The renaming of Fiji’s national identity under the 2013 Constitution has been condemned by the paramount chief of Lau, Ratu Tevita Mara, who says it stripped indigenous Fijians of an ethnic identity that had existed for over a century.
Tui Nayau Ratu Tevita labelled the act of change — from “Fiji Islander” to “Fijian” — an “erasure,” and called on the Constitutional Review Committee to give the people of Fiji the final say on what they should be called.
“Under the 2013 Constitution, our nationality was unilaterally changed to Fijian — stripping without consultation the ethnic identity of the indigenous people that has been in existence for over a hundred years, relegating them to the term i-Taukei,” he said.
“That was not nation-building. That was erasure.”
Ratu Tevita said the 1997 Constitution, which was developed through wide public consultation, offered the standard Fiji must return to.
“Our previous 1997 Constitution which was widely and meaningfully consulted with the people had clearly and respectfully laid out both our nationality and our ethnic identities.
“That is the standard of democratic process to which we must return — consultation. People’s will as the final word. It was a model of inclusive governance that we should not have abandoned lightly.”
The CRC, chaired by Sevuloni Valenitabua, is conducting nationwide consultations to review the 2013 Constitution. The seven-member panel aims to strengthen democracy by collecting public submissions over six months, with a final report due to the President by August 31, 2026.
