Thakur Ranjit Singh
Auckland, October 8, 2023
Fiji Girmit Foundation New Zealand President Krish Naidu and founding Trustees presenting a plaque to Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka at the public reception in Auckland on June 5, 2023 (Photo Supplied)
Are Fiji Indians part of Fiji History?
This question should be considered as we mark Fiji Independence Day on October 10.
I received the following email from my niece in Waikato who is a fifth-generation Kiwi Fiji Indian,
“I received a scholarship offer from the University of Otago for the Pacific Peoples Entrance. The scholarship requires a verification of my indigenous Pacific ancestry which includes documents such as land title documents, birth certificate, passport, and citizenship papers. While we can provide those documents, I am not sure how I can be eligible under the indigenous aspect.”
She asked for assistance on how to verify her ancestry.
I wonder how a Pakeha-looking Maori will prove his or her 2% Maori Ancestry.
I started thinking about our political debate on two separate classes or groups of people, one group is favoured because of race and the other is discriminated against. Fiji Indians now join that group.
Where is our voice?
A fragmented community
Fiji Indians have been part of New Zealand since the advent of the Indenture system because of its geographic proximity. Our people came in large numbers to clean up bushy New Zealand and clear the scrub, which we call gorse. Some stayed back and we have some Fiji Indian citizens who were victims of the Dawn Raids.
We have been a part of the Pacific for a very long time. But we are fragmented, without any real identity and questions from my niece reflect our past failed leadership.
To a great extent, which is our fault. We have arrived here in large numbers, became big business owners, owned multiple houses, and built many temples. We have many religious groups which have done very well individually, but as a community, we have failed to come collectively for the betterment and welfare of Fiji Indians in New Zealand.
While we have had a Governor-General and a Member of Parliament who identify themselves as Fiji. There is still work in progress. We are still struggling for an identity in New Zealand.
Thanks to the vision of some Fiji Indian leaders who formed an umbrella advocacy body over a decade ago, they have been relentlessly promoting their identity and the well-being of Fiji Indians who were well-off since they arrived here over five decades ago. Many are wallowing in wealth, but the welfare of the new generation is coming into the spotlight.
Single, accepted identity
We face gross discrimination and our identity issue has been raised by concerned Fiji Indian leaders for many years to the mainstream political party leaders and MPs who have been coming to our events. We are blessed to have multiple identities. While we honour and respect our Indian/Asian roots and ancestry, that does not mean our Pacific identity should be denied or ignored. We are entitled to this identity.
Fiji Indians miss out on resources allocated to Pacific Peoples. We must be part and parcel of it – not just when it suits us or others.
We miss out on both sides; we miss out on the Asian side because we get diluted and on the Pacific side, we are neither here nor there. For some, not Indian enough to be Indian, and for some, not Pacific enough to be Pacific.
It appears the battle, injustices and discrimination our indentured labourers, the Girmityas met in Fiji 144 years ago have been following their fourth and fifth generations in a supposedly transparent, and fair First World New Zealand.
Fiji Indians have been in Fiji since 1879 (INL File Photo)
The India Disconnect
Fiji Indians have little or no connection with India. Fiji is our country and the origin of Fiji Indians. We have been in Fiji for almost 145 years, but we are not recognised by the New Zealand government and institutions as Pacific people. I wonder how long it will take for our uprooted people to become indigenous or recognised by their country of birth or that of their great-great-grandparents.
The Ministry of Pacific People does not recognise us as Pacifica People.
Some Itaukei leaders in New Zealand do not consider us Fijians, mainstream Indians do not recognise us as Indians.
Sir Anand Satyanand faced this prejudice and discrimination by the mainstream Kiwis before he became the Governor-General. TV Programme Presenter Paul Henry asked then Prime Minister John Key if he would appoint the next Governor-General who ‘looks like a real New Zealander.’
Other Fiji Indians here still face a similar dilemma. From which angle does Thakur Ranjit Singh look like an Indian? I have a distinct Fiji Hindi language that developed in the cane farms of Fiji.
I am culturally different, as I practice a mixture of cultures that developed in Fiji. I am different, as I grew up in a multicultural and distinct Pacifica community, hence my foods, habits, way of speaking and most other things are different from Indians. I have no links to India. Perhaps that is why even Indians do not recognise us as Indians.
We are not represented by the NZ Indian Central Association or any other Indian Association.
The growing generation is beginning to understand realities:
We are not represented by the NZ Indian Central Association or any other Indian Association.
In his speech at the 140th Girmit celebration in Auckland in 2019, Sir Anand quoted Sir Shridath (Sonny) Ramphal, erstwhile Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, who described Indian cultural heritage, in his own instance as being like a seed from a tree growing in India being taken across the seas and growing with encouragement from a seed again to flower in the Caribbean – being different but maintaining the essence of Indian origin.
Similarly, Indian cultural heritage for Fiji Indians is like a seed from a tree growing in India taken across the seas and growing with encouragement from a seed again to flower in Fiji Islands.
That is who we are, a unique seed from India, growing on Fijian soil as a distinct Pacifica People with the best of both worlds.
The question that goes begging: why are we called on to justify our Pacifica identity? And who are some Itaukei leaders in NZ to determine who we call ourselves?
Will any of the leaders contesting in the ensuing general election address the questions raised here? Will the new generation of Kiwi Pacifica Fiji Indians continue to face discrimination?
Are we Pacifica People and will this very bright fifth-generation Fiji Indian student mentioned at the beginning of this article, qualify for that Pacifica scholarship?
Thakur Ranjit Singh is a journalist and a media commentator. He is a Founding Trustee of Fiji Girmit Foundation NZ and is Secretary and Coordinator of Fiji Seniors Federation NZ. He is involved in the well-being of Seniors in Auckland. He runs his blog Fiji Pundit. Email: thakurjifj@gmail.com
