Concerns raised on comments made by Speaker to Opposition MP about Melanesian community

Concerns have been raised by some people regarding what they call are discriminatory comments made by Speaker Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu while responding to Opposition MP Aliki Bia during the end-of-week statement in the September 6th Parliament sitting.

In his statement on the Melanesian Community in Fiji, Bia highlighted some of the challenges facing his community.

He says their cry for justice is much more than just the celebration as they are going to commemorate in November this year the 160th year since the arrival of their forefathers in Fiji.

The Opposition MP says they have been relocated so many times during the past decades, and this has created a sense of uncertainty amongst the Melanesian community, knowing that everywhere they go, it's just temporary.

He says this has generated fear and instability within the Melanesian communities around Fiji and at times, having sleepless nights thinking of what the future may hold.

Bia also highlighted some injustices that currently continue to derail the progress of some Melanesian communities. He says for some maritime island communities of Wailailai, Baba, and Wainaloka in Levuka, Ovalau, their Turaga ni Koro only received half the normal allowances given to the Turaga ni Koro in every village.

Speaking in iTaukei, Bia says it is indeed a painful experience for their Village Headmen, who only receive half the normal allowance given to their peers in other villages, even though the various tasks allocated by the Provincial Office are the same as to their obligations to the Vanua meetings.

He says their Headmen have been unfairly treated over the years by past Governments.

He further says some of them have not received their allowances since last year, and he questions the purpose of setting up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

He questions whether is this a set-up just to heal the political injustices of the past or also to bring justice to the painful era that their forefathers went through, as some of them even lost their lives while working as slaves in farms and building roads for development across Fiji.

The Opposition MP says he has heard so many past and current politicians in this nation apologizing for the political injustices of the past events that may cause inequality and bias to other ethnic groups but never has even one bothered to apologize to the Blackbirders descendants who are spread out across Fiji.

Responding to Bia in the i-Taukei language, the Speaker Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu said that people should be careful of what they say because there are a lot of Melanesian descendants on their land.

He says they came to eat our food and use our land, while some have been included in the Vola-ni-Kawa-Bula.

Ratu Naiqama told Bia to be careful of the words he used as he was twisting the facts.

He says the Prime Minister established the Multi-Ethnic Affairs Ministry, which took care of the interests of the minority groups.

He further says some of them are within his mataqali, Valewaqa in Vunilagi, Vatusoqosoqo in Qamea, while some are registered within his village, within his other clans, Yavusa o Benau but have been bracketed, descendants of Solomon Islanders.

The Speaker says they are registered in the VKB, and yet Bia still has the audacity to come and say they are being ill-treated and mistreated.

Ratu Naiqama also told Bia that their community are part of us as they are also voting.

He adds that this is through the work of former Prime Ministers and administrators in trying to take care of the minority group within our society.

He asked if they had been discriminated against all this time and how come they are living amongst us.

The Speaker says the Alliance Government ventured to pay for all the evacuation costs of removing the people from Vunilagi, the largest estate in Fiji, back to the Solomon Islands.

He says they came all the way to Suva from Vanua Levu, and before they could put into effect their evacuation procedures, some of them returned to Vanua Levu.

Ratu Naiqama says they could not leave without that place, so they had to come in and receive them because they had been there.

He says he takes exception and does not agree with the Opposition members when he says they have been mistreated because he has been offered seats in the House, the Parliament of Fiji.

He also told Bia to make up his mind whether they want to be Fijians or want to go back to the Solomons because he will not sit here and listen to all these diatribes going on that they have all been mistreated.

Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka says the Speaker was just speaking on how he had accommodated all communities in his province.

Leader of the Opposition, Inia Seruiratu says if Aliki Bia feels offended by the comments made by the Speaker, then he is welcome to take it further through the system.

Bia has opted not to make any comments.