Thursday, August 20, 2009

Conman Foster back in the Picture

The well known international conman Peter Foster is circulating a litany of lies and false accusations against the SDL Party and its leader the former elected Prime Minister of Fiji, Laisenia Qarase. The document containing Mr Foster”s dishonest diatribe is titled “Fiji Truth”. That in itself is a massive contadiction. Virtually everything Mr Foster says must be viewed with caution and scepticism. He has built a reputation as a stranger to the truth. He is a serial liar and accomplished deceiver. His criminal activities have led him to prison many times.
Normally the SDL would not bother to respond to allegations, claims, defamation and character assasination from someone like Peter Foster. The SDL Party is aware, however that “Fiji Truth” is being distributed on the Internet. Some who read it may be tempted to believe parts of Mr Foster”s tale. The SDL Party will respond to ascertain certain fabrications for the purpose of clarification. Foster has given us an opportunity to once more put facts on record and to reinforce the positive message of what SDL Government was able to achieve in its six years of office until it was illegally removed by the Fiji military.
The SDL suspects that Foster is making a renewed attempt to butter-up the army and Frank Bainimarama in the hope that he will be able to return to Fiji to continue with his life of crime and lies. But after the RFMF’s disastrous and embarrassing experience with Foster shortly after the 2006 coup and his mysterious escape from Fiji, it is unlikely that his plan will be successful.
- SDL statement
Posted by rawfijinews
FSC Chief Executive Deo Saran’s statement that FSC will “ensure growers interests will remain an integral part of FSC objective” after the dissolution of the Sugar Cane Growers Council is the greatest lie and deception. Anybody who falls for this crap has only himself to blame. This intellectually retarded, speech handicapped no hoper, jonnie come too late to the industry, known hitherto more for his moral cowardice and gutless pliability, has been quickly moulded into a most dishonest and contriving minion by his masters Rasheed Ali and Gautam Ramswarup. Freshly back from their $150,000 industry funded junket which included many a personal agendas in London, Vancouver and many US cities, the announcement of this anti farmers vendetta could not have been more treacherously planned and executed. Although, the scrapping of the SCGC has been formally announced by the regime, even the most naive, however, would see the irrefutable DNA and fingerprints of Rasheed, Ramswarup and puppet Saran in this unprecedented backstabbing of the 22,000 cane farmers and some 300, 000 who indirectly rely on the wellbeing of the industry.
Rasheed and Ramswarup’s anti farmers agenda dates back to the 1980’s when they fiercely opposed the many reforms proposed in the Sugar Industry Act of 1985 which was headed by the late Sir Ian Thomson- arguably one of the most impartial and authoritative figures in the industry. Like their colonial CSR predecessors, they sought complete immunity for FSC from any losses arising from its failures in crushing, milling, transport, sugar extraction efficiencies, wastage’s and capital improvements misadventures. They were not prepared to accept the fundamental partnership structure of the industry and argued that FSC was neither liable nor accountable to any body or any law in the country. Under the Rasheed/ Ramswarup model FSC could not be liable whether the TCTS was 8 or 80 or whether the cane trucks were delivered at 10. 00am or 10.00pm. The 25,000 farmers, 10,000 harvesting gangs, 50,000 cane cutters and thousands of lorry drivers had no choice but to accept their dictates and inefficiencies without any contractual recourse. The additional financial losses, down times of the harvesting gangs, lorry drivers , the standover cane , and the crushing and sugar losses were all part of the injustice suffered by the farmers because of the dogged opposition of Rasheed Ali and Ramwasrup. Using FSC’s money they wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal and arbitration to oppose the reforms of Ian Thomson.
That was their mindset of arrogance, ego and inequity. And that still continues today except with greater vengeance and vindictiveness. They did not learn the lessons of the Denning Award of 1970 when the famous judge in his landmark ruling could not but add “ CSR has had a long innings and it is time for the farmers to have their innings now.” While the whole country rejoiced in the euphoria of the Denning Award in the wake of some justice for the farmers, Rasheed Ali commiserated with the CSR as within days they made the announcement to exit from Fiji. This was the greatest act of imperialist blackmail and thanks to our farmer’s leaders that they resisted CSR’s bluff. The disloyal Rasheed, however, sat deep in the inner sanctum of the enemy CSR’s camp comprising heavyweights J C Potts, Murray Aitken, Brain Robertson, Noel Dowling , Maurice Abrahams and Bill King and plotted against his own Fiji people. Till today Rasheed and Ramswarup operate as CSR clones and their fundamental position have not changed over the years.
