Fijileaks:
*If Ratuvili was a close relative of the late Reverend Manasa Lasaro, would you think he would not have at least talked about these years ago?
*And would you think he had not read the caution interviews where his name was mentioned? WHY, NOW, IN NOVEMBER 2016?
The mention of the late Reverend Manasa Lasaro's name in Suva Magistrates Court brings back memories of my long and bitter feud with the learned man of the cloth, which began following Sitiveni Rabuka's 1987 coups and the late Lasaro's prominent role in enforcing Rabuka's unpopular Sunday ban on all non-Christian activities, mainly directed against the Indo-Fijians. Our feud escalated after Lasaro felt that I had a hand in portraying him and the Methodist Church as "violent and racist men in God's cloth" in Fiji in the BBC Panorama Program, Paradise in Peril, that was broadcast in 1988.
Yes, I had secretly colluded with the program makers and my contacts in Fiji for the crew to interview Lasaro and Methodist Church leaders but I had no control over the contents. I had also accused Lasaro of being involved in setting up roadblocks and instigating the burning of temples and mosques. He and a number of his supporters were imprisoned for six months for unlawful obstruction. However, Lasaro and his group were released after only a few days on the authority of Rabuka. Lasaro would later be elected President of the Methodist Church.
Meanwhile, in May 2001, following the failed George Speight coup of 2000, Lasaro and others, through Dr Fereti Dewa of the Fijian Association Party, again attacked me after I wrote in one of my Daily Post opinion columns that the Methodist Church and the Fijian politicians should be dragged "to the altar of the Lord Jesus Christ and make them confess about their roles in the overthrow of the Chaudhry government, and the removal from office of the President Ratu Mara". I had written an opinion column: "Is the church imposing one-party Fijian rule?"
Sadly, Lasaro and I never came around to burying our long-running feud, ignited by the racist flames of Rabuka's 1987 coups. I am convinced that Lasaro had been manipulated and exploited by Rabuka to sanction his coups. But may the late Reverend Lasaro's soul rest in PEACE: "Lord Jesus Christ, King of Glory, Deliver the Souls of all the Faithful [Misguided] Departed."
Fiji's Daily Post, 25 May, 2001
SDL: Qarase went alone with SDL to win the 2001 and 2006 general election, only to be overthrown by Bainimarama in the 2006 coup. The SDL-FLP were in coalition after the 2006 election
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