Chaudhry Warns PM Rabuka Against “Baseless Accusations”

Fiji Labour Party Leader Mahendra Chaudhry has issued a strong warning to Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, urging him to stop making what he calls “baseless accusations” in response to his recent remarks on racial imbalance in the award of government scholarships.

Chaudhry was responding to a post published by FBC News on May 13, quoting Rabuka as saying Chaudhry should “refrain from making any further unverified, racist or hateful remarks.”

In a statement issued today, Chaudhry dismissed the Prime Minister’s criticism, saying his comments were based on official information.

“The scholarship figures quoted in my statement were based on data provided in Parliament by the Minister for Education and cannot, therefore, be termed ‘unverified’,” Chaudhry said.

He insisted that his statement was not racist or hateful but rather focused on the issue of fairness in education, particularly in a multi-racial society like Fiji.

“Fair access to education is of great importance to all the communities. In a multi-racial society, it is the government’s responsibility to ensure that each community is treated fairly in the award of state-funded scholarships,” he said.

Chaudhry added that if affirmative action was necessary, it should be implemented based on socio-economic need and not ethnicity.

“Should affirmative action be necessary to satisfy this end, then let that be a separate programme based on need, not on ethnicity,” he said.

The Labour Leader also pointed out that the Labour Party has a long-standing record of calling out racial disparities, regardless of which group is affected.

“We objected strongly to the Toppers scheme of the FijiFirst government, which, in practice, was discriminatory against iTaukei students. We also spoke out against imbalance in the appointment of iTaukeis to government organisations and statutory boards under the FF government.”

Rejecting the notion that Labour engages in racial politics, Chaudhry turned the spotlight on Rabuka’s own political past.

“Labour does not play racial politics. The same cannot be said for Sitiveni Rabuka, who oversaw the wholesale purge of Indo-Fijians from the civil service post-1987 coup and instituted state-sponsored discrimination against Indians — not to mention his racist 1990 Constitution.”

He further alleged that similar trends were visible under the current coalition government, which he claimed is perceived to promote communalism in senior government appointments.

“Even today, the Rabuka Coalition is widely perceived to pursue a communal agenda in appointments to top positions in the civil service, to government boards and statutory authorities, and diplomatic postings.”

In reference to Rabuka’s concerns about the “sensitive environment” created by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Chaudhry argued that issues of racial inequality should be central to the Commission’s work.

“It should give special attention to all forms of racial discrimination and prejudices, past and present,” Chaudhry said.

He concluded by saying the Prime Minister “should be the last person to point fingers or issue warnings to others.”