The right to organise and form industrial associations and unions to protect and advance their interests is guaranteed to the cane farmers under not only the abrogated Constitution but also under international charters including the regimes own. Is this just the precursor to a wholesale abolishment of all human rights, trade union movements, religious groupings and all kinds of rights of association? Like the lawyers, are we now also going to see practicing licenses for Accountants, doctors, nurses and teachers being controlled by the regime rather than their respective professional bodies? What of the future of other trade unions like, FPSA, FTUC, FTA, FNA, NFU and scores of others and their well-fed leaders?
The entire trade union movement in Fiji owes its genesis to the sacrifices, vision and courage of the pioneering and committed leaders of the sugar industry. Pundit Ajoydaya Prasad, SM Koya, KS Reddy to name a few. It is the struggle in the cane fields and suffering of our people at the hands of a exploitative colonial empire that saw the birth of The Fiji Kisan Sangh, Maha Sangh, Federation of Cane Growers and others that set the foundations for seeking some dignity and justice for them. We should not allow their glorious legacy to be destroyed by the opportunistic greed, avarice and self-interests of these predatory unscrupulous vultures Rasheed Ali and Gautam Ramswarup and of course their new puppet Deo Saran.
Posted by rawfijinews
New addition to ATH board
August 20, 2009
David Kolitagane, acting deputy PS Finance, is ATH’s new board of director replacing Mesake Nawari who did not seek re-election after his 3 years term expired. This announcement was made at the ATH 11th Annual General Meeting this morning. Sources confirm that Mesake Nawari, a board director of ATH, has resigned from the ATH board. New inclusion to the ATH board are con-man John Prasad and Sri Lankan national Kodakoda both representing FNPF.
Nawari, a former CEO for South Pacific Stock Exchange and CEO Fiji TV is currently an MBA senior lecturer at University of the South Pacific.
Posted by rawfijinews
The Fiji Economy will collapse if the military regime”s mismanagement continues. The economy is in serious decline. Economic growth during 2001-2006 averaged around 3% of GDP. In 2007. the first year of the Regime, the economy contracted by a massive -6.6% of GDP. The forecast for 2008 was a growth of 1.2% of GDP but this was revised downwards to 0.2% of GDP. It is possible that the final figure could be another negative growth. The forecast for 2009 was a positive growth of around 2% of GDP. The latest forecast is another contraction by at least -1.0% of GDP.
Fiji”s precarious economic situation can be attributed directly to the coup of December,2006 and the continuing mismanagement and abuse by the military dictatorship. The adverse impact of the global recession has been felt only from late 2008. Our economic woes will continue to worsen with the current illegal administration. With the overall contraction of the economy during the 3 years 2007-2009(-8% of GDP cumulative) the effects have been devastating and some of these are :. Loss of thousands of jobs. Reduced salaries and wages. Increased poverty. High inflation. Increased food prices etc:. Increased rate of violent crimes. Forced retirement of civil servants. These problems are likely to deteriorate further as the economy continues to decline.
With an overall negative growth of -8% of GDP during the 3years from 2007, and with no sign of recovery yet, it will take between 5 to 10 years for the Fiji economy to be restored to its 2006 pre- coup level. This is a big blow to our beloved Fiji and its people so people beware !! So long as the military regime continues to rule our country we can expect more hardships and sufferings. The worst is yet to come.
fijigovernorreservebank
Posted by rawfijinews
There is no way that Bainimarama will be able to salvage the country”s ailing sugar indusrty if he continues to pursue the political roadmap that his Regime has imposed on our country.
