Ratu Iloilo was vice president in May 2000 when the Government of Mahendra Chaudhry was overthrown by a coup led by George Speight.
He became president after the military took power in July, was deposed in the 2006 coup led by Commodore Frank Bainimarama but restored to the presidency the following year.
When the Court of Appeal in 2009 ruled the interim government led by Commodore Bainimarama was illegal, Ratu Iloilo abrogated the constitution, sacked the judges and reinstated the Commodore as prime minister. He retired last August. -- RNZI.
18 comments:
Our thoughts and prayers should be with his family. But lets be honest it was Commodore that ignored the court of appeal, abrogated the constitution and sacked judges. The president was just rubber stamping all these things. If he had not he would simply have been removed again like he was in 2009. There is no independent president in Fiji and the Commodore has made sure of that.
Not honest enough:....
Ratu Josefa, the Tui Vuda, has been much more than any 'Rubber Stamp'. To his Vanua and to all who have known him and worked with him, he has been a veritable Tower of Strength in very exacting times. No mean-spirited remark by anyone will pass without due respect and proper regard being shown towards a goodly and a kindly human being who cared for all the People of Fiji. May he rest in peace - a good and faithful servant of The Lord.
Croz
In the new enlightened Fiji why is the death of Iloilo not being reported by the Fiji media. Is the media now that censored or has it just reached another level of incompetence? Bollywood and cat and dog stories. What a disgrace.
The Tui Vuda was a wonderful man, someone of strength and humility to whom the nation owes a great debt. Much will be said about him in the coming days, including criticism ( hopefully muted ) of his role in the events of 2006 and 2009. But as he saw it, he had no choice but to support Frank Bainimarama for a reason many of his fellow chiefs could never fully comprehend. And that was to maintain the ideal of a multiracial Fiji in which all races were treated equally. As someone who came from the West, Ratu Iloilo had none of the hang-ups about Indo-Fijians that many of the eastern chiefs have had. Indeed, he preached the value of the contribution of Indo-Fijians to nation building through their sweat and toil in the cane fields adjacent to where he grew up. Ratu Iloilo was deeply disturbed about the Qarase government's legislation that entrenched the rights of indigenous Fijians over other races. He made it abundantly clear privately at the time but was ignored. So when the coup came it wasn't so much that he was rubber-stamping Bainimarama's decisions but that he actively supported them. Anyone who portrays the Tui Vuda as a puppet has no idea of the truth of what was happening behind the scenes. Yes, he was ageing and increasingly infirm. But his mind was agile and entirely focussed on the job at hand. He took his role as president extremely seriously, seeing himself as a representative of all Fiji citizens irrespective of race. This was a man who could have taken the easy path of retirement but soldiered on in the national interest. He had many fine qualities, including a deep and practical religious faith that respected the beliefs of others. And he'd worked hard all his life, from the very early years in the education sector of the colonial administration. Above all, he had mana, an aura of chiefly authority born not of a sense of entitlement but a duty to the vanua and the nation as a whole. Vuda and the chiefly village of Viseisei have given us two outstanding figures in recent times who are great role models for our children, Ratu Iloilo and the much- missed Timoci Bavadra. Both were men of humility and mana not just in the vanua but in the eyes of every citizen. In a world where egos compete and people think only of themselves, these people remind us that genuine integrity and a desire to serve are the only qualities that deserve to be respected in our national leaders. In the coming days, the Tui Vuda will be afforded all the pomp and ceremony befitting a high chief and president of our country. But as a humble man, he would undoubtedly prefer us to remember him as a good and faithful servant who did his best under the most trying circumstances. We stand with the people of Vuda in their loss and salute a truly great man. For the life of Josefa Iloilo Uluivuda, thanks be to God.
