On May 17, 1982, India Fiji Day was celebrated at the Suva Civic Centre.
An article in The Fiji Times the next day highlighted that Minister for Labour, Industrial Relations and Immigration Tomasi Vakatora delivered the keynote address at the celebration , saying that “Fiji ensures multiracial peace and harmony by accepting race as a fact of life”.
Earlier in the day, the Royal Fiji Military Forces band led a march of youth through the city to Sukuna Park.
He said when he travelled overseas, people often asked about Fiji’s multiracial society.
“How is it possible, they ask, for Fijians and Indians who are roughly equal in number, to live side by side with each other?” he said.
“The answer, I tell them, is simple – we accept race as a fact of life, we don’t hide away from it or attempt to suppress it.
“We recognise it in our Constitution and since independence, the Government has actively promoted the concept of a multiracial and multi-religious society- each of us enriching the other through our diverse cultures, traditions and religious beliefs.
“When we look at the violence and bitterness in the world which stems from racial tensions , it has been a remarkable achievement.”
Mr Vakatora spoke of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, who shortly before his death, had made his famous ” I have a dream” speech that “my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character”.
“Fiji has realised that dream, not by accident but by deliberate policies based on goodwill and a sense of justice.
“Living in a multiracial society is like being on the sea in a small boat – if one of us decides to row in a different direction we are in danger of becoming lost or capsizing.
“We have to put our faith in the navigator – is he experienced enough to see us through when it becomes rough? Can he bring us home safely?
“Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm- it takes courage and skill to carry all of us along to the same destination.
“Someone once said that to excel the past we must not allow ourselves to lose contact with it – on the contrary, we must feel it under our feet because we raised ourselves upon it.”
