Fiji coups and kava

I think the quality of life for Fijians is about average for a developing country. Their standard of living is about the same as Indonesians based on their incomes. Not as high as Thais, but much higher than Vietnamese. About 70% percent of the Fijian population relies on subsistence farming. Quality of life based on the human development index places it in the middle rank of countries. Average life expectancy is 72, a few years behind the developed world.

The country certainly has its problems, which I think it's doing its best to resolve. One of the biggest issues it faces is racial tensions between the indigenous-Fijians and the Indo-Fijians. When the country gained its independence from the British in 1970, the Indo-Fijians wanted equal rights and privileges, while the indigenous Fijians were concerned about protecting their customary lands and communal life. 

We got a sense for this communal life when we visited a primarily Indo-Fijian market today. A lady saw us eyeing the kava powder for sale, and asked us if we wanted to visit an indigenous Fijian market. We said yes and were led around and up some stairs to a craft store. Once inside, we were treated to an indigenous-Fijian welcoming ceremony, still widely practised to welcome visitors and guests throughout Fiji. We sat barefoot on a mat across from two gentlemen. One of them made some kava by straining water through a cloth containing grey powder, and strained it into a communal bowl. The powder was made from ground kava root. We clapped once, I drank the kava from a carved coconut shell, and then clapped three times. Then we shook hands as friends. Catheleen did the same. The kava didn't taste like much, just somewhat bitter; I imagine if I drank clay it might taste like this. It also gave me a strange light-headed feeling and a tingling sensation in my throat. 

This community life also includes many community obligations. Lynn who runs the bed and breakfast told me about karekare, which requires anyone to comply with any reasonable request from an indigenous Fijian, like the loan of shovel for example. She said you must comply with these requests or face social disapproval from this group. Extended families are very important, and requests to support extended family members cannot be ignored. It's not uncommon for indigenous-Fijian relatives in town to house cousins, nephews or nieces from rural areas so the children have better access to schools. 

Back to my story. In 1970, the British brokered a compromise where each group could elect 22 members to parliament, with the remaining 8 seats up for grabs. This gave the indigenous-Fijians a slight advantage based on their population. What has transpired since over the last 45 years, with four coups and four constitutions, can best be described as a microcosm of racial tension and healing. At the moment the country seems more united as one multi-cultural nation. 

The first two coups in 1987 were staged by military leaders on behalf of other indigenous Fijians, who felt threatened by the first coalition party of Indo-Fijians and other parties. This prime minister, who was overthrown in the coup, was elected partly based on a fast growing Indo-Fijian population, along with growing support for coalitions between the two racial groups. The new constitution stacked the deck in favour of the indigenous-Fijians however, and led to an exodus of Indo-Fijians and economic stagnation. The Indo-Fijian population dropped from slight majority to slight minority. 

The country re-grouped, punished the perpetrators somewhat, and amended the constitution in 1997 back to the 1970-style constitution. But in 2000 there was another coup shortly after the first Indo-Fijian prime minister was elected. This time it was orchestrated by a local civilian businessman under the pretext of supporting indigenous-Fijians. He was also upset with the cancellation of some of his contracts, after a new government was elected. This was the only bloody coup with 15 dead, and the military leaders were implicated in the coup but nothing was proved. Within a couple years the coup leader was serving life and the 1997 constitution was restored.

Next in 2006, Fiji's military leader staged a coup to topple the government, under the pretext of government corruption, but mostly to prevent amnesty for the remaining participants in the 2000 coup. The leader promised a new race neutral constitution and free elections within two years. It was 2013 before the new constitution was issued and 2014 before new elections were held.

The new constitution is definitely an improvement over the previous three, since the Indo and indigenous Fijians no longer vote for a separate group of parliament members. Now each vote counts the same. In fact, the only differentiation between these groups is indigenous Fijians are entitled to the lease-hold rents from customary land. Over two thirds of Fiji land is customary land, which can't be sold and can only be leased. Some of it has been leased for development based on 99 year leases. 

I think the jury is out on whether these two groups can get along for the common good. The elections held last year were free and fair, and a coalition party representing all Fijians won out over a party representing indigenous Fijians' interests. But they'll need to stop the coups for one thing, and trust each other more. The current cooperation will be tested again if the Indo-Fijians become the majority group by population. If they can stay united over the next generation, come what may, I think they will have set a good example to the world for tolerance.

I wish them well. It's a beautiful country and it would be a shame to see the country's future squandered over racial tension.

Here's Tony, who welcomed us into his store with a kava drinking ceremony.

