MOSLEMS IN FIJI

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 22 December 1942, Page 5

MOSLEMS IN FIJI

APPEAL FOR UNCONDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR ALLIES (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service) Suva, Dec. 19. The Fiji Moslem League, holding its annual general meeting in Suva, heard a stirring address by the Hon. Said Hasan, a member of the Legislative Council, who has just returned to the colony after more than a year in India. Mr Hasan spoke of the magnitude of India’s war effort, and said that four of his own kinsmen were now on active service holding the King’s commission in the Indian Army. He urged the Fiji Moslems in their own interests should offer their services to the Government and should attach no condition to that offer. They were Moslems and the mercenary spirit was foreign to Islamic traditions and culture.

Indians in Fiji had grievances against the Government, but this was not the time to press for their redress when the United Nations, including the major portion of the Moslem world, were involved in a life-and-death struggle against the Axis Powers. After the war, which he was certain would end in the annihilation of Axis tyranny, the Indians in Fiji could rely on their just demands being met. The response to the speech was immediate, and 50 Moslems then and there gave their names to be enlisted unconditionally and placed themselves entirely in Mr Hasan’s hands to direct them in whatever manner he considered their services could best be utilised in furtherance of the war effort. Mr Hasan’s vigorous advocacy of whole-hearted support for the cause of the United Nations made a deep impression on Indian opinion here, since he speaks with the authority of one who has been an eye-witness of the recent trouble in India, and who has seen how little the true temper of the Indian masses is reflected in the Congress policy of non-co-operation.