Next for Gibson, Paradise lost?
Bernard O'Riordan in Sydney
March 3, 2005
The Guardian
The actor and director Mel Gibson is facing a legal challenge from a landless tribe of indigenous Fijians after purchasing a Pacific island hideaway in northern Fiji for about $15m (£7.85m).
The Fijian government yesterday said it approved the sale of Mago Island from the Japanese Tokyu Corp last month.
But it is claimed that the government did not properly consult the descendants of the original inhabitants, who are demanding the 2,164-hectare (5,411-acre) island back.
Fijian villagers say their families were cheated out of Mago Island for 2,000 coconut plants in the early 1800s, then chased off it at gunpoint by British settlers.
The island, in the Lau archipelago, is claimed to be the largest privately owned island in the south Pacific. One of its biggest selling points was its abundance of natural artesian spring water. It is home to 35 sugar plantation workers and their families.
Gibson, who lives in Los Angeles but was brought up in Australia, reportedly wants to turn Mago Island into a private getaway.
Timoci Waqalevu, a local chieftain, said about 500 villagers from Namalata, in the nearby Vanuabalavu island group, were raising funds to challenge the sale in court.
"We are asking the government why we should buy back the island when it was sold without our agreement in the first place," Mr Waqalevu said.
Villagers also plan to approach the traditional chief of the Cakaudrove area, whose ancestors used to own Mago Island. But that chief, Naiqama Lalabalavu, is also the minister for lands who approved the sale.
Laisenia Qarase, Fiji's prime minister, said any legal challenge would be difficult.
"The sale was between the owner who has found a willing buyer. The government cannot do anything because it is a freehold property."
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