Fiji Coup 2006

Absence of Relevant Reliable Recent Statistics will Lead to Fiji's State Failure

2009-12-26T12:28:00.001+13:00

Post by: Realfijinews - 26 December 2009

A new year is dawning and 3 years has elapsed since the Fiji Military Junta have seized our Nation, they began with the promise of elementary stuff articulated in a Charter, numerous illegal budgets promising to move Fiji forward, and a plethora of ad hoc trial and error decrees with Frank playing the role of a fire fighter hauling buckets of super-fund, cyclone and flood money to tame an imminent unstoppable volcanic eruption in our economy that would lead to severe widespread poverty, underdevelopment and missed opportunities that would see our Fiji, the once vibrant economic micro powerhouse in the Pacific morph into another wontok failed state.
You see the disparity in the distribution of resources, wealth and prosperity in Fiji has been acute for some time, but as a direct result of this military government's mismanagement everything will slowly but surely erode to the point of absolute disaster with the chronic failure of essential public services that matter most to our marginalized people.
Now we are not advocating that the government turn into a charity, what we are advocating for is that the Fiji Government legal or illegal do its job, but how can they do their job without the necessary vital statistics to make an informed decision to devise a plan, to seek funding and to implement and assess the success or otherwise of any plan to move Fiji forward.
The underlying assumption of any "Government Policy" or "Government Budget", good or bad, legal or illegal, is that it must be based on statistics, that is the raw material without which everything else is a hollow sham not worthy of mention and commentary because its foundation is non existent and hence it follows therefore that the words uttered and figures projected by the military junta can only be described as hogwash.
It is ONLY through relevant, cogent, up to date statistics that describe the reality on the ground that we can move Fiji forward. This is crucial in assessing government effectiveness as it purportedly holds governments (democratic) accountable for their policies to ensure that scarce resources are allocated proportionate to the needs before what has been said all along becomes a reality, that is that Fiji is a failed State and if you have not traveled to a failed state then you should or at the very least watch a movie such as Hotel Rwanda to see what will happen, genocide will be a foregone conclusion and this is why although it is regrettable that the Kiwi Key has lost his Keys it is necessary from their viewpoint to re-engage because the cost of intervening after the event will be catastrophic just as the RAMSI experience has taxed the Aussies in the Solomon Islands and PNG.
The imperative therefore is to re-engage and in the absence of a satisfactory compromise to intervene. Arguments of sovereignty and the lawfulness or otherwise of intervention can be dealt with at the appropriate time and place which in any event will receive a tap on the wrist like everything else that the UN Security Council does in our World after listening to 10 years worth of soft law from our Tal-Qaeda.
Australia needs to play a more proactive role like the United States in the middle east if it's to keep its place as the Pacific's voice at the G-20 level, otherwise it would be no different to what the Europeans have termed that continent as the land “down under”. But the fact is that Australia and New-Zealand are still largely an agricultural/primary industry type of economy like our Banana Republic, hence their understanding of our Bananasinpajamas.
But seriously, how can Frank or anyone else for that matter move Fiji forward when we do not have the raw data to collectively devise a plan and join in the effort to rebuild our country to achieve unprecedented growth in 2010 and beyond?
No one wants to see Fiji become like the Solomon's or Vanuatu or do we?, and we are not talking about GDP growth ,but social development of the marginalized. Make no mistake that's exactly where we heading folks. In the year 2010, we will have to renew our vows either to join the mob or bring it to its knees which comes at a price, playing hard ball one week and then going pussy the next when things heat up isn't going to cut it, there needs to be consistency and unity and nothing will change jack until we think and act as one.

NZ wants to re-engage with Fiji, says Key

2009-12-23T19:13:00.002+13:00

Sai's Comments:

We can only wish NZ well in its honest attempt to re-engage with the illegal regime in Fiji. I guess some dialogue is better than none so as to keep the lines of communication open and to facilitate business between the two nations.
No doubt NZ will be weary about being seen to be dictated to by the Fiji regime as it might give the impression that it's back to "business as usual"!!
The fact is Fiji has more to gain out of a thaw in relations. Again Voreqe and his regime will be milking for all its worth this opportunity to re-engage with one of its harshest critic in the Pacific. No doubt he will be attempting to loosen the tight sanctions imposed by NZ as a possible way to facilitate warming of relations.
NZ will also be mindful of how Voreqe is set on moving Fiji WHERE HE WANTS not as the people would mandate through democratic elections.
My suggestion would be for NZ to somehow facilitate exit for Voreqe from the political scene in Fiji OR encourage him to subject himself to the political will of the population through an election which he might just engineer to win!!
But we all know that Voreqe is so scared of losing power that he will do his utmost to engineer or dictate future events to ensure he does not end up in prison, with his band of supporters for their treasonous acts.
Voreqe is too much of a coward to opt for the free will of the Fiji electorate to choose who should be its legitimate leader. That is why he will go out of his way to sabotage any re-engagement with Fiji as an opportunity to grandstand and browbeat one of its critics in the region. I can see Voreqe, licking his lips already at this prospect!!!

December 23, 2009 - www.fijilive.com

Reports out of New Zealand say Prime Minister John Key is seeking renewed engagement with the Fiji government a month after Australia and New Zealand’s envoys to Fiji were sent home in tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.

Key has told New Zealand media that discussions are under way between Fiji’s Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola and his New Zealand counterpart Murray McCully to have a New Zealand High Commissioner return to Fiji.

He is also quoted as saying he wants to have dialogue with Fiji’s Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimama.

“I am in the process of sending him (Bainimarama) a letter … for trying to engage in more dialogue. We have been a bit disappointed with the way things have gone this year. We are not anti-Frank Bainimarama. We do want to see democracy restored in Fiji. And we are prepared to do whatever it takes … to allow that to take place,” Key told radio station Tarana.

New Zealand last week made a $100,000 contribution to relief efforts in Fiji following Cyclone Mick.

“Fiji remains a close neighbour despite our differences,” said Foreign Minister Murray McCully.

“Our contribution to relief efforts in the wake of Cyclone Mick is a reminder of New Zealand’s continued willingness to help the people of Fiji,” he said.

New Zealand’s acting High Commissioner to Fiji Todd Cleaver and Australian envoy James Batley were given 24 hours to leave Fiji early November after Bainimarama accused both countries of interfering with the appointment of Sri Lankan judges to the Fiji judiciary.

Subsequently, Fiji's acting head of mission in Wellington, Kuliniasi Seru Savou and envoy to Australia Kamlesh Arya were both declared persona non-grata and ordered to leave.

Secrecy over Illegal Fiji Decrees

2009-12-23T18:44:00.002+13:00

Post by: Rawfijinews

Why aren’t you transparent about your decrees Aiyaz Khaiyum?

December 22, 2009

For hard evidence that we are becoming a secretive totalitarian police state look no further than the promulgation of decrees that constitute the law of the land under our military dictatorship.

But where can one get a handle on the 40-odd decrees that have been promulgated since abrogation of the Constitution on 10 April 2009? There’s no trace of them on the government website.

The only location we know of is a partial list on the website of the Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute, which operates under the aegis of the School of Law at the University of the South Pacific.

Folks, this begs the question: Why the secrecy?

Is it because of crass incompetence (no surprise there)? Or is it a case of deliberate deceit (no surprise there, either!)?

If forced to choose between the conspiracy theory and the stuff-up theory, we strongly suspect the former. This is because the regime used to publish its decrees, in chronological order, on the government website. Then, mysteriously, they disappeared.

Clearly the illegal attorney-general, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum had a big problem with the detail of his decrees being scrutinised.

Was he worried, perhaps, that trained lawyers might see legal loopholes in the hastily drafted laws?

Even from the incomplete list on the School of Law website it’s not difficult to see that many of the Decrees have been shoddily drafted and could not be regarded as being legally concise.

For example, there are four Decrees that contain corrections to the Income Tax Decree, which does not appear on the site. And the Citizenship Decree of 14 April 2009 has been re-written as the Citizenship of Fiji decree, this time dated 6 July 2009.

Or is Aiyaz worried that we ordinary people will see just how draconian and unjust his laws really are? Or is he trying to hide them from scrutiny by foreign media and would-be investors?

That would certainly explain why we have never sighted the Crime Decree or the Regulation of National Spectrum Decree.

The Spectrum Decree, for instance, gives the dictatorship life and death powers over commercial broadcasters, some of whom have considerable capital at stake.

Moreover, one of the key provisions of the Decree is that no one can contest its provisions in a court of law.

That much we know. Aiyaz is keeping a tight lid on the rest, although he couldn’t help bragging about his new Media Decree.

Once we get that, our dictatorship will have finally transformed our beloved nation into a fully-fledged totalitarian police state.

That, folks, will be a damning reality, one which Bainimarama and Aiyaz will never be able to conceal, no matter how many lies they tell.

Fiji Democracy Now

Where are your balls Mr Crosbie?

December 21, 2009

Mr Crosbie

FIJI: THE WAY IT WAS, IS AND CAN BE

Dear Sir

I refer to your blog, for which I have had the unenviable task of visiting recently.

From having a general review of your blog I have the following to report: I think is all good and well to sit back and report on a journalist’s remarks that: “it isn’t all that bad… there is running water and two buildings got built in Nadi… so they must be doing a good job.”

But this is all still drivel. Yes, the journalist must have been very honored and chuffed to have met with Aiyaz.

In addition, I agree with his sentiments, Aiyaz is not the devil. Yes, Frank is also not the devil. They are our people, the people of Fiji. So we have to take responsibility for their upbringing and demise.

But we don’t have to condone their actions or beliefs. They are, to put it mildly, self-deluded criminals with an expansive belief in their own ineptitude as a method of forgiving their sins.

What they have done is to remove all the choices we ever had: freedom of speech, government, media and passage.

They have introduced a culture of fear into our social lives. We cannot talk politics, government, military or society anymore.

They have done this with all knowledge, malice and planning – it is no accident that they intend to remove any and all criticism of or questions concerning their criminal cabal.

I query why you, and your ilk, seem unable to appreciate or even pause to think that what you write about concerns our lives? Our future? This is not balanced “reporting”, despite the title to your blog.

I am not sure where you are, how many people there are required to make one “you” (one barracks?), or what particular part of this planet earth you inhabit when you write your inane posts but you should be ashamed for having committed them to text.

