From Henry Enasio (19 July 2005)

Response to “Council urged to divest funds wisely with FHL”

Lilino and I commented extensively in January when the issue of “does anyone know who or what a Rotuman is” was raised in relation to the FHL shares. The issue has again reared it's ugly head. The Rotuma Act is quite clear in giving us an adequate description of who is a Rotuman. We must not agree to change the description. It would fragment out community and result in discriminating against and disfranchising our love ones.

Thus allow me to say this, especially with the general election looming: As a citizen and a Rotuman, my advice to all Rotuman voters is to hold on tight to the description in the Rotuma Act and never allow it to change. If we do so we will lose out in the future on dual registration of paternal and maternal land ownership and be registered like the Fijians in their VKB. It's fine with the Fijians, because they own a lot of land, but Rotuma is such a very small island with a growing population and a lot of our folks will be disenfranchised if we go down that road.

Hence, my advice to all Rotuman voters is to reject any candidate for MP, Senator, or District Representative who supports a change to the current description of who we are in the Rotuma Act.

Henry Enasio
Sydney Australia