Relationships are not built by law, they are built by love and respect.
Assistant Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Sashi Kiran said this during an interview on The Fiji Times online news portal The Lens @ 177.
She said close relations between Fijians of Indian descent and the iTaukei had existed from when the first indentured labourers came to Fiji in 1879.
However, she said it was unfortunate that politicians used to highlight differences instead of acknowledging similarities.
Ms Kiran said Fiji would be a different country “If we acknowledge that our ancestors have worked together, lived together, cried together and laughed together”.
She said Fiji’s history should not only be spoken of in terms of one community in isolation. “We also need superimposed history of all of us,” Ms Kiran said.
“I think our relationships are deep. We need to acknowledge and build on it. And that doesn’t come through a name change.”
Ms Kiran said she felt the love and affection of the iTaukei community from when she first went to Rewa to attend a traditional event.
“I grew up in the West. I was not so familiar with Rewa when we first started this process.
“They’ve always told us stories of how they saw the ship (Syria) lying there on the beach. And for the past 100 years, they’ve been telling that story of Indians being brought and Indians buried in our land, and they belong to us.”
She said the iTaukei people had a close affinity with the descendants of the girmitya and it was up to the Fijians of Indian descent community to embrace this.
“So, I think it’s them having carried us in their hearts and it’s us who have not acknowledged it. Every time I go, I feel it.” Ms Kiran said the Coalition Government was committed to getting everyone united, however, it would require change in mindsets.
“There’s a lot of work to be done. And I’m grateful that under the leadership of the Prime Minister, there is a strong commitment towards this.
“We do want one history. If you remember the President has called on, during the girmit celebrations, that our collective history be taught in schools. “So, we first of all need to acknowledge and make that work there.”
Ms Kiran said many Fijians of Indian descent had not taken the time to learn enough about the vanua and to appreciate how they and their ancestors were welcomed here.