The dictatorship, or “the government”, you comment so sweetly about is a corruption, not only in what they purport to stand for but for the decay they represent in Fiji’s moral values – what is power and money – we need to appreciate that power and money do not result from this abhorrent violence and use of force that Frank and Aiyaz represent.

Perhaps all of Fiji needs to be re-educated as to what government is – it is not enough to simply have it taken away and claiming that a dictator knows best.

Stuff that.

Where is your sense of righteous indignation?

Where are, to coin a phrase from a Western, “your balls”?

What is it that they did to, said to or paid you to make you roll over and play dead to your own rights?

If it is, in your final analysis, that the Military Dictatorship has done something beautiful, wise and happy for the people of Fiji, please mention it. [No, believe it or not, two buildings in Nadi are not enough to show this - show me evidence of corruption or abuse of power or the good works of the powers that be.]

In any event, do you really, truly, honestly believe that this military dictator will release it’s grip on wealth and power in 2014?

Are you that naive or simply so blase with the rights and freedoms of another people in a land too far removed to actually give a shit?

For your information, I am a young person. I am less than 30 years old, living in a country run by an idiotic and fundamentally brutal dictatorship.

I would have liked to have been involved in the politics and good governance of my nation if I had been given the chance. The military dictatorship has taken this, and our other freedoms from us.

If I wanted to, my choice would be to line up with the military and attempt to justify my life OR to seek social justice for my friends and family in other forms.

SO EVEN IF Fiji has an election in 2014 this will mean that there will have been an entire generation of young people that is going to grow up used to asking for favors from government figures, used to taking orders from government figures, to having decrees issued about their fundamental freedoms and living under martial law.

So when they have their magical elections in 2014, how do you think they will vote? With freedom?

Do the lessons of other dictatorships creeping slowly out of dictatorships into weak democracies make you feel warm inside?

It is a disgusting prospect. It should make your stomach turn and your eyes weep.

Sir, I would ask that you take a short break to consider a reply, if you have any, to the above.

You should reconsider your motivations and thoughts for the end, and the beginning, of a new year.

As they say, the new year is often the time for turning over a new leaf – so must we all.

Kind regards

Radiolucas

Fiji a police state

December 21, 2009

Our totalitarian dictator is turning Fiji into a police state

Under the disastrous military dictatorship instituted by Frank Bainimarama, our beloved nation is fast taking on all the features of a secretive, totalitarian police state.

The opportunist illegal attorney-general and the slowly shrinking band of Bainimarama’s coup-coup supporters will scoff at this and dismiss it as another beat-up by anti dictatorship blogs.

But let them scoff because, as we suspect they already know, the hard evidence, the irrefutable facts, are not on their side.

Let’s take three case studies from our current and recent experience of life under Frank Bainimarama and consider the facts.

That’s right, the facts. No opinions, no inferences, just the simple hard facts.

First, let’s look at rule of law and how Frank Bainimarama has demonstrated total disrespect for it.

In an open and free state the rule of law is upheld and the processes of law are transparent. But this has never been the case in totalitarian dictatorships and it’s not in today’s Fiji.

We only have to look at Criminal Case No. HAC 165 of 2007, heard by Justice Daniel Goundar, presiding over the High Court of Fiji sitting at Lautoka earlier this year.

The case was the State versus Patrick Nayacalagilagi and others, who were originally charged with the murder of one Sakiusa Rabaka, later reduced to a charge of manslaughter.

After horrendous evidence of Rabaka’s torture, including beatings and his being forced to perform sexually perverse acts, the High Court ruled that Nayacalagilagi and the eight others were guilty.

On 17 March 2009 Justice Goundar sentenced each of the nine killers to four years jail for their role in the manslaughter of Sakiusa Rabaka.

But barely three weeks later when another properly constituted court ruled (Qarase versus Bainimarama) in effect that the “interim government” led by Bainimarama was illegal, our dictator immediately saw to it that our Constitution was abrogated, the judiciary was sacked and he was re-instated as prime minister, all within 24 hours.

Once back in the seat of power, he quickly slipped into dictator mode. One of his first executive acts, done secretly of course, was to order the immediate release of Rabaka’s killers.

His unilateral release of convicted killers was outside the law and quite clearly an act by a totalitarian dictator, the same dictator who had earlier “looked after” his convicted killer brother-in-law, Francis Kean.

For our second case study, let’s look at the basic human rights of freedom of speech and freedom of the media to report the facts.

Due to the PER our media is heavily censored. And it has been thoroughly documented that the principal criterion applied by the censors is “cut anything that is unfavourable” to the Bainimarama regime.

This was confirmed out the dictator’s own mouth. In a lengthy interview broadcast by Sky TV in Australia and New Zealand on 1 May 2009 Bainimarama stated clearly and categorically that the main reason for the PER was to curb Fiji’s media.

Anywhere in the world, outside times of war, such a harsh level of media censorship has only been seen in totalitarian dictatorships like the former East Germany, like Burma, like Cuba, and now, sadly, like Fiji.

In our third case study let’s look at the criminality of the Bainimarama regime and how it impacts harshly on the ordinary men and women of Fiji.

Criminality is defined as activity that is against the law, and much of the Bainimarama regime’s activity has been well and truly on the wrong side of the law.

As we have seen, the cynical exercising of dictatorial privilege by Bainimarama to look after his killer brother-in-law and to set the Rabaka killers free are each acts of criminality.

And while Frank Bainimarama is quick to look after the best interests of fellow criminals, what does he do to look after ordinary people?

For example, why are dairy farmers being denied their lawful entitlement to compensation for cattle slaughtered in the anti brucellosis campaign? Didn’t they obey the regime’s directions?

This might seem an odd example, but it goes to the heart of what happens to ordinary people under a totalitarian dictatorship: right or wrong, irrespective of the law, the ordinary people have no choice but to accept their fate, no matter how unfair or unlawful, which is not the way the world should be.

Under a dictatorship people have to accept their fate, just like the family of Sakiusa Rabaka has been condemned to live in the knowledge that true justice has been denied them.

Folks, as you can see, we have only served up the facts, and what do they tell you?

The facts tell you that investors are going to give Fiji a wide birth until the rule of law and accountability are restored though the free free and fair election of a government committed to democracy.

They facts tell you that, in the meantime, its we, the ordinary people of Fiji, who are going to pay a huge price while the dictator and his chosen few happily reap their ill-gotten harvest.

And the facts tell you that while our beautiful paradise has never been without its imperfections, it is now being fashioned into the singular ugliness of one-man totalitarian rule.

Our Fiji is becoming what the rest of the world calls a secretive, totalitarian, police state.

That’s not what we want, and it’s certainly not what we need.

Fiji Democracy Now

Fiji’s ratings improves

December 20, 2009

Melbourne, Dec. 16, 2009—Standard &Poor’s Ratings Services said today that it had revised its outlook on the Republic of Fiji Islands to stable from negative. At the same time, the ‘B-’ long-term foreign currency and ‘B’ local currency sovereign credit ratings and the ‘C’ short-term ratings on Fiji were affirmed. The transfer and convertibility (T&C) assessment remains at ‘B-’.

“The change in the outlook stems from our expectation that Fiji’s reserves will continue to stabilize, reflecting improving prospects in the tourism sector, the use of capital controls, the 20% depreciation of the Fiji dollar in April, and an allocation of Special Drawing Rights from the IMF”, said Kyran Curry, sovereign analyst at Standard & Poor’s. “The ratings on Fiji reflect political instability, a weak external position, sizeable deficiencies in available data that complicate external analysis, and poor external relations that hamper investment and harm the outlook for the tourism sector and broader growth prospects. These factors are offset, in part, by the sound economic potential in tourism and allied industries when political frictions subside.”

Complicating analysis of Fiji’s credit quality are significant data deficiencies. We estimate the current account deficit to be around 22% of GDP, including errors and omissions in the balance of payments accounts equivalent to around 10% of GDP that pertain to unrecorded tourism and remittances. Official reserves recovered to around US$570 million in November 2009 from a post-coup low of US$240 million in March 2009. The improvement in reserves partly reflects the raising of capital controls and devaluation the Fiji dollar by 20% to stem the pressures on reserves. A range of capital controls have since been eased in line with the recovery in reserves. Underpinning S&P’s analysis is a belief that the official estimates of reserves are robust and that the estimate of the current account deficit is exaggerated. If these assessments prove incorrect, the rating would likely be downgraded.

“The delay in the return to democratic rule in Fiji does not itself affect the ratings, as it does not necessarily represent a further deterioration in Fiji’s political settings,” said Mr. Curry. “However, in our opinion, the abrogation of the constitution, weakened institutional transparency and independence, and emergency decrees that weigh on civilian and media freedoms serve to weaken the prospects for investment and a re-engagement of support from donors. Both are required to lessen the economy’s reliance on tourism and promote a sustained improvement in Fiji’s growth prospects.”

The stable outlook reflects the recovery in reserves and near-term external pressures. A fuller recovery in the tourism sector over the next year should underpin a further improvement in Fiji’s external position. The ratings could be downgraded if political pressures intensify or if public finances and external imbalances worsen, leading to a sharply lower reserves. An upgrade in the ratings would depend on the government’s success in reducing tension internally and with aid donors, while at the same time boosting investment opportunities and the external position.

About Standard & Poor’s

Standard & Poor’s, a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:MHP), is the world’s foremost provider of independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and data. With offices in 23 countries and markets, Standard & Poor’s is an essential part of the world’s financial infrastructure and has played a leading role for nearly 150 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions.

FRANK MUST NOT BE ALLOWED CONFIDENCE EVER

2009-12-19T00:04:00.001+13:00

Australian Associated Press News - 18 December 2009

These days Frank Bainimarama walks with a swagger in his step. Three years after he stormed parliament and overthrew Fiji's democratically elected government, the army chief is at his most confident ever.

The reason, say his critics, is the "dark year" that was 2009, a year in which the coup leader managed to tighten his hold on power internally and push away his biggest critics, Australia and New Zealand. According to these opponents, Bainimarama now talks less about reforming the country's electoral system and holding fairer elections - both key platforms for staging the 2006 coup - and more about his military government's ongoing rule.

"We have seen a huge shift this year, unfortunately in very much the wrong direction," says Fiji specialist Brij Lal, of the Australian National University in Canberra. "At the end of 2009, we have the feeling that the military is here to stay, a feeling that the goalposts have moved further away, and there's very little the people of Fiji or the international community can do about it."

