Keeping an eye on the elites

There are major obstacles that face nascent and developing democracies in the Pacific Islands, but none as challenging as an emerging elitism that takes advantage of the existing traditional socio-cultural structures to keep the majority of the populace in strict adherence to the status quo.

When the status quo is the major hindrance to development, it becomes problematic to those who want reform. Reformers experience difficulties even when they focus on how to change the way things have been, particularly if the outcome has not met the needs of people, let alone solve major national problems such as the effects of climate change, life threatening health epidemics, as well as the problem of racial divides in nations like Fiji.

When Commodore Frank Bainimarama took over the reins of Fiji in the 2006 coup, one of his targets was the elitist Great Council of Chiefs. He felt the Council was an obstacle to his aim of transforming Fiji into a multi-cultural society. He dismantled the Great Council of Chiefs. He hoped this would start the process of changing the status quo whereby the indigenous people of Fiji had supreme rights that other citizens could not enjoy.

Bainimarama also took a stand against what he perceived as indigenous elitism in Fiji’s largest Church denomination, the Methodist Church. For many decades the Methodist Church had become the religious foundation of Fiji’s indigenous elitism. It was like the church of the Chiefs. In Bainimarama’s mind, the church had to be purged of this unbalanced social perception so that a truly multicultural society may be given the right to emerge.

The elite model of society perceives a social pyramid of power, and a stratification into different categories that includes everyone. In Tonga, the social divide is not racial but based on class. Tonga’s class system has been the basis of a stratified social structure that separates the Monarchy from the nobility and aristocracy, and then the rest of the population called “commoners.”

But a relatively new elitism of the educated, the wealthy, and the “men of the cloth” – the clergy, have become the emerging predatory elites of this class society.

A working definition adopted here of the elite is that they are “a distinct group within a society which enjoys privileged status and exercises decisive control over the organization of society.” (Alice Amsden, Alisa DiCaprio, James Robinson – Aligning Elites with Development).

In his essay Economics As A Moral Science, Dave Cohen outlines what he regards as the three most important social groups in the United States or any other large, complex human society – the elite, the beneficiaries of the status quo, and the disenfranchised. He then quotes Professor William Dunhoff of the Sociology Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Dunhoff claims that in terms of wealth, those at the top half of the top 1% is a small but powerful human social group that “has extraordinary influence on what happens in the United States.”

The elite claim, by its members and supporters, to be a necessity for the development and forward advancement of society, such as in Singapore. But in the islands of the Pacific, the vast majority of the population remains trapped in a social class who are like the disenfranchised in the United States. In fact they are regarded often as “prey” to those at the top.

But then, when those at the top of the social pyramid are replaced either in a coup or in the political process of democratic elections, the question often raised is whether the “new rulers” accompanied by the wealthy just become the new predatory elite?

Stephen Vete shared a view expressed by a friend of the late Nelson Mandela, who was asked why the ANC despite being in power for so long, had not achieved many of the objectives of their struggle.

The friend replied: “Because in any struggle or movement, when you finally reach positions of power, there are always some who lose sight of the overall struggle and quickly join the predatory elite – those who exploit others, in order to get more for themselves and/or maintain their own perks and privileges.”

Vete explains: “It seems to be universal that once someone reaches a position of power, wealth and influence, many will go to great lengths to progress personal ambitions and cravings which include maintaining their perks and privileges to which they have quickly become accustomed. One becomes a member of the predatory elite.”

Giving a warning to reformers throughout Pasifika, Vete said: “Beware of the predatory elite – stick to principles.”

The status quo that exists in many Pacific islands however, is getting more complex as a strange mixture of traditional and modern elitism combine to maintain their hold on social, political, and economic power.

The new predatory elites seek to establish themselves in concrete social positions like those they are partnering with. Securing their self-interest seems to be a vision that mixes traditional loyalties with modern, progressively dominant economic power.

When you look over the social structures of the Pacific islands, you end up asking the question – who are the ones most adamant in safeguarding their own self-interest as individuals, but more importantly as a group? To identify these groupings is to identify who are the dominant forces in the affairs of any island society. Those who dominate are those whose influence impacts the lives of common people daily.

But the days when traditional elites were so powerful and dominating in island nations like Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa are basically gone, due to a number of factors. Land has been the main basis of power of the traditional leaders, and forms their economic base. However, as land reforms begin to take place in various island nations, weakening the power of traditional elites, there are new bases of power emerging, and that is the domain of the new elites.

There are still significant vestiges of power for traditional leaders, such as in the case of Tonga. The nobles still have 9 assigned seats for themselves in an elected Parliament of 26 seats – 17 people’s representatives elected by the people, and 9 noble representatives elected by the 33 nobles.

Nobles in Tonga are paid a wage by the government. They do not perform any particular duties as civil servants. They are paid just for being nobles.

Because they are still the largest landowners in the kingdom of Tonga, some “earn” substantial amounts of money from the lease of their land. Socially, nobles (or those in the aristocracy) receive favorable treatment, such as being “served first” in public.

The newer elites are highly educated, often commercial leaders whose economic value is based on what they do – on merit – and less on anything they inherit from previous generations.

In Fiji you have the chiefs and the commoners; and in Samoa there are paramount chiefs, matais or those with honor titles, privileges, and responsibilities.

The traditional leaders in most cases have inherited their positions by birth. But one’s social value in the islands has undergone the most incredible shift in the past 50 years in most island cultures. The shift has been characterized by a social mobility based not so much on inheritance right but by economic success and academic achievement. They are defined as the new elite, who are part of a “meritocracy system” which is comprised mostly of society’s intelligentsia and wealthy members.

The natural partnership of the new elites with the traditional hierarchy has already presented some chronic problems with corruption and a formidable bureaucracy that often stands in the way of socio-economic development.

The indigenous Chiefs of Fiji, the nobles of Tonga, the matais of Samoa, and aristocratic chieftains of island countries like Niue, Cook Islands, Wallis and Futuna, and Tokelau are all still sitting nicely at the top of the social pyramid of each island society. Yes, even in the democratic environment of the 21st Century.

Even when chiefly powers weaken in some island societies, there is often an emerging elitist group that have stepped in to strengthen their positions, and in turn become a part of the social and political hegemony that dominates society.

It is this group we need to watch over coming decades; from this group will come the power hungry predatory elites that could destroy our societies. Vete’s words are very appropriate: stick to principles.