Mahendra Chaudhry
Mahendra Chaudhry is the leader of the Fiji Labour Party and a former Prime Minister, who was deposed in the coup d'état of 2000.
"As a nation we have not progressed much, particularly after 1987 when we had the political upheaval. Last 18 years since has been a sad story where we have seen a nation which was happy, prosperous, and united flight back to poverty, misery, and division."
"It was the FLP that was committed to reducing the cost of doing business and started by lowering the cost of utilities, and requested the commercial banks and lending organizations to reduce their fees, charges and interest rates. The FLP also moved to reduce public expenditure, which saw a saving of $96 million in its year in office. It was also the FLP, which lowered interest in Housing Authority home loans from 12 per cent to 6 per cent for those on lower incomes. It was the aggregate effect of this and a range of other measures of tight fiscal control, investment in key growth areas and a firm hand on curbing corruption that saw the economy record an unprecedented growth of 9.6% in 1999."
"The 18 years since 1987 brought us nothing but bad leadership and bad governance. "
"The last 18 years has been spent standing and trying to catch up on things, and as we were getting out of that we had another coup in 2000 so we were thrown back again several. That is how I see this day: it is a day of honest reflection and if we want to move the nation forward than we have to really determine the way, learn to read ourselves to the problem that we have and particularly the people who cause this problem."
"If the trend continues, Fiji will be left with a large pool of poorly educated, unskilled work force with disastrous consequences on our social and economic infrastructure and levels of investment."
"The message in the last five years, in particular, has come through loud and clear: We need to get together as a nation. If we are to surmount our many problems, if we are to realise our full potential as a nation so that the benefits of developments are passed on to all and sundry, then we must reject racist and fundamentalist forces."
"It is disgraceful that the Prime Minister should deceive Church leaders to get their support for the Bill. He then had the audacity to mislead the nation by claiming that the Bill had the support of Christians." (Commenting on allegations made by Roman Catholic Archbishop Petero Mataca that Qarase had misled church leaders about the true contents of the legislation).
"If you as the voters exercise this choice then you must remain content with whatever has come your way in the past four years under the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua rule. But no, you must indeed be prepared to face even worst times because under the SDL there will be more instability and divisiveness. The economy will dip further, more and more people will be leaving our shores and the resources of the indigenous people will continue to be shamelessly exploited by bureaucrats, unscrupulous politicians and their collaborators for their own gain."
"Christ’s message is universal: To do good, to care for the poor, to love one’s neighbour, to serve honestly and with integrity."
"I was born here. I am not a foreigner here. I have every right to fight for this country. We are not going to subjugate ourselves to a constitution ... signing away all our rights and agreeing to be slaves."
"Without [the coup perpetrators] divulging the information they have, there can not really be any reconciliation. It will merely be a vehicle for them to escape justice as is the provision in the current Bill. There is no compulsion on them to come and tell the truth to the Commission about what actually happened, who were behind it, who were the key figures?" (2 August 2005)
"All too often, problems are left to simmer until too late, with disastrous consequences to the people who become victims of the excesses committed on them by self-centred and self-serving leaders."
"My anger about the whole episode is that Shri Chautala should exploit the feelings of the ordinary and poor folks of Haryana who are emotionally tied to me and to the people of Indian origin in Fiji and play on them a game of deceit for self enrichment."
"It is wrong for others to be asking for forgiveness on behalf of those who had committed the crime because it is not right." (29 June 2005)
"To hide behind culture or tradition to justify anarchy is a gross insult to the very people whose culture or tradition may be paraded to glorify criminal conduct."
"I have always held the belief that Fijians must be integrated into the mainstream of national life. You can't keep them isolated from the other communities and from the mainstream of life and expect them to progress."
"It (North America) has drawn heavily from the strength of each community of its people to build the richest and the most powerful nations on earth. You are privileged and fortunate to be in a land that recognises and rewards individual talent and enterprise."
"My detractors here are engaged in a propaganda that I have received the money and used it for my own purposes.
"I firmly believe that you all should identify yourselves as Fijian Americans, Fijian Canadians even though this right of being called a Fijian is denied to us (except the indigenous people) in our homeland of Fiji."
"Viewed against such a backdrop, there is creeping anxiety about the future of our nation, characterised as it is by deep communal divisions and a disturbingly high rate of out-migration of our skilled people."