When Bainimarama seized power from Laisenia Qarase's government on December 5, 2006, he said this fourth coup would be the one to end them all. He argued the decades-long instability was fuelled by the country's unfair race-based electoral system that handed most of the voting power to narrowly-dominant indigenous Fijians, while leaving the significant Fiji Indian population without a voice. His plan was to reform it, a plan generally accepted as a good one, even if many academics thought an unelected government was not the one to implement such a change.

But the world grew impatient when 2007 and 2008 failed bring an election, and a March 2009 deadline set by Bainimarama himself also passed.

And then came April. Over the Easter long weekend, the government, responding to a court decision that found it was ruling illegally, shocked regional and world powers by abrogating the country's constitution. With the country's law books gone, the junta was able to sack and replace government officials, push back elections to September 2014 and burden the media and the public with heavy censorship rules designed to block any "negative" reporting of government affairs. In the absence of a constitution, the government now ruled by decree. Bainimarama, who did not respond to interview requests, justified the crackdown by saying they were "cleaning up" the mess of past governments. The censorship helped them to get on with this job without interference, he said.

In November, he went further and ousted Australia and New Zealand's top diplomats on the grounds that there was too much meddling in his government's affairs. Hugh Laracy, an Auckland University academic who is sympathetic to Bainimarama, says the commodore was well within his rights to assert his political muscle. "Frankly, there's a lot of heavy-handed treatment of Bainimarama when he should be trusted that he's doing the best for his country and left alone to get on with the job," Laracy said.

But Pacific specialists at the ANU say their concern is justified. Jon Fraenkel says April marked a dramatic departure from past rhetoric, calling it a "lurch into the abyss" that would hurt Fijians and worry the world. "Since the absolute disaster that was April, they no longer offer any coherent justification for their own presence other than power," Fraenkel says. "There are no reasons now. Bainimarama has basically said he doesn't want an election soon because Qarase would be re-elected and he doesn't want that." Jone Baledrokadroka, a former army commander who rejected the regime, told a rally in Sydney recently that the so-called interim government was now referring to a 10-point reform plan to be achieved by 2020. And with this new order comes a new confidence.

Lal, who saw the authoritarian mood first-hand when he was arrested and intimidated for his anti-government views during a recent Suva visit, says it's clear Bainimarama is enjoying more support in the ranks. "If you listen to the language, watch the way he travels the world with a new confident swagger, it's clear the commodore is feeling secure," he says. "That is total entrenchment of the military and it makes me fear it could never end."

Fraenkel, however, is less pessimistic. He says there are key signs that all is not cohesive behind the scenes. Many of the government policies have been contradictory, with some, like free bus fares, serving the socialist left while others, like the business-friendly budget, catering to the right wing. The junta sacked officials associated with the old government, but it also sacked many of those it appointed itself, Fraenkel says. "This indicates that there are, probably, squabbles going on behind the scenes. "No stable equilibrium has been reached and they haven't been able to establish a dependable command structure, and in that sense Bainimarama's position may be not as solid as it appears."

As to whether the government has support on the streets, the specialists say censorship makes it impossible to tell. They think it's most likely the commander still enjoys considerable support among Fiji Indians, while facing 90 per cent opposition from indigenous Fijians. But they warn that the ethnic divisions are not clear cut, with many basing their support or opposition on other grounds.

Scanning the country's major online media sites, there are no clues as to the national mood, but Lal warns it's important that this silence is not construed as consent. "There is no people's voice right now, but that doesn't mean they're okay with all of this. I can tell you there are a great many who aren't," Lal says.

Outside Fiji, opposition is much more vocal as leaders stamp their feet about the election delays, but the specialists warn the solution can only come from within. "There's been a lot of talk about enacting change from the outside, about tightening policies here and loosening policies there to try to affect some movement in Fiji," says Fraenkel. "But I think we need to remember that it doesn't really matter what Australia does, what the UN, the EU, does. "External policies are designed to leverage change within, but unless there's something going on inside Fiji to help this along, which there clearly isn't right now, it won't change a thing."

AAP News per Tamara McLean 12-18-09

Analysis of draft Media Decree - Final Nail to Fiji Media Coffin

2009-12-18T12:27:00.002+13:00

Post by: coupfourpointfive, 18 December 2009

The dictatorship regime clearly wants the media to be totally subservient to it.

Its Media Decree is perhaps the final nail to permanently bury media freedom and free speech in the coffin.

Wednesday’s press release from the regime’s Prime Minister's office is the work of Bainimarama’s most powerful ally, the interim Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

The statement by the regime that it intends to consult with media organisations and other stakeholders is a smokescreen. The regime admits that a decree has been formulated but claims consultation is in the pipeline before the decree is finalized.

There has been no consultation whatsoever with the media before the promulgation of the Spectrum Decree that rendered all radio and television broadcast licenses temporary.

Similarly, there has been no consultation with any other affected individual or organization when other draconian decrees have been formulated, both before and after the abrogation of the Constitution in April.

Fiji Times & Fiji Television

The regime through its statement has made it clear that it does not want to talk to Fiji Times and Fiji Television claiming both organisations are “partisan, do not recognize the contemporary legal system of Fiji and the status of the Bainimarama government (regime).” The regime wants all organisations to submit themselves to these conditions.

Partisan

The regime’s claim that the Fiji Times and Fiji TV are being partisan is senseless. In fact all media outlets in Fiji have been forced to be partisan since the implementation of censorship from April.

The media cannot and are not allowed to report statements from pro-democracy activists, report on negative stories like declining economy and sugar industry or job losses, or do critical analysis of issues either through radio talkback shows, Close-Up (Fiji TV) or newspaper editorials.

All the media can and are allowed to report on are statements from the regime or stories that either are not newsworthy or take up significant space and time on news bulletins. The fact that the media has been forced to become partisan to the regime is forcing organisations to basically fill up their news pages or bulletins.

Contemporary Legal System

The regime’s demand for the media to recognize the contemporary legal system confirms its desire to ensure the judiciary is allowed to ride over the basic rights and freedoms of people, even if these basic rights and freedoms are part of United Nations Conventions like Universal Declaration of Human Rights which have been ratified by past Fiji governments.

Contemporary means the current legal system. It means recognizing and accepting the regime’s rule and authority forcibly enforced through decrees. It means agencies of the regime can violate Court Orders and decisions. Last year, Immigration Authorities defied two High Court orders to deport expatriate Fiji Sun and Fiji Times publishers – Russell Hunter and Evan Hannah.

A week ago, FICAC, the regime’s “anti-corruption” agency made sure former Airports Fiji Ltd CEO Ratu Sakiusa Tuisolia was prevented from boarding his flight to New Zealand despite the Court allowing him to do. Tuisolia has been charged by FICAC for alleged corruption. FICAC prevented him from leaving the country claiming he would face new charges.

The regime’s Contemporary Legal System also means that individuals sacked by the regime cannot seek justice before the Courts due to the promulgation of the Administration of Justice Decree. Similarly, the Spectrum Decree prevents media organisations whose broadcast licenses are either temporarily or permanently re-allocated for going to the Court to seek compensation.

The demand to recognize the regime’s version of the judiciary also means that a person can hold two positions which require neutrality and independence. New Zealand citizen Christopher Pryde is the Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary for Justice.

Military lawyer Ana Rokomokoti is the Chief Registrar and Chief Magistrate. She is also responsible for prosecution of lawyers under the Legal Practitioners Decree. There is no element of independence under the regime’s legal system.

Media Decree means censorship

The Media Decree, if and when formulated, will mean Censorship of the media.

Coupfourpointfive has been reliably informed that the Public Emergency Regulations was not supposed to be extended for another month from December 10 to January 10.

The sole objective of the PER is Censorship since 10th April. We have been informed that censors from the regime’s Information Ministry were dismayed because they were told that they would not be required to visit newsrooms every day as the Media Decree would be enforced from December.

But we have been told delays in the finalization of the Decree meant the regime had to extend PER by another month.

It will be interesting to establish which media organisations become subservient to the regime, follow its demands and participate in the illegitimate consultation process.

www.fijitimes.com - 18 December 2009

Fiji media won’t be self-regulatory: PS

Fiji’s media will no longer be self-regulatory, under a new media decree being drafted by the Bainimarama government, says Pio Tikoduadua, permanent secretary to the Prime Minister’s office.

“There will be a body which will allow everyone, including the media, to take their grievances if they feel they have been unfairly treated,” he told FijiLive.

The Bainimarama government had last year said a media tribunal would be set up to work alongside the Fiji Media Council, which, comprising of industry, State and public representatives, has so far helped the industry carry out self-regulation.

While there has been discussion in the past about the introduction of media licensing, the Public Emergency Regulations, enacted following the abrogation of the 1997 Constitution, now govern all media practices in Fiji.

No details have been forthcoming on the provisions of the new decree.

Tikoduadua would only say that there will be consultations with local media companies.

“Consultations are expected to begin very soon,” he said.

However, he said the Fiji Times and Fiji Television will not be consulted unless the two outlets change their editorial policies.

Media decree drafted

2009-12-17T00:15:00.002+13:00

post by: coupfourpointfive

wEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2009

Fiji's interim government has confirmed they are in the process of drafting a media decree.

However, it has stressed that consultations will not be held with the Fiji Times and Fiji TV.

The PM's Office said before finalizing the media decree, consultations will be held with media organizations and other relevant stakeholders which recognize the contemporary legal system in Fiji, the Bainimarama government and who have an interest in moving Fiji forward for the benefit of all the citizens.

The Prime Minister's Office said Fiji Times and Fiji TV will not be consulted because according to the government the two media outlets have demonstrated through their perverse publication and broadcast that they do not recognize the contemporary Fijian legal system, the status of the Bainimarama government, are partisan and not Fiji focused.

Australian journalist barred from Fiji

Another Australian journalist has fallen foul of Fiji's illegal military government more than two years after he worked in the country.

Steve McCully, a former executive with The Fiji Times, was refused entry to the island state after arriving there as a tourist for his wedding and honeymoon.

Mr McCully, who now works for The Gold Coast Bulletin, flew into Nadi airport on Saturday afternoon only to be met by Fiji immigration officials who said he was prohibited from entering the nation, which has been under military rule since a coup in December 2006.

"I never got to see outside the airport," he said. "They detained me at arrivals and then frog-marched me around to departures and checked me on to a flight back to Brisbane later that night. "I was treated well, but at the same time I was given the impression that any argument would end with the police becoming involved. "They certainly didn't care that I was there for a wedding and honeymoon." Mr McCully said he had been allowed to use his mobile phone to contact his fiancee, a Fiji citizen, while he was held in the airport's departure lounge until the flight to Brisbane departed four hours later.

