Book Review-Enslaved in Paradise: Reclaiming, Retelling and Restoring Fiji’s Distorted Past – and Invalidating Some Historical Myths

Thakur Ranjit Singh

Rajendra Prasad’s second book on Fiji’s untold history was launched by Indian High Commissioner, His Excellency Sanjiv Kohli at New Lynn Community Centre, Auckland on Sunday 12 August 2018. 

Enslaved in Paradise (2018) refutes Fiji’s history and retells it from perspectives of victims.

Prasad fearlessly and boldly declares wickedness of the colonial government and chiefly collusions. He reveals many self-serving, self-centred and arrogant leaders, who had ravaged Fiji’s political landscape, but escaped scrutiny. And they eventually degenerated Fiji permanently into the ‘coup coup land label. 

The book also tells how the British sabotaged the return of Indians to save the sugar industry and Fiji’s economy in the  early 1920s and discredits a historical lie that Indians opted to  stay back and that the British were magnanimous in granting them the right to live in Fiji.

Democracy in Fiji was acceptable as long as Itaukei and Chiefly Party won. If they lost, democracy was demonised and trashed. This also happened in 2000 when Muaniweni farmers were terrorised, raped and pillaged after win and one year rule of Chaudhry-led People's Coalition Government. This photo well depicts the sad status of Indians/Indo-Fijians in Fiji from the Girmit days of 1879 to 2006, when all they did was suffered and cried. Only when  Bainimarama stopped state-sponsored and institutionalised racial discrimination against Indo-Fijians through extra legal means did the descendants of Girmitiyas attained security, social justice and equality.

The book is an eye-opener on the biggest lie ever told. It reveals how indigenous chiefs, in 1963, concocted a lie to unite the Taukeis, misleading simple common ITaukei about non-existent fears of the Indo-Fijian threat to land ownership, customs and customary rights. 

The book also gives an opportunity for Indo-Fijians to objectively evaluate how the failure of leadership denied them respect, justice, equality and dignity, and also how their own folly and wrong choices have been the reasons for their sufferings.

It provides irrefutable evidence the Taukei chiefly system did incalculable harm to the social, economic and political development of the Taukeis and Fiji. All the while, the blame for their poverty was mischievously attributed to Indo-Fijians. 

It is a must reading for ITaukei, especially the new generation, to get an appreciation of how a system of Chiefly rule was the biggest shackles for common ITaukei, and how their poverty was self-inflicted. 

The book, in ten chapters makes a gripping reading, and reclaims Fiji’s history never told by any author in that language and passion. In the first chapter, appropriately titled “My Quest for Justice” Prasad reproduces three self-explanatory letters he wrote to Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR), Australian and British governments respectively, and their replies. They eloquently sum up the pain, suffering and sacrifices of Girmitiya. 

The question that arises is, why this was not done by any of those famous Girmitiya lawyers who became rich from an infighting community?  And how about academics or Girmitiya businessmen? Why it took a simple poor but passionate author from a sleepy rustic village to do the unthinkable?

The book also answers many questions that it raises.

Laisenia Qarase

Ratu Sukuna

Ratu Mara: Was he behind 1987 coup? Was he really a multiracial leader as internationally projected or was he just another ethno-nationalist leader? Was it divine justice of Karma when he was "exiled" out of Suva and his Presidential position by his own Itaukei subjects who should have been protectors and not vultures to their respected chief? Read Enslaved in Paradise to get the answers.

Was Ratu Mara really an advocate of multiracialism? Who was the best or worst of ITaukei leaders: Ratu Sukuna, Ratu Mara, Rabuka or Qarase? And among Indo-Fijians? A.D Patel, Koya, Jai Ram Reddy, or Chaudhry? Was Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) really that great? What were the reasons for racial tensions and political instability in Fiji? Who was the greatest Girmitiya who did enormous good for the oppressed people and whom over 95 percent of Indo-Fijians do not know? 

Jai Ram Reddy and Sitiveni Rabuka. Indo-Fijians have suffered because they rejected the multiracial path carved by Reddy and Rabuka alliance in 1999.

A.D. Patel

S.M. Koya

Mahendra Chaudhry: Did he achieve Pyrrhic victory where he could not enjoy the fruits of his victory, where his victory had taken such a heavy toll that it negated any true sense of achievement? Was it self-inflicted? Did he score many own-goals?

You will be shocked and annoyed with some of the answers this very well-researched book gives and substantiates.

