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Ted Kaye spoke at the ICV 26 about the process he has been part of as the Fiji government has decided to change their flag. Kaye is a member of a committee along with a broad cross-section of leaders of the Fijian community. They met for 2.5 days to learn about basic flag design principles, then narrow the 2,000 submission (not including 7,000 copies of the existing flag from the opposition party) down, first to 167, then to 47. At this point they settled on a field colour of "Fiji blue" (a
"banner blue" features in the national anthem) and a 1:2 ratio. The committee then went down to 20, then 10 and finally presented 5 designs to the government for consideration. The government (with some consultation with committee members), then expanded this shortlist to 12, then 24, then with some changes released a shortlist of 23. The new flag was originally meant to be decided in July, but the public reactions to the shortlist have led the government to look for more designs before making the final decision on a flag. Ted ended with a plea for all Fijians to engage with the process seriously.
Jonathan Dixon, 31 August 2015
Concerning the different colors used (and considering the homogenized palette of
colors used across all proposals); I count eight distinct colors (Fiji blue, dark
blue, darker blue, golden, yellow, red, white, brown, and green). Below is a
proposal to render those in our standard palette, with the following caveats:
1. Most images in the official website are JPEGs, a format that degrades the
exact RGB values that might have been used originally.
2. Algebraic
tridimensional distance was used to find closest colors (RGB values), which
not always agrees with optical similarity as seen by the human eye; some of
those results were corrected and noted as such.
3. Designs may have been
tested and planned in hardcopy (paper and/or cloth) and calibrated for CMYK or
Pantone (or some such); therefore the RGBs in the official images might be
derivative, and conditional to specific conversion settings.
4. Some
consistently different RGB values are nonetheless clearly meant to be the same
color across designs, and were treated as such below (this is straight forward for
the three shades of blue, less so for the two yellows).
+ Fiji blue
RGB#02AFF3: Used in all designs
closest FotW/FIAV color is RGB#3399FF = B--
(very light blue) (and indeed this is the exact color used in our [fj.gif]
image)
+ Dark blue RGB#4050A5:
Used in designs 35, 40 41, 47, 48, 51,
54, and 55
closest FotW/FIAV blue is RGB#00099 = B++ (very dark blue)
(closest color would be dark grey, semantically inadequate)
+ Darker blue
RGB#2C3173:
Used in designs 36, 37, 38, 39, 43, 44, 46, 52, and 53
closest
FotW/FIAV blue is RGB#00066 = B+++ (very very dark blue)
(closest color would
be very dark grey, semantically inadequate)
+ Golden (3 distinct yet close
values, assumed to be meant as same)
RGB#FFD72A: Used in triangle of design
48
RGB#FFD203: Used in sun of design 49
RGB#FFB816: Used in sail of design
43
equivalent FotW/FIAV color is RGB#FFCC00 = Y+ (dark yellow)
(closest
color is actually golden, of restricted usage for coats of arms)
+ Yellow
(4 distinct yet close values, assumed to be meant as same)
RGB#FFE82A: Used in
sail of design 44
RGB#FAEE1E: Used in design 45 (stars), 50 (star), and 51
(sun)
RGB#FAED25: Used in the star of design 47
RGB#EDE81D: Used in the
chevron of design 47
equivalent FotW/FIAV color is RGB#FFFF00 = Y (yellow)
(closest color is actually golden for some of the above)
+ Red (2
distinct yet close values, assumed to be meant as same)
RGB#D32036: Used in
designs 40 and 41
RGB#C3282E: Used in design 35
equivalent FotW/FIAV color
is RGB#CC0000 = R+ (dark red)
(closest color is actually light red,
semantically inadequate)
+ White (3 distinct yet close values, assumed to
be meant as same)
RGB#FFFFFF: Used in designs 35-44, 46, 52-57 (stripes and
stars), middle stripe and petals of the tagimoucia flower in design 35, chevron
in designs 36-39, 46, and 52-53, wavy stripe (wave or boat hull?) in designs
42-44 and 56-57, stars in design 46
RGB#E6E1E2: Used in designs 52-55 (boat)
RGB#E5E5E5: Used in
designs 36-39 (sea snail and turtle)
closest FotW/FIAV color is RGB#FFFFFF = W
(white)
+ Brown RGB#774F2B:
Used in designs 42, 56, and 57
closest
FotW/FIAV color is RGB#663300 = M (brown)
+ Green (gradient from
RGB#396F37 to RGB#7BC244):
Used in design 35
equivalent FotW/FIAV colors
are
RGB#006600 = V+ (dark green)
RGB#00CC00 = V- (light green)
(closest
colors are actually grey, semantically inadequate)
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 10 February 2016
The numbers assigned to each proposal hint at a tortured path for each of them.
