Asesela Ravuvu

Asesela Ravuvu (10 May 1931 — 11 March 2008) was a Fijian academic and Senator since 2001.

Quotes

Interview with Pacific Journalism Online, 28 May 2000

• (When) the people of the land no longer have the power to select and install their leaders, the chiefs lose their mana or power.
• It is high time that the people are given back the flexibility and power to select and install their leaders who will be accountable to them if they are to prosper and forge ahead in the present modern and increasingly global context.

Façade of Democracy (1991)

• Fijians generally perceive Indians as mean and stingy, crafty and demanding to the extent of being considered greedy, inconsiderate and grasping, uncooperative, egotistic, and calculating.
• Indians on the other hand, view Fijians as "jungalis" or bushwhackers, still behind the times and backward, naive and foolish, and generally poor. They are seen as lazy, proud and extravagant, pound-foolish and undependable.These perceptions of each other are nearly always subdued and latent yet only need some slight provocations to bring them to the fore, which at times culminates in open physical confrontations."