7 May 2004

Fiji landowner representative criticises golfer's description

6:17 am on 7 May 2004

The president of the Viti Landowners Group says Fiji TV has demeaned the status of indigenous Fijians.

Kitione Vuetaki says reports on the station have referred to international golfer, Vijay Singh, as a Fijian when Mr Singh is officially defined as an Indian.

He says Fiji TV is a powerful instrument of social control and could be violating the basic human rights of indigenous Fijians as a distinct ethnic group.

Mr Vuetaki says he doesn't think it was just a slip of the tongue.

"Fiji TV ought to know what our constitutional position is, that those who have roots in our country, or who were born here, are called Fiji Islanders, and, specially, we have a Fijian Affairs Act, and a Fijian Affairs Board, which only covers what would be called, indigenous Fijians, and does not cover the rest of Fiji Islanders, so on that basis, it would not have been accidental."