Better conditions for ethnic Indians in Fiji after coup: MP

Kochi, Sep 2 (UNI) The ethnic Indian community in Fiji, facing discrimination in education and employment for the past 20 years, is getting a better deal under the interim government set up after the military coup in December, 2006, Mr Felix Anthony, a member of the suspended legislature said today.

An ethnic Malayalee whose grandfather left Kochi 94 years ago to work in a sugarcane plantation in Fiji, Mr Anthony said at a press conference here that the ethnic Indian population in Fiji had been facing discrimination since the first coup in 1987.

However, after the military coup in December last year, several steps had been taken by the interim government to remove discrimination, in government and private sector jobs. ''This is a big step forward,'' he said.

The interim government was also getting tough with politicians who survive on racial politics. ''We are hopeful that the general elections, slated for 2009, would be free and fair,'' he said.

Ethnic Indians, who form almost 38 per cent of the population in Fiji, were mostly active in the areas of sugarcane farming, agriculture and commerce.

Brought as indentured labour by the British to work in sugarcane farms, the Indian community had come up in the country through hard work and was economically well-off today. However, following the 1987 and 1990 coups, several members of the community had begun migrating to Australia and Newzealand, he said.

While Hindi films and entertainment channels such as Zee had a good following among the ethnic Indian community, there was little contact between them and their relatives back home. This was mostly because of the tough conditions in which the first generation of emigrants survived, he said.

''There is interest among the youth to know more about India but it is difficult to establish contacts with the relatives back home,'' said Mr Anthony, who could get in touch with his maternal relatives two years ago, thanks to the address on an envelope preserved by his grandmother.

A trade union leader, Mr Anthony was a Senator of Fiji Parliament for five years and was elected to the House of Representatives before the suspension of the House in the 2006 coup.

A member of the Labour Party of Fiji and General Secretary of All Fiji Trade Union Congress, Mr Felix has come to India to attend the Asia-Pacific regional executive committee meeting and Conference of World Unions, to be held in Bangalore next week.

UNI