TOSO VITI FLYING FIJIANS as HALF of Fiji will be singing with you the MEDA DAU DOKA. Who wrote it? Our research reveal it was the late Sir Josua Rabukawaqa before he became High Commissioner to London

Ratu Mara and Josua Rabukawaqa receive copies of the cassette tapes of Ratu Mara's own song Ciri Koto from South Pacific Recordings managing director Ravindra Patel.

Sir Joshua Rabukawaqa in his office in 1977 as Fiji's roving regional ambassador - photo, Fiji Times

*It was Sir Josua Rabukawaqa who wrote the MEDA DAU DOKA before he left for London to become Fiji's first High Commissioner.
*Rabukawaqa joined the Fiji Colonial Civil Service and was Commissioner Central from 1968 to 1970. He was knighted in 1977.
*In 1970, the late Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara sent Rabukawaqa to set up Fiji's High Commission in London. As expected, Rabukawaqa became Fiji's first High Commissioner to London.

*He hailed from Bua. Besides being a civil servant, Rabukawaqa was the leader of the famous local i-Taukei choir called The Phoenix Choir, and the Choir's recordings can still be found on cassette tapes today.
*It was Rabukawaqa who wrote the MEDA DAU DOKA before he left for London to become Fiji's first High Commissioner.
*In 1980, Rabukawaqa and his Phoenix Choir also provided music and sung Ratu Mara's song Ciri Koto e Loma ni Wasaliwa that Ratu Mara had written as a tribute to Fiji soldiers serving in the Middle East. In his autobiography The Pacific Way: A Memoir, Ratu Mara writes:
​'On a plane journey to London, my thoughts were with our soldiers on peacekeeping duties in Lebanon and Sinai. The idea for a song came to me, but I had nothing to write on until, rooting around, I found the usual sick bag in the pocket in front of me. On this unlikely manuscript paper, I put down my thoughts in a matter of 15 minutes. The song tells of the thoughts of a Fijian soldier as he stands ready to give his life if need be. The chorus tells of the silvery sea ruffled by the cool surf, the bright sunshine followed by the light of the moon, his far away island with its long beach of gleaming sand. For that sacred land and its good name he would give his life, as his thoughts ever return to his homeland.'
*When Ratu Mara arrived back in Fiji, he handed his song to Rabukawaqa, to write the music to his lyrics. In 1980 the song was sung by the Phoenix Choir under the leadership of Rabukawaqa. It was one of 14 songs by the Phoenix Choir released on cassette tapes by South Pacific Recordings in Nadi.

"I don’t know who wrote it (Meda Dau Doka, 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?"

Dr Paul Geraghty, USP, Letters to Editor,
​The Fiji Times, 26 August 2023

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