FORMER Lands Minister Ashneel Sudhakar says the term Fijian should be reserved for the country’s indigenous people as a racial identity, while every Fiji citizen should be recognised as Fijian on their passport only, as he called for changes to the Constitution to address both identity and religious freedom.
Speaking during the Constitution Amendment Bill consultations in Ba yesterday, Mr Sudhakar said the indigenous community’s connection to the term must be respected, but citizenship should give all Fijians equal recognition when travelling overseas.
“One is referring to a race, the indigenous race, which we respect in this country,” he said.
“No matter how much I want to call myself the Fijian race, I can’t. My physical features do not match. My Chinese friend cannot call himself Fijian because it’s a race issue.”
He said the term Fijian should retain its indigenous racial meaning, while also serving as the nationality of every citizen.
“Your passport should carry the word Fijian because when you go to any other country in the world, if you are an American, whether you are an African American, Black American, Indian, Chinese, whatever, your citizenship should be Fijian, but you cannot steal the Fijian reference from the indigenous race in this country.”
Mr Sudhakar also called for adjustments to constitutional provisions on religious freedom if Christianity was to be recognised in the proposed amendments.
