‘Know the story of girmitiya’

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Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama delivers his speech at the 143rd Girmit Day celebration and 120th anniversary of the first Ram Leela organised in Fiji. Picture: FIJIAN GOVT

Everyone should know the story of the girmitiya and this should be taught in schools, said Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama during his speech at the 143rd anniversary Girmit Day commemoration in Suva last Saturday.

He said this should have been taught in our schools from the day Fiji gained independence.

“It is a part of our history and we must know our history, not just the triumphs and the glories, but the injustices and the blemishes, and I also believe that if past governments had done this, we would have avoided the worst tragedies to befall the nation,” he said.

Mr Bainimarama said under the then legislative council, which allowed for iTaukei representation, Indo-Fijians were not given votes or representation at all.

“We lived with that legacy for years post-independence under an electoral system that left Indo-Fijians with votes of lesser value. Imagine building the colonial economy only to be told that you and your children did not have a place in it, that your presence in Fiji was only tolerated and imagine despite being born in Fiji you were not considered a genuine Fijian.”

He said looking at Fiji’s history the country was still not free from the racial division that was prevalent years ago.

“We are not free from the legacy of discrimination that defined that darker era of our history.

“The ugly faces of ethnic and religious hatred in Fiji are creeping back into the mainstream of our national life.

“It’s not enough to shut our ears to these voices of division, we must condemn them because when we look to our history we know how dangerous those who seek to divide our people can be.”

He said moving forward was Fiji’s focus to making the country a successful and better nation.

“Fijians with equal votes of equal value, with equal protection under the law and united by a common purpose of building a better Fiji. We cannot change the past but we can choose our future and we must choose a hopeful future together.”

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