Ratu Epeli Ganilau
Fijian chief, soldier, and politician.
"One (path) is confrontation and the politics of exclusion. The other is the path of cooperation and trust. We either embrace the concept of multiracialism or we go down the path of racial vilification and alienation."
"We cannot afford to ignore HIV/AIDS. We can only ignore this battle at the cost of being regarded by future generations of Pacific Islanders as lacking the will, the foresight, the understanding to tackle this issue, which threatens our very future."
"The decision by the Rewa Provincial Council to leave the chairperson's position of the council vacant until the Government has changed the constitution to enable the paramount chief of the province to take the position seems strange in this day and age."
"To create a Fiji where people of different ethnicities, religions and cultures can live and work together for the good of all, can differ without rancour, govern without violence and accept responsibility as reasonable people intent on serving the best interest of all".
"For our people to have lived together for one and a quarter century it is difficult to believe that at a personal level so little cultural transfers have taken place."
"As a people, we have not been able to chart a clear map toward a common destiny. We will not be able to do this if our leaders continue to promote sectional and separate development."
"There are those people who are acting irresponsibly ... and spreading their gospel of fear and hate and not doing anything to help the ordinary people put bread on their table for their families."
"As a loving religious and caring nation the spiritual dimension of our resolve is to exercise restraint, goodwill, tolerance and understanding with all races in Fiji."
"Touted as a legislation that will promote unity, it has done exactly the opposite. It has divided this country, apparently and sadly along racial lines." (on the government's controversial Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bill, which Ganilau opposes).
"In any case paramount traditional heads of provinces should, in my view, welcome the fact that their people who have had education and experience can relieve them as in the traditional line of delegation from the many functions the chiefs are required to do now, particularly if they are public servants or have not had the background of education and service as their people."
"I would like to offer for the unity of our people, the adoption of multiracialism as the core ideal in searching for a clear way ahead. We need to get out of our comfort zones, our ethnic boxes and truly embrace multiracialism."
"For too long, we have allowed fear to dictate our politics and suspicions, to shape how we perceive other communities."
"Now is not the time to be simply paying lip-service, it is time to stand up and be counted, to stand together and not to be swayed or moved from our path towards true unity, and the peace and security that we aspire to achieve."
"The process of electing members of Parliament to represent the people is at the heart of western democracy. Fiji courts are also part of an independent judicial system which is firmly rooted in western democracy. The basic civil lesson that our children learn in school is that democracy is a government of the people, by the people, for the people ... Mr Qarase should answer whether he wants the western system of governance which allows him to be prime minister or the Fijian tradition which requires the chiefs to rule by virtue of their birthright and rank. Otherwise, he is just being hypocritical to save face." (4 September 2005, reacting to a speech made by Qarase at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association on 29 August, claiming that democracy was alien to Fiji).
"What I would like to see is a greater degree of interaction that will lead to a much better cross-cultural understanding than what we have in Fiji today."
"As a country, we have not started to see how much we can achieve as a nation and we will not have any idea of our strength if we continue to deny ourselves the opportunity to come together as one people. We have not been able to pool the resources and talent of our people and exploit them for our common good. It will continue to evade us if we continue to stress our ethnicity and group differences."
"To share responsibility with the people of the province should be, in my view, the proudest bequest of a chief to his people."
"We pay lip service to multiracialism but we fail to put it into practice because we continue to see most things and ourselves from our own ethnic perspective. So long as the personal attitude persists, we will not see us one people of Fiji and our future will not be secure."
"To all the families out there without their fathers they must remember that our eternal Father in heaven will be there for us at all times and we should celebrate because of that."
"(Silence) denies the existence of HIV/AIDS, and prevents discussion of the human rights violations fuelling the pandemic, and constrains the mobilisation of resources and partnerships required to expand the prevention and care (of HIV/AIDS)".