Fijileaks Founding Editor-in-Chief:
*We have published several stories on Fiji rugby over the years.
*Last Saturday, during the Fiji v England rugby match, for the first time in FIVE decades, I remained indifferent to Racist Rabuka's Meda Dau Doka' i-Taukei anthem, even though I sang it in my youth.
*The anthem did not speak to half of Fiji's non-i-Taukei population. It represented another crude manifestation of Fiji's i-Taukeinization (or Nazification) under the Coalition government.
*In fact, many i-Taukei who do not know Meda Dau Doka, were caught by surprise that it would be sung, at Rabuka's 'prerogative' , at the
World Cup Rugby 2023.
*If Fiji had got a beating from England, I would not have hesitated to raise a beer-cheer - for the rugby anthem no longer represents the true spirit of Fiji and sport mad population. We aren't Cheering for Fiji, for if we do so, we will endorse Sitiveni Rabuka's 1987 racist agenda.
*We hand the mike to this BAIMAAN to cheer with RAMBUKHA
“It was a noble performance and I congratulate each team member and all the coaching and support staff for your magnificent victory!”
“I commend the boys for their team work. From singing “Meda Dau Doka” to the cibi to the game itself which was a nail-biter for all the people of Fiji who were watching, it was an excellent Test prior to their World Cup campaign." Sitiveni Rabuka
By Paul Geraghty, USP, Letters to Editor, Fiji Times, 26 August
PLEASE allow me to contribute to the discussion on a Fijian version of the national anthem. As I’ve pointed out a number of times in these columns, ‘Meda dau doka’ is not the Fijian version of the anthem. There is no Fijian version, it was written only in English.
Since some seem to be under the impression that it represents the spirit of the national anthem, let me give an English translation so more people can judge:
Let us all respect and want the land
Where clean people now live
A time of peace and harmony has been achieved
Unclean behaviour has been abandoned
May Fiji flourish and continuously advance
May the leaders be good men
May the people be led in good things
So bad behaviour will be eliminated.
You young men in Fiji are to blame
Act so the land will be clean
Do not put up with filthiness
And let us now abandon it forever
This is in my opinion not only unidiomatic (‘let us want the land’) but inappropriate in apparently blaming all young men of Fiji for filthiness.
I don’t know who wrote it (does anyone?) but it seems to me to have been someone who was not a native speaker.
Incidentally, who if anyone has been getting the royalties?
If we want a national anthem in Fijian – and clearly I think there should be one, as do many others – I suggest we have a competition to find the best.
Also we should consider following South Africa in having a multilingual anthem.
PAUL GERAGHTY USP, Suva
Dr Paul Geraghty was born of Irish immigrant parents and raised in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Educated at Lawrence Sheriff Grammar School and Rugby School, he was awarded a travel scholarship and spent a year teaching in Fiji, when he began his research into the dialects of Fiji.
After graduating from Cambridge with an MA in Modern Languages (French and German), he earned his PhD from the University of Hawaii with a dissertation on the history of the Fijian languages. He was recruited as researcher by the Fijian Monolingual Dictionary Project in Suva, which had been recently founded by the American/Canadian actor and philanthropist Raymond Burr.
This project developed into the Institute of Fijian Language and Culture, of which he was Director from 1986 to 2001, being recognized for his service in researching and revitalising Fiji’s linguistic and cultural heritage with the award of Officer of the Order of Fiji by the then President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara in 1999.
In 2001 he accepted a position at the University of the South Pacific, having previously written and taught there the first university course in a Pacific language. He is currently Adjunct Associate Professor in Linguistics and working on postgraduate courses in Fijian in addition to conducting wide-ranging research.
He is author and editor of several books, including The History of the Fijian Languages (University of Hawai’i Press), the Lonely Planet Fijian Phrasebook, Borrowing: a Pacific Perspective (Australian National University Press), and The Macquarie Dictionary of English for the Fiji Islands, and numerous articles in professional journals and newspapers on Fijian and Pacific languages, culture, and history.
After graduating from Cambridge with an MA in Modern Languages (French and German), he earned his PhD from the University of Hawaii with a dissertation on the history of the Fijian languages. He was recruited as researcher by the Fijian Monolingual Dictionary Project in Suva, which had been recently founded by the American/Canadian actor and philanthropist Raymond Burr.
This project developed into the Institute of Fijian Language and Culture, of which he was Director from 1986 to 2001, being recognized for his service in researching and revitalising Fiji’s linguistic and cultural heritage with the award of Officer of the Order of Fiji by the then President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara in 1999.
In 2001 he accepted a position at the University of the South Pacific, having previously written and taught there the first university course in a Pacific language. He is currently Adjunct Associate Professor in Linguistics and working on postgraduate courses in Fijian in addition to conducting wide-ranging research.
He is author and editor of several books, including The History of the Fijian Languages (University of Hawai’i Press), the Lonely Planet Fijian Phrasebook, Borrowing: a Pacific Perspective (Australian National University Press), and The Macquarie Dictionary of English for the Fiji Islands, and numerous articles in professional journals and newspapers on Fijian and Pacific languages, culture, and history.