Former NFP parliamentarian says Fiji should be a secular state

A former National Federation Party parliamentarian, Sayed Khaiyum, said Fiji should be a secular state.

While presenting his submission to the Constitution Commission at the Suva Civic Centre, Khaiyum added that the state needs to stay neutral in the matter of religion and no religion should be funded by the government.

He said every religion must be protected, however, adequate control be placed on the establishment or places of worship.

Khaiyum said some form of restriction should be placed on those currently located in the residential areas against noise nuisance.

He said a present trend of worship has been springing up everywhere and anywhere without control which is a result of total failure and laxity on the part of our own municipalities.

Khaiyum also submitted that parliament should only have one house which should be the House of Representatives with only 50 members elected on the principal of one man, one vote, one value.

He said that 50 seats should be divided between four constituencies and the term of parliamentarians should be of four years.

He said while the voting age should be 18 years, voting should not be made compulsory which it had been before, however, was a total failure in terms of policing and penalizing.

He said the position of the country’s president should be retained, however, the Vice President’s position should be made redundant.

He said the president should be elected by the people for five years and not appointed by any one person.

Khaiyum said any person who has taken residency in another country and has been away for 5 years or more should not be eligible for appointment to any decision making position in the government, should not be allowed to contest for a seat in the House of Representatives or be appointed or involved in any state matters or civil service.

Khaiyum said that all citizens of Fiji should be called Fijians irrespective of their ethnicity, however, the indigenous population of Fiji may be classified as I-taukei to distinguish them from other Fijian communities for special purposes.

He also said that there should no longer be a ministry of I-Taukei Affairs as it is not necessary to maintain a ministry for any ethnic group.

He said the functions of I-Taukei Affairs which is primarily rural focused, should be given to the Ministry of Provincial and Rural Development.


Story by: Sneh Chaudhry