Sainiani Boila 
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has clarified that all citizens will continue to be called Fijians.
While speaking at the Radio Fiji One’s Na Noda Paraiminisita programme, Rabuka says this as the name Fijian is now part of our Constitution and it’s also part of the Interpretation Act.
Rabuka says there is a need for an extensive consultations if the word Fijian is to change.
“If we want to change it then it has to be changed from both the constitution and the Interpretation Act. The word Fijian is not a Itaukei word, it’s an English word. We know that we are I-Taukei and we always use the i-Taukei word “Vulagi” for the Indian community and most of them does not want to be called “Vulagi”. For us, the word vulagi is our word and that does not mean we discriminate, its means respect. However when we use it to them despite it being a i-Taukei word, they do not agree so I think we should continue to use the word Fijian because it is not a Fijian word and we know ourselves and the words we use.”
Under the 2013 constitution, Section 5 subsection 1 of the Citizenship Act states that all citizens of Fiji shall be known as Fijians and Rabuka says the then government should have done extensive consultations to get the views of the people on the use of the word Fijian before its part of the constitution.
The coalition government has only changed the use of the word Fijian in Itaukei Institutions including the Itaukei Land Trust Board and the Itaukei Affairs.