And where does Frank Bainimarama stand?

Some may feel that the author Rajendra Prasad is advocating for Fiji First Government and Frank Bainimarama. Nothing is further from truth. He has never met Bainimarama, his deputy or any of the other movers and shakers in Fiji First. His quest for justice began with research for his first book in late 1990s. This was long before Bainimarama came on the political scene. And that self-financed research of some seven years culminated in publishing of Tears in Paradise in 2004.

As they say, once a writer, always a writer. Some more information came on hand, he had some unfinished business, and that extensive investigations climaxed in the blockbuster and bombshell that shatters so many historical myths. And that is Enslaved in Paradise.

Enslaved in Paradise is a hard-hitting book that tears into Fiji's wanting leadership, their betrayals, British treachery, Chiefs and Great Council of Chiefs which were very destabilizing force and threat to  Fiji's democracy. The Chiefs spread false rumour of Indo-Fijian threat to win political support through misplaced fear of Indo-Fijians. Among others, that has been the reason for continued racial-tension through divide and rule mantra the Chiefs aptly learnt from the British.

And what motivated Prasad? He was no academic and neither had any privileges of academic freebies. It is a non-academic writing, deep from the heart and without desire of any academic rewards. It was done to seek justice through untold bare history unable to be told from the confines of a university. 

I have grieved in the stillness of the night and, in the deep peal of thunder, I have heard the muffled cries of our ancestors, imploring us, their descendants, to ensure that their pain and suffering during the indenture period in Fiji, was not lost in the mist of time.

The book tells what happened in 2006 through extra-judicial means could not be done through democratic process. The Bainimarama initiative liberated Indo-Fijians from state-sponsored racial discrimination and granted them equal citizenry. In addition, it stopped the exploitation of the commoner Taukeis by chiefs who benefited hugely through the entrenched legislations. Significantly, the dissolution of the GCC in 2012 meant it could no longer interfere in Fiji politics, leaving its governance to the elected representatives.

Author’s plea in the final chapter sums it all for the forthcoming Fiji election:

The 2018 election is the watershed, which would decide the political trajectory of Fiji. If Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama fails, Fiji could resurrect the politics of ethnicity, which would be disastrous for Fiji. In him, Fiji had a true indigenous Fijian leader who cared for everyone, irrespective of race, religion or culture, lifting Indo-Fijians, in particular, from the ignominy of being the second-class and being the most despised citizens of Fiji. I sincerely hope Fiji overwhelmingly rejects those who profess restoration of ethnic seats, ethnic voting and the Great Council of Chiefs, including politicians and parties that masquerade as champions, hiding their villainous deeds and intents. 

What is also unprecedented is his direct plea to misinformed iTaukei people. Never had Indo-Fijians ever discussed, conspired or even thought of disposing them of their land, culture, customs or customary rights. Ironically, this was done by their trusted people and savors:

…the Europeans appropriated over 500,000 acres of prime land through deceit and lies, facilitated by your chiefs…

Your chiefs, who posed as God’s chosen ones to rule over your lives, deliberately lied to secure their social, economic and political advantage, creating racial discord to benefit from disharmony between you and us. The coups (1987, 2000) executed behind the façade of your rights and interests were sheer illusion, which did not benefit you but only those who concocted deceit and lies.

He compared their changed status after 2006 when an inclusive government, advocating equality and unity in diversity, saw unmatched social, economic and political advancement. 

Oddly, the military coup of 5 December 2006 brought change, which liberated the people of Fiji from draconian acts of defilement in the governance of the nation that continued for over a century. The people of Fiji became hostage to the villainy of those who hid behind the democratic façade to violate the freedom and rights of Fijians. 

History of Fiji was manipulated and conveniently missed all atrocities. British treated Indians as economic slaves and threw them in front of ITaukei when they left. Indians were indeed treated as derelicts of the empire, used as scaffolding in building, and abandoned when the building stands up.

This book tells of all those missed stories and thus fills this historical chasm.
It is a must reading for all Fijians. You will be enlightened, shocked - and angered.

Rajendra Prasad, the author of Tears in Paradise (2004) and its sequel, Enslaved in Paradise (2018). Although being a non-academic, and researching via self-finance, he has done what no academic could achieve with all the university resources. He deserves an honorary university doctorate, and one of Fiji universities should volunteer and be honoured to launch his excellent book which shatters many historical myths.