Bainimarama”s statement that there is a list of plans that have been there for the last 10 yrs to resurrect the industry is another blatant lie. The only viable plan to reform the industry is the one prepared by the last multiparty government. That plan involves the upgrading of the four sugar mills, improvements on the farms to increase productivity and reforms in other areas such as transportation, irrigation and so on. For the upgrading of the 4 sugar mills a loan of f$86m was secured from the Exim Bank of India. For farm improvements etc the SDL Govt secured a grant of f$350m from the European Union to be spent over a period of 7yrs. The upgrading of the 4 sugar mills is on-going but very much behind schedule. The F$350m grant from the European Union has been withheld because of the stupid political path that the military dictatorship is taking. We need a financial grant of F$350m urgently if our sugar industry is to survive. Can Bainimarama deliver on the funds required ? Definitely not ! Can Bainimarama implement fully the reforms now in progress ? Definitely not !! Bainimarama cannot deliver because no country is willing to assist a military dictatorship. In addition the Regime cannot provide sufficient local resources to implement the necessary reforms.
The Regime”s recent decision to scrap the Sugar Cane Growers Council will only make matters worse. Bainimarama must learn that he cannot continue to eliminate our various democratic institutions for too long. These actions are catching up with him sooner rather than later. The only way to resurrect the sugar industry is to return Fiji to parliamentary democracy. Such decision or action will also restore Fiji to some semblance of normality and progress. Bainimarama please beware ! Your time is about to come to an end. Make some sensible decisions now before it is too late. Take away your pride and personal ego for your own sake and for the sake of our beloved Fiji.
sugarcanefarmer
Posted by rawfijinews
The head of Fiji’s Capital Markets Development Authority (CMDA) Mereia Volavola has been fired as the Reserve Bank of Fiji moves to take over the Authority’s operations. Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama announced in a statement this afternoon that effective from August 13, the administration of the CMDA was being transferred to the Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF). Reserve Bank governor Sada Reddy said the move would consolidate the supervision and regulation of Fiji’s financial system and bring about greater efficiency and effectiveness in the operations of the CMDA. CMDA CEO Volavola’s contract was terminated as the announcement was made. The RBF was yet to comment on how the change would affect the rest of the CMDA’s staffing and executive structure. Reddy said it made sense to bring the CMDA under the RBF. “Apart from reducing the cost of operations, this will enhance the professional support and the institutional strength to the fledgling operations of CMDA,” he said in the same statement as Bainimarama’s. Reddy said it would take some time to consolidate the CMDA’s operations into the RBF but in the interim the CMDA would “continue to function normally but report to the Reserve Bank Governor”. He said a final move of staff to the Reserve Bank was expected to take place in October. The CMDA is responsible for developing and regulating Fiji’s capital markets.
- Fijilive
Posted by rawfijinews
MEN living on a tiny Fijian island have been ordered to wear a skirt instead of trousers on Sundays to avoid offending God. The Methodist Church on Bua island has ruled that men must wear the traditional island sarong, called a sulu, on Sundays to learn to respect the significance of the holy day. Families cannot travel on any motorised transport or do any form of work, including hanging out clothes to dry, until they get the message, Galoa Village headman Josefa Baleinasiga has told the Fiji Times newspaper.
“The ban is meant to bring good luck to the island as we respect the day of the Lord,” he said.
“You can see that often misfortune befalls us because we don’t respect His commandments that there be no work performed on Sunday except worship.” He said that since the ruling was made, clothes lines on the island had become full on Saturdays and people had stopped travelling offshore in boats fixed with outboards. “But we make exceptions during emergencies for the sick so it’s not a ban that hasn’t been well thought out,” Mr Baleinasiga told the newspaper. But it hasn’t been a hit with everyone. A villager who wished not to be named said the ban was “too restrictive”. “We can’t understand how wearing a sulu vakataga on Sunday will help us forge closer relations with the divine,” he said. “At times too for the school children who come home for the weekend, the best time to return to their hostel in Labasa or Savusavu is on Sunday – so that is getting in the way.”
