Politics of New Caledonia second-class status for French citizens living in New Caledonia who do not possess New Caledonian "citizenship" (because they settled in the territory recently). New Caledonia is also allowed to engage in international cooperation with independent countries of the Pacific Ocean. Finally, the territorial Congress is allowed to pass statutes that are contrary to French law in a certain number of areas. On the other hand, New Caledonia remains an integral part of the French Republic. Inhabitants of New Caledonia are French citizens and carry French passports. They take part in the legislative and presidential French elections. New Caledonia sends two
Hinduism in New Caledonia Hinduism in New Caledonia Hinduism originally came to New Caledonia with Indians who worked as indentured servants of European settlers of the island. There are about 500 New Caledonians of Indian Tamil descent. They were known as Malabar and originally arrived in the 19th century from other French Territories, namely Réunion. New Caledonia has several descendants of Tamils, whose parents intermarried with the local population in the 20th century. New Caledonia requires a special study since a large number of Tamils went there as laborers and a report in a book published about 1919 states that of the Chinese, Indians