The author’s caliber of research, depth of thought, tenor of writing and aptitude of language would be cause of envy to most, if not all Indo-Fijian historians in Fiji universities. The only historian deemed capable is retired Professor Brij Lal, who stands tallest, Prasad comes the second, and I struggle to see even a distant third.

Universities in Fiji could redeem this deficiency by offering honorary doctorate to a non-academic author, Rajendra Prasad and volunteering Fiji launch of this brilliant book. This would bestow more honour and dignity to the institution with initiative, rather than to Prasad who does not expect any kudos for what he deems was his obligation to his aggrieved forebears. 

Over to you, University of the South Pacific (USP), University of Fiji and Fiji National University (FNU) respectively. You may ignore this plea at your peril –and retain your right to be enslaved by ignorance in paradise!

[Thakur Ranjit Singh is a journalist, media commentator and runs his blog, FIJI PUNDIT. E-mail: thakurji@xtra.co.nz]

“ENSLAVED IN PARADISE”: Why should you read this revealing book?

Thakur Ranjit Singh

In my last article, you were parked on that hill above the ancestral home of author, Rajendra Prasad in Vaqia, Ba, Fiji. This was where he was inspired to write. He writes about that hill in his first book, Tears in Paradise-Sufferings and struggles of Indians in Fiji-1879-2004:

The hill above our home is grazing land and overlooks the river, the valley and … the unbroken “Karia Pahaad” the Black Mountain range. I have often stood on this hill above our home. Even in sorrow, it has a refreshing and recuperative effect…Even in stillness one can almost feel the powerful presence of the spirits of sorrow and grief exuding from these sugarcane fields. They are the spirits of our ancestors… The sugar industry in Fiji was established with the blood, sweat and tears of our ancestors...

Cover of outrageous and revealing second book, Enslaved in Paradise by author, Rajendra Prasad. This book challenges Girmit History as told by the British, and reclaims, restores and re-tells Fiji's Girmit History. The book shatters many historical misinformation and myths.

In his second book, Enslaved in Paradise-A History of Mammoth Betrayals of Fijians by the British, Chiefs and Leaders of Fiji 1879-2006, he continues with similar chain of thoughts…. 

I have grieved in the stillness of the night and, in the deep peal of thunder, I have heard the muffled cries of our ancestors, imploring us, their descendants, to ensure that their pain and suffering during the indenture period in Fiji, was not lost in the mist of time…

The cover of author, Rajendra Prasad's first book, Tears in Paradise, which also corrects many distortions and misinformation of Fiji's Girmit History as told by the British.

It is these muffled screams of those who were wronged, and who sobbed for justice, that Prasad was urged to pick up his pen and keyboard. The cries for justice urged this author to undertake research of seven years for his first book, Tears in Paradise. He alone took the task to fill this vacuum, and realign our Indo-Fijian history at his cost, time and resources. And with Enslaved in Paradise, he ventures to complete some unfinished business to reveal the deceit we went through, without realising it.

Most, if not all, Fiji history books by Fijians have been written by academics. This is because, with privileged comforts of university campuses, they have all the time in the world, while on full pay and with university resources, to do what this author did without all those advantages.

The author, Rajendra Prasad, a very private and humble person, who writes from heart and with passion to seek justice for atrocities caused to Girmitiyas- indentured labourers to Fiji.

For this mammoth task to be undertaken by an individual common citizen, away from university campus, unpaid, on your own time and resources, is a tough call. It is even harsher if done to heed the cries of your forebears. Because, then this is done from the heart, with passion, to tell an untold story, with no desire of financial or academic feather in the cap. This could have never been revealed, and in that language, from the comforts or confines of a university, as they would not allow that tenor or an act to challenge the victor’s history. What Rajendra Prasad did with his two books is an unheard feat to reclaim, restore and realign history from the viewpoint of the victims, challenging misinformation of the (British) victors. 

Despite his marvellous feats in intellectual fields, he does not belong to the rich and influential elite of the Indian or Fijian cocktail circuit in Auckland. He cannot be considered rich as he never ran after materialistic wealth, but invested in intellectual ones. You will never see him in any awards functions, black tie lectures and other elaborate community gatherings with well-connected elites. That is because he is a very humble and a private person.

Whatever modest savings he had has gone in seven years research of his first book “Tears in Paradise”. His latest book, ‘Enslaved in Paradise” exhausted his remaining retirement nest. Therefore please, be considerate, and do not expect a free copy if you had it so the last time.

