Submissions to Fiji's new Constitutional Review Commission to review the national charter and recommend whether it should be amended further has included a call for change from one of the country's most respected hereditary chiefs.

Vanua o Lau high chief Ratu Tevita Mara wants to reduce the stronghold Fijian military powers in favour of restoring more Indigenous iTaukei rights.

The review follows public debate over the legitimacy and pragmatic operation of Fiji adopting a fresh constitution in 2013 on the back of a military coup seven years earlier over ongoing ethnic tensions.

At the time the coup was described as a revolution against the country's important chiefly and church establishments.

Ratu Tevita, who is the traditional head of the Lau province, made the written submission to the commission on behalf of one of the geographical divisions amid Fiji's heavily Melanesian culture that constitutes the Tovata Confederacy, one of the three traditional hierarchy of chiefs in the country.

Critics have previously argued the constitution was adopted without sufficient public participation and that some of the provisions make constitutional amendment difficult, although it has still proven to have protected equality, human rights, and ensure greater political stability.

"(Fiji needs) .. a military that defends the nation and never rules it, courts, prosecutors and elections beyond the control of any government and the strongest protection of (iTaukei and Rotuman) land, seas, and custom," Ratu Mara wrote.

"Repeal section 131 (of the 2013 constitution), which gives the military an open-ended mandate over the nation's well-being.

"Return the Republic of Fiji Military Forces to ministerial control and parliamentary oversight."

Ratu Tevita has a unique and balanced perspective, as not only as a high chief, but also as a former Fijian military general while becoming increasingly vocal in local political circles.

He is also the son of Fiji's first Prime Minister since its independence and later President, the late Sir Ratu Kamisese Mara.

Acting on behalf of Lau's cultural submission to the commission, Ratu Tevita said the issue of whether the term 'Fijian' was appropriate as a common national identity was best decided by the public.

"Return the question to the people through a proper consultation, led by the Great Council of Chiefs, and restore 'Fiji Islander' as the common civic name," Ratu Tevita, who incidentally is also a co-deputy chair of that council, he said.

He also canvassed the idea of the constitution's immunity clause being "examined" as well as a review of the secular state clause, while wanting to guarantee freedom of religion for all.

Those sweeping immunity provisions have been able to protect people involved in past military and political coups from criminal prosecution and civil liability.

The rebellious 66-year-old was once charged with mutiny in 2011, accused of attempting to overthrow Frank Bainimarama's government.

Ratu Tevita had fled to Tonga that year, going into exile after the Fijian Prime Minister wanted his former military colleague, who severed under Commodore Bainimarama, tried for treason.

The Tongan royal family sheltered Ratu Tevita in their Nuku'alofa palace, where he worked as an advisor to King Tupou VI.

The Bainimarama government banned Ratu Tevita from re-entering Fiji, which only became a possibility again after Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka's government came into power in late 2022.

Ratu Tevita also said the 2013 constitution was imposed on the people and a new constitution needed to reflect the will of all Fijians throughout the villages, the churches, the country's 14 provinces and their communities.

"Every submission we make is for iTaukei, for the Indo-Fijian, for the Rotuman and for every community in Fiji," he finished with his submission.

Under Mr Rabuka, the Fijian government wants to amend the current constitution before the 2027 general election and set up the independent commission in March next year to consult widely on the issue.

The commission officially closed submissions on July 10, adding on its website that a wide range of public and organisational submissions were received during the consultation period.