Fijileaks: Why should western i-taukei Fijians bend and bow to FFP?
In 1963, the firebrand late APISAI TORA (Western Democratic Party), who then unsuccessfully contested the western Fijian seat in the Legislative Council against his opponent and paramount chief and later president, the late RATU SIR PENAIA GANILAU, had charged that the easterners ignored the western people, telling his political followers in the western township of Ba:
'You have been ruled by leaders from other areas who treated you with calculated contempt. Your division is the most important because from it comes the economic lifeblood of the colony. You deserve to be treated as first-class citizens. You must confess that deep inside you there was a longing to see the day when your kinsman in western Fiji, would rise to become leaders in their own domain and perhaps the whole [of Fiji].'