21 Aug 2014

Party says consultation needed over 'Fijian'

3:27 pm on 21 August 2014

The leader of One Fiji Party, Filimoni Vosarogo, says it's unfair to use the term Fijian to refer to every citizen in the country.

Under the current regime, the government decreed that iTaukei replace the word Fijian or indigenous Fijian in written documents and that all citizens be called Fijian.

But Mr Vosarogo says if his party can form a coalition government after the election in September it would try to have that changed.

He says his party supports having a common name for all but says large populations of indigenous Fijians in Fiji and across the world have not been consulted.

"It's the absence of consultation with them that causes us to take the position that you cannot take something from a particular race and distribute it to everybody without their consent."

Filimoni Vosarogo says they urge people of all races in Fiji to be proud of their heritage and not to lose it.