Tomasi Kanailagi

Tomasi Kanailagi is a Fijian Methodist minister and political leader. The former President of the Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma, Fiji's largest Christian denomination, served in the Senate from 2001 to 2006 as a nominee of the Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase. (Under the Constitution, 9 of the 32 Senate seats are filled by nominees of the Prime Minister; a further 8 are chosen by the Leader of the Opposition, 14 by the Great Council of Chiefs, and 1 by the Council of Rotuma).

Kanailagi is an outspoken critic of some aspects of the Constitution, which he says are not conducive to political stability. In particular, he has called for an amendment to establish Fiji as a Christian state. Notwithstanding that over forty percent of the population, including the great majority of the Indo-Fijian community, profess allegiance to other faiths, principally Hinduism and Islam, Kanailagi claimed in a Senate debate on 23 August 2005 that enshrining Christianity as the official religion of the country would foster unity and stability, as the friendliness and hospitality that characterized the Fijian people were, he said, directly attributable to the Christian ethics instilled in the people from an early age.

As of January 2007, Kanailagi is Chairperson of the Fiji Council of Churches. [http://www.fijivillage.com/artman/publish/article_35537.shtml]