Hawkers and fat burgers

While we're having a good, relaxing time on the whole, there are regular annoyances. The beach is the great selling feature of Legian. Otherwise the area is a bit too touristy for us with little to offer in the way of local culture. The hawkers are everywhere we go and a constant irritant. I suppose they get enough business to make their sales approach worthwhile. Sitting on the beach, I am asked to purchase either a watch, sunglasses, hat, ice cream or massage on a rotating basis. I'm pretty sure the same guy who had asked me to purchase a hat an hour ago asked me again. Another guy asked John if he wanted a henna tattoo with a typical sales approach- "Boy! Tattoo?". John laughed afterwards and thought it was odd that the seller thought he would have the money or decision making power for that.

The ATMs have been another pain here in Indonesia. It took awhile to catch on, but I learnt that the ATMs from the big three banks don't work for me. In fact, one of these banks would not only not give me the cash, but would debit my account anyway. Only after two or three business days would my account be credited back the amount. Since then I've learned that I can use some of the ATMs in the convenience stores to take out small amounts at a time in small bills. After getting enough cash to last a few days my wallet was so thick I couldn't close it anymore. 

Well, I think that's enough whining. I mean, we are here in Bali after all. On Monday the kids couldn't go surfing as planned since the water was too rough. But we enjoyed our time at the beach anyway, and enjoyed venturing into the waves up to our knees. When we went any further the lifeguard would whistle at us to get out. He warned us there was a riptide right where we were, but if we moved down the beach a hundred feet or so we would be okay to go in up to our waist. On Tuesday afternoon the weather wasn't quite as rough so we rented a surfboard for John and a boogie board for Elizabeth. After an hour John had enough with surfing so we switched him over to a boogie board too. Catheleen and I also tried the boogie boarding, but after a short while I was happy to sit in a lounge chair under an umbrella and watch the kids fill their shorts with sand in their attempts to ride the waves. They had fun but I'm sure we'll hear all about the war wounds later. 

A few nights ago we were at the Fat Bowl restaurant for dinner, which offered some pretty good meals by the way. A couple of Australian guys at the next table each ordered the Fat Burger, which consisted of a one kilogram beef patty on a bun the size of a dinner plate. Their buddies were egging them on, but they each only managed to consume about half the burger. They didn't look like they were feeling too well afterwards. Last evening at a local restaurant we noticed suckling pig on the menu, which is a local specialty. With one or two days notice and a minimum of eight people, you too could arrange for a whole roasted pig, head to tail. Sure enough a large group at the restaurant had ordered the pig, which was served with an apple in its mouth. I personally don't like my dinner looking back at me, but to each his own.

Back to the newspaper, the Jakarta Post is just a head shaker every time I pick it up. There are continual stimulus plans in the works to boost the Indonesian economy, even though it is growing at around 5%. I guess that's just not good enough. One scheme is to grant amnesty to all those convicted of tax evasion, fraud, etc. so the perpetrators are incented to bring their ill-gotten gains home from abroad. A lot of it resides in Singapore. The thinking is the government could take its 15% tax on the repatriated money to help boost their coffers and help fund stimulus efforts.  I'm not sure this will deter future law breakers but the government must only be planning one step at a time.

Another crazy story involves shenanigans between the police and the Corruption Eradication Commission, which has been in operation for the last ten years and appears to have done some good work prosecuting graft cases. It's well trusted among the general population in any case. The commission has been rooting out corruption within the police department for years, but the police regularly retaliate by bringing charges against the commissioners. The latest row has two commissioners charged for alleged fraud committed years ago when the commissioners were lawyers defending or prosecuting clients. The charges are likely based on fabricated evidence if the police's past actions are any indication. The current president was elected last year on an anti-corruption platform, so this appears to be a test for him. He can protect the commissioners by directing the Attorney General to dismiss the cases. But by doing so, the police could always come after him on charges of one sort or another with the potential for impeachment action. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. 

Selfies and jianzi

Today John and I visited a large park which ran along the side of a mountain in search of a geocache. While we sat down to rest, a young girl in a white dress sat down on our bench next to John and smiled. John smiled back awkwardly and the girl then inched closer. Then I noticed her mother smiling with a camera in hand. She took a picture of the two of them together, and then the girl put her arm around John for another photo. After a few more photos the girl sat next to me for another shot, and then the father replaced the girl for a final picture. Catheleen was touring the nearby town of Cat Cat at the time with Elizabeth, and they had a similar experience when two girls each took selfies with Elizabeth. I find it very strange to be a tourist attraction when we ourselves are tourists, but most of the tourists are Asians so I suppose we are an oddity around here.

