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.
--
Speech to the Lautoka Rotary Club (Centenary Dinner), 12 March 2005Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi
» Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi - all quotes »
"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."
Mahendra Chaudhry
...I would now say something, which I never said before ... It is the international convention, if it is not a law, that when independence is granted to a people of a country by a deed of cession, the sovereignty of that country is transferred to the people of the country that assigned the deed. If I were not the Leader of the Opposition and if I was not born in Fiji ... and held a brief for the Fijian people in the 1965 London Constitutional Conference, I would have made the Britishers sit up and think what they were doing to the Fijian people in this country. It was their country in 1874, it was their country in 1965 ... what was there to stop the Fijian people saying, 'Your Majesty give the country back to us.' The immigrant races - Europeans, Rotumans, Chinese, et cetera, would be looked after by us. They are our guests.
Sidiq Koya
"Perhaps, most importantly, we must continue to demonstrate that the system we represent is valid for an era of sweeping change. The title bequeathed to us through our indigenous heritage speaks of Fijian identity and culture and the integrity of the Vanua. The chiefs, the land and the people are one. That is the concept that holds the Fijian community together. And now, more than ever, we must see to it that it is preserved and adapted for the 21st Century."
Ratu Josefa Iloilo
"Their efforts and their sacrifices for education are immeasurable. They started their schools for their own children. Over the years, increasing numbers of Fijian and other students were taken in. Today, in a majority of their schools Fijian children predominate. There is a large debt of gratitude owed here that I am pleased to acknowledge." (Paying tribute to Indian and Chinese schools in Fiji).
Laisenia Qarase
In order to build a common identity, we must find a name with which all of us are comfortable. While I personally have no problem with the term ‘Fijian’, I recognize many others in my community are not. But let us not leave it there, let us find other options.
Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi
Madraiwiwi, Ratu Joni
Madsen, Michael
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