He was not allowed to talk to Fiji officials and was told he could not appeal against his exclusion. Mr McCully was the editorial training and development manager at the News Ltd-owned Fiji Times from 2004 to 2007, when he had to leave after army strongman Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama stepped in to prevent his work permit being renewed. Since Mr McCully left Fiji in December 2007, Commodore Bainimarama, who appointed himself Prime Minister, has deported two publishers from The Fiji Times, the publisher of the rival Fiji Sun, the Australian High Commissioner and two New Zealand High Commissioners.

"I left the country at the end of the work permit in September, but my company was still negotiating with the interim administration for its renewal so, after two weeks back in Australia, I returned to Fiji as a tourist while the talks continued," he said. "I was not working and didn't even go into the office, but because I had the use of a company car and mobile phone, someone reported to the military that I was working. "This totally false accusation was never queried or checked with me or The Fiji Times. "The car and phone were given to me as a courtesy by the company so I could get around and keep in touch, in case there was a breakthrough in the negotiations and they needed me urgently. "Now I am banned indefinitely -- for life -- all because of a baseless allegation that was never checked. "The ban has been made under a ministerial decree, which means there is no avenue of appeal."

Mr McCully said he had never been told he was on the immigration watchlist and the list is not revealed to people who make inquiries about it. "This is typical of what this dictatorship is doing to people," he said.

Mr McCully and his fiancee were to have been married at Nausori, just outside the nation's capital of Suva. "My fiancee's family had planned a traditional Fijian ceremony and had spent a lot of money preparing for the wedding," he said. "She was left with everything organised but no wedding to go to, simply because someone jumped to a wrong conclusion. "It is sad, but to be honest I would now have to say to anyone considering going to Fiji to really consider their options.

"It is a lovely place and they are great people, but the government is not to be trusted and when something goes wrong, there is no process of appeal.

"You lose all your democratic rights under a military dictatorship" - Gold Coast News

Rika says Times been nothing but pro-Fiji

The Fiji Times has been nothing but pro-Fiji in its approach to editorial content.

This according to Fiji Times editor-in-chief Netani Rika this afternoon. "Look at our publications over the last 12 months. We have supported campaigns which raised funds for cancer awareness and care as well as major awareness of HIV/AIDS, violence against women, climate change and helping reform ex-prisoners," he said. "We implemented an award system to recognise people whose individual efforts contributed to a better Fiji. We have been nothing but pro-Fiji. "It is regretable that the Fiji Times along with Fiji TV has been banned from dialogue on the proposed media decree thus missing the opportunity for consultations with as wide a variety of interested parties as possible. "We remain very supportive of responsible journalism which we believe includes presenting all sides of any issue so that the people of Fiji can consider issues affecting them armed with as much information as possible. "We will continue to remain fully focused and supportive of the people of Fiji, their achievements and their challenges." - Fiji Times

Crosby Walsh Misguided

2009-12-16T00:26:00.000+13:00

Post by: Rawfijinews

December 16, 2009

I stopped reading Crosby Walsh’s colonial hangover pieces a long time ago and I think RFN shouldn’t dignify his ramblings by refering to his pieces on this site. Whatever his history with Fiji, it must have been a very sheltered and priviledged one where he didn’t have to have tea and panikeke like the rest of us ordinary Fijians.

It’s very easy to pass judgement based on one’s priviledged past but it is quite cowardly to make those biased judgements from the comfort of a democratic environment where one doesn’t have to answer for the lies one peddles and indeed where one doesn’t have to mind his/her words given the gun hovering over one’s head.

If his pieces were indeed balanced or at least showed some semblence of balance then Walsh might be taken seriously. Until that happens, for me, his endless support for the interim regime and what it purports to stand for is simply a representation of useless dribble clogging cyber universe. Some people should just retire and mind their own business or have the courage to come here to Fiji and openly voice their biased opinions.

Let me assure Walsh that while I respect his right to freedom of speech, I do not respect his right to peddle misguided and misinformed opinions as a so-called expert on Fiji. And if he were courageous enough to come to Fiji and voice those opinions let me assure him that I, for one, would belt the living daylights out of him – and I wouldn’t need guns to do that.

The Oracle

Tyrant Frank Bainimarama Stays Away from Copenhagen

2009-12-15T00:24:00.000+13:00

Post by: Rawfijinews

December 14, 2009

Fiji’s interim Prime Minister has announced he will not attend the climate change conference in Copenhagen because of the devastation brought by Cyclone Mick.

But Fiji says the cyclone brings home the reality of climate change issues.

Jo O’Brien reports

“Commodore Frank Bainimarama had been expected to attend high level meetings at Copenhagen to endorse the final outcomes of the conference. But Fiji’s Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabula says the cyclone has prevented this. Ratu Inoke says the cyclone has brought home the importance of coming up with a robust deal at Copenhagen that will look at issues such as rehabilitating nations after natural disasters.”

He says the Meteorological Department is predicting another nine cyclones in the coming year and the implications on food and water security to countries like Fiji in the Pacific is enormous. He says the burden on Fiji’s negotiators is now far greater given the increased frequency and severity of events like Cyclone Mick. Fiji’s Ministry of Agriculture has issued an advisory to farmers and others in the sector to work at minimizing long lasting damage to their crops and livestock.”

Radio New Zealand International

Crosbie Walsh Jealous of Shamima Ali’s human rights award

2009-12-15T00:22:00.000+13:00

Post by: Rawfijinews

December 14, 2009

Not surprisingly, the carping coup apologist, Crosbie Walsh, has tried his best to do a hatchet job on Shamima Ali by unfairly besmirching Amnesty International’s recognition of her human rights work.

In a typically snide piece* Croz shares some “unkind thoughts” clearly designed to take the focus away from the manner in which his beloved military dictatorship is trampling on our rights.

He completely ignores the very valid reasons why Shamima Ali stands out in comparison with, say, Shaista Shameem, when it comes to championing human rights in Fiji.

Then there are the two comments lodged within a couple of hours of the posting and so far the only responses. Each is from “Anonymous” but sentence structure, syntax, phrasing and levels of vocabulary and reasoning are remarkably similar to the writings of one Crosbie Walsh.

We hope for Croz’s sake it’s sheer coincidence. Let’s face it, chattering away to yourself in the bathroom is one thing, but doing it and patting himself on the back publicly in cyber space is altogether another!

That desire for the limelight is so compelling, isn’t it, Croz?

Fiji Democracy Now

* http://crosbiew.blogspot.com/2009/12/shamima-ai -newzealands-first-human.htm

FICAC Man Told to Hire own Lawyer

2009-12-14T13:54:00.002+13:00

Sai's Comments:

As the saying goes "You reap what you sow". It is applicable in this case as FICAC was conceived out of a fraudulent attempt to take revenge on those who opposed the illegal regime in Fiji.
Why are they not going for Voreqe and other key military personnel for their misuse of the Military Regimental Fund and other allegations against prominent regime figures.
Sooner or later their day will come.

www.fijilive.com - 12 December 2009

A former member of the anti-corruption unit, charged with stealing money he kept in trust for a youth group, has been denied legal aid.

Tui Turaga Vunibola has been given until March 11, 2010 to find a lawyer.

The decision was delivered by Labasa Magistrate Wickramasoorya when Vosanibola appeared before him on Friday.

Vunibola was charged with Conversion of Trust by his employer, the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) on November 10, 2008.

FICAC alleges he had breached staff policy to declare his dealings outside of his employment.

Vosanibola allegedly applied for funds from a donor agency on behalf of a local youth group to start a piggery business and then a prawn farming business.

FICAC alleges that on receipt of the funds from the donor agency, the officer used most of it for his own use rather than keeping them in trust for the youth group.

Iran Fiji Government to Formalize Military Cooperation

2009-12-14T13:46:00.000+13:00

Post by: Realfijinews - 14/12/2009

The Military Government of Fiji are in the process of formalizing diplomatic ties with Iran.

This will manifest with the establishment of a permanent office and representative in Fiji for the Pacific.

This imminent development will lead to the establishment of a bilateral agreement that would seek to set the foundation for cultural, economic and military cooperation as Tehran embraces our rouge government to set a foothold in the Pacific.

Whether cooperation would include transshipment of embargoed goods is yet to be seen. Like most international agreements entered into between rouge states, the public will not have access to its scope and specifics.

Iran is the source of hope for funding Fiji's balloon debt, which due date draws nearer each day and has been the latent reason for Frank Bainimarama's arrogant defiance of demands by the international community to restore democracy with overwhelming confidence without remorse.

We were correct in our prognosis that Fiji has joined the 'family of republics' and it is only a matter of time for this fact to publicly manifest.

Future Scenarios for Fiji

2009-12-13T02:53:00.003+13:00

by Sai Lealea

In thinking about how Fiji might be able to chart its way out of the present bleak political situation, I thought an exercise in future scenario planning could offer a number of plausible stories that could guide the development of a pathway to stable democratic rule.

Borrowing from the South African "Mont Fleur" experience during the transition from minority white rule, four similar future scenarios emerge that are applicable to Fiji if we project a 10 year future to 2020. The four scenarios provide alternative views of Fiji’s future and identify some significant events, main actors and their motivations and convey how Fiji relates to the world.

The year takes into account the current regime's plan to have elections in 2014 and so the scenarios cover the intention to have in place an "elected" government.

As is the process in future scenario planning, the key question asked of the future scenarios or stories is: How will the plan to return Fiji to democratic rule go and whether the nation will be successful in securing a stable future?

I plan to develop these scenarios further, but in brief the four stories are:

· Extended Interim Regime – no election in 2014 as regime bides its time to effect changes or entrench its rule. Disastrous for the economy and as negative impact bites, unrest will grow so crack down increases. Fiji is further isolated. No end in site.

· New Military Endorsed Government in Power – some form of state sponsored election fraud occurs and government officials, like in Zimbabwe, used as agents and supervised by military personnel already in senior government posts. All law and order and enforcement agencies, FICAC, Crown Law, Justice and Military, Police and Prison service will play an active role in elections, overseen closely by regime figures.

· New Government in Opposition to Current Regime – elected under a “new constitution” it opposed. Begins to reverse current regime’s policies and seek return to previous constitutional order. Sets in place process to prosecute 2006 coup perpetrators. Inherits a collapsed economy and citizens’ demand for relief increase manifold. Overseas aid and assistance provide some relief but is insufficient. Increase in social expenditure only bleeds the economy further. Military intervention highly likely using the widespread suffering and chaos as an excuse.