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,,25950967-5012766,00.html
Posted by rawfijinews
We can confirm that majority of Lauans are backing Ului Mara to remove Frank Bainimarama and to take Fiji back to election. There are revelations that Ului Mara has sufficient support backing him to re-write Fiji’s history by steering it back along the democratic path. But sources say that Frank will undoubtedly try to marginalise Ului Mara from his position of power within Fiji’s Military Forces, something he hasn’t been able to achieve so far. There are also talks that Frank was to have been arrested upon his return from Vanuatu but Ului Mara saved Frank telling him that from that day forward, Frank must realise that it is he, Ului, who is in control from behind the scene. And now with Ului Mara’s increasing support from his own province of Lau, he seem to be well on his way to oust Frank. Will he do it? We really don’t know! Only Ului Mara can answer that one!
Revelations from within indicate that tyrant Frank Bainimarama is very uncomfortable with Ului Mara’s recent attempts to win the people of Lau’s hearts and minds. His direct communique with Fijilive earlier this week where he is seen to be testing the waters of how much support he has from his own relatives in Lau is a bold move by Ului which is sending mixed reaction to not only the Lauans but Frank himself. Frank knows that when it comes to real power, Ului Mara is no doubt the most powerful man in Fiji right now.
It is he who controls not only the troops at the military camp but his birthright also gives him the added advantage of having pockets of support from his huge extended family. There are even talks from within that Ului Mara will most likely take-over from Frank as soon as he has the confidence that he has the peoples support behind him. Will he do what Frank can’t do i.e follow the Appeals Court ruling? Sources say Ului Mara is heading that way to repair his and his father’s reputation. It is also said that Ului is now seeking advice from his anty, Ro Teimumu Kepa.
Posted by rawfijinews
We can confirm that morally corrupt Isikeli Mataitoga is back at Foreign Affairs working for his corrupt buddy, Inoke Kubuabola. Mataitoga became a military appointed judge leading up to the claimed abrogation of the 1997 Constitution in April, 2009. He, like all members of the judiciary, were relieved of their duties. Word has it that his late application to join the judiciary was tossed back at him. The thought of been unemployed for an indefinite period wasn’t going down too well with Mataitoga’s broke financial standing. He had to find a job to pay his bills and who else to befriend but his old High Commissioner staffer to PNG and Japan, Inoke Kubuabola. In case you might have forgotten, Isikeli Mataitoga was SDL government’s CEO for Ministry of Foreign Affairs who was directly responsible for all the offshore Fiji missions . Now, it is pay-back time for Isikeli Mataitoga for looking after Inoke Kubuabola well when Kubuabola was an unemployable imbecile after his SVT days. Sources are now speculating that Mataitoga might become the new Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs or he may be waiting for a diplomatic posting while leaving off taxpayers money.
Posted by rawfijinews
Pacific bank deal in progress
August 19, 2009
Papua New Guinea’s largest commercial bank, the Bank of the South Pacific, hopes to finalise the proposed buy-out of Colonial National Bank by the end of the year. The Bank of the South Pacific’s chief executive, Ian Clyne, told the Fiji Times there are still a lots of processes involved, such as approval from the board and other relevant stakeholders. The bank already exists in Fiji, with branches in Suva and Nadi, after buying out the Habib Bank in 2006. The Bank of the South Pacific has been in operation for more than five decades in PNG and has 35 branches there.
- Radio Australia
Posted by rawfijinews
Thank you for voicing your opinion as to whom you prefer to be the Tui Nayau. The whole issue was not about who was to become the Tui Nayau – that is a side issue! A major issue one would have thought was the deception or fabrication that the Lauan and the people of Fiji have been subjected to up until today by their own chief Ratu Sukuna & Ratu Mara – the fabrication of the birth certificate by Ratu Sukuna in order to make Rt Mara a vuanirewa sibling to become a Tui Nayau. Which families in the vuanirewa clan have had to be pushed aside in order for this to have occurred? The VKB was initiated by Ratu Sukuna and be assued that this has been fabricated big time too! Is this not a concern for the Fijian indigenous people – the VKB being inaccurate and subjective to the extent that it has been fabricated big time by the very person that initiated it during the colonial days? That is an issue that one hoped the Lauan people and Fijian people would pursue to substantiate and resolve. Obviously when you live with this deception for so long, you accept the consequences of the rule of a non-biological descendant of the vuanirewa clan. And it seems that this deception has become an accepted one judging by defensive comments.
