Lala Sukuna - War Hero and Scholar

War Hero and Scholar

It was at this point in his life that the connections cultivated by Sukuna's father throughout his career proved decisive. No Fijians to date had graduated from a university, and the British colonial administration was unwilling to encourage higher learning for the natives. However, Ratu Madraiwiwi was personally acquainted with the colonial Governor, Sir Francis Henry May, and in 1911 asked him to try to arrange for his son to study at a British university on the grounds that he had passed the matriculation exams at Wanganui Collegiate School. May's influence persuaded the British Colonial Secretary, reluctantly, to grant Sukuna a one-year leave of absence from his responsibilities in Fiji to study history at Wadham College, Oxford, in 1913. Financial constraints had prevented him from realising his dream of pursuing a four-year law degree at Cambridge.

Ratu Sukuna had little time to settle down to his studies. World War I broke out and Sukuna applied for enlistment in the British Army. The British government, however, had a policy of refusing enlistment to Fijians, a policy rationalised by a wish to avoid exploiting the native people. Believing that Fijians would never gain the respect of their British rulers, without proving their worth on the battlefield, Sukuna enlisted in the French Foreign Legion instead. He fought bravely and was wounded towards the end of 1915 and forced to return to Fiji. He returned to France the following year, however, with the Native Transport Detachment, a newly formed contingent assisting the British Army. Apparently, the British colonial authorities had had a change of heart about native participation in the war. For his wartime service, Ratu Sukuna was awarded France's highest military honour, the Croix de Guerre.

Now a war hero, Ratu Sukuna had no difficulty raising funds for his return to Oxford. Towards the end of 1918 he graduated from the history course that was shortened for returned servicemen. He proceeded to the Middle Temple in London, and by 1921 had graduated with both a BA and an LL.B degree. He thus became the first-ever Fijian to receive a university degree.