· Return to Democratic Rule is Successful via a Negotiated Settlement – Military returns to Camp. All the regime’s decrees and policies to be reviewed and those of merit to be extended. An exercise in national reconciliation and healing akin to a Truth Commission is put in place and facilitated by neutral external experts. Question of Immunity be subject to national referendum including the future of Fiji’s military and promulgation of any new constitution after a constitutional review. Regional and international partners drafted in to provide security where required especially in lead up to referendum and national election. Economy starts to mend and slowly takes off.

There are clearly three dark prophecies that are plausible futures for Fiji. The last one does offer hope and no doubt presents a possible way ahead. As part of story telling, these 4 stories could be refined further and shared widely for feedback and discussion.

At this stage, the intention should not necessarily be about making a choice but refining the scenarios and testing the assumptions and driving factors involved. Feedback invited.

State to ‘Wipe out Discrimination’ - What a Farce!

2009-12-12T00:19:00.003+13:00

Sai's Comment

What a laugh! This man must be talking through his head. How on earth can the State "wipe out discrimination"? Passing laws and decrees definitely will not as discrimination ultimately has to do with human behaviour that is shaped by the environment they're in.
The current environment in Fiji is one where discrimination is thriving through the State's action and inaction. Its ill treatment of citizens and the denial of freedom and opportunities are acts of discrimination. Yet this man speaks of equality and respect of human rights in Fiji . These are the marks of hypocrites and self serving tyrants whose ascendancy to power are illegal and immoral. They speak with a forked tongue to deceive and confuse in the pretense of serving the national interest. Gladly, people can and will be able to see right through the hypocrisy.
Can anyone believe that the actions or policies of the illegal regime in Fiji are conducive to achieving the above goal? Ask native Fijians, sugar cane farmers, public servants and those women who were dragged to the military camp and subjected to degrading ill treatment at the orders of Driti and his torture team.
Public servants who had lost their jobs with no compensation or right to legally challenge their dismissal would have no confidence whatsoever in the veracity or sincerity of this man's words. They are hollow at best and lacking genuine humanity when one marks Human Rights Day.
Perhaps for Fiji the day should have been renamed as "Human No Rights Day".

www.fijilive.com - December 11, 2009

The Bainimarama government wants to wipe out all forms of racial discrimination from Fiji’s statute books and government policies and regulations, says Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

The government is committed to building a future based on equality and respect for human rights, said Sayed-Khaiyum, in a statement yesterday to mark International Human Rights Day.

He said this commitment would lead to “substantive peace and justice, not just the uneasy peace of a generation brought up to believe in the evils of communalism and of religious fundamentalism and intolerance”.

“Fiji has had an anguished political history based on racial inequality and marginalisation which in turn has led to institutionalised racism. Fiji has seen the absence of common and equal citizenry,” said Sayed-Khaiyum.

He said while Fiji had been a signatory to international human rights instruments, the Bainimarama government had updated criminal laws which had been lagging in the areas of protecting women from violence, the taking of evidence from the vulnerable and the discriminatory law of corroboration in sexual cases.

What Human rights still exist in Fiji?

2009-12-11T23:25:00.002+13:00

Sai's Comments:

The good Reverend must be referring to some abstract notion of human rights, since everyone knows that in practice, human rights in Fiji exist only in name.
It really is surprising that the CCF still trumpets the non-existent hope that people in Fiji still enjoy basic human rights. He is being very selective and is unable to point to the exercise of the rights he is referring to in practice. No doubt his piece would not make it to print had he dared to make any reference to the truth about the non-existence of such rights in Fiji.
CCF is being shown up, as well as its key principals, on their inability to honestly portray the situation in Fiji. The have been very consistent in charting a middle of the road course, trying their utmost not to insult the current regime while regaling all of the hypocrisy of their position. They seem to have some innate difficulty in speaking truth to the real situation in Fiji. In so doing, their credibility continues to plummet.
No doubt CCF would argue that its position is to take no position. The problem then for them becomes their lack of moral authority given their shifting position in trying to mollify and appease the oppressors.
A simple test I would suggest for the Reverend is to mark the current regime in Fiji against its non-compliance with the rights he is referring to in his piece. If his arithmetic is any good, he will no doubt realise that, in practice, as in real life in Fiji, a big negative total will be the result. That total will be in human sufferings such as deaths, torture, humiliation, corruption, media clamp down etc.. that are currently being experienced by Fiji citizens in the period of this current illegal regime.
Then again and perhaps, the Reverend may well have been referring to all these in the abstract.

www.fijitimes.com - Friday, December 11, 2009

AS the world commemorated Human Rights Day yesterday, the Citizens Constitutional Forum (CCF) has assured that Fiji still enjoyed basic human rights, particularly the right to life and equality before the law.

CCF chief executive Reverend Akuila Yabaki said those two human rights, among a few others, would not be derogated .

He made the comments following the celebration in Suva yesterday.

"Even after the abrogation of the 1997 Constitution on April 10, human rights are still there and guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed by the UN in 1948," Mr Yabaki said.

He said advocacy still continued because of the declaration. However, in a changing, it was important for people to keep the balance.

"Your rights come with responsibilities to respect and protect other peoples' rights," Mr Yabaki said.

Other human rights that, even in a state of emergency would not be derogated include freedom from cruel or degrading treatment, freedom from unreasonable searches or seizure, rights of arrested, retained or charged people, and rights to fair trial and access to courts or tribunals.

Human rights defenders and supporters marched the street of the Suva yesterday to mark world human rights day with demonstrators calling for human rights for all.

Media Law Sparks Interest

2009-12-11T12:02:00.001+13:00

Sai's Comments:

In normal times, one would expect consultation on the development of this piece of law. But sad to say this will not be the case as the illegal regime will seek to use this as another instrument to silence opposition to its illegal rule.
If only the regime would realise the value of having an informed media as an instrument to educate and inform the public about the affairs of the State. But when you have reasons to hide away your secrets, coupled with the inability to defend the logic or legality of its position, you are bound to not want alternative views or ideas, even if they are of merit.
This is is the legacy of a regime that gets to power illegally and therefore will do its utmost to ignore any input from others except its own supporters and sympathizers.

www.fijitimes.com - Friday, December 11, 2009

PROPOSED new media laws soon to be implemented in 2010 has sparked a lot of interest within the industry and the public.

State officials are in the process of piecing together the decree -- which is expected to effectively control media reporting in Fiji.

Former Fiji Media Council chairman Daryl Tarte was not aware of the decree that was to come into effect next year.

"This is the first time I've heard about it. I don't know anything about it," he said.

Mr Tarte stepped down from the role this year, citing personal reasons.

Fiji Media Council public member Agatha Ferei said the decree was something to look forward to.

"I'm interested to know what the decree is about," she said.

"I'm interested in the contents of the decree and how this can help the general public."

Fiji Media Watch president Asilika Uluilakeba said the media laws were of interest.

"It is necessary for both sides -- the public and the media," she said.

"We are looking forward to seeing the contents of the legislation."

Ministry of Information permanent secretary Lieutenant-Colonel Neumi Leweni did not wish to elaborate on the media law when contacted yesterday by the Fiji Times.

He had earlier confirmed the legislation was being put together by senior officials.

Corruption in Fiji - The evil within

2009-12-10T09:23:00.002+13:00

Sai's Comments:

I have no doubt, if the PER was not in place in Fiji, this piece would have covered those corruption we and the Fiji Times (FT) know full well are being committed by the current illegal regime.
The military's yet-to-be audited Regimental Fund and recent allegations of the illegal Attorney General's property dealings would no doubt have been high on the list.
I am glad though, that the FT is no doubt filing these away until the return of a legal and democratic government in Fiji so those responsible can be truly held accountable.
The courage and tenacity of the FT and its staff must be saluted by us all. They are a pillar of hope in a time when open reporting of the affairs of the State are being restricted by the PER.
The perpetrators may well run for the time being but ultimately will not be able to hide for ever as time tends to catch up with everyone.

www.fijitimes.com - Thursday, December 10, 2009

CORRUPTION has become a way of life in this country to the detriment of society.

The establishment of the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption aimed to put an end to the rot which over the years pervaded every section of government, business, industry and sport.

Of course, the most scandalous acts of corruption in our history involved the abuse of the National Bank of Fiji by those in power at the time and the abuse of State funds in what came to be known as the Agriculture Scam.

This newspaper was instrumental in uncovering the misuse of taxpayers' money in both cases.

Each year the office of the Auditor-General tables a report filled with the incidence of corrupt practices in the Civil Service.

Unfortunately, not enough has been done by State departments and ministries to recover lost money and property or to discipline the workers involved in such dealings.

The reluctance or inability to enforce compliance and implement strict disciplinary measures against offenders has given many workers the belief that they will not be punished for breaking the rules.

Corruption exists at every level of society and in every country in the world.

It is important to note, however, that often it is only institutional corruption which is under the spotlight.

This was the case with the National Bank of Fiji and the Agriculture Scam.

While it is important to ensure that institutional official corruption is rooted out at all levels, we must not neglect the everyday corrupt measures which ordinary people take without a second thought.

As we approach the new school year, parents who have not found places for their children will ring relatives or friends in an effort to secure a place at a selected institution.

Often, the child in question will not have scored the requisite marks to gain entrance to the institution of his or her choice.

In these cases parents use what are loosely termed as "contacts" in order to beat the system.

Other parents use old-scholar networks to achieve moreorless the same results.

This is, perhaps, one of the most common forms of corruption which exists in the country.

And there are few people who believe they have not done anything wrong by beating the system.

In hospitals, it is not uncommon for outpatients to ring ahead and secure a place in the line ahead of those who have followed the rules, arrived early and picked a number.

That to is a common form of corruption.

It is only when people start thinking twice before trying to beat the system or take a shortcut that the battle against corruption in Fiji will gain forward movement.

KEEP ENGAGING WITH FIJI: JAPAN

2009-12-09T22:36:00.000+13:00

www.fijisun.cm.fj - 9 December 2009

Japanese leaders will continue to engage with Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama’s Government until Fiji is able to restore an acceptable democratic process for the way forward.

They believe it is imperative that Japan engages with Mr Bainimarama on critical good governance and human rights issues because it would comfortably allow Fiji to make guaranteed transition into what it wants for its people.

