A tribute to my father Jai Ram Reddy
Former Leader of the Opposition, Fiji
Author: Helen Reddy, London

 Born 12 May 1937, Lautoka, Fiji
 Leader of Fiji’s Official Opposition, 1977 to 1983 and
 Attorney-General of Fiji & Minister of Justice, May 1987
 Leader of the Official Opposition, Fiji, 1992 to 1999
 Awarded Fiji’s highest honour, Companion of the Order of Fiji, 1998
 President of the Court of Appeal, Fiji, 2000, 2002 to 2003
 Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, 2003 to 2008
 Died 29 August 2022, Auckland, New Zealand

“My Fiji, I offer a vision which sees this beloved land of ours united in its diversity, forged out of its adversity, and built on trust. I offer you a vision of Fiji which historians will say that, in the midst of tragedy, we found courage and wisdom, and foresight and determination to lead the nation away from the precipice into a prosperous future. I can only hope that my vision for this most wonderful of nations will fulfil its promise. I can only pray that we who have the moment at hand will find the courage, the strength and the determination to let the past be the past and build a nation that will stand not just to 20/20, but down through the centuries.” Jai Ram Reddy, 1993

Fiji mourns the passing on day month 2021 of one of its most principled and eloquent post-independence leaders, my father Jai Ram Reddy, lawyer, judge, and Indo-Fijian statesman. Like most Indo-Fijians of their time, Justice Reddy’s parents Pethi and Yenkatamma Reddy were indentured labourers “Girmitiyas”, brought from India to Fiji during colonial rule. Like many of their
generation, they were farming folk who wanted a better future for their children. They worked the fields and saved hard to send their eldest son, Jai Ram, to study law in New Zealand. Their dreams were realised, and he was admitted as a barrister and solicitor to the New Zealand bar in 1960 and to the Fiji bar the following year.

Justice Reddy enjoyed a long and illustrious legal career, both as crown and defence counsel leading up to his appointment as the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Fiji during the short-lived Bavadra government of 1987 and subsequently President of Fiji’s Court of Appeal in the early 2000s. His areas of practice were broad, but he was particularly invested in criminal law and practice. Known for his formidable advocacy skills and forensic legal mind, he was regarded as a pit-bull in the courtroom with an unwavering commitment to his clients. In 2003, the United Nations General Assembly elected him as a member of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (‘ICTR’), based in Arusha, Tanzania, on which he served for five years.

As to his political career, Justice Reddy was appointed a senator in the early 1970s before his election as Leader of the Opposition in 1977. In 1987, he served in the Bavadra Government as Minister of Justice and Attorney-General. Sadly, that government was short-lived following the first of Fiji’s military coups in May of the same year. Politically he was a social democrat with liberal instincts. Throughout his long political career, he argued for equity, social justice, and racial equality. Vehemently opposed to the death penalty on the grounds it offends the inalienable right to life, he, amongst others, advocated for its abolition in Fiji. He also supported the legitimatisation of same-sex unions and led the parliamentary debate against French nuclear testing in the Pacific. However, it is likely, that Justice Reddy will ultimately be remembered best for his commitment to the values of multi-culturalism and pluralism in a post-colonial Fiji which had endured military coups and political instability from 1987 to the late 1990s. His political career will be defined by his investment and leadership in the conception, drafting and implementation of a progressive post-independence constitution and his recognition that a commitment to compromise and power-sharing with indigenous Fijian leaders and parliamentarians was the only way forward in a deeply divided Fiji.

A Daughter’s Reflections

Historians, political commentators, and analysts will define their narratives about my father and his legacy. As his daughter, I simply seek to celebrate and mark his life with a personal perspective about him and his career.

My father undoubtedly had an intellectual disposition, but his interests were not confined to law and politics, and it would feel incomplete not to address some of those interests. He loved the odd bet on the horses and I distinctly recall being dragged to the Eltham races on several occasions as a child. He also loved literature, philosophy, and comedy. Those who knew him intimately will recall his love for William Shakespeare and his extraordinary ability to recite Shakespearean sonnets and soliloquies – even when his Alzheimer’s was well-advanced. As a young student, he developed an interest in philosophy and his outlook and perspectives were shaped by both Eastern and Western writers and intellectuals. Possessing a dry, acerbic wit himself, he enjoyed satire and comedy – particularly the British variety – and was an ardent fan of all things involving Monty Python and other comics of that tradition. He also liked old Hindi songs, but he loved Ghazals the most. He wasn’t the greatest singer but after a couple glasses of red wine, he would sing along to those old melodies with much gusto at dinner parties. It made him happy.

Whilst I missed out on observing my father, the lawyer, I was fortunate enough to observe him when he presided as a jurist at the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (‘ICTR’) between 2003 and 2008. I visited him in Arusha, Tanzania in 2007. He was sitting on a bench comprised of two other international jurists. The four defendants were military men accused of genocide against the Tutsi population in Rwanda. He was considered one of the finest judges there. As a lawyer, I found the proceedings fascinating and as a daughter, I felt very proud.

When reflecting on my father’s political legacy, I am cognisant of how urgent and prescient his brand of politics might feel given the rise and global reach of ethnic nationalism and identity politics. My father firmly believed that leadership in the Fijian context required moral courage, an empathy for ‘the other’ and an acute appreciation of how history and context shaped the political and social fabric of the country. It is through him I developed an understanding of the importance of adopting a pluralist approach and working across the political aisle for the greater good of all communities in Fiji. Similarly, I developed an appreciation of how the colonial legacy of divide and rule cultivated and fostered the deep racial divide, mistrust and communalism which have featured so tragically in Fiji’s political landscape.

An appreciation of context is obviously so important, but my father’s message was that we all share a collective responsibility to reflect, critique and overcome the historical legacies, structures and values which impede the art of empathy and compromise. Following a formal and substantive review of the 1990 constitution (the latter of which was conceived following the military take-over in 1987 and largely regarded as racially discriminatory), my father had the singular honour of being the first Indo-Fijian to be invited to speak to the Great Council of Chiefs. It was a seminal moment as Fiji was on the precipice of ratifying a progressive new constitution. In that speech, he talked about the respective fears and interests of both the indigenous Fijian and Indo-Fijian communities. He also spoke of the importance of power-sharing in the context of a politically, and socially fractured Fiji following the military coups in 1987. I quote

Dad’s final words from that speech:

“In one of his nation’s darkest hours, that courageous and visionary leader, Franklin Roosevelt,
said, and I quote:
“to some generations much is given; of other generations much is asked.
This generation has a rendezvous with destiny.”
Much was asked of Ratu Cakobau’s generation of Chiefs. Much is asked of this generation of
Chiefs. Much is asked of us all.

Let us therefore gather our courage and set ourselves united to the finishing of the noble task to which our history, our heritage and our motherland now call us. This generation must keep its rendezvous with destiny. And to future generations, much will be given”. From the perspective of many, that defining moment was squandered and the tragic events which have taken place in Fiji over the past two decades speak volumes. I know how profoundly disappointed my father was that his vision of an inclusive society was mercilessly rebuked by what he described as blinkered communalism. Of course, another military coup then took place, and the rest is history. Notwithstanding those events, may the arc of history bend towards that rendezvous he spoke of on that hopeful occasion. May his dream of a fully democratised Fiji be realised and let it be a Fiji with fair and accessible rights to political representation, education, and economic parity for all its people.

On this saddest of occasions, it feels fitting to conclude with a quote from that great, visionary civil
rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr:
“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor
popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right”.

Helen Reddy
London
29 August 2022