Should Fiji schools have a flag-raising ceremony and pledge similar to that in Singapore or America?
Would Fiji benefit from having a pledge like Singapore or the USA? Should Members of Parliament, teachers and other public servants make a pledge? Comment on: whether you like or dislike the idea, who should make it, in what languages(s), and on what occasions.The Singapore pledge is part of each school's daily flag-raising ceremony. It reads: We, the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society based on justice and equality so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.
The American pledge reads: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
It is used in public schools, the opening of Congressional sessions, government meetings at local levels, and by a number of organizations such as the Boy Scouts and the Freemasons.
COMMENTS (New comments are also welcome. Click "Comments" at bottom of post)
Croz Walsh said...- DEAR READER. Anticipate fake comments by people seeking to disrupt genuine comments. Make your own comment and ignore them.
- Will this do? said...
- "I pledge allegiance to the flag of a united Fiji, one nation under Frank, where the sun always shines and the Bati always win."
- Cyber bores said...
- Maybe we can have cyber floggings in which adolescent minded cyber vandals receive fatal doses of radiation from their screens.
- Dead duck said...
- Croz, I think the fact that no-one has taken this question seriously means that it ain't gonna fly.
- Jambalaya said...
- The symbols behind the geometry of flags should be scrutinized. What is with the Union Jack, with the red cross and blue background. Who owns the red cross with white background that appears on most traditional English flags? The Union Jack simply combines that design with the Scotland (diagonal White stripes on Blue background) with English red cross on white b/g.
- Parrots and pledges said...
- Actually, it's a shame that this isn't being taken seriously but I guess that's because we tend not to take ourselves as seriously as the Americans and Singaporeans. Perhaps it's also that racial division is so ingrained in the Fiji psyche that any number of pledges wouldn't make the slightest difference. I suspect no-one wants to parrot some high falutin' BS about everyone being equal just because the state says so. Equal? Are you kidding? Many indigenous people still think they're God's chosen people and the rest are vulagi who've no right to be here permanently. Americans take their pledge incredibly seriously, a kind of collective "I promise to be a good citizen" in every classroom of the nation, every morning. But it took them a hell of a long time to live up to the lofty statements of the pledge when it came to racial equality. They were reciting the pledge when they were sooling the dogs onto blacks in the south in the 1960s just for wanting to ride on the same bus as whites. So notions of equality and justice live in the minds of individuals and can't be enforced by government propaganda. A pledge will only work in Fiji when there's genuine reconciliation in the minds of the various races. And judging from the present state of affairs, we're a long way from that.