Ambassador of Japan, Yutaka Yoshizawa, has been regularly in touch with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. PM Hatoyama hopes a continuous engagement with Fijian leaders on certain matters regarding the democratic process would carry on.

“Small changes make certain differences for Fiji and we are watching with a lot of hope that the Commodore will begin to pave the way forward in his reform process.

“I believe in the end, he must conduct an early election because it will be good for Fiji,” Mr Yoshizawa said.

He has also been regularly talking with Mr Bainimarama, expressing his government’s wishes to not only pressure, but engage in dialogue to help Fiji restore democracy.

The government of Japan has followed Fiji’s political strife for a long time and has often expressed its views.

“I have also talked with the Commodore on a very engaging stance, given that Japan is beginning to notice the little differences the Commodore is creating for Fiji and its people.

“I am beginning to believe that the Commodore has a lot of sincerity in issues close to the heart of the people of Fiji.

“For that, Japan will help out,” he added.

The Ambassador also suggested that Mr Bainimarama speed up his reform process by engaging the people of Fiji through a referendum or a Constitutional assessment.

“There must be a mechanism in place to sincerely ask for people’s opinion on what they want for the way forward.

“It could close up the gap of the reform process and allow for confidence in the Commodore’s plans.”

Mr Yoshizawa revealed he was regularly in touch with the PM on critical issues of good governance and the democratic process. He also revealed he was speaking with certain sectors of society that were becoming comfortable with Mr Bainimarama’s plans for Fiji although they were feeling the pinch of a downturn in the economy.

Japan has a long standing bilateral and diplomatic relationship with Fiji and has often called on Fijian leaders to solve its political problems within the context of the constitution.

Mr Yoshizawa also expressed his hope that Fiji would participate in open dialogue with its diplomatic partners, particularly Australia and New Zealand.

“We (Japan) have a moral code in providing economic assistance where it matters. We will always ensure that certain sections of society that need it, receive aid, particularly where it concerns human rights, good governance, etc.”

The Ambassador was speaking at his official residence in Tamavua yesterday.

Kiwi Blogger's Take on Fiji Bloggers

2009-12-09T11:53:00.002+13:00

Below is a post on Croz Walsh's Blog (http://crosbiew.blogspot.com) on those blogging about the Illegal Regime in Fiji. He claims to take a neutral view about the situation in Fiji.

What do you think?

I think he is being economic with the reality in Fiji and the motives of those in power. He paints an idealistic view to the point of pandering to the whims of those in power. He appears to discount and has misjudged the genuine depth of feeling by ordinary Fijians about their plight under the current regime and the impact on the welfare of their families and villages. His recipe for returning Fiji to democracy appears to include "do and follow what the regime says" and forget about telling your stories about your own or your relatives' plight under the regime in Fiji.

I have also copied my response to this post on his Blog below.

(-) Anti-Blog Roundup 1: Sai Lealea's Fiji Coup 2006

It's instructive, from time to time, to see what the rabidly anti-Government blogs are doing to bring about a peaceful and acceptable resolution to the situation in Fiji. These are the latest postings in Sai's blog:

ANZAC NEEDS TO INTERVENE NOW IN FIJI. A re-post from Realfijinews that calls for Australian and New Zealand intervention. "It would therefore be in ANZAC's permanent interest to intervene now to free Fiji from tyranny and return the country to its peoples." [A pretty direct invitation to invade Fiji.]

PAUL REEVES NEEDS A REALITY CHECK. A re-post from Rawfijinews criticising Commonwealth Special Representative to Fiji Sir Paul Reeves for calling on New Zealand to moderate its approach to Fiji.[Only a month or so back they were praising him.]

FRANK'S GOONS RACIST AT HEART because someone calling Brij Lal a “turncoat girmit baini” and Warden Narsey an “Uncle Tom Indian.” A re-post in FijiDemocracyNow from RawFijiNews.[ I do not see either accusation necessarily racist. They are certainly far less racist than what is often published on the anti-blogs.]

MILITARY PROMOTION FOR SENIOR ARMY OFFICERS. A re-post from Coupfourpointfive. Military lawyer Mohammed Aziz and the army's Land Force Commander Pita Driti have been promoted to the rank of Brigadier. [Is there anything underhand here? People get promoted all the time.]

FIJI ISLANDS POLITICAL CHECKLIST. Another re-post from Realfijinews. [A useful list what should be answered by reference to the pre-coup situation that the anti-bloggers did not protest, and the present situation. Here's the list. Check it out.]

DOES THE MILITARY HAVE A ROLE IN FIJI'S DEADLOCK? A re-post from RawFijiNews.[ For the most part a well reasoned argument by former RFMF officer Jone Baledrokadroka that concludes with "history has taught that power will not be relinquished freely by oppressors – it has to be demanded by the oppressed. It is for those participants of the forum to say enough of this cruel hoax such as quixotically unfolding and return the country to liberal democracy." Not quite a call to arms, but almost.]

WATCH YOUR BACK FRANK! Another re-post from RawFijiNews hinting that Bainimarama may be shot by an aide, just like Guinea's military leader. [An idle threat?]

LEWENI APPOINTED TO FIJI TV BOARD. A re-post from Coupfourpointfive. [The Lt.Col. was elected by shareholders. I think all the other Board members are civilians.]

DOCUMENT PROVES SAYED-KHAIYUM'S SHADY DEAL. A re-post from Coupfourpointfive. [I have no way of knowing whether $810,000 is inflated, but the property is in downtown Suva.]

ILLEGAL REGIME LEADERS AND SUPPORTERS ENJOY PERKS. Reports that passengers on Air Pacific's official inaugural flight to Hong Kong included a number of prominent government and Air Pacific figures and their wives. [A not unusual happening on inaugural flights in any country.]

Note how one blog recycles postings in other blogs; how the threats verge on the inciteful; how everything is personalised, and how nothing Government does earns any praise. When accommodation is desperately needed by all involved to break the current impasse, the anti-blogs help to perpetuate the impasse, and provide the regime with all the arguments it needs to extend the Public Emergency Regulations indefinitely. Sai's blog is by no means among the more extreme of the anti-blogs but he is a respected elder in the NZ Fiji community --- and more might be expected from him.

Post a Comment On: Fiji: The Way it Was, Is and Can Be
"(-) Anti-Blog Roundup 1: Sai Lealea's Fiji Coup 2006"
1 Comment - Show Original Post

Sai Lealea said...
Croz,
You are sadly misguided and naive to think that the Fiji regime is made up of reasonable people with noble motives about Fiji and its future. The means the regime employed to achieve power is illegal and as such all its actions are questionable. As Baledrokadroka noted, the regime, having tasted power, will find it difficult to let go. Have you paused to think why it is that the largely indigenous Fijian blogger community are venting their frustation online? They are just speaking their minds and heart about their beloved Fiji and you need to begin to appreciate that. It is their story told in their way and shaped by their hurtful experience and that of their relatives who have suffered under the regime. Not for them is an academic exercise of objective and neutral observation in the hope that it will entice the regime to return Fiji to democratic rule. One cannot see any sign from the regime of a willingness to listen let alone engage with a diverse group in Fiji other than from its own support base. I would suggest the sooner you begin to see the story told by Fijians about their country in their own eyes the better will be your take on Fiji.Vinaka

ANZAC NEEDS TO INTERVENE NOW IN FIJI

2009-12-08T11:17:00.000+13:00

Post by: Realfijinews - Tuesday, 08 December 2009

ANZAC NEEDS TO INTERVENE NOW IN FIJI
The only reason the International Community and in particular the Australian and New-Zealand Governments have spent millions of dollars and thousands of billable hours to develop the Banana Republic of the Fiji Islands is to "securitize" the Pacific from Transnational "Risk" including all the nasty things that we have continuously regurgitated on Real Fiji News ranging from People Trafficking to Drug Smuggling.
ANZAC cannot not afford to intervene in the Fiji Islands and invoke the various regional agreements to restore democracy, the rule of law and human rights in Fiji.
It has a full blown crisis that has become apparent and if not addressed imminently once multilateral cooperation and foreign policy has been agreed to remove the Commodore or shall we now call him Admiral Frank Bainimarama, then apart from the impending Climate Change Refugees from the lower lying atolls there will be an influx in political refugees from the Fiji Islands.
It would therefore be in ANZAC's permanent interest to intervene now to free Fiji from tyranny and return the country to its peoples.
What you waiting for? Another boat load to go to Christmas Island for processing?
The people of Fiji are not dogs, we are human beings that need you because you have the intel, resources and surely have the overwhelming support of the people to bring an end to this tyranny to restore democracy, permanently disarm the Fiji Military Forces and send everyone to the Middle East to do what they are paid to do by the United Nations, instead of terrorizing the people.

Paul Reeves needs a reality check

2009-12-08T11:14:00.000+13:00

Post by: Rawfijinews - December 7, 2009

Commonwealth Special Representative to Fiji Sir Paul Reeves needs to take a more realistic look at what is happening in Fiji.

He is calling on New Zealand to change its hard line foreign policy stance on Fiji, to lift off travel bans and to re-engage with a military government that is stubborn, insensitive and repressive.

His simplistic view of the Fiji situation is discouraging to say the least to us in Fiji who are forced to live daily with human rights repressions in the form of severe restrictions on freedom of expression and media rights and the inability to openly comment on government policies that are devastating the lives of our people.

The PER is used to curb any form of resistance or dissent. Arbitrary arrests and brutalization of anyone who dares to raise a voice of dissent is the order of the day. There are reports of cane farmers being subjected to abuses like old men made to run around the army camp in the mid-day heat, even violent assaults, from army personnel while they have been cruelly marginalized from their own industry.

The economy is in deep trouble, unemployment high and the cost of living continues to spiral out of control. Insensitive government policies such as allowing bus fare increases and the removal of some 140-odd items from price control will send more of our struggling poor to the poverty heap.

Government fees and charges on services to the public have spiralled within a year to meet the requirements of a severely cash-strapped administration. While the country is going to the dogs, the prime minister is having a grand time trotting the globe on any pretext he can jerk up … he is barely in the country these days!

Despite all the spin about clamping down on corruption, the dictator, his close ministers and senior military officers are reportedly as much on the take as those they earlier denounced.

Paul Reeves needs to start looking behind the rhetoric being spewed out by the dictator and his henchmen to see where actually Fiji is headed on the third anniversary of the December 2006 takeover. In three years, the situation in the country has worsened, the future looks even more bleak.

