SUVA, Fiji Islands (February 2, 2001 – Fiji’s Daily Post/Pasifik Nius)---A development economist has appealed to Fiji’s Native Land Trust Board to "come clean" on its real motives if a long-lasting solution to the land problem is to be found for the country.
Condemning some landowners and the NLTB over "exploitation and intimidation" of mainly Indo-Fijian tenant farmers, University of the South Pacific’s Dr. Mahendra Reddy said the "Girmit" era of indentured labor may return to Fiji.
Writing in the Daily Post today, Dr. Reddy said, "While tenant farmers remain the descendants of the indentured laborers, the masters are no longer the whites, but the indigenous community aided by their trustees (the NLTB)."
Exploitation by landowners and the NLTB had taken various forms and he cited examples such as:
* Raising rent levels without a proper rent-fixing formula or mechanism.
* Asking for "exorbitant premiums," ranging from F$ 6,000 to F$ 15,000 (US$ 2,...