Each proposal is identified with a number that goes from 35 to 57, no gaps
(Design #35, etc.). Heres the list, identifying each design by its three
numbers:
Design #35 (35=1=1)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 27 February 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-1/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Flag1.jpg
A 1:2 horizontal triband of dark blue, white, and light blue, having on its
center (on the white stripe and extending over the other two) an image of a
tagimoucia flower, with two big white and red petals and two small light green
leaves.
Among the 23 designs presented at
http://www.newfijiflag.com, this (the
very first a visitor encounters) is unique among all others. It uses a motif no
other suggested design includes, the flower, and it is singularly not stylized
in the same stark way all other motifs. The flags background, by contrast, is
classic vexillology, with a middle white stripe separating two hues; again
something no other of these 23 designs does.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 27 February 2016
Design #36 (36=2=2)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 6 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-2/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag2.jpg
An indirect derivative of design #46, that is, with additional stars: it is also
a 1:2 horizontal light blue flag with a very dark blue hoist triangle extending
to 7/8ths of the flags height separated from the background by a white hoist
chevron extending to half flags width (this chevron is six-sided and its two
shorter sides are parallel and sit on the flags top and bottom edges); on the
triangle in light grey a sea snail shell. On the fly area of the flag the design
shows three very dark blue seven-point stars of density = 2, placed in a
triangle roughly parallel to the triangle and chevron: two stars nearest to the
upper and lower edges of the flag off the fly around half the flags height and
the third star horizontally centered and closest to the fly; all three stars are
pointing to the hoist.
Stars with this color, shape, number of points,
placement and position, albeit common to the three designs 36, 38 and 53, are otherwise
unique among the whole set of 23.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 6 March 2016
Design #37 (37=3=3)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 6 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-3/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag3.jpg
A 1:2 horizontal light blue flag with a very dark blue hoist triangle extending
to 7/8ths of the flags height separated from the background by a white hoist
chevron extending to half flags width (this chevron is six-sided and its two
shorter sides are parallel and sit on the flags top and bottom edges); on the
triangle is shown in light grey a sea snail shell.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 6 March 2016
Design #38 (38=6=4)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 6 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-4/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag6.jpg
An indirect derivative of design #46, that is, with additional stars: it is also
a 1:2 horizontal light blue flag with a very dark blue hoist triangle extending
to 7/8ths of the flags height separated from the background by a white hoist
chevron extending to half flags width (this chevron is six-sided and its two
shorter sides are parallel and sit on the flags top and bottom edges); on the
triangle in light grey a turtle. On the fly area of the flag the design
shows three very dark blue seven-point stars of density = 2, placed in a
triangle roughly parallel to the triangle and chevron: two stars nearest to the
upper and lower edges of the flag off the fly around half the flags height and
the third star horizontally centered and closest to the fly; all three stars are
pointing to the hoist.
Stars with this color, shape, number of points,
placement and position, albeit common to the three designs 36, 38 and 53, are otherwise
unique among the whole set of 23.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 6 March 2016
Design #39 (39=7=5)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 6 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-5/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag7.jpg
A 1:2 horizontal light blue flag with a very dark blue hoist triangle extending
to 7/8ths of the flags height separated from the background by a white hoist
chevron extending to half flags width (this chevron is six-sided and its two
shorter sides are parallel and sit on the flags top and bottom edges); on the
triangle is shown in light grey a turtle.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 6 March 2016
Design #40 (40=8=6)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 8 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-6/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag8.jpg
Among the 23 designs presented at
http://www.newfijiflag.com, four are variations of the same theme, the
drua sailship in a technical drawing style, taken form the current
coat of arms (originally created
in 1908). These four designs exhaust the possible combinations of red. vs.
