7 Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara Quotes on Politics

Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara quotes on politics

2. How could I stand by and watch my house on fire? (This quote, and the one following, were part of his defence for joining Sitiveni Rabuka's military government in 1987).

4. It is with obedience to your call that I take up the burden of government leadership for the final time.

6. When you (President Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau) called me at Lomaloma in December 1987 and asked me to form an Interim Government to prepare the country for a return to parliamentary rule, I knew the task at hand would be onerous. Fiji had experienced the ordeal of two military coups. Society was fractured, the economy was tottering and the country had been ostracised by some of its oldest friends and allies. There was no Parliament and no properly functioning political system. Even institutions of State, such as the judiciary, were seriously weakened, to the extent that the citizenry justifiably feared a breakdown in law and order. The business community was hit by a slump in sales and confidence, leading to reduced earnings and loss of jobs.

8. (On his proposal to overcome the ethnically polarized election results with a National Unity government in 1982, which the Opposition declined): 'Fiji was too small to squander its limited pool of talent. Worse still, this division created an atmosphere of frustration that could fester and poison relations.'

15. 'It was the work of opportunists, crooks, thugs for their own self-gain and interest.'

16. 'I had been in touch with a lot of people I thought would stand by me in the front row of the scrum, (I) didn't know it was going to collapse.'

26. Sitiveni Rabuka, chief instigator of two military coups in 1987 and Prime Minister (1992-1999):