"Honest", Ratu Iloilo was no rubber stamp and you insult his memory and our intelligence by saying so. He supported the 2006 coup because he saw it as the only way to protect the interests of the 40 per cent of citizens who are non indigenous. And he was appalled that Laisenia Qarase would even contemplate freeing George Speight and his gang, let alone legislate for their release. As Vice President in 2000, he'd been sidelined, humiliated and seen the elected prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, beaten and held hostage with his cabinet for 56 days. This outrage offended every bone in his body. So even without the Qoliqoli Bill, Iloilo would have fought Qarase to the bitter end. He was commander in chief of the military and paramount chief of western Fiji. He could have opposed Frank Bainimarama if he'd chosen to do so. He didn't because he actively supported him. A rubber stamp? Rubbish.
Croz, it's very strange that the reports of Ratu Iloilo's death are confined thus far to two sources - Radio Australia and Radio NZ International. There's nothing in the Fiji media nor anything on the government website. Do you know what's going on?
If he fully supported the coup why did Frank need to first remove him ?
Either he knew exactly what he was doing and should be condemed along with Frank and co OR he was taken advanatage of by a all powerful military.
Having met him several times I think the later is the truth.
Croz, Radio Australia is running an interview with the miserable Brij Lal saying Ratu Iloilo was a "decent man who was used by the military for its own ends". This guy has no idea of what was happening behind the scenes yet makes these outrageous pronouncements that are accept by the gullible ABC as gospel truth. If Radio Australia wants commentary on Fiji, why go to someone who's a protagonist like Brij Lal? There's nothing "independent" about him whatsoever. There are plenty of other people they could approach, such as Sandra Tarte or someone who actually knew the Tui Vuda well. Brij Lal is a complete fool who understands nothing about Ratu Iloilo's support for the coup. Portraying him as a doddery old semi-cadaver who was merely instructed to sign the necessary documents isn't just insulting but plain wrong. A disgraceful rewriting of history by a so-called historian with grudges to bear. And more anti-regime propaganda from an Australian national broadcaster that feigns independence but constantly barracks for Australia Inc.
RIP - may respect of good be returned to your previous office in the future.
@ What gives ... There has now been an official announcement. It is not unusual for the media to delay announcements until there has been an official announcement, and I think this was the case here. It is to do with respect, not censorship.
Please note also that I have blocked some comments that I consider extremely distasteful. Some people seem to have neither shame nor respect.
"View", so you met Ratu Iloilo "a few times". Met him? So did thousands of others in the course of his presidency. It's when you say you believe he was "taken advantage of" by the military that I know for a fact that you didn't really know him at all. Because if you had, you would know how much he supported Frank Bainimarama and the aims of his coup. He didn't say it publicly because he firmly believed the head of state should stay above politics. But you only have to look at his actions to know that he supported Bainimarama 100 per cent. Let's have no more of this nonsense about a senile old man being manipulated by the military. Iloilo might have been frail but he had a full sack of marbles and an acute sense of right and wrong. Of course, coup opponents everywhere are in denial over this to suit their own purposes. How much easier to write off the president as gaga than face the fact that a respected high chief was determined to put a stop to indigenous extremism and the SDL once and for all.
Croz, how sad that people should try to malign a good man with the vile comments you say you've had to block. It is very Un-Fijian to speak of the dead in this way, especially a high chief like the Tui Vuda. It's a question of basic respect, not just for the man but his subjects, who happen to be not just the people of Vuda but the entire nation. This is yet another example of the steady deterioration in standards of behaviour in Fiji in recent years. It's what Ratu Iloilo took a stand against in his own life, always courteous to even the most humble of citizens. The truth is these people hate him because he resisted the country's descent into savagery under the likes of George Speight, Laisenia Qarase and the SDL. "Now praise we great and famous men". The Tui Vuda was truly one of them.
I don't mean to be disrespectful but the messages here do not add up.
If Ratu fully supported the Coup why did Frank need to remove him to carry it out ? If he was so anti SDL and it's policies why did he not express his concern and do something about it (something less dramatic than a coup). And finally we all know it was the military mandate not the Presidents that has set the agenda for the last 4 years.
A good man should rest in peace and he will but let us not be blind to what happened in Fiji.
May you Rest in peace Ratu.