light grey ship and of centered position vs. offset to hoist; all four are 1:2
unequal horizontal dibands of light blue over dark blue, suggesting the ocean
horizon; the darker stripe, at the bottom of the flag, takes 1/4th of the flags
height. This variant is a dark red ship centered.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 8 March 2016
Design #41 (41=9=7)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 8 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-7/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag9.jpg
Among the 23 designs presented at
http://www.newfijiflag.com, four are variations of the same theme, the
drua sailship in a technical drawing style, taken form the current
coat of arms (originally created
in 1908). These four designs exhaust the possible combinations of red. vs.
light grey ship and of centered position vs. offset to hoist; all four are 1:2
unequal horizontal dibands of light blue over dark blue, suggesting the ocean
horizon; the darker stripe, at the bottom of the flag, takes 1/4th of the flags
height. This variant is a dark red ship offset to the hoist.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 8 March 2016
Design #42 (42=11=8)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 10 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-8/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag11.jpg
The drua is featured in designs 40, 41, 54, and 55; and another
rendition of it is also used in designs 52-53. A totally different rendition of
this same motif is used in five other designs, where the ship is highly stylized
into two wavy triangle shapes - the sail and the wake (two of these five add a
third wavy line for the horizon).
These are all 1:2 and include light
blue (the national color, Fiji blue), as all the 23 designs. The common element
is the drua ship, reduced to a variable color triangle with wavy lives
for its sides, centered roughly the hoist half of the flag; under it a second
triangle, in white, standing for the ships wake: it is very elongated and its
shortest side is the hoist, the other two being wavy lines, roughly parallel to
the sails bottom edge. Designs 42 shows this motif
set on plain
light blue and has a brown sail. The background is plain light blue perhaps
because darker blue as
in designs 43 and 44 would clash with brown?
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 10 March 2016
Design #43 (43=12=9)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 10 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-9/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag12.jpg
The drua is featured in designs 40, 41, 54, and 55; and another
rendition of it is also used in designs 52-53. A totally different rendition of
this same motif is used in five other designs, where the ship is highly stylized
into two wavy triangle shapes - the sail and the wake (two of these five add a
third wavy line for the horizon).
These are all 1:2 and include light
blue (the national color, Fiji blue), as all the 23 designs. The common element
is the drua ship, reduced to a variable color triangle with wavy lives
for its sides, centered roughly the hoist half of the flag; under it a second
triangle, in white, standing for the ships wake: it is very elongated and its
shortest side is the hoist, the other two being wavy lines, roughly parallel to
the sails bottom edge. Designs 43 and 44 show this motif
set not on plain
light blue, but on a wavy divided horizontal diband of light blue over darker
blue, again suggesting a seascape horizon. Design 43 has a golden yellow sail.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 10 March 2016
Design #44 (44=13=10)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 10 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-10/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag13.jpg
The drua is featured in designs 40, 41, 54, and 55; and another
rendition of it is also used in designs 52-53. A totally different rendition of
this same motif is used in five other designs, where the ship is highly stylized
into two wavy triangle shapes - the sail and the wake (two of these five add a
third wavy line for the horizon).
These are all 1:2 and include light
blue (the national color, Fiji blue), as all the 23 designs. The common element
is the drua ship, reduced to a variable color triangle with wavy lives
for its sides, centered roughly the hoist half of the flag; under it a second
triangle, in white, standing for the ships wake: it is very elongated and its
shortest side is the hoist, the other two being wavy lines, roughly parallel to
the sails bottom edge. Designs 43 and 44 show this motif
set not on plain
light blue, but on a wavy divided horizontal diband of light blue over darker
blue, again suggesting a seascape horizon. Design 44 has a yellow sail.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 10 March 2016
Design #45 (45=14=11)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 28 February 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-11/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag14.jpg
A 1:2 horizontal plain light blue flag with with seven yellow regular upright
five-pointed stars stacked in a tight triangular pattern against the hoist: a
column of three, then two, then two stars, the whole pattern being horizontally
symmetrical (but not the design, since each star is not horizontally symmetrical
in itself).
Among the 23 designs presented at
http://www.newfijiflag.com, this looks
fairly unique among all others, only fitting in the scheme by keeping common
traits of being 1:2 and including light blue (the national color, Fiji blue). No
other of the 23 uses yellow five-pointed stars, although the star motif is
present in a modest number of these proposals: seven among 23, still below the
overall popularity of stars in Vexillology at large, especially among national
flags.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 28 February 2016
Design #46 (46=15=12)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 5 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-12/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag15.jpg
A 1:2 horizontal light blue flag with a very dark blue hoist triangle extending
to 7/8ths of the flags height separated from the background by a white hoist
chevron extending to half flags width (this chevron is six-sided and its two
shorter sides are parallel and sit on the flags top and bottom edges); on the
triangle a ring of seven 5-pointed stars of above-median density, pointing
outwards.
