Prof. Brij Lal BA (USP), MA (UBC), PhD (ANU), AM, OF, FAHA
The National Federation Party will hold a condolence gathering in memory of Professor Brij V. Lal on Thursday from 10am to 3pm at Jai Narayan College Hall in Suva. The Funeral Service will be live-streamed from Brisbane, Australia on a big screen from 1pm-3pm on Thursday.
Dear Friends,
It is with a heavy heart that I share with you the passing away of Professor Brij V Lal. He died this morning in Brisbane having been unwell for some time.
I have known Brij since 1971 when we were Prelim/Foundation students at USP. Besides being a diligent student, he actively engaged in student activism. He obtained his MA degree from UBC and his PhD from ANU.
He became the preeminent historian of Fiji, the Indenture Labour System, Indo-Fijian history and of the Indian diaspora. He published widely including several history books, and more recently, very readable short stories. A month ago, his last book was published in Delhi.
He was briefly a colleague at USP, and did trailblazing scholarly work at the University of Hawaii and at the Australian National University where he was recognised as Emeritus Professor. He was honoured by the Government of Australia as a Member of the Order of Australia.
Brij came from a sugar cane farming family in Tabia Labasa, Vanua Levu. He and his wife, Dr Padma Narsey Lal traveled regularly to Fiji. They wrote scholarly books and articles on contemporary Fiji. In the mid-1990s Brij served in the three-person Constitutional Review Commission with Sir Paul Reeves as Chair and Mr Tomasi Vakatora as the other member. Their review of the 1990 RoF Constitution based on widespread national and international consultations resulted in a report and recommendations that eventually led to the 1997 Republic of Fiji Constitution. This Constitution was endorsed by the Great Council of Chiefs, the House of Representatives and the Senate.
For reasons best known to Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama (the 2006 military coup leader) and the Attorney General Aiyaz Saiyad Khaiyum both Brij and Padma were banned from the country of their birth in 2009. Since then Bainimarama and Khaiyum have ignored the many calls by academics, community leaders, letter writers in the Fiji Times, as well as political leaders to lift the ban.
The current Commissioner of Police Sitiveni Qiliho, then a senior military officer in the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) had detained Professor Brij Lal in 2009, slapped him and spat on him. A soldier also stepped on and smashed his spectacles without which he could barely see. He was told to catch the next flight out of Fiji or his family would have to retrieve his dead body from the mortuary.
This gross violation of his human rights and his involuntary exile took their toll on the good professor's health.
Personally, I am deeply saddened by the loss of Brij Lal as he was a close friend. We have lost an iconic and exemplary scholar who came from a very humble sugar cane farming family. He has left a huge and rich legacy of books and articles that will be indispensable for readers and students of Fiji history, the Girmit, and late 20th and early 21st centuries' Fiji politics.
My heartfelt condolences to Padma, Yogi, Niraj, the Lal and Narsey families.
May Brij Rest in Peace.
Vijay Naidu
A note by Yogi, "Dad love Fiji", reported by the Fiji Times
