DEPUTY Prime Minister Professor Biman Prasad has labelled the recent comments by Opposition Leader Inia Seruiratu on the growing concerns among the Indo-Fijian community as ‘misinformation’.
In Parliament and while explaining Government’s efforts to retain skilled medical professionals, Prof Prasad called out Mr Seruiratu for playing the race card by claiming more Indo-Fijians had left the country since the Coalition came into power.
“This is a very important skill area where we are also getting people from other sources because the need for these kinds of skills in Australia and New Zealand is just huge,” said Prof Prasad.
“For us, if you look at the statistics and again, I want to use this opportunity to put this record straight in Parliament because there is a lot of misinformation and there is a lot of ill-conceived statements made including by the Leader of the Opposition in his recent post.
“The Leader of the Opposition in one of his recent statements pointed out all of these attacks that is happening and he referred to Indo-Fijians and said ‘instead, a growing number of Indo-Fijians are migrating overseas’.”
He said Fijians have been migrating by the tens of thousands since 2010.
According to Prof Prasad, in 2010, 19,000 Fijians migrated, 2011 — 24,800, 2012 — 23,573, 2016 saw 26,426 and 27,000 migrated in 2017.
He said 2018 saw 26,000 Fijians leave Fiji and a total of 8500 left Fiji between 2019 and 2021 while 28,504 left in 2022 and 29,719 migrated in 2023.
“So who were in government when 26,000 people left in 2016? Who were in government in 2017 when 27,000 people left?”
Prof Prasad added Mr Seruiratu was worried about his political fortune dwindling everyday by playing the race card.
“In fact what the Leader of the Opposition has posted is not only seditious but also designed to create ill-will and hostility in this country. In fact if he is honest enough, if he looks at these statistics, he will withdraw and remove that statement from Facebook.”
