Chapter 1: The State. The first chapter of the 1997 Constitution of Fiji is titled The State. It is divided into five sections, which summarize briefly how the nation of Fiji sees itself.
The 1997 Constitution of Fiji was the supreme law of Fiji from its adoption in 1997 until 2009 when President Josefa Iloilo purported to abrogate it. It was also suspended for a period following the 2000 coup d'état led by George Speight.
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,100 nautical miles northeast of New Zealand's North Island. Its closest neighbours are Vanuatu to the west, New Caledonia to the southwest, New Zealand's Kermadec Islands to the southeast, Tonga to the east, the Samoas and France's Wallis and Futuna to the northeast, and Tuvalu to the north. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which 110 are permanently inhabited—and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The most outlying island is Ono-i-Lau. The two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the total population of 898,760. The capital, Suva, on Viti Levu, serves as the country's principal cruise-ship port. About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in Suva or in smaller urban centres such as Nadi—where tourism is the major local industry—or Lautoka, where the sugar-cane industry is paramount. Due to its terrain, the interior of Viti Levu is sparsely inhabited.
Section 1 states that "The Republic of the Fiji Islands is a sovereign, democratic state." This underscoring of Fiji's commitment to democracy comes against the backdrop of political instability that has sometimes plagued Fiji, resulting in two coups d'état prior to the adoption of the constitution, and a third and fourth since.
Democracy is a system of government where the citizens exercise power by voting. In a direct democracy, the citizens as a whole form a governing body and vote directly on each issue. In a representative democracy the citizens elect representatives from among themselves. These representatives meet to form a governing body, such as a legislature. In a constitutional democracy the powers of the majority are exercised within the framework of a representative democracy, but the constitution limits the majority and protects the minority, usually through the enjoyment by all of certain individual rights, e.g. freedom of speech, or freedom of association. "Rule of the majority" is sometimes referred to as democracy. Democracy is a system of processing conflicts in which outcomes depend on what participants do, but no single force controls what occurs and its outcomes.
Sections 2 and 3 deal with the place of the Constitution. The Constitution is declared to be "the supreme law of the State," and laws inconsistent with it are prohibited. In interpreting the Constitution, individual clauses are to be interpreted in the context of the Constitution as a whole, as well as the context in which the constitution was drafted. Any interpretation is required to consider any developments that may have taken place, subsequent to the adoption of the Constitution, in the understanding and promotion of particular human rights.
Section 4 establishes three official languages: English, Fijian, and Hindustani. This was a new development; previously, only English had enjoyed official status. Elevating Fijian and Hindustani (an umbrella term used to cover both Hindi and Urdu) to the status of official language served two purposes: it was aimed at assuaging the fears of indigenous Fijians, alarmed by the many political concessions made to Indo-Fijians (also known as Fiji Indians, or, especially in Fiji itself, as just Indians) elsewhere in this Constitution, and was also intended as a message to Indo-Fijians that they were being recognized as equal partners in the nation.
English is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and eventually became a global lingua franca. Named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to the area of Great Britain that would later take their name, England, both names ultimately deriving from the Anglia peninsula in the Baltic Sea. It is closely related to Frisian and Low Saxon, and its vocabulary has been significantly influenced by other Germanic languages, particularly Norse, and to a greater extent Latin and French.
Fijian is an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian family spoken by some 350,000–450,000 ethnic Fijians as a native language. The 2013 Constitution established Fijian as an official language of Fiji, along with English and Hindi, and there is discussion about establishing it as the "national language", though English and Hindi would remain official. Fijian is a VOS language.
Hindustani, also known as Hindi-Urdu and historically also known as Hindavi, Dehlavi and Rekhta, is the lingua franca of Northern India and Pakistan. It is an Indo-Aryan language, deriving its base primarily from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi. The language incorporates a large amount of vocabulary from Prakrit, Sanskrit, as well as Persian and Arabic. It is a pluricentric language, with two official forms, Modern Standard Hindi and Modern Standard Urdu, which are its standardised registers. According to Ethnologue's 2017 estimates Hindustani is the 3rd most spoken language in the world, with approximately 329.1 million native speakers and 697.4 million total speakers.
English is declared to be the language of the Constitution; translations in Fijian and Hindustani have been made, but in the case of any perceived discrepancy among the versions in the three languages, the English version prevails.
Every person (whether a Fiji citizen or not) is granted the right to communicate with any organ of government, at both the national and local level, in any of the three official languages, "either directly or through a competent interpreter."
Section 5 codifies the relationship between religion and the Fijian State. It declares that "Although religion and the State are separate, the people of the Fiji Islands acknowledge that worship and reverence of God are the source of good government and leadership."
This statement is a compromise. Fiji has a strong fundamentalist Christian lobby which campaigned for the Constitution to establish Christianity as the official religion of the State (and continued to agitate for a constitutional amendment to that effect). This was completely unacceptable to many Indo-Fijians, only six percent of whom were Christians. The debate had racial and political overtones; with some exceptions, many of those campaigning to enshrine Christianity in the Constitution were identified with movements advocating ethnic Fijian political supremacy. Most mainstream parties on both sides of the ethnic divide, however, agreed that a constitutional clause calling for "worship and reverence of God" was broad enough to encompass interpretations acceptable to Hindus and Moslems, as well as Christians.
Christianity is a religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament. Its adherents, known as Christians, believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and savior of all people, whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Depending on the specific denomination of Christianity, practices may include baptism, Eucharist [Holy Communion], prayer, confession, confirmation, burial rites, marriage rites and the religious education of children. Most denominations have ordained clergy and hold regular group worship services.
Fijians are a nation and ethnic group native to Fiji, who speak Fijian and share a common history and culture.
Hinduism is an Indian religion and dharma, or way of life, widely practised in the Indian subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, "the eternal tradition", or the "eternal way", beyond human history. Scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This "Hindu synthesis" started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE, after the end of the Vedic period, and flourished in the medieval period, with the decline of Buddhism in India.
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