The Fiji Girmit Foundation New Zealand has welcomed a Girmit Day holiday announced by the new Fijian administration.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka announced late last month after taking office that Girmit Day, along with Ratu Sukuna Day, would be observed as statutory holidays this year.
Rabuka told the nation in his inaugural address that some some months ago, he "pledged to legislate for a Girmit Day public holiday to honour the settlers from India who began arriving here in 1879".
"They were starting a new life in an unknown land and stayed to become an integral part of our country," Rabuka said, reconfirming his promise to inaugurate the new national holiday.
Krish Naidu, national president of Fiji Girmit Foundation NZ, said they were delighted the coalition government had declared Girmit Holiday in Fiji.
"It is something the Girmit Foundation has been advocating for since 2015 with the previous government.
"We had a few talanoa sessions and correspondence with the coalition government leaders last year, and it's pleasing to see they have kept their word," Naidu said.
"Girmit history is an integral part of Fiji's and Pacific history and a day to mark this day acknowledges the significant social, cultural, economic and political contribution the Girmityas and their descendants have made to Fiji."
Naidu said he hoped Girmit history was further integrated into the education curriculum in schools in Fiji.
Girmit Day in Fiji will be held on May 14, the very day the first Indians landed on Fijian shores (1879).
Ironically, May 14 (1987) is also the day the first military coup was staged by Rabuka in Fiji, racially motivated against the Pacific nation's Indian population.
More than 60,000 indentured labourers were brought to Fiji from India starting 1879 to work in the sugar cane plantations, enduring extreme hardship in a foreign land.
While some returned to India, many chose to stay back and call Fiji their home, working and contributing to the Fiji economy and overall growth.
The term "Girmit" is coined from the word "agreement" - the binding document between the workers and the British. They are collectively referred to as "Girmitiyas".
In New Zealand, the Girmit Foundation NZ has been spearheading moves to have the Fiji Indians recognised as Pacific Peoples.
Rabuka has also reinstated Ratu Sukuna Day as a public holiday in recognition of the high chief and statesman.
He said "for reasons that are unclear, the former government decided to scrap the national holiday marking the life and achievements of our great chief and statesman, Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna".
"The monumental work of this illustrious traditional leader on land reform has had a continuing beneficial effect on the landowners, the economy, the sugar industry, business and investment," Rabuka said.