27 Aug 2002

Fiji government senator suggests non-indigenous people should depart

9:12 am on 27 August 2002

A Fiji government senator has told the country's non-indigenous people to go and live elsewhere if they are against the indigenous community and their way of life.

The Daily Post reports that Senator Tomasi Kanailagi, the former president of the Methodist Church, has told the Upper House that indigenous Fijians will seek all avenues to maintain their heritage.

He says indigenous people have suffered for the last 100 years to accommodate other races and are materailly poor because of their goodwill.

Senator Kanailagi says the indigenous gave their land for others to settle on and their lives during the war but the people of other races are ungrateful.

He says the indigenous people have been asking what they have done to earn this kind of treatment from other races who he says control the media, the economy and the labour market.

Senator Kanailagi says the indigenous have been forced into poverty because they ave given everything away to other races.

He said the government blueprint for indigenous development should be extended for 100 years to compensate for the loss to the Fijians of the land, the sea and air space and opportunities lost to Fijians in education, commerce and population growth.