Among the 23 designs presented at
http://www.newfijiflag.com, this looks
like the prototype of the most popular basic design, sharing all its elements
except for the stars ring with designs 36+37 (sea snail on the triangle, with
and without additional stars), 38+39 (turtle, ditto), and 52+53 (sailboat,
ditto).
The original image of this design, like some of the others but
less than most, shows small yet noticeable drawing errors, namely in the
arrangement of the stars.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 5 March 2016
Design #47 (47=17=13)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 3 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-13/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag17.jpg
A 1:2 horizontal light blue flag with a dark blue hoist triangle extending
to 3/4ths of the flags height separated from the background by a yellow
hoist chevron extending to half flags height (this chevron is six-sided and
its two shorter sides are parallel and sit on the flags top and bottom
edges); on the triangle a yellow 10-pointed star/sun of density = 2.
Among the 23 designs presented at http://www.newfijiflag.com, this looks
somewhat unique, fitting in the scheme by keeping common traits of being 1:2
and including light blue (the national color, Fiji blue). There are other
designs with hoist triangles: 48 is solid yellow and 46 is (and its derivative
cohort: 36-39+52-53) very dark blue charged with white/grey motifs; 47 is
somewhat between those two, less plain than 48, less cluttered than 46 etc.
(I should mention this is my favorite of the set.)
The original image
of this design, like some of the others but more than most, shows small yet
noticeable drawing errors, namely in the placement of the star, which
ideally should be placed on the center of the triangle.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 3 March 2016
Design #48 (48=19=14)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 2 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-14/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag19.jpg
A 1:2 horizontal diband of light blue over dark blue with a dark yellow hoist
triangle extending to 3/4ths of the flags height.
Among the 23 designs
presented at http://www.newfijiflag.com,
this looks fairly unique, fitting in the scheme by keeping common traits of
being 1:2 and including light blue (the national color, Fiji blue).
This
design makes use of the Czech pattern, a design fairly
popular among national flags.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 2 March 2016
Design #49 (49=20=15)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 28 February 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-15/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag20.jpg
A 1:2 horizontal plain light blue flag with a golden yellow sun quadrant on the
upper hoist, with 11 visible points (two of which, at the top edge and at the
hoist, only half visible); the points are made in the usual way for a starry
polygon, but some details are not exactly clean cut, as if this motif was drawn
by hand: thats clear to the naked eye at the two ~5 oclock points (5th and 6th
from the hoist), drawn too close, and the overall ratio of the sun, slightly
oblong, ~9% longer than higher.
Among the 23 designs presented at http://www.newfijiflag.com,
this looks fairly unique among all others, only fitting in the scheme by keeping
common traits of being 1:2 and including light blue (the national color, Fiji
blue). This design, while unique among national flags, is almost identical to
the Irish sunburst flag,
when hoisted upside down.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 28 February 2016
Design #50 (50=21=16)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 1 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-16/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag21.jpg
A 1:2 horizontal plain light blue flag with a very undense irregular but
horizontally symmetrical yellow 12-pointed sun/star centered on it. Its cardinal
points (i.e., at noon, 3, 6, and 9 oclock) are longest, the ones pointing
horizontally being thicker, and those at 1, 5, 7, and 11 oclock are the
shortest.
Among the 23 designs presented at
http://www.newfijiflag.com, this looks
fairly unique, only fitting in the scheme by keeping common traits of being 1:2
and including light blue (the national color, Fiji blue). It has an overall
elegance of design thats to be commended, in spite of the ungainly description.
The design is even so too thinly populated and this flag will be a mere light
blue bed sheet in anything less than a brisk breeze (even more so than
Somalia, and in contrast with Botswana).
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 1 March 2016
Design #51 (51=22=17)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 1 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-17/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag22.jpg
A 1:2 asymmetrical (2+1) horizontal diband of light blue over dark blue with a
14-ray yellow sunburst resting on the division.
