When the Qarase govt was working on its Media Bill I made both written and oral submissions. I was appalled that our government would even consider curtailing our freedom of speech – a fundamental human right.
Indeed, John and I were among the earliest members of the Yellow Ribbon Movement which was set up to protest against the racist and discriminatory Bills being proposed at that time – and proudly wore our yellow ribbons and drove about with a yellow flag fluttering from our vehicle.

Therefore, when Commander Voreqe Bainimarama ousted Qarase and his government in December 2006, (having warned repeatedly that he would ‘clean up’ government if Qarase did not do so) promising to ensure the equality of all races in every way possible: to initiate a fair and equitable voting system: and to bring about a fair and equal Constitution – although slightly uneasy, I decided that I had to support him.
Improvements were made, especially in respect of our long-neglected grass-root citizens. But almost imperceptibly, many of those freedoms precious to any democratic peoples began to be eroded.
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