Fijian as common name

Timoci Gaunavinaka, Nausori

Jone Dakuvula believes that the use of ‘Fijian' as a common name was supposed to be taken first for endorsement to the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) in 2008 which Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama had already abolished.

He further argued that we iTaukei legally possessed the name since the Deed of Cession of 1874.

In fact the name has existed several decades before that. Some databases quoted its first use as far back as 1809.

It is a non-iTaukei word used to describe natives or inhabitants of Fiji. If we can accept its usage without permission from those who invented it in 1874, why cannot we accept its usage as an official common name without anybody's permission today?

Imagine using it in an iTaukei sentence like: ‘Okoya e Fijian” (Translation: He/She's Fijian) or ‘Na turaga tamai keitou e turaga Fijian' (Translation: Our father is Fijian). It sounds ridiculous and awkward because it is not our word or language in the first place. So why do we try to claim it as if we owned it? We now own over 90 per cent of the land. We want to own all the qoliqoli and now we want to claim ownership of a foreign word invented by non-iTaukei people. How greedy can some of us be?

If consultation work was to be done today, and we visit all 14 provinces with multiple government teams, the budget will definitely run above hundreds of thousands of dollars. How can we justify that while some of our rural iTaukei students are still having classes in tents, some crossing rivers to reach school every day, some sleeping in dormitories without mattresses or studying under kerosene light at night. This is why it is totally ridiculous to the point of arrogance.

Why do we need the approval of the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC)?

There are hundreds of mataqali (landowning unit/clan) and yavusa (tribe) heads in this country who own more land and resources than all those sitting in the GCC combined and yet had no direct say in the GCC.

To cut this debate short, both the existence of the GCC which Mr Dakuvula now tries to resurrect from the grave and the use of ‘Fijian' as a common name were ‘hot Issues' of debate in the lead up to the 2014 elections. Even Ro Teimumu Kepa who now jumps the fence to support the naming of the “Luvedra na Ratu” openly opposed ‘Fijian' as a common name on national TV.

Fortunately the people of this nation are not fools or blind and have spoken their mind on their ballot papers so overwhelmingly. Period!