"Labour will try to convince you that it is sympathetic to business. Don’t believe such stories. The truth is that the party has a classic left-wing … - Laisenia Qarase

In 2000 Fiji experienced the greatest crisis in its contemporary history … Fiji came close to complete collapse and anarchy; some form of civil war was a real possibility. This would not only have pitted Fijians against Indians but Fijians against Fijians, and Province against Province. But the country did not fall. It stepped back from the brink. It drew on its inner strength and a vein of tolerance and restraint and began the task of remaking Fiji.

We cannot bring our people together, and give all energies to development, when the agony of 2000 lives on and haunts us through prosecutions and sentences. Five years have gone by and … there is no end in sight. I believe it is time now for fresh thinking and action.

"Fiji can make a similar report on the US on all those issues. Our report would be far worse than the US state department's report on Fiji." (2 March 2005, reacting to a US State Department report critical on the state of race relations in Fiji).