It is funny how indigenous Fijians cannot entertain for one moment the thought that the two big Lauan chiefs – Ratu Sukuna and Ratu Mara – are the origins of all these secondary issues that have evolved today. Let me list a few major issues that “the big two” have created – the mess Fiji is in today! And may I add that their descendants (together with the opportunitists) are wanting to enforce us to adhere to that structure………(but wait, most of Fiji have had their eyes opened being also educated).

A. Native Land Trust Board (NLTB)
We have many graduate lawyers in Fiji today who have been well versed with a “Trust”. The ownership of assets of a trust belongs to the trustee of the trust. In the case of ALL mataqali land in Fiji – it is an asset of the NLTB (a trust) – and therefore my fellow mataqali native Fijians, let me tell you what the government has not told you all this time – “you are legally no longer the owner of the mataqali land”. The irony is that the person responsible for this setup was none other than Ratu Sukuna – I believe a law graduate! He and the British colonial administrators of the day set this up to our mataqali disadvantage today! Problem today? Oh yes ….Big time!
Even the “kovuti ni qele” within this setup is questionable! Many of you mataqali owners will identify with this and have wondered who to take your grievance to as the buck stops there! The abolition of the Trust null & void needs to occur for you as native land owners to retrieve what is yours according to the UN Indigenous rights and First nation people land rights. We have been for too long living under a false pretense that the mataqali Fijian title land is still ours! Wrong!
The government of the day is the real owners of the land, not the “i taukei”! The appointees of the government of the day, who are NLTD Trustees are the real owners!And all the above – NLTB, VKB & “kovuti ni qele” – were all done by the law graduate, Fijian Administrator, most respected chief of the day – Ratu Sukuna. And Fiji exalts him, by having a Sukuna Day! And a statue to magnify him and his contribution to Fiji! The contribution that Ratu Sukuna has brought to Fiji – was a legal separation of the “taukei” and his mataqali land – and this is not heresay, it is legal. Where to from here “Taukei” (First nation people)?a) Lobby with an MP to submit a Bill in parliament that overturns the NLTB Acts – that is in a normal democratic government setupb) Take your case up to the courts – preferably the International Courts, as the one we now have in Fiji is very subjective.
B. The type of government structure we have had since Independence Day (10 Oct 1970) has been a West Minister Abbey type. The British colonial days has not been over. British Administrators may have gone out on 10 Oct 1970, but my oh my!…they are very much alive and well in Fiji. Ratu Sukuna and Ratu Mara have continued to allow the British Administrators to rule and reign today through the system that we carried on prior to Independence Day. Fiji is still in that structure that was introduced to Australia, New Zealand and the other ex-British colonies. Their Executive system, Government system, and Judicial system do not condone the Fijian indigenous rights and the uniqueness we have in Fiji. The Land system is not the right structure for Fiji. Look at what is so controversial today! Mataqali(s) should be the legal land owners, not the government!
The parliament system is not the right structure for Fiji. We need a something similar to the Canadian system where the First Nation people’s rights are recognised.
The Judicial system is not the right one for Fiji. The Indigenous land rights must be incorporated into the Judicial system. Yet our two big time Administrators – Ratu Sukuna and Ratu Mara – who were supposedly University graduates – could not see what was best for the “i taukei”?
We need to get rid of the ungodly “colonial” mindset. The coups today will continue if we are only changing the “captain and crew of the boat” and not the “whole entire structure of the boat”.
newbloodforfiji
Posted by rawfijinews
The Methodist Church and its leaders have become a complete laughing stock. When the real leaders of the church were arrested,interogated, locked up in cells and appeared in court there was total chaos in the church hierachy. The so called wanabee church leaders stood up to fill in the vacuum but instead of upholding the principles and values of the church they betrayed the trust and loyalty of the church members by going to Lomanikoro to present a tabua to the Marama Bale na Roko Tui Dreketi informing her that the Bose ko Viti has been cancelled and to seek her forgiveness. This was the same lady and high chief who was taken from her chiefly home in the middle of the night by more than ten police officers to be locked up at CPS then to QEB for trying to assist the methodist church by hosting the Bose in her province. What a shame!! These padres potray themselves as men of the cloth and “teachers of men” but they cannot see beyond their noses. They fail to acknowledge the amount of trouble that Ro Teimumu had to go through for the sake of the Methodist church.