Among the 23 designs
presented at http://www.newfijiflag.com,
this looks fairly unique, fitting in the scheme by keeping common traits of
being 1:2 and including light blue (the national color, Fiji blue), and sharing
with four other designs (40-41 and 54-55) the overall unequal stripe
arrangement, itself iconic of the horizon of sky above sea (even though in this
design the dark blue stripe is wider than in the others).
This design
resembles broadly the national flag of neighbouring Kiribati;
its otherwise of a fairly unusual type among national flags but easy to find
among other flags, namely subnationals.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 1 March 2016
Design #52 (52=24=18)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 6 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-18/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag24.jpg
A 1:2 horizontal light blue flag with a very dark blue hoist triangle extending to 7/8ths of the flags height separated from the background by a white hoist chevron extending to half flags width (this chevron is six-sided and its two shorter sides are parallel and sit on the flags top and bottom edges); on the triangle is shown in light grey a drua sail boat.
The sailboat is a local two-hulled seagoing canoe, wangga ndrua - see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drua.
It shows on several of these proposals - being the most popular motif, featured
on nine designs (six in a naturalistic, technical drawing style, three as a
highly stylized shape), and is taken from the crest of the
Fiji coat of arms.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 6 March 2016
Design #53 (53=24A=19)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 6 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-19/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag24b.jpg
An indirect derivative of design #46, that is, with additional stars: it is also
a 1:2 horizontal light blue flag with a very dark blue hoist triangle extending
to 7/8ths of the flags height separated from the background by a white hoist
chevron extending to half flags width (this chevron is six-sided and its two
shorter sides are parallel and sit on the flags top and bottom edges); on the
triangle in light grey a drua sail boat. On the fly area of the flag the design
shows three very dark blue seven-point stars of density = 2, placed in a
triangle roughly parallel to the triangle and chevron: two stars nearest to the
upper and lower edges of the flag off the fly around half the flags height and
the third star horizontally centered and closest to the fly; all three stars are
pointing to the hoist.
Stars with this color, shape, number of points,
placement and position, albeit common to the three designs 36, 38 and 53, are otherwise
unique among the whole set of 23.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 6 March 2016
Design #54 (54=26A=20)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 8 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-20/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag26a.png
Design #55 (55=27A=21)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 8 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-21/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag27a.png
Among the 23 designs presented at
http://www.newfijiflag.com, four are variations of the same theme, the
drua sailship in a technical drawing style, taken form the current
coat of arms (originally created
in 1908). These four designs exhaust the possible combinations of red. vs.
light grey ship and of centered position vs. offset to hoist; all four are 1:2
unequal horizontal dibands of light blue over dark blue, suggesting the ocean
horizon; the darker stripe, at the bottom of the flag, takes 1/4th of the flags
height. This variant is a light grey ship offset toward the hoist.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 8 March 2016
Design #56 (56=28=22)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 10 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-22/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag28.jpg
The two remaining designs are derivatives of 42, made from the addition of an
emblem onto the brown triangle thats the stylized drua sail. These two
emblems are only slightly different: they are both made of a roughly circular
white shape with 15 shallow triangular notches inside which gaps there are 15
narrow isosceles triangles, brown (therefore can be seen as holes), pointing
out, their bases leaving a round central area on which the two variants show
different motifs, also brown (ditto).
All of these are not
geometrically perfect, looking hand made when seen in detail. in these two
designs even the aspects of this central emblem that can be described as the
same are slightly different, in contrast with the stylized ship sail and wake,
which are geometrically identical. I am not sure whether this is intentional or
not.
António
Martins-Tuválkin, 10 March 2016
Design #57 (57=29=23)
image by António
Martins-Tuválkin, 10 March 2016
webpage:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/design-23/
img:
http://www.newfijiflag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Flag29.jpg
Central motif is a palm tree with five leaves, its trunk arched iconically.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 10 March 2016
The final five chosen by the committee were (using the 35-57 numbering):
No
45
No 46
No 47 without the sun
Two Fiji blue flags with a yellow sun -
one whole sun in the upper hoist, one half sun taking up the whole hoist.
Jonathan Dixon, 10 February 2016
SUVA, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) - 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.
Source:
http://www.fiji.gov.fj/Media-Center/Press-Releases/STATEMENT-BY-THE-PRIME-MINISTER-ON-THE-NATIONAL-FL.aspx
Ben Cahoon, 17 August 2016
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