Fiji's national flag not to be changed for "foreseeable future": PM

Fiji's national flag should not be changed "for the foreseeable future," the Fijian government announced Wednesday.

In a late night statement disseminated by the Department of Information, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, who initially signaled the flag change intention in his 2013 new year message and launched a new national flag designing competition in 2015, indicated that the Fijian government has now changed its mind.

"While I remain convinced personally that we need to replace some of the flag's colonial symbols with a genuinely indigenous expression of our present and our future, it has been apparent to the government since February that the flag should not be changed for the foreseeable future," Bainimarama said in the statement.

Bainimarama, who witnessed on site Fijian men's rugby sevens team's Rio Olympic gold medal victory last Thursday local time in Brazil, said it has been "deeply moving" as prime minister to see the way Fijians rally around the national flag as the Pacific island nation won its first-ever Olympic gold medal.

As Fijians continue recovering from Tropical Cyclone Winston, which claimed 44 lives and left a path of massive destruction in February, it is "a question of resetting national priorities," Bainimarama said, adding that the cost of any flag change is better spent at the present time assisting Fijians back on their feet.

"I urge every Fijian to display our flag when our victorious sevens team returns to Fiji on Sunday and during our special national holiday on Monday. It is a time to celebrate not only their remarkable achievement but our collective unity and national sense of purpose," said the Fijian prime minister. Endit