It is now very clear that there is a clear rift in the church . It is now clear that there is confusion in the church. It is now clear that there is treachery ,deceit and dishonesty in the church. It is now clear that there is back stabbing in the church. It is now clear clear that there is fear in the church. The Holy Bible says “when God is on your side who shall you fear”. This is a clear indicator to people that some padres only preach from the mouth and not from the heart and soul. Some talatalas view their job as a paid occupation rather than a calling from God. The talatalas I know came through hardships and difficulties during the course of their duties. They swam across rivers, walked through jungles, planted their own food and were not paid salaries but their achievements economically, socially and spiritually was huge. The padres we now have travel in expensive cars, enjoy a fully furnished residence, send their wives and kids overseas for work and better education, have their gardens made for them, have members cook their lunch on sundays and enjoy other perks but their achievements spiritually has been very insignificant from a layman”s point of view. These are the ones that are currently running the church now. What they have brought to the church is shame and embarrassment. They are a bunch of backstabbers.
The likes of Lasaro, Waqairatu, Kanailagi have fought the battles and run the races for the church while the ones we have now dont. It is sad to see that church members sacrifice their luxuries to meet church obligations on a yearly basis. But when they find hardship the padres fail to give them direction. The padres have deserted the flock and in the process made the sheep wander for greener pastures. The most decent and honorable thing the church leaders should have done was to back each other instead of falling apart. They should have stood up for what is rightous according to the bible. They should not allow the church to become party to deceit, treason, force,intimidation and human rights violation. Now the church has jumped into the interim bandwagon even they dont see it as such. The actions of the methodist church now speaks volume.
They must realise that by cancelling the Bose they have become a friend of illegality because they are doing what this illegal regime wants them to do. They should have defied orders and defended what is right and good for the flock. They should not fear guns or anyone but only fear God. They must defend at all times the constitution of the church which is the Holy Bible because this document was enacted by God. They must be reminded that you can abrogate a constitution but you can never abrogate the Bible because this document or constitution is for this life and the next life. As the bible says “everything else will go away but my word will remain for ever”. People who defend the word of God become saints while those who dont become traitors like Judas who sold Jesus for a mere 30 pieces of silver.
inx2009
Posted by rawfijinews
Leave the Maras alone and let’s find the galls and the balls to get Fiji out of it’s current mess!
August 18, 2009
Please lets give the two brothers a chance to sort themselves out. They need their privacy. Lets not meddle into affairs that do not concern us. Please leave the matter to the people of Lau to sort out because it is an in house matter for them the Lauans. Who befitts the title and who becomes the paramount chief of Lau is for Lau to decide. We must not use the blog sites to air and clean dirty linen that must be kept indoors. We have problems bigger than appointing chiefs on our plate at the moment.
To say the least we must learn to take what is ours and leave what does not belong to us aside. Lets talk about what belongs to us and that is our freedom and our democracy. Lets discus ways of getting this back. We dont want to know who is Mara or Tom or Harry, we want to find a way forward and out of this mess. Workers are being laid off, innocent children are suffering, business is struggling, freedom of speech is non existent, human rights are being violated etc etc ect so where do we go from here? Appointing a Tui Lau will not solve our problems. Ului or Mara will not but the people will if they are really keen, genuine and honest about their identity and the future of their children.
It would be better to ask Ului to try and use his chiefly connections to persuade Frank to return to the people of Fiji what rightfully belongs to them that is their right, freedom and their democracy. Ului will be remembered as a true chief if he does this because a trademark of a true chief is his love for his subjects or people not one who only thinks of filling his pockets and taking away from the people what is theirs. Whether Frank, Ului, Chaudhary, Qarase or whoever is a chief is God”s choice and no one really can do anything about it. Whether any of these men can take Fiji out of our current mess is a concern to this very proud nation and its people.