Rarawai Sugar Mill, with Fiji Sugar Corporation farm estate in the foreground, with hills across Ba River, bordering Lautoka in the background. Through sugar milling and cane-farms, Australian CSR Company stole from the illiterate and vulnerable farmers to fill coffers of Australia and the Colonial Government. Both books by Rajendra Prasad reveal mammoth scale of exploitation and abuses of human rights that any civilised government or corporate would be ashamed of today.

Rajendra Prasad has never been to a university and is not an academic - but his work will put many academics to shame. You will never feel that the brilliance and revelations in those pages are coming from a non-academic. You can say, the blessings of his pitra, grandfather, Girmitiya Budhai from a rustic Vaqia have manifested in the pages of his two books. And that from somebody who is not a professor, a doctor – or even a graduate. Indeed, Prasad appears to be a Mana, a gift from Heaven!

Despite his remarkable accomplishments, he failed to register on the radar of local and international Indian awards panels (read, among others, Pravasi Bhartiya etc) that exist in various sizes and shapes. But that does not bother him as he does not write for rewards or recognition - it is a call from the heart and there is no desire to clamour for any honours.  But the fact remains he would have been more deserving than some others, and today such awards look wanting because of this exclusion. And of course, he lacks, and even shuns, that connection to influential kingmakers who lobby for those award.

When Professor Brij Lal graced Girmit Thanksgiving Day in Auckland in 2014. In this photo he is seen attending a function at Calvary Indian Church in Otahuhu , Auckland. In the photo are, from left, Rajendra Prasad (author), his wife Aruna Prasad, Shashi Kala Singh, Professor Bri Lal and his wife, Professor Padma Lal on extreme right.

And why should you read his book? Haven’t others told the same story? Not quite the same-and not in the same emphatic language. The difference is like punching with gloves on, with a generous supply of foam to cushion the force, as most academic writings do. Or punching with a naked fist for maximum thrust. I have yet to find a writer with balls, excuse the language, to say what he has said in both his books.

No academic attached to a university with the privileged position of using university resources could have got away by writing what he did. He would have been sacked and blacklisted. No university would allow him to realign History and correct and accuse the British for misrepresenting and distorting Fiji’s Girmit History. 

On academics, I however would like to make an exception. Professor Brij Lal is the most celebrated academic on Girmit History, who has written strings of books and publications, and had his footprints on Girmit issues before Prasad, who has extensively quoted him. This is because Professor Lal gave the world the term Girmitiya, the Indentured labourers, in academic circles. Therefore, nobody could write about Girmit without citing the Pundit and Guru, Professor Lal. So, as an academic, he stands out tall, and undisputedly, the tallest!

The greatest academic son of Girmit, Professor Brij Vilas Lal (right) presenting his book Chalo Jahaji to the author of Enslaved in Paradise, Rajendra Prasad. He was the Chief Guest in Fiji Girmit Foundation-NZ's Girmit Thanksgiving Day in Auckland in  May, 2014.

In restoring and reclaiming History, Prasad comes the second. He has retold the truth about British, the Great Council of Chiefs and Fiji’s celebrated leaders. Many would be aggrieved with his exposes. He can afford to be unconcerned. This is because neither has he to please his financiers, any influential friends, follow university protocols nor be held back by any other shackles. 

Prasad fearlessly tells the tales about Fiji’s untold history. He speaks boldly about wickedness of the British, chiefly collusions with largely self-serving, self-centred and arrogant leaders, ravaging Fiji’s political landscape and eventually degenerating it permanently into the ‘coup coup land’ slogan. 

I had the privilege of reading an advance manuscript of the book – and I assure you it will be an enlightening, educating, revealing – and shocking experience. It will also immensely annoy you for being screwed for generations, without you realising this.

It is for these reasons, you need to read his blockbuster book, destined to shatter many Historical myths.

Enslaved in Paradise is launched in Auckland on 12 August, 2018.

Hold your breath - and get a copy. Satyamev Jayate - truth shall prevail. 

And so it shall – with ENSLAVED IN PARADISE!

[Thakur Ranjit Singh hails from the same locality in Ba as the author Rajendra Prasad, and shares primary School-Vaqia Indian School and high school, D.A.V. College, Ba, Fiji, with him. He is a blogger - runs blog FIJI PUNDIT, is a journalist and media commentator. He lives in Auckland, and shares same passion as Prasad in diving deep for truth-and telling it without fear or favour. E-Mail: thakurji@xtra.co.nz]