Page 34 - IB August 2020

Obituary Obituary

A REBEL AND TRADITIONALIST

APISAI VUNIYAYAWA TORA 1934-2020

By Iva Tora delightfully surprised when it was.
The letter, however, underscored the anger brewing within,
A scion of the last of the old guard of Fiji’s pre-indepen- over the inherent injustice in the class and racial divide. It
dence politicians, Apisai Tora, passed away on August 6. was a divide that rewarded those born into privilege and
Variously described as a political maverick, a chameleon emasculated those with the misfortune to be born poor, black
and a nationalist, Apisai Vuniyayawa Tora first entered public or both.
life in 1959 as a 25-year-old, and already a veteran of the In the early years of Tora’s public life, it was this anger
Malayan campaign. There he was to stay for the following five that fuelled and drove him into fearless action, often trigger-
decades. ing incidents that landed him in trouble. He didn’t think too
Together with fellow unionists that included James Anthony, kindly of a number of prominent chiefs, believing they lacked
they organised the oil strikes of 1959 which led to widespread intellectual leadership and sometimes questioned their lack of
rioting under the watch of the British Imperial authorities. To accountability to the iTaukei.
some observers, this period in Fiji’s history symbolised a kind Similar views were held of some of the white colonial mas-
of Fijian Spring and the nascent stirrings of Fijian political ters.
consciousness. There is a well-known story of a time in the early 1950s,
Around the world, other political movements and voices when he was working for the District Office [DO] in Ba and
were also rising to assert their rights and challenge European serving behind a counter. In front, was a long queue of people
colonial and corporate domination. patiently waiting to have their documents processed. In the
In Algeria, the war for independence continued to rage. In middle of this scene, a senior white CSR official walked into
Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser triggered a crisis when he an- the room, bypassed the queue, pushed his way through to the
nounced plans to nationalise the Suez Canal. And in racially front counter and demanded to be served.
segregated America, Martin Luther King was about to take up Tora looked him directly in the eye and told him to take his
the leadership mantle for the Civil Rights movement. place in the queue–just like everybody else.
Tora admired the way Egypt’s Nasser wrested the Suez Ca- The official was astonished that a mere native had just
nal away from British/French corporate hands prompting him ordered him to wait in the queue. When he refused to budge,
to pen a letter to Time magazine in which he wrote: “This Tora stood firm.
[Fiji] is a white man’s paradise and a black man’s hell.” The official complained to the DO – Ratu Kamisese Mara.
He never expected his letter to get published and was What happened after that is unclear.

34 Islands Business, August 2020