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Issue No: 605; 20 March 2001
Regime Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase manufactures and manipulates racial tension to advance his self-serving agenda, says the elected Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Fijian Affairs Adi Kuini Speed. In a statement she said there can never be peace and stability in Fiji until everyone abides by the rule of law and our leaders respect and follow the law. She stated that to do otherwise would mean a continuation of civil disorder and a further breakdown of traditional values. Adi Kuini also stated that Fiji had every available opportunity to return to genuine constitutional democracy. But the authorities failed to follow this path. She said that while pretending to work within law, Qarase and his group "have actually broken their promise to the Fiji Court of Appeal that they would abide by its decision. And the President, by not following the decision of the court in upholding the 1997 Constitution has illegally exceeded his constitutional authority. The people of Fiji are once again being denied their constitutional right to have their elected representatives speak on their behalf in Parliament. Adi Kuini also assailed the call for ethnic Fijian unity. She stated: "The call for [ethnic] Fijian unity at this time should be seen for what it really is - a racist political stunt to further the ends of a few at the expense of nearly all the people of Fiji, including nearly all indigenous Fijians. Regrettably we have again reached a stage in Fiji where legitimacy appears to depend upon the use of a gun" . |
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People's Coalition Government - Fiji Islands |
