Similar calls came from Misiwini Qereqeretabua, the director of the Institute of Fijian Language and Culture, and from Apolonia Tamata, a linguistics lecturer at Suva's University of the South Pacific, both of whom said that recognition of the Fijian language is essential to the nation's basic identity, as a unifying factor in Fiji's multicultural society.
The academic and former Education Minister Taufa Vakatale said that she supported making Hindi available in all schools but considered that Fijian should get priority.
Vice-President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi added his own voice on 9 January 2006 to the campaign to make Fijian a compulsory subject.
The Fiji Labour Party member Gaffar Ahmed spoke on 4 August 2005 for establishing Fijian as the national language.
He told the Fiji House of Representatives, "To achieve national unity, multi-cultural and multi-racial harmony, we should have one common language which must be taught at all schools"..