It is extraordinary that judgement might be so skewed? Is there no Good Judgement left in Fiji? If there were, one thing the late President and the Tui Vuda would wish for would be that most of us might distinguish 'right from wrong'. We appear, many of us, to be unable to do this. We follow a herd instinct and, when we are unsure, we are quick to condemn: instead of reserving judgement we hurl insults. This hardly shows a populace prepared and ready for the liberation of full democracy? The Commander in Chief of the Military is His Excellency, the President. The President is duty bound to ensure the well-being of ALL who reside in the nation and to work to safeguard their best interests. No small task and it is a sacred trust. It is profoundly to his discredit that the former Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, chose to ignore this fundamental precept of governance. He chose to put the entire nation in peril by dividing it and assuring the supremacy of one ethnic group, proposing to release a group of people rendered dishonourable and criminal by their actions. We do not yet deserve democracy. A Constitution of Liberty must be merited and safe-guarded through eternal vigilance and hard, relentless labour which is devoid of selfishness. The 1997 Constitution used the term 'Paramountcy' (of interest) but this was shamelessly subverted to 'Supremacy'. We are suffering for this act of subversion still. Whoever thought that words do not matter?
"Actually", the removal of Ratu Iloilo in 2006 was merely procedural and nothing can be read into it whatsoever. It was a constitutional clearing of the decks and in no way affected the warm relationship between Ratu Iloilo and Bainimarama. Think about it. Bainimarama had propelled Iloilo into the top job after the 2000 coup and of all the chiefs, admired him for his unassailable integrity and multiracial outlook. In many ways, they were a double act so this notion of a rift between them in 2006 is nonsense.As to why he didn't publicly criticise the SDL, he adhered to the convention of the head of state being above party politics. The fact that he said nothing means nothing. It was his actions that counted. Everything he did in office was a repudiation of the SDL and its racist policies. The fact that you and others still wonder where Iloilo stood through these events proves how successful he was in keeping the presidency above day-to-day politics. But there's no doubt whatsoever that he supported Bainimarama, Had he not done so, he'd have declined the presidency after 2006 and certainly after the coup was declared "illegal" by a gaggle of Sydney barristers in 2009. So let's get this straight. The Tui Vuda regarded Frank as potentially the country's saviour, a badly needed circuit breaker to remould Fijian democracy into a more inclusive model for other races. End of story. Anyone from the West like me will understand precisely what he did and why he did it. We've never been hung up about Indians, having lived among them and witnessed how hard they've worked for the benefit of everyone. Few people realise that Bainimarama also grew up in the west as a young boy when his father was the gaoler at Natabua. It's the Easterners who are more suspicious of Indians, an attitude based on ignorance because they don't live among them in the same way. In the Tui Vuda, we had someone who may have been senior in years but whose outlook was thoroughly modern, the notion of all races working together as one nation.
Radio Australia and Radio NZ International do not have to abide by the traditional protocols that Fiji media organisations uphold.
It has always been the case when a Fijian chief dies - the media will not announce the passing until there is an official announcement.
When a chief dies, the message is conveyed to those who need to be notified as custom dictates.
Once that is done, the general public can then be notified.
There is no conspiracy brewing here. Just a respect for Fijian customs and traditions.
"Paramountcy to Supremacy", I don't know whether I agree with you that Fiji isn't ready for democracy but you have hit the nail right on the head with the title of your submission and the other points you make. Before 1987, we all acknowledged the paramountcy of indigenous Fijians and their special links with the vanua. Indeed there was barely any debate at all about the justice of Fijians having inalienable title to more than 80 per cent of the land. But you're absolutely right. This wasn't enough for the extremists, who set about enforcing their supremacy over the other races by illegal means in 87 and 2000. And then when Bainimarama entrusted Laisenia Qarase to return the country to democracy, he was betrayed. Using the veil of "democracy" Qarase and the shadowy figures behind him set about completing the extremist agenda, freeing the thugs of 2000 and entrenching indigenous rights even further. The point is that Ratu Iloilo was among those who were appalled at this crude attempt to subjugate 40 per cent of the population. We need to get back to the multiracial principles that governed Fiji before 87 and fight extremism at every turn. Good on you for identifying the issues so succinctly.
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