Fijian-Indians are ‘missing out’ because not classified as Pasifika
Fijian-Indians are facing an identity crisis and missing out on key support and opportunities in areas like education and health because they are being classified as Asians and not Pacific Islanders in New Zealand, a community leader says.
Krish Naidu, president of the Fiji Girmit Foundation of NZ, said by not recognising Fijian- Indians as a Pacific community, the Government was disqualifying the community from sharing any of the resources and support allocated to these communities.
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio, in a letter to Naidu last December, said that Statistics New Zealand’s specific classification for Fijian-Indians falls under “Asian” followed by an “Indian” subclassification”, not Pacific peoples.
“The StatsNZ classification . . . is in line with an ethnographic profile, which includes people with common language, customs and traditions. I am also informed that the ethnographic features of Fijian-Indians are not of a similar profile to those of indigenous Pacific peoples,” Sio said.
He said StatsNZ’s ethnicity definition is used to capture data to understand the people of New Zealand.
“StatsNZ recognises ethnicity as the ethnic group or groups a person self-identifies with or has a sense of belonging to . . . it is not the same as race, ancestry, nationality, citizenship or even place of birth,” Sio said.
Naidu believed the Fijian-Indian community in NZ was at least 90,000-strong although there was no official data to back this. He said they are the second-largest ethnic community from the Pacific, behind only Samoans and ahead of Tongans.
In the 2018 Census, about 15,000 people identified with the FijianIndian ethnic group.
Massey University sociologist Professor Paul Spoonley said there is a strong case for treating FijianIndians as Pasifika, given their history and cultural identity.
“I personally would classify them as Pasifika if they come from Fiji. That has been my practice although what is confusing is the way official statistics are collected,” Spoonley said.
“Indians appear in a range of different categories, and it is not always clear that those answering ‘Indian’ also happen to be ‘Fijians’. StatsNZ do their best but unless they can link birthplace, Fiji, with ethnic classification, in this case Indian, many are classified as ‘Asian’.”
Spoonley said there was also no category for those born in New Zealand, but who are members of the NZ Fijian-Indian community.
Indians have been living in Fiji for more than 140 years, since the first arrival as labourers under British rule. Their descendants are referred to as Fijian-Indians or Indo-Fijians, and Naidu said the population had a culture, language, customs and traditions that were distinctively different to other Indians.
“Just because we eat roti and curry, watch Bollywood movies and celebrate Diwali doesn’t mean all Indians are the same,” he said. “This issue of a failure to recognise us as a Pacific people is deeply distressing, and so far our efforts to get that corrected have largely been ignored.”
Is there too much Ma¯ ori language being broadcast on TVNZ? I don’t think so.
My history tells me that in certain circumstances te reo Ma¯ ori would have been the first language here in Aotearoa.
In 1847 a Royal Charter was received by Governor Grey. The New Zealand Government Act would have given the tangata whenua full citizenship and voting rights.
It was promptly suspended by Governor Grey on the grounds Ma¯ ori were not ready or capable of participating in such a process.
On that day the Treaty of Waitangi became null and void and should really be re-negotiated today. And then truly honoured and tribal lands returned to the rightful occupants.
Then te reo Ma¯ ori would really flourish as it should. I roto i nga mita katoa [With all its variations] After all “We once were poets!” Nga moteatea would then become our pathway back to our “Taha Wairua”. Ne? POTONGA NEILSON
Castlecliff
TV news under fire
May I take this opportunity to comment on the disgusting programming displayed by TVNZ on 1 News at 6pm on Saturday, March 13.
One must question the rationale that decides that a yacht race is of more import than the country’s grief over the mosque shootings 2 years ago. Fifty-one people died and another 40 were injured, some of whom will live with their injuries for the rest of their lives.
This is appalling and those responsible for programming are a disgrace to all New Zealanders. I would love to see resignations by those concerned but I will not hold my breath.
I am ashamed to be associated by nationality to these people.
Various groups in our country are screaming for apologies left, right and centre at every conceivable chance, so let’s see the same passion applied here.
D PARTNER
Eastown