Apisai Tora

Mohammad Apisai Vuniyayawa Tora (January 5, 1934 – August 6, 2020) was a Fijian politician, soldier, and trade unionist.

As a labour leader, he was a fighter for dock workers.

As a soldier, he served in Malaya and later served as President of the Ex-Servicemen's League.

With General Secretary James Anthony, Tora led a militant strike of Oil Workers in 1959 that drew on both Fijian and Indo-Fijians for support – but was opposed by the Fijian chiefs.

In 1963 Tora stood for the Western seat in the Fijian elections, but lost to Ratu Penaia Ganilau.

He was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1972 as a member of the National Federation Party.

In 1977 when he lost his seat, he joined the Alliance Party.

Following the defeat of the Alliance in the parliamentary election of 1987, he became a leader of the Taukei Movement opposed to the new government of Timoci Bavadra, which was dominated by Indo-Fijians.

In December that year, he joined the interim government formed by Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, but was dismissed in 1991 for refusing, he claimed, to join the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei Party (SVT) that had recently been founded by Mara's wife, Ro Lady Lala Mara.

There has been no independent confirmation of Tora's version of why he was removed, however.

In 1992, Tora founded the All Nationals Congress Party (ANC), a multiracial party which merged with the Fijian Association Party (FAP) in 1995.

In 1998, he formed the Party of National Unity (PANU), also multiracial, which joined the Fiji Labour Party and the FAP in the People's Coalition, which won a landslide victory in the general election of 1999.

Four PANU candidates were elected, but Tora himself lost his seat.

Embittered by his defeat, Tora blamed Indo-Fijian voters for rejecting him.

He resigned from PANU and became a vocal opponent of the new Chaudhry government.

Following a coup d'état in May 2000, Tora was appointed Minister for Agriculture, Fishing, Forests, and the Agriculture Land Tenants Act (ALTA) in the interim government formed by Laisenia Qarase in July.

Bainimarama said that Tora himself has a case to answer for his activities during the 2000 crisis.

'In 2000, Apisai Tora and a group of people at the Fijian Holdings boardroom, requested me as commander of the Military to remove Tui Vuda, Ratu Iloilo – whilst he was just a week in the Presidency," Bainimarama alleged. "If he claims to be fighting for indigenous Fijian rights then he should explain to the general public why he tried to remove the Tui Vuda who is a chief of his province."

Bainimarama also accused Tora of using smokescreens to deceive the people.

"Senator Tora is using land and fisheries issues to stir up emotions in the people ... (but) the land always was Fijians' and will remain theirs," he asserted.

He said that Tora and others like him were lying to the people and had to be stopped.

Tora immediately denied the allegations.

He said that the meeting to which the Commander referred took place before Iloilo's inauguration as president, not after, and that Commodore Bainimarama must be confused.

Tora held a variety of political positions, the last being as a Senator from 2001 to 2006.

A convert to Islam, he represented a small minority (numbered in the hundreds) in both the indigenous Fijian and Muslim communities, the great majority of Muslims being Indo-Fijian.

After an election to restore democracy in September 2001, Qarase appointed Tora to the Senate, as one of nine prime ministerial nominees in the 32-member Senate.

On 27 September 2005, he was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment for offenses related to the Fiji coup of 2000.

Tora had a reputation in Fiji for being something of a chameleon, having championed both Fijian ethnic nationalism and multiculturalism at different times.

After returning from military service in Malaya, Tora was president of the North West Branch of the Wholesale and Retail General Workers' Union.

In August 2005, Tora spoke out to defend his role in the Taukei Movement of 2000.

He insisted that it was never the intention of the movement to overthrow the Chaudhry government, but another group had taken advantage of its march to engage in vandalism.

In an angry reaction on 24 August, Commodore Bainimarama accused Tora of using fear to influence voters in the upcoming election by threatening instability if indigenous Fijian parties do not win.

Tora announced his retirement from active politics on 28 February 2006.

Fiji Village revealed that in a letter to People's National Party President Meli Bogileka, Tora had tendered his resignation as vice-president of the party, and also withdrew his membership of the party.

He said that he would continue to speak out on areas of concern, however.

These included what he called the "insubordination" of the Military, adding that repairing the damage done to the reputation of the Army would take a long time.

The Fiji Sun reported the following day that he had made the decision to retire following the recent death of his wife.

He was now 72, he said in his resignation letter, and felt that the negative aspects of his political life now outweighed the positive.

Tora's opponents, including Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi of the Fiji Labour Party (FLP) and Raman Pratap Singh of the National Federation Party (NFP) were quoted in the Fiji Sun on 16 March 2006 as welcoming Tora's retirement.

They expressed their respect for the man despite fundamental disagreements with his nationalist views.