We must begin to trust each other if this country is to progress the way we want it to. But before that we have to lay the preparatory work to engend… - Joni Madraiwiwi

I trust you will bear in mind the deeply-held fears and insecurities Fijian have as an ethnic community. This is a subject I dwell on repeatedly because, while I do not share them, I am sufficiently Fijian to appreciate the depths of these emotions.

To say that power should have been returned to the Fijian chiefs is to ignore what occurred between 1874 and 1970.

When we exclude part of the community, we deny ourselves the participation and contribution of those left out. We allow the possibility of conflict in some future time, neither scenario we can afford. Everyone, irrespective of ethnicity, has a contribution to make no matter how humble or small.