on Christian leaders to set an example for the people to follow by practising what they preach. Speaking in the Lau Islands on 12 May 2005, he pointed to the late Lauan chief and former Fijian President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, as a one "who not only went to church but lived the life of a Christian," and called on religious leaders to do likewise. Later, speaking at the Religion and Governance Forum in Suva on 18 May, he said that there have been cases of churches making unreasonable demands on parishioners in terms of time and natural resources, which have led to "a significant erosion on family values". He also called on churches to address the problem of excessive yaqona drinking, which he said was a major social problem. He expressed concern that the Methodist Church, to which approximately two-thirds of indigenous Fijians belong, had not addressed these issues at their recent conference, but conceded that as Fijian cultural conditioning aims for consensus rather than frank debates, raising such matters could cause divisions. On 13 May 2005, Roman Catholic Archbishop Petero Mataca said he agreed that churches had a role to play in reducing crime, but said that they should not be seen as solely to blame for the problem. Views on Fiji's chiefly system Madraiwiwi has also spoken of the need for chiefs to be accessible to their people and to listen to them. "It will be impossible to achieve this if the elders and chiefs have their own way and are too proud of their chiefly status to not bring themselves down to the people," Madraiwiwi told the Lau Provincial Council on 11 May 2005. In an address to the Pacific Regional Workshop on Leadership Development in Lami on 9 July, Madraiwiwi said that the chiefly system in Fiji and other Pacific Island nations would have to adapt to modern realities. Traditional leadership remained significant, he said, but its role was diminishing. He said that British colonisation had reinforced the chiefly system and in fact fossilised it. Historically, there had been some flexibility, as chiefs had to earn their positions through military prowess, but British protection had given the chiefs an unprecedented "reach and depth", he said. Christianity, too, had buttressed the system. The church and the chiefly system had become intertwined and mutually reinforced each other, not always to society's benefit. The changing realities of the