Fiji coups and crises: where to from here?

An academic expert on Fiji who was recently deported from the Pacific region country will give a free public lecture at The University of Queensland on Saturday, November 28 at 2pm at the Abel Smith Lecture Theatre, Campbell Road (Building 23), St Lucia.

Professor Brij V. Lal’s presentation will look at the current developments in Fiji, from December 2006 to the present, examine the main issues in contention, and make some assessment of where Fiji is heading now.

Professor Lal, who is Professor of Pacific and Asian History at The Australian National University, and the leading historian of Fiji, will give a lecture, entitled “Fiji Coups and Crisis, Where to From Here?”

His visit is arranged by UQ's School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics (HPRC).

Professor Clive Moore, who is the Head of the HPRC School said that this was the first time that Professor Lal had spoken to a large audience about what had been happening in Fiji, since he was interrogated and told to leave by the Fijian Government in early November.

Professor Lal told ABC Radio that: “They simply want to clamp down on any dissenting voice and I suppose mine has been a fairly prominent one for a long period of time and my comment on the expulsion of the High Commissioners was the breaking point.

“I think the message that is being sent to other people in the country who might raise their voice against aspects of what is being done and happening in this country is to watch out," he said.

"I mean unless you subscribe to the version of events that the military is putting out, you are simply an enemy of the state.”

Professor Moore said that Professor Lal was a Member of the Fiji Constitution Review Commission whose report formed the basis of Fiji’s constitution. Professor Lal has been honoured by the Fiji Millennium Committee for distinguished scholarship. He has also been named as one of the 70 people who have helped shape Fiji’s history in the 20th century.

Professor Lal has just completed a biography of the Fiji statesman Jai Ram Reddy, and is now beginning research on the squatters’ settlements of Fiji. His many books on Fiji include Broken Waves: A History of the Fiji Islands in the 20th Century.

Media: Professor Clive Moore, UQ School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, telephone 07 3365 6800