There are principles at play in nation-building that become easily overlooked and defy being obvious, and Fiji is a case in point.
Fiji is unique in the Pacific landscape partly because of geography, partly because of infrastructure, and partly because of attention to advancement.
We have a well-educated, highly connected population that can develop a strong vision, implement, adapt, and successfully migrate to create a livelihood in the farflung corners of the globe.
This success is not rooted in simple opportunism but established in deeper principles that have been at play in our culture for centuries.
Recently, we have been using the word duavata to identify the space where we come together. It has been used for community policing, and it has been used to identify our togetherness.
Still, I would suggest that deeper and older principles benefit from being refreshed and revisited.
Ilaitia Tuwere, in his significant work, Vanua: Towards a Fijian Theology of Place, describes the Fijian ability to stay together and work together through the passage of time.
Tuwere highlights three words that I would suggest are the critical principles in our past, present and future nationbuilding. Veirogorogoci (willingness and commitment to hearing the other), veivakaliuci (regarding the other as higher in rank than oneself), and veivakarokorokotaki (mutual respect).
These principles have been acted out and evidenced in formal and informal gatherings for generations.
The young saw these principles lived out as the elders brought the same principles to action in ceremonies and through resolving grievances and disputes.
More recently, we evidenced one aspect of this when Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka publicly gave his support for the Leader of the Opposition to attend COP-28.
Crediting the Leader of the Opposition’s knowledge and prior engagement in the climate change space, the PM deferred and showed mutual respect.
As we have become increasingly urbanised, the danger is that the refreshing of these principles come from memory rather than practice.
What has been a strength can rapidly become just a story of times past without considering what it means to keep it alive and strong for the present and future!
However, it’s now at this point that I want to split the discussion into several directions. Firstly, some would successfully suggest that our future is secured through increased advancement, infrastructure, and connectivity.
They are not wrong to suggest and put effort towards taking our nation in this direction.
I would suggest that there is room for another consideration that reflects on the past principles and strengths that have allowed us to come this far and succeed as a nation.
Here, I return to veirogorogoci, veivakaliuci, and veivakarokorokotaki as essential ingredients or guiding principles for what is critical to our nationbuilding.
Where previously in the village we saw these principles enacted and renewed month by month, living in the towns and city, we see these less and less.
This leads me to the question of who can now provide the example. Is it the lotu, the school, the rugby field, or the Parliament?
Through what means will this strength of listening, humility, and respect be returned to us as a living example to take us forward? In a previous article, I pointed to patriarchy, and it is here that I would suggest a second line of consideration.
I am suggesting that our patriarchy would benefit from a renewal of these principles so that they become established in families and homes across this nation. What would a renewed strength of patriarchal listening mean for marriages and marital harmony?
What would a patriarchal regarding of others as more important than ourselves do for gender equality? What would patriarchal mutual respect do for teaching our sons the value of imago dei (the image of God) reflected in young women?
These old principles were identified in the iTaukei language and stored in the customs for a reason of generational value. They brought a national strength that we have all benefited from, and this next generation also needs them so that Fiji is built into a strong nation beyond our time.
These old principles require nurturing into our new spaces of community and family where they can be identified and exampled – lest we forget.
• PETER SCHULTZ is a practitioner in rehabilitation and leadership, and a reader in the areas of rehabilitation, culture, theology, and philosophy. Peter is a Christian, a Fiji Citizen, a thought leader, founder of a non-profit organisation, and holds both local and regional roles. The views expressed are solely the personal opinions of the author and do not necessarily express the views of this newspaper.
