UN General Assembly
2007

politician; nor do I aspire to be one. I am certainly not much of a diplomat, and I am not used to speaking in forums such as this. Therefore, in what I say and in how I may put it, if in any way I am remiss with regard to the protocols of the Assembly, I seek understanding. By the time the military intervened last December, Fiji’s overall governance situation had regressed to a catastrophic level. The international community needs to fully understand the special local context of Fiji’s situation. Fiji became independent on 10 October 1970, inheriting an institutional infrastructure that could potentially have evolved further and been strengthened to allow democracy to take root. At that time, almost four decades ago, Fiji’s future appeared to be one of promise and potential. For instance, in terms of per capita income, Fiji was then in the same league as Malaysia and Thailand. We, the people of Fiji, viewed our country with pride and dignity and felt that that was the way the world should