In 1879, the ship Leonidas arrived in Fiji carrying indentured labourers from Calcutta, the first of more than 60,000 Indians who were brought by the British to work on sugar-cane plantations in Fiji, lured by the promise of a better life. The Indian workers, arriving under contract, established lives and families in Fiji and came to be known as Girmitiyas - a Hindi take on the English word 'agreement'.
Today 15,000 of their descendants live across New Zealand and for Census purposes are categorised as South Asians.
However the Fiji Girmit Foundation of New Zealand said many of its members had never been to India nor had any links or connection with India, instead having their roots firmly in Fiji. For the past two years, they have been urging the government to recognise them as Pacific islanders rather than Asians.
Replying to the issue Government Minister Aupito William Sio, said while he understood the group's concerns, he added the classification for Fijian-Indians was in line with an ethnographic profile which included people with a common language, customs and traditions.
Pacific Islanders (Pasifika) in NZ are in a similar position to Hispanic population in the US, a large hetrogenous ethnic group, often entering NZ as labourers and thus recipients of targetted services and investment from Government. I may be cynical but I’m sure this is a big motivator for the Girmit Foundations push.
So Esteemed Enthnophiles of NSG do you think 142 years is long enough for Fijian Indians to be considered a Pacific Population or should they be grouped with continental Indians on ethnographic criteria?
