FORMER Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said if all citizens were to be known as Fijians then acts governing the Fijian people should be tailored so that there is no confusion.
Mr Rabuka was reacting to suggestions by interim Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama yesterday that people living in Fiji should be called by a common name because every person who lived in the country was deemed to be a Fijian or called one.
Commodore Bainimarama told FM96 radio that racial divisions should be eradicated because racial barriers were the main cause of Fiji's problems.
He said people needed to realise there was no threat of Indians taking over Fiji or Indians taking over land belonging to natives.
Mr Rabuka said the common name issue was not a new one as he had made the call when he was prime minister.
He said the use of the name Fijians was not proper because it was not a Fijian word.
"The only thing that needs to be done is adjust some laws governing the affairs of the indigenous people," he said.
"If the name Fijian is used as a common name then the Fijian Affairs Act must be changed to Native Affairs Act or something to the effect which can identify with the indigenous people.
"If you do not change the name of the legislations, it will not be in harmony with the objectives of the law, to govern matters affecting the indigenous Fijian people."
Mr Rabuka said they used the name Fiji Islanders because it was easily accepted for all races which called Fiji their home.
"For example in New Zealand all people who are born and raised there are called New Zealanders but the indigenous or natives of New Zealand are called Maori."
Ousted Opposition Leader Mick Beddoes said as a community which had been called among other things Kai Loma, Vasu, Half-Castes, Part-Europeans, Vulagi and the rest of it, a common name would be welcomed by the General Voters.
He said it would put an end to this lack of "connection that many of our people feel".
The president of the Pratinidhi Sabha, Kamlesh Arya, said a common name would give their members a sense of belonging to the nation instead of being classed as Indo-Fijians which made them feel like third-class citizens.
Sanatan Dharam president Diwan Maharaj said people born and raised in Fiji should be called Fijians because people who migrated to New Zealand became known as New Zealanders.