He wants New Zealand, and no doubt the Commonwealth, to enter into dialogue with a man who is illogically stubborn, and refusing to move an inch in considering an acceptable and realistic timeline to return Fiji to democracy and constitutional rule.

Is Sir Paul trying to tell the international community and the people of Fiji that it will take five years to carry out reforms and hold general elections? Is he telling the world that only Frank Bainimarama and his cohorts in the military council know what is right for Fiji?

As the Comsec’s Special Representative to Fiji, Sir Paul’s first responsibility is to uphold the values and principles of the Commonwealth re-iterated last week in the Trinidad Tobago Affirmation of the Values and Principles of the Commonwealth.

Comsec might one to re-think whether Sir Paul has not comprised himself as his Special Representative to Fiji to help it chart a way out of its current political crisis.

If anything, the international community needs to take a reality check of the current Fiji situation and stop pussy-footing with our future. Sanctions need to be stepped up to force the dictator to a more realistic roadmap to return Fiji to democracy and to get rid of the repugnant Public Emergency Regulations.

Frank’s Goons Racist at Heart

2009-12-08T11:12:00.001+13:00

Frank’s goons racist at heart by calling Brij Lal a “turncoat girmit baini” and Warden Narsey as an “Uncle Tom Indian”

December 7, 2009

Fiji Democracy Now

Post by Rawfijinews

After threats and violence comes ugly racism as the favoured weapon for Bainimarama’s goons

The dictator makes a big deal of justifying his rape of democracy by telling the United Nations and international TV audiences that it’s all about creating racial unity.

But his message has yet to reach his hard-line supporters.

On a daily basis they are exposing Frank’s pious posturing on racial unity as the cynical lie we have always known it to be.

Tune into Bainimarama’s rusted-on disciples, specifically the goons in Media Cell who venture onto the freedom blogs to espouse the regime’s cause, and you’ll know exactly what we are talking about.

In their efforts to refute the damning facts about Bainimarama and his regime, they are stirring the racist pot for all they are worth.

A ready example can be found in the comments posted against articles on Fiji freedom blogger, Coup Four And A Half.

In a commendable display of democracy and free speech, the blog has a policy of not blocking pro-regime comments, no matter how offensive, illogical and racist they may be.

Recently, the blog ran articles by Professors Waden Narsey and Brij Lal, each one a sharp and telling critique that exposed the incompetence and falsehoods that are the hallmarks of Bainimarama’s dictatorship.

The two articles sparked a minor fury of postings by the Media Cell goons.

But instead of mounting well constructed arguments against the two academics, they chose instead to wallow in the gutter of racism and make an issue of Narsey and Lal’s ethnicity.

“Turncoat Girmit Baini Brij Lal” is what one goon posted, blogging as “Anonymous”. A second anonymous poster described Narsey and Lal as “two Uncle Tom Indians”.

But who’s surprised by the fact that the regime’s supporters are so ready to play the racist card?

Most of them are drawn from the ranks of the RFMF, which is 99 per cent ethnic Fijian, making it the nation’s most manifestly racist institution.

And how does that fact square with the dictator’s holier-than-thou public utterances?

The answer, of course, is that it doesn’t. But achieving racial unity has never been on the dictator’s real agenda.

Like “cleaning up corruption” the “racial unity” platform is another example of spin cranked up by Frank Bainimarama to conceal his true purpose in life, which is gaining protection from due process.

You know folks, we almost feel grateful to Frank’s racist attack dogs!

After all, they are playing no small part in helping the wider world to fully grasp the unsavoury truth about a despicable dictator who is relentlessly destroying our beloved nation.

Military promotion for senior army officers

2009-12-07T14:56:00.000+13:00

Post by: Coupfourpointfive, MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2009

Military lawyer Mohammed Aziz and the army's Land Force Commander Pita Driti have been promoted to the rank of Brigadier. Both previously held the rank of Colonel.

Sources have confirmed that the promotion was announced to the troops last week.

They have also confirmed that some local media outlets were prevented from reporting on the promotion by the regime's censors.

Coupfourpointfive has been told that Driti who has been chosen to lead the next mission of 200 troops on a peacekeeping mission to Iraq, is now not going on the mission following his promotion to Brigadier.

Sources say military commander and dictator Frank Banimarama decided to reward Driti and Aziz after Driti's peacekeeping mission was thrown into doubt.

According to sources the United Nations has decided not to allow Driti to lead the mission because of the military's increasing role following the abrogation of the Constitution as well as its harassment and intimidation of civilians who are pro-democracy activists

Fiji Islands Freedom Checklist 2009

2009-12-07T12:35:00.002+13:00

Post by: Realfijinews.com
7 December 2009

POLITICAL RIGHTS
A. ELECTORAL PROCESS - Abrogated Indefinitely

1. Is the head of government or other chief national authority elected through free
and fair elections?

2. Are the national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections?

3. Are the electoral laws and framework fair?

B. POLITICAL PLURALISM AND PARTICIPATION - Abrogated Indefinitely

1. Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other
competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system open to the rise
and fall of these competing parties or groupings?

2. Is there a significant opposition vote and a realistic possibility for the opposition
to increase its support or gain power through elections?

3. Are the people’s political choices free from domination by the military, foreign
powers, totalitarian parties, religious hierarchies, economic oligarchies, or any
other powerful group?

4. Do cultural, ethnic, religious, or other minority groups have full political rights
and electoral opportunities?

C. FUNCTIONING OF GOVERNMENT - Defunct

1. Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives
determine the policies of the government?

2. Is the government free from pervasive corruption?

3. Is the government accountable to the electorate between elections, and does it
operate with openness and transparency?

ADDITIONAL DISCRETIONARY POLITICAL RIGHTS QUESTIONS

A. For traditional monarchies that have no parties or electoral process, does the
system provide for genuine, meaningful consultation with the people, encourage
public discussion of policy choices, and allow the right to petition the ruler?

B. Is the government or occupying power deliberately changing the ethnic
composition of a country or territory so as to destroy a culture or tip the political
balance in favor of another group?

CIVIL LIBERTIES

D. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND BELIEF - Abrogated Indefinitely

1. Are there free and independent media and other forms of cultural expression?
(Note: In cases where the media are state-controlled but offer pluralistic points of
view, the survey gives the system credit.)

2. Are religious institutions and communities free to practice their faith and express
themselves in public and private?

3. Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free of extensive
political indoctrination?

4. Is there open and free private discussion?

E. ASSOCIATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL RIGHTS - Abrogated Indefinitely

1. Is there freedom of assembly, demonstration, and open public discussion?

2. Is there freedom for nongovernmental organizations? (Note: This includes civic
organizations, interest groups, foundations, etc.)

3. Are there free trade unions and peasant organizations or equivalents, and is there
effective collective bargaining? Are there free professional and other private
organizations?

F. RULE OF LAW - Abrogated Indefinitely

1. Is there an independent judiciary?

2. Does the rule of law prevail in civil and criminal matters? Are police under direct
civilian control?

3. Is there protection from political terror, unjustified imprisonment, exile, or torture,
whether by groups that support or oppose the system? Is there freedom from war
and insurgencies?

4. Do laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of
the population?

G. PERSONAL AUTONOMY AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS - Abrogated Indefinitely

1. Do citizens enjoy freedom of travel or choice of residence, employment, or
institution of higher education?

2. Do citizens have the right to own property and establish private businesses? Is
private business activity unduly influenced by government officials, the security
forces, political parties/organizations, or organized crime?

3. Are there personal social freedoms, including gender equality, choice of marriage
partners, and size of family?

4. Is there equality of opportunity and the absence of economic exploitation?

Does the military have a role in Fiji’s deadlock?

2009-12-07T11:50:00.003+13:00

Sai's Comments:
This is an excellent piece and coming from an ex-military officer who is well schooled in the military tradition and its proper role in a civilised nation.
Imagine what Fiji's military status would have been if led by Baledrokadroka?
Spoken by one who also have the brains unlike the current crop of officers in the RFMF who have been promoted by default and well in contravention with their level of competence as Baledrokadroka so accurately noted.
The truth is we must hold on to this notion that there is just no place for the military in Fiji's politics. The sooner this gem of wisdom percolates into the brain of Voreqe and his military council the better it would be for them and people of Fiji and Fiji's standing in the eyes of the world.
Well done Jone Baledrokadroka and the RFMF desperately missed people like you.

Does the military have a role in breaking Fiji’s political deadlock?

December 6, 2009

Posted by Rawfiji news

Jone Baledrokadroka

On this day the Third anniversary of the 2006 military coup, Fiji’s military regime will no doubt be spinning its own mangled propaganda as to its social and economic “achievements” in its “new legal order”. It is as if the military coup d’ etat has become an integral part of Fiji’s political system, rather than an aberrant event.

If we accept coups are an aberration, then Fiji’s political deadlock the last three years marked by human rights abuse, international isolation and social and economic decay, undoubtedly created by the Military, can only be unlocked by the military relinquishing its self assigned political role.

As it is the military blames everyone else for Fiji’s problems- politicians past and present, colonial policies, regional neighbours, the global economic crisis, the Fiji rugby teams failure to do the cibi etc etc but itself.

The military intervention into politics that began in 1987 with the Rabuka coup has spawned the present crop of senior military officers who despite having been given the best international training in the democratic “objective civilian control” theory of civil-military relations choose to flout it. The present military command clique who obviously are overly promoted beyond their level of competence because of the purging of dissenting senior officers, have again since Rabuka and his coup tarnished the honourable profession of arms by pretending to be both soldiers and politicians.

Their claims to be implementing a historical mission and to impose a transcendent virtually sacred ‘common good’ will economically and socially ruin the nation. Regime Propaganda aside, the figures just do not stack up, Fiji with its small economy and ever dwindling skilled human resources, simply needs its larger neighbours.

The Bainimarama cleanup coup of 2006 heralded by the ‘guardians of democracy’ as defending the permanent interests of the nation is incompatible with democratic politics. Under the present circumstances ostensible compliance with democratic procedures, including elections, open rigourous debates, judicial deliberation, media reporting and normal government business masks the permanent threat of ‘veto’ by the guardians’ swords via draconian decrees and a pliant judiciary.