I find it odd that there are no price tags for most items in the stores I visit. It appears that the price for just about everything is arbitrary and subject to bargaining. Sometimes I end up bargaining for a bottle of water. I suspect this bargaining is partly cultural but also partly the mismatch between tourist and local incomes, whereby tourists may earn 10 times or more than local incomes. In this environment I think it's not surprising that tourists are quoted prices for small items that may be double or quadruple what locals pay. Because the item is still reasonably priced by Western standards, this price discrimination still usually leads to a sale, at least with me. It does bother me nonetheless to be spending so much more for the same item than the person next to me. But I would be just as bothered if I learnt that the person sitting next to me on the plane payed half the price I did for their plane ticket, even though I understand why this is often the case. I think it has to do with perceived fairness.

Last night there was a performance in the local square not far from our hotel to celebrate their Independence Day on September 2nd. Plastic chairs were set up for some officials in military uniform to watch the singing and dancing, and a small crowd gathered behind. We arrived just as the performance was finishing, but what I liked about this place were the teenagers ignoring the performance to play jianzi, known in English as Chinese hacky sack. We saw pairs of people playing this game in Laos, but around here groups of five or ten kids will form a circle to play. The shuttlecock, called a jianzi, has feathers fixed into plastic disks. During play, kids keep it off the ground with their feet primarily, but also use other parts of their body except their hands. It's a nightly occurrence to see half a dozen groups of teenagers out  playing the game, and it's fun to watch. Even some hill tribe kids, once they had finished with their street performance, were taking time to play a game with each other. 

While this is going on, younger kids were wandering around near their parents and launching neon lit projectiles high into the air with strong elastic bands, and then watching them float down on propellers. It was a nice time to sit around for a while in the cool evening breeze and watch the local kids having fun and laughing. 

Here's a sign that caught my eye on Independence Day with its iconic Soviet style art. No idea what it says though. Feel free to translate. 

Sa Pa and the TPP

We took an overnight train north from Hanoi to Lao Cai, which is just on the border with China, and then took a bus up into the mountains to Sa Pa, a small mountain town about 1,500 meters above sea level. We are here for a few days to enjoy the scenery and weather mainly. Yesterday's high was 22 Celsius with sunny skies. Considering how hot it's been on our trip so far, this is a welcome reprieve.

The bus ride up through the mountains was spectacular, with views of terraced rice fields on the mountain slopes. Some of the slopes looked to be on 45 degree angles, with each terrace only a few feet wide. Harvest time is in a couple of weeks, so the rice fields have long green grass stalks. 

Since it was cool here this morning, I had no excuse and went for a run around the town, something I haven't done since we left Vang Vieng in Laos a while back. I was reminded I do need to stay aware of my surroundings around here. Case in point, I was running along a walking path around a small lake in town when I heard a constant beeping behind me. I stepped aside to allow two guys on a motorcycle to ride by; the guy on the back was resting a few 20 foot pieces of re-bar on his shoulder. Catheleen and I were joking that like the movie "A million way to die in the West", you never know when you're going to get it. 

One of the oddest things in this place is the constant presence of some very short women dressed in hill tribe outfits trying to sell their wares. They can be very relentless if you show any interest in their handicrafts.  I often see tourists walking down the street with half a dozen hill tribe people following. It's the strangest thing. Some of them speak English fairly well and usually start off by asking us our names and where we are from, and they then try to sell us a hand woven scarf or perhaps a purse. Sometimes they travel as a family, with young children walking next to mother in similar dress, with mother carrying a baby on her back, or with a child carrying their baby sister or brother on their back. It all seems a little sad to me. The local tribes are quite poor, even by Vietnamese standards. The government and international aid agencies have tried to improve their lot over the years, but it takes time. 

I spoke with the hotel manager, who has been living in Sa Pa for the last 17 years, and prefers the weather and easy pace of Sa Pa to hot hectic Hanoi. He said the traffic will likely get worse in Hanoi in the next couple of years. I asked why and he said that when the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) comes into effect, import tax on vehicles, along other items, will drop from close to 100% to zero, making imported cars less expensive. I didn't know anything about the TPP, but learnt it's a free trade deal under negotiation among 12 countries, including the U.S, Japan, Canada, Vietnam and some other countries. Funny that he would be speaking about a trade deal currently under negotiations in our home town in Ottawa, Canada. I have no idea if there will be an agreement; I understand negotiations have been going on for years. 

Here is a mother and daughter, presumably hill tribe people.