Lets all get together and try and get us out of this mess. Lets not forget that Ului was born a Mara,period. Whether he is a true chief or not the devil may care because Fiji and its people care less. We need a chief, politician , talatala, public servant, soldier,farmer or villager who has the galls and the balls to take Fiji out of the mess that we are currently in.
inx2009
Posted by rawfijinews
Did conman Peter Foster’s story rattle SDL?
August 18, 2009
One of Peter Foster’s intent when he released his version of what he understood to have happened during his conning days in Fiji is to create a wedge within the SDL camp. Has he succeeded? We don’t know as sources close to that political party say they haven’t heard anything relating to Peter Foster’s story being talked about by the SDL gang. It’ll be interesting though to see what SDL will do. Will Peter rattle them? Only time will tell! Are people demanding a response from anyone to rebutt a well-known con-man like Peter? We doubt it!
Should we expect a rebuttal from SDL? Again, we really don’t know but our observation thus far can confirm that SDL’s Public Relations machine is all but kaput! Will only take another con-artist to respond to another con-man like Peter Foster!
shrek
Posted by rawfijinews
Pacific analysts must become more creative in their approach to thinking about Fiji and its future, an academic from The Australian National University will argue in Canberra today.
Dr Katerina Teaiwa, Pacific Studies Convenor at ANU, says that solutions for Fiji won’t be found in adversarial thinking, framed around a pro or anti-military viewpoint. She says that more lateral, creative thinking is required to map out a better future for the nation.
“We need more options than just ‘for or against’,” Dr Teaiwa says. “We cannot just roll out a series of economic or political facts which paint the bleak picture we expect to see. We have a responsibility to use these and other contextual knowledge to go further to provide more positive readings that are actually helpful for the people of Fiji as a whole,” she said. “Anyone who lives in or is from Fiji knows that the situation is not completely hopeless. Fiji requires more diversity amongst, and collaboration between, its experts so that the situation on the ground is illuminated from multiple spheres and through multiple lenses. If we want freedom of speech, democracy and diversity on the ground, we should apply the same principles in terms of the voices and sectors we draw upon to understand the situation.”
Dr Teaiwa argues that there is a need to look more closely at modes of communication, cultural institutions and other sectors which are commonly left out of the dominant political and economic discussions about Fiji. “The battle around race politics is played out as much in the realm of popular perception as in government policy. Popular perception is shaped not just by NGOs, newspapers, church ministers, business and political party leaders, or military rulers, but by popular culture and what islanders call the ‘coconut wireless’. “The areas of heritage, sports, cultural policy, festivals, music, and the performing and visual arts require closer examination as they increasingly offer economic and political avenues and tools for Fiji islanders. Most importantly, as indicated by the growing importance of cultural diplomacy internationally, these arenas provide real nuts and bolts for positive nation building, regional harmony, cooperation, and peace.”
- ANU Statement
Posted by rawfijinews
What about the $12million loss Mr Deo Saran?
August 18, 2009
.
FSC has failed once again to meet a full sugar shipment to the UK with a shortfall of 8000T this time around. It was only able to ship 22,000 tonnes of raw sugar instead of the full load of 30,000 tonnes. Its first shipment late July was also short at 27,418 tonnes – less 2582 tonnes.
Enough cane was supplied to the mills to produce 60,000 tonnes sugar to meet the two scheduled shipments of 30,000 tonnes each. Instead, FSC has thus far produced only 49,418 tonnes – ie 10,582 tonnes short which was lost through poor extraction and failure to convert juice to sugar resulting from chronic milling problems. Cumulative loss to the industry from the two short shipments so far is estimated at $12 million based on the total shortfall of 10,582 tonnes.
Loss to farmers is $8.4 million (70%) which means they have already lost $3.50 per tonne through FSC’s gross negligence and incompetence. But FSC chief executive Deo Saran tries to hide this enormous loss and to mislead the nation with his talk of the $25 million revenue the second shipment will bring in. The alarming truth is that our sugar shipments are getting steadily worse as the season progresses. So, given FSC’s very dismal record so far this season, it is doubtful whether the Corporation will realise its total production target of 240,000 tonnes sugar as claimed by the CEO. FSC’s main problem is its two larger mills which are grossly under-performing. Nine weeks into the season, Lautoka is still crushing only at about 62% capacity while the situation at the Rarawai Mill continues to deteriorate, with the mill doing barely one/third of its capacity. In the first three weeks of operation, the mill produced no sugar at all. Mr Saran should tell the Ba farmers how many millions they have lost as a result of Rarawai Mill’s failure to convert cane juice into sugar. Boilers are not heating sufficiently to crystallise the juice which is being dumped wholesale into the Ba River.
