To be or not to be "Fijian"

Transcript

It's a hundred years since the end of Fiji's indentured labour system which saw thousands of Indians arrive to work in the country's sugar plantations.

The government's refused a call to mark the centenary saying the best tribute to the hard-working men and women is that their descendants are now known as "Fijian".

But the word "Fijian" is still a touchy subject, as Sally Round reports.

The FijiFirst government went to the election two years ago with the mantra of genuine equality and a common identity for all.

The race-based voting system of the past was over and a government campaign pushed the message that in multi-racial Fiji, everyone's Fijian.

But there are many in the indigenous Fijian community who say the word "Fijian" should only be reserved for them.

Nemani Ramasei of the Fiji Indigenous People's Foundation in California says the word is part of his identity.

I have respect for other races. I cannot come and take something from other races, something which belongs to them. So I personally think they should respect us and give us what is ours, which is the name Fijian. "Fijian" to me is my identity.

An aspiring politican in Fiji Roshika Deo says she's noticed it's mainly older indigenous or i-Taukei people who are still against the idea of calling everyone Fijian, probably because of recent government policies.

If it was just the name it wouldn't be such a big issue but because there were other i-Taukei structures that were being dismantled, there were other forms of oppression that were being undertaken through decrees and through decisions. It was a lot of factors that led to the kind of hostility that developed around the name.

Ms Deo says Indo-Fijians like herself find the word empowering and they have embraced it.  

Among the Indo-Fijians there's a still a lot of feeling of resentment, of injustice because of the past coups and as a result when the word "Fijian" came up, it somehow felt like a little bit of justice was given to them.

A language and culture scholar in Fiji Paul Geraghty says use of the word to refer to all in Fiji is not new.

The golfer Vijay Singh is nicknamed The Big Fijian and has been described as Fijian after his international career took off 25 years ago.

It's like many other English words. They have alternative interpretations and you can use Fijian in the sense where it means anybody who's of Fijian origin or who is born and brought up in Fiji but also you can restrict its meaning to the sense of an indigenous person.

He says it's a personal choice and the change will come in its own time.

I don't think decreeing or fiats about linguistic usage are going to serve any useful purpose. There are certain factions who think this will help in unification or something like that but what they forget is that the vast majority of people in Fiji don't speak English. They speak Fijian or Fiji Hindi most of the time, therefore making a change in English will have nil effect on the perceptions.

Roshika Deo says she is a little conflicted when she uses "Fijian" to describe herself.

In the sense that yes it also makes me feel like part of something bigger, it makes me feel more patriotic, it gives me a lot more ownership of the country in terms of the feelings that I have but at the same time, there are certain contexts, certain circumstances where I still refer to myself as Indo-Fijian.

A civil society leader in Fiji Emele Duituturaga says it remains a sensitive issue.

There is a greater usage of it across the board. Everyone is referring to it as the constitution stipulates however we are also picking up that indigenous communities in Fiji are still raising it as an issue.

The linguistics expert Paul Geraghty says the word "Fijian" should be used sensitively given the lingering tensions over its use.