The President of Fiji Girmit Foundation of NZ, Krish Naidu says Fijian-Indians are facing an identity crisis and missing out on key support and opportunities in areas like education and health because they are being classified as Asians and not Pacific Islanders in New Zealand.
Naidu says by not recognising Fijian-Indians as a Pacific community, the New Zealand government was disqualifying the community from sharing any of the resources and support allocated to these communities.
Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio, in a letter to Naidu last December, had said that Statistics New Zealand's specific classification for Fijian-Indians falls under "Asian" followed by an "Indian" sub-classification", not Pacific peoples.
The Minister had said that the StatsNZ classification is in line with an ethnographic profile, which includes people with common language, customs and traditions and adds that he has also been informed that the ethnographic features of Fijian-Indians are not of a similar profile to those of indigenous Pacific peoples.
Naidu believed the Fijian-Indian community in NZ was at least 90,000-strong although there was no official data to back this and they are the second largest ethnic community from the Pacific, behind only Samoans and ahead of Tongans.
In the 2018 Census, about 15,000 people identified with the Fijian-Indian ethnic group.
Massey University sociologist Professor Paul Spoonley said there is a strong case for treating Fijian-Indians as Pasifika, given their history and cultural identity.
Spoonley says he personally would classify them as Pasifika if they come from Fiji and it has been his practice although what is confusing is the way official statistics are collected.
Naidu also says just because they eat roti and curry, watch Bollywood movies and celebrate Diwali doesn't mean all Indians are the same.
He adds that this issue of a failure to recognise them as a Pacific people is deeply distressing, and so far their efforts to get that corrected have largely been ignored.
Naidu said this was a "systemic, longstanding discrimination and racism" against the community in New Zealand.
He says they are a community with an identity crisis, suffering the indignity of searching and establishing who they are and where they belong, and they cannot continue to be treated as driftwoods of the Pacific.
The Girmit Foundation was formed in 2013 to represent and advocate for Fijian Indian heritage, identity and diaspora.
Naidu said the foundation was calling for a formal review consultation, so that there could be a classification change at least in the Census.
[Source: NZ Herald]
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