FIJI - FIJIAN ?: DAILY POST, PACNEWS ED-1, MAY 25 1993
A high-powered committee in Fiji has recommended that 36 people should
be declared non-indigenous and struck off from the register of Fijians
or Vola ni Kawa Bula (VKB).
The committee was appointed by the Great Council of Chiefs last year to
look into the registration after the controversy over the inclusion of
Suva businessman Jim Ah Koy in the VKB.
Among the prominent names recommended to be declared non-Fijian are
former Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji Savenaca Siwatibau Mr Ah
Koy, former Shell Fiji Ltd general manager Joe Mar who has been posted
to Sydney and former Fiji Military Forces Chief of Staff Colonel Pio
Wong now farming in Sigatoka.
The committee headed by Tomasi Vakatora, a minister in the former
interim administration, said the 36 did not satisfy the selection
criteria set in 1962 by the chiefs.
The criteria prohibits the registration of people in their mother's
clans even if the clans request or welcome their registration.
The report will be discussed by the Council of Chiefs tomorrow.
It was based on names registered between 1962 and 1991.
The committee says 42 names are still under investigation because of the
lack of details and information on the registration forms. ...ends.