Indeed Fiji has become a ‘Protected Democracy’- an idea dating from the first Spanish American democracy after independence from Spain and resurrected for the ‘transitions’ of democracy in the 1980s and 1990s. In Latin America-indeed a region familiar to Bainimarama having circumnavigated that continent with the Chilean Navy- it meant despite replacements of military regimes by elected civilian governments, there remains the threat of military veto if civilians behave ‘imprudently’ or threaten the nations permanent interests and the institutions bequeathed by the authoritarian regimes of the 1960s and 1970s. This scenario for Fiji’s political future is not as far fetched – I have posited since January of 2006 that Fiji was set to enter a protracted decade of militarized Protected Democracy, Latin American fashion, if the people of Fiji remain docile.

The Military vs SDL government standoff of 2001-2006 and the 5th Dec 2006 coup is the example of this militarized political phenomenon. The threat and execution of military intervention by the ousting of the legitimate SDL Coalition government was premised on the vague notion that the people must be protected from themselves allegedly from government’s ethno nationalism and systemic corruption that might subvert the existing democratic political order. Unfortunately the 2000 coup was the trigger for this unfolding Protected Democracy concept. The promised 2014 elections is a mirage judging by what Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said in the heavily censored media this week that the regime “has put land reform down in its 10-point plan, a schedule of what it wants to achieve by 2020”.

As Alexis de Tocqueville put it with reference to the French revolution, when the “state” personified by public officials, (or a ruling party, the armed forces, or a moralizing faction) presumes a directive and moral mission rather than the more humble task of representation and stewardship, “it is not the people who predominate but those who know what is good for the people, a happy distinction which allows men to act in the name of nations without consulting them and to claim their gratitude while their rights are being trampled underfoot” .

As for the Fiji military regime, it is indeed a discovery of modern days that there are such things as legitimate tyranny and lawful injustice, provided that they are exercised in the name of the people.

How do we get back to liberal democracy in Fiji? The Military officers have to understand in today’s world it is not their place as a profession to run government. The quicker Fiji’s military elite find this out what past military regimes in Turkey, Thailand, Pakistan and Indonesia have found out after decades of military dictatorship, the better for everyone.

More so the past traditional Fijian idiom of “keda nai Taukei e rauti keda ga na veiliutaki kaukauwa kei na kana kuita”- (we Fijians respond to authotarian rule and the fear of punishment), currently the rallying lore of the military elite, is feeble as fantasy, and false discipline to say the least.

Unfortunately this outdated native mantra has been embedded in the thinking of the senior officers who implicitly have confused the people to accepting that they have the right to elect government and the military the right to ousting them when it determined it suited the people. And that sovereignty lies in the military and its regime installed President and not the people.

In fact what has unfolded in the last three years is a reinvention of Fijian Chiefly rule through the military. And the selective use of the old elitist hierarchy with a smattering of right and left wing coup apologists, of whom some have fallen by the way side.

So to somewhat agree with Sir Michael Somare who asserted that Fijian dictatorship is quite unlike Western style dictatorship-Yes, just a good old fashioned Fijian elite power reassertion –if you may.

This assessment may come as a surprise to those victims of past coups who with a vengeance feel that Fijians and their chiefly elites per se deserve to be couped and see the coupists as their hero. In fact quite the opposite is unfolding given that the regime is propped up by a 99% Indigenous Fijian Military.

To my former colleagues in the RFMF you will have to reconcile Bainimarama’s long term personalist rule agenda as documented in April 2004 as RFMF Administration Instruction ‘Military for Life Concept’ and the reality of his misgoverning, cronyism, nepotism and corruption of his regime.

Your gravy train will end and you will be accountable. The Fiji National Provident Fund is the only cash cow that is propping you through your huge military budget which is way beyond a credible threat assessment and force structure analysis in order to buy your loyalty.

To the regime we say, as emphasized by Loveman, in the book, ‘To Sheath the Sword’, “Constitutional and legal reforms will not end militarism or guarantee consolidation of democracy. Such developments depend on many international and domestic factors, long term strengthening of political institutions and changes in military professional socialization’. Your lack of legitimacy to rule has exacerbated your record of failures the past three years which will only be compounded with its lack of political vision.

With the upcoming February 2010 national dialogue forum, the true test for moving the country forward is for all credible participants with the courage of their democratic conviction to call for the Fiji military to sheath the sword and return to barracks for the good of the nation.

We reiterated our call in our first democracy movement meeting this year- history has taught that power will not be relinquished freely by oppressors –it has to be demanded by the oppressed. It is for those participants of the forum to say enough of this cruel hoax such as quixotically unfolding and return the country to liberal democracy.

Illegal Regime Leaders and Supporters Enjoy Perks

2009-12-07T00:32:00.006+13:00

Sai's Comments:

Does it not make one sick to see illegally appointed people enjoying the perks of working in Government?
This is another example of wasteful expenditure by those who only got to power through illegal means. No doubt the glee in their faces and conversation during such a trip knowing how they have got to where they are and seeing others who were legally mandated to rule being shafted into obsecurity in Fiji.
Remember the statement from Voreqe that "no military personnel will benefit from the coup".
What has Ului Mara or Band Boy Leweni and their wives doing joining such a trip? This is exactly the type of corruptive behaviour and wasteful use of tax payers' money Voreqe had vowed to eradicate in carrying out his coup.
Then again, we all know now, that was all a sham, so he clearly wants to enjoy all his ill-gotten perks while it lasts. And while he is at it, to ensure all his mates and their wives have a bar of the fun too.
Enjoy it while it last Voreqe because sooner or later your time will come!

PM leads way to Hong Kong

www.fijisun.com.fj - 12 November 2009

Air Pacific's official inaugural flight to Hong Kong left yesterday with VIP guests aboard and colourful ceremonies on the ground.

The start of the service was launched with a special ceremony with the Nadi International Airport departure terminal draped in red and gold - the colours of the Orient, with ballons and a fiery dragon with Chinese umbrellas on display.

Passengers at the check in counters were entertained by a Fijian band.

Passengers were also garlanded at Gate 9 before they boarded flight FJ391 at 8:30am.

Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama led a Government delegation on the flight.

He was accompanied by his wife, Mary and other senior Government officials including Defence Minister, Ratu Epeli Ganilau and Adi Ateca Ganilau, permanent secretary for information, Lt-Col Neumi Leweni and Mrs Leweni and Col Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba and Mrs Uluilakeba.

Air Pacific was represented by its board chairman, Nalin Patel, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, John Campbell, and Air Pacific General Manager Corporate Services, Josephine Yee.

Mr Patel said the occasion marked the dawn of a new era in the history of aviation links between Fiji and Hong Kong.

"This is history in the making given the bilateral relationship.

"At the moment, the whole aviation industry has a very turbulent future.

"We are confident and that is why we have started with two flights and hopefully if the number does come on we will demand a third one.

"It’s no secret that there will be losses in any new route.

“We are monitoring that closely," adds Mr Patel Comments posted on coupfourpointfive:

3 Comments

Close this w

Anonymous said...

So old dreamy kava eyes gets a board job at Fiji TV? Funny how it comes straight off the back of the television license spill. Guess which company is now safe? Vinaka, vinaka!

December 7, 2009 2:13 AM

Anonymous said...

The Lt Col knows nothing about television and nothing about running a business. Brilliant appointment!

December 7, 2009 2:14 AM

Anonymous said...

Can anyone explain to me how this guy has come so far when he perpetually looks like he's just got up from the yaqona bowl? He wanders around Suva looking so dopey and is so inept in his public statements that you wonder what Frank sees in him. Now he gets to formally decide what happens not just at Fiji TV but its two companies in PNG, Media Niugini and EM TV. I notice in today's paper that he and his wife joined Frank and Mary plus Epeli Ganilau and Tevita Mara and their respective spouses on Air Pacific's inaugural flight to Hong Kong. So he's right up there in the current hierarchy. It can't be just because he laughs at all of Frank jokes, surely? Can anyone out there explain how the humble drummer boy wound up outranking the drum major? Sure beats me

Fiji Coup 2006

Absence of Relevant Reliable Recent Statistics will Lead to Fiji's State Failure

Post by: Realfijinews - 26 December 2009

NZ wants to re-engage with Fiji, says Key

Sai's Comments:

Secrecy over Illegal Fiji Decrees

Post by: Rawfijinews

Why aren’t you transparent about your decrees Aiyaz Khaiyum?

December 22, 2009

Fiji a police state

December 21, 2009

Fiji’s ratings improves

December 20, 2009

FRANK MUST NOT BE ALLOWED CONFIDENCE EVER

Analysis of draft Media Decree - Final Nail to Fiji Media Coffin

Post by: coupfourpointfive, 18 December 2009

www.fijitimes.com - 18 December 2009

Fiji media won’t be self-regulatory: PS

Media decree drafted

post by: coupfourpointfive

wEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2009

Crosby Walsh Misguided

Post by: Rawfijinews

December 16, 2009

Tyrant Frank Bainimarama Stays Away from Copenhagen

Post by: Rawfijinews

December 14, 2009

Crosbie Walsh Jealous of Shamima Ali’s human rights award

Post by: Rawfijinews

December 14, 2009

FICAC Man Told to Hire own Lawyer

Sai's Comments:

www.fijilive.com - 12 December 2009

Iran Fiji Government to Formalize Military Cooperation

Post by: Realfijinews - 14/12/2009

Future Scenarios for Fiji

State to ‘Wipe out Discrimination’ - What a Farce!

Sai's Comment

What Human rights still exist in Fiji?

Sai's Comments:

www.fijitimes.com - Friday, December 11, 2009

Media Law Sparks Interest

Sai's Comments:

www.fijitimes.com - Friday, December 11, 2009

Corruption in Fiji - The evil within

Sai's Comments:

www.fijitimes.com - Thursday, December 10, 2009

KEEP ENGAGING WITH FIJI: JAPAN

Kiwi Blogger's Take on Fiji Bloggers

ANZAC NEEDS TO INTERVENE NOW IN FIJI

ANZAC NEEDS TO INTERVENE NOW IN FIJI

Paul Reeves needs a reality check

Post by: Rawfijinews - December 7, 2009

Frank’s Goons Racist at Heart

Frank’s goons racist at heart by calling Brij Lal a “turncoat girmit baini” and Warden Narsey as an “Uncle Tom Indian”

December 7, 2009

Military promotion for senior army officers

Post by: Coupfourpointfive, MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2009

Fiji Islands Freedom Checklist 2009

Post by: Realfijinews.com

Does the military have a role in Fiji’s deadlock?

Sai's Comments:

Does the military have a role in breaking Fiji’s political deadlock?

December 6, 2009

Illegal Regime Leaders and Supporters Enjoy Perks

3 Comments