Fiji and the Franchise

About the Book

Fiji by the year 1900 after a generation as a British Crown Colony was a multi-racial nation with a combined indentured and free Indian component, which was about to expand on a large scale, and contest political predominance with indigenous Fijians and a small but dominant European minority among other ethnic groups. Drawn from primary sources, with original quotations and statistics, Fiji and the Franchise illuminates the history of the struggle that followed. This book introduces readers to life in the Fiji islands from 1900 to 1937, when the ultimate question for its inhabitants was how political representation should be achieved, and on what basis.

Fiji and the Franchise was Ahmed Ali's eminently readable and well-grounded Australian National University doctoral thesis. It was presented in 1973 but still remained unpublished when he passed away in 2005. Now, Fiji and the Franchise, with a foreword by Dr. Deryck Scarr, Fiji's most renowned historian, adds to the growing number of publications on the history of Fiji.

About the Author

Ahmed Ali, PhD, was a historian, a diplomat, and a cabinet minister at various times in the Fiji government from 1982 until the time of his death in 2005. Dr. Ali published extensively on Fiji's history throughout his lifetime, and at the time of his death was working on a history of Fiji's Muslim community. His publications include From Plantation to Politics and Girmit: Indian Indenture Experience in Fiji.