. Accordingly, Governor Arthur Gordon created a hierarchy of administrators and advisors: at the top were powerful hereditary chiefs, each responsible for one of the 12 newly-created provinces. Beneath these were 84 district chiefs, then a chief for each village. Fijians did not have the individual rights of British subjects but were subject to their chiefs.
These provincial chiefs first met in 1878 as the Council of Chiefs, authorising a census and a local tax system which still provides provincial government funds today. In the early years the GCC considered agricultural development and supported the establishment of sugar mills. When Indian indentured labourers arrived in 1879 to work on sugar plantations, the concerned Council agreed with the Governor's proposal to set up schools to prepare chiefly children for leadership and to preserve Fijian traditions. From this time, fears of loss of land and culture have driven indigenous Fijian politics.
Governor Im Thurn's reforms
The word Great was added to the Council of Chiefs' title in the early 20th century. In 1904, the 10-member all-British Legislative Council expanded to 19, including two Fijian members nominated by the GCC. In the same year, the GCC's fears were realised when a new governor, Everard Im Thurn, arrived. He disagreed with Gordon's established, rather feudal, system, refused traditional tributes from the GCC and announced to the chiefs that all Fijians should have the individual rights of British subjects. He subsequently allowed Fijian land to be sold as freehold, available for purchase by non-Fijians. The shocked chiefs met in Suva, and after the involvement of Sir Arthur Gordon in London, Im Thurn's reforms were overturned in 1909. Fiji's colonial administration returned to communal government through the hierarchy of chiefs. While broadly accepted, some Fijians and Indians bucked this system and at times made life uncomfortable for both the British and the chiefs.
Fiji's road to nationhood
The GCC expressed growing fears for Fijians' land security, culminating in the Native Lands Trust Ordinance of 1940. One of Fiji’s most influential chiefs and national leaders, Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, was key to creating the Native Land Trust Board, ensuring indigenous land rights were protected in perpetuity. Until 1963, when direct parliamentary elections by Fijians began, the GCC nominated all Fijian members of the growing colonial legislature.
The winds of change which blew through Britain's colonies in the 1950s and 1960s were welcomed by Fiji's Indian population, but feared by the less numerous Fijians. The British consistently supported the GCC in their demand for separate electoral rolls for Fijians and Indians in the negotiations leading to independence.
The Chiefs after Independence - a twist
Ultimately, both Fijians and Indians compromised and Fiji became independent in 1970. The GCC was not part of the Fiji parliament, but the constitution provided that the Great Council of Chiefs could nominate eight of the 22-member upper house, who had the right to veto legislation affecting Fijian special interests. Continuing racial tensions were inevitable where, overwhelmingly, indigenous Fijians were the landlords and ethnic Indians were their tenants. Not long after the Indian-majority Labour Party coalition won government in 1987, an army colonel, Sitiveni Rabuka, marched into parliament with armed soldiers and announced he was taking over. After months of civil unrest, Rabuka declared Fiji a republic. The GCC supported his action, and soon the Governor-General, Ratu Penaia Ganilau, became the President, who in turn appointed Ratu Kamisese Mara as prime minister, a position Mara had held since independence. It was as if the 1987 elections had never happened.
A new pro-Fijian constitution was adopted in 1990, providing for a Fijian president and prime minister and a majority of parliamentary seats reserved for Fijians. The GCC had the power to appoint the president and a majority of Senate members. Unabashed by international condemnation of Rabuka's coup, the re-invigorated GCC set up its own political party, the SVT, headed by Rabuka (not a chief) to contest the next elections in 1992. Rabuka formed the next government, becoming prime minister for the next seven years. During this time his ideas broadened and he commissioned a review of the 1990 constitution.
The resulting 1997 constitution was less race-based, resulting in Fiji returning to international favour and admitted to the Commonwealth again. The GCC still appointed the president, but overall its power was reduced. The subsequent 1999 elections surprised not only Rabuka (by now popularly known as Rambo) but everyone in Fiji, returning another Labour Party coalition led by Fiji's first Indian prime minister, Mahendra Choudhury.
Fiji's chiefs in the 21st century - more turns
Although mass emigration of Indo-Fijians since 1987 reduced their numbers to a minority, Choudhury's success stirred fears in many Fijians and a chaotic civilian coup took place in 2000. Eventually overturned by the armed forces after much disorder, this coup made the GCC reconsider its overtly political role. Rumours that Rabuka was involved in the coup made the GCC dismiss him as its chairman and step back from its own creation, the SVT (or chiefs' party).
However, the 2000 coup left a long trail of suspicion, criminal charges and counter-charges, contested convictions and sentences for treason which culminated in another bloodless military coup, this time led by the Fiji Navy's Commodore Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama in 2006. Bainimarama did not trust the GCC, which he first suspended, then took over himself. In 2012, Bainimarama accused the GCC of having "become politicised to the detriment of Fiji's pursuit of a common and equal citizenry" and disestablished the body. The GCC was not only down, but apparently out.
The new constitution of 2013 brought back civilian rule and eliminated ethnic voting blocs to move away from the racial divisions that had long beleaguered Fijian politics. All citizens were henceforth to be known as Fijians, regardless of their ethnic background. There was no role for a council of chiefs. Bainimarama told the chiefs to "go drink home brew under a mango tree."
The Fiji First party, set up by Bainimarama, won the first two elections held under this new constitution, but in December 2022, Rabuka (aka Rambo) was back with a winning coalition of parties promising to restore the GCC. (You can refer to my post here.) Bainimara was sentenced to a year in prison for perverting the course of justice in 2024.
In May 2023, the GCC reconvened with much pomp on the chiefly island of Bau near Suva, home of the first leader of the Council of Chiefs, Ratu Seru Cakobau. During their second meeting, the chiefs appointed as Chairman Ratu Viliame Seruvakula, a Nasautoka chief and former senior RFMF officer. He played a significant part in defending Queen Elizabeth Barracks during the 2000 coup and mutiny, later joining the New Zealand Army, and then the United Nations Department for Safety and Security.
The GCC marked a significant milestone in July 2025 with the official reopening of its traditional meeting house, the Vale ni Bose, at Draiba in Suva. Following two days of deliberation, Ratu Viliame announced that key issues discussed included a proposed review of the current Lands and Fisheries Commission, the creation of an Indigenous Natural Resource Trust Fund, and a comprehensive review of Native Land Laws dating back to 1905. We'll have to wait for the meeting now underway to end before learning more about the GCC's plans.
My own feeling is that the chiefly hierarchy is an intrinsic part of Fijian culture. The chiefs' influence is here to stay, whether formalised in a constitution or not. I'd be most interested to know your thoughts. Please comment below or email me.
If you have friends interested in Fiji or Pacific islands in general, I encourage you to comment on and share this post.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Bernadette
B.M. Allsopp
