Kamisese Mara

Evaluation

Ratu Mara is regarded as modern Fiji's founding father. He not only led the islands to independence from British rule, and served the country for many years thereafter, but accumulated impressive achievements in office. During his tenure as Prime Minister, Fiji's economic growth was extraordinary.

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Sugarcane industry

Under Mara's leadership, Fiji became a giant in sugarcane production. Between 1970 and 1987, the sugarcane crop more than doubled, from under 250,000 metric tons to 502,000. The sugar industry continues to be the mainstay of Fiji's economy, and more than 90 % of Fiji's sugar is exported. Mara's government led the way in negotiating special preferential marketing agreements with nations importing Fijian sugar, through the Lome Convention.

Related Topics:
Sugarcane - 1970 - Lome Convention

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Pine industry

Mara also founded Fiji's pine industry. Today, pine plantations, virtually nonexistent 40 years ago, cover close to 480 square kilometres throughout the Fiji Islands, and there is an ongoing programme to further expand area in all parts of the country. Fiji now derives more than $40 to 50 million a year in foreign exchange earnings from its forestry sector. Of this total, more than half is from pinewood chips exports. This industry now provides a substantial and increasing source of income to those in rural areas, including especially the indigenous Fijian landowners.

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International achievements and honours

In the 1960s, Mara led a revolt by Pacific Islands delegates that brought about a restructuring of the South Pacific Commission. He also helped to launch the Pacific Islands Producers' Association. This evolved into the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Cooperation, which grew into the South Pacific Forum, an association of Pacific nations, of which Mara was a founder member.

Related Topics:
South Pacific Commission - Pacific Islands Producers' Association - South Pacific Bureau for Economic Cooperation - South Pacific Forum

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Yet another significant Mara achievement was his contribution to the negotiations that led to the signing of a new United Nations International Law of the Sea Convention in 1982.

Related Topics:
United Nations International Law of the Sea Convention - 1982

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On the global stage, Mara was known for his strongly pro-American views. He supported visits to Fijian ports by nuclear-armed United States warships and submarines. He was a close ally of U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Mara was also known for his support for Taiwan. Although he did not officially recognize the Republic of China, he never hid the fact that his true sympathies lay there, and the Taipei regime, in gratitude, helped to finance the publication of his memoirs.

Related Topics:
U.S. President - Ronald Reagan - Taiwan - Republic of China - Taipei

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Over the years, Mara received many honours from around the world. In addition to his knighthood (a Knight of the British Empire, awarded in 1969), his honours from Queen Elizabeth II included the Meritorious Service Decoration, the Officer of the British Empire (1961), Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (1983), Chancellor of the Order of Fiji, Companion of the Order of Fiji, and Knight Grand Cross of the Pian Order with Star (1995). He was also a member of the Privy Council in London beginning in 1973. Recognitions from other governments included being made a Grand Master of the Order of the National Lion in Dakar, Senegal in 1975, and the Order of Diplomatic Service Merit of South Korea in 1978. He was also a Knight of the Most Venerable Order of St John of Jesuralem, and became Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific at Suva, which was founded with the support of his government. In 2000, Island Business Magazine named him Pacific Man of the Century, in recognition of his pivotal role in the founding of the South Pacific Forum.

Related Topics:
Knight of the British Empire - 1969 - Meritorious Service Decoration - 1961 - Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George - 1983 - Chancellor of the Order of Fiji - Knight Grand Cross of the Pian Order with Star - 1995 - Privy Council - 1973 - Grand Master of the Order of the National Lion - Dakar - Senegal - 1975 - Order of Diplomatic Service Merit - South Korea - 1978 - Knight of the Most Venerable Order of St John of Jesuralem - University of the South Pacific - Suva - Island Business - Pacific Man of the Century

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Criticisms

There were criticisms of his leadership, too, some of which he eventually acknowledged. Many Indo-Fijians criticized him for not doing more to thwart the 1987 coups which removed an Indo-Fijian dominated administration from office, and for giving his consent to a new constitution, drafted in 1990, which guaranteed indigenous Fijian supremacy and was widely regarded as racist, even drawing comparisons from some quarters with South Africa's apartheid system. Mara defended his role in the post-coup era of 1987 to 1992, arguing that he was doing the best he could in circumstances that he could not fully control, and that it had seemed better at the time to connive in the writing of a discriminatory constitution than to risk civil war at the hands of ethnic Fijian extremists. In 1996, he publicly apologized to the Indo-Fijian community for his role in the drafting of the 1990 Constitution. Mahendra Chaudhry, the leader of the Indo-Fijian community who in 1999 became Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister, said that he did not agree with, but understood, Mara's reasons for acting as he did, and accepted his apology for having done so. Other opponents, both Indo-Fijian and ethnic Fijian, were less forgiving, however.

Related Topics:
1987 coups - 1990 - South Africa's - Apartheid - Indo-Fijian - Mahendra Chaudhry

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Sitiveni Rabuka, who led the 1987 revolution, surprised many in 1999 when he claimed in an autobiography that he had carried out the coups at Mara's behest. Mara retaliated by suing him for defamation. Mahendra Chaudhry said that he did not believe that Mara had been involved.

Related Topics:
Sitiveni Rabuka - 1987 revolution

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Not all of Mara's critics were Indo-Fijian. George Speight, a commoner (i.e., one of non-chiefly ancestry) who led the 2000 putsch accused Mara of selling the country out to Indo-Fijians, and of working to keep power in the hands of a coalition of Fijian chiefs and Indo-Fijian businessmen, at the expense of Fijian commoners. This view was shared by dissatisfied elements of the Fijian population, mainly poorer people.

Related Topics:
George Speight - 2000 putsch

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