Apisai Tora
Overview
 
Mohammad Apisai Vuniyayawa Tora (born 1934) is a Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

an politician and former soldier
Military of Fiji
The Republic of Fiji Military Forces are the military of the Pacific island nation of Fiji. With a total manpower of 3,500 active soldiers and 6,000 reservists, it is one of the smallest militaries in the world. However, most of its surrounding island nations have no militaries at all...

 and trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

ist. As a labour leader, he was a fighter for dock workers. As a soldier, he served in Malaya
Federation of Malaya
The Federation of Malaya is the name given to a federation of 11 states that existed from 31 January 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957...

 and is currently the President of the Ex-Servicemen's League.

Tora has held a variety of political positions, most recently as a Senator
Senate (Fiji)
The Senate of Fiji is the upper chamber of Parliament. It is the less powerful of the two chambers; it may not initiate legislation, but may amend or veto it. The Senate's powers over financial bills are more restricted: it may veto them in their entirety, but may not amend them...

 from 2001 to 2006. A convert to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

, he represents a small minority (numbered in the hundreds
Demographics of Fiji
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Fiji, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....

) in both the indigenous Fijian
Fijian people
Fijian people are the major indigenous people of the Fiji Islands, and live in an area informally called Melanesia. The Fijian people are believed to have arrived in Fiji from western Melanesia approximately 3,500 years ago, though the exact origins of the Fijian people are unknown...

 and Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 communities, the great majority of Muslims being Indo-Fijian.
Quotations

"There is such a thing as freedom of speech in this country. It is a constitutional right. Too often these days when people speak out on certain matters there are attempts to intimidate or muzzle them and breach their rights by throwing allegations of racism or making hate speeches."

"Even our new Commissioner of Police Andrew Hughes went so far as to say that those involved in these kinds of things are called domestic terrorists. Someone should remind Mr Hughes, who is an Australian, what his own people did to our counterparts."

"They rounded the Aborigines up and ... committed wholesale murder and genocide to a whole group of people and they destroyed their culture".

"People have got to be careful coming to Fiji and say Fijian people or taukei be careful of what you are doing you are trespassing, you are committing domestic terrorism. I would like to warn Mr Hughes to be careful. To do his own work properly and not to tread where angels fear to tread."

"(The Constitution of Fiji|Constitution is) nothing less than a fraud on the Fijian people".

 
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