- Fiji Labour Party Statement
Posted by Sai Lealea at 8:14 PM 0 comments
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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Ului Mara is No Chief of Ono i Lau


National Farmers Union to oppose junta : Mahendra Chaudhry
August 18, 2009
The National Farmers Union is shocked and troubled at the interim government’s unilateral decision to dismantle the Sugar Cane Growers Council. “The move will completely marginalise the growers because they now have no representation in an industry in which they have a 70% stake,” NFU general secretary Mahendra Chaudhry said. Mr Chaudhry said the union will oppose the government move. “NFU will make representation to the relevant Ministry. It is quite obvious that the interim government has been badly advised on this matter. “The sugar industry is a partnership between the miller and the growers. How can the growers be completely sidelined from decision making in an industry in which they are majority stakeholders? Government has obviously not realised the consequences of this arbitrary move,” Mr Chaudhry said. It jeopardises the stability and future viability of the sugar industry with dire consequences to the economy in general. It will also adversely affect the landowners who receive substantial rental revenue from sugar cane farms.
NFU sees recent developments in the sugar industry with the arbitrary dismantling of important institutions set up under the Sugar Industry Act of 1984 (the Sugar Commission of Fiji, the Sugar Cane Growers Council and the Fiji Sugar Marketing) in recent months, as some kind of neo-colonialism. Far reaching decisions are being taken without any consultation with the stakeholders. The sugar industry is well and truly being reverted to the days of the Colonial Sugar Refining Co (CSR) with the authoritarianism, exploitation and repression associated with the CSR. Are farmers being pushed to serve another Girmit? The repression has already begun with FSC adopting an autocratic attitude and withholding vital information from the growers and their representatives; sugar shipments are not being fully met and FSC’s chronic milling inefficiencies have already cost growers’ millions of dollars in lost revenue this season.
Farmers are already being cheated right, left and centre. Given this latest imposition on their rights, the future of the industry becomes highly uncertain. NFU is reliably informed that the so-called “local/expatriate” consultants recruited from Australia in December last year are behind this move – the interim government is working in line with a report submitted by these ‘consultants’ last December. Well informed sources in the industry say that at least two of the consultants, high up in the FSC hierarchy at the time, were not happy with the changes contained in the 1984 Sugar Industry Act. Obviously not! Because reforms ushered in under the 1984 Act introduced the concept of industry partnership and ensured FSC was made accountable to the growers and other stakeholders for its actions. An unstable sugar industry is definitely in the interest of these consultants because the more problems the industry faces, the more entrenched their lucrative consultancy becomes. The powers that be, including FICAC, should investigate how these “expatriates” are milking FSC. Apart from their highly excessive fees, there are other expensive perks including very frequent trips to Australia and back.
- Fiji Labour Party statement
Posted by rawfijinews
The Methodist church is one of the biggest landowners in Fiji. It also owes millions in overdue city and town rates, FNPF contributions, backtaxes etc. There are some reports that the Epworth commercial complex is in danger of foreclosure, as are some other properties of the church. The church had effectively hidden this from public view in the past because of their political connections, and anyone daring to question the process ran the risk of being victimised or publcly ridiculed.
This did not happen overnight, or in the last three years. The annual conference has raised millions of dollars but the people’s efforts were negated by the poor fiscal management of the leadership and the political nature of their leadership system. There are many religious communities and settlements in Fiji, both Christian and non-Christian. Every Fijian village has a church in it, yet, the villages and churches are dirty, villages overgrown and houses run down. What are the talatalas doing? They receive a salary, FNPF deductions, housing, in some cases cars as well. In the rural areas, their gardens are planted for them too. Why the drastic difference between Anglican, Catholic, SDA, LDS and evangelistic communities and settlements, and those where there is a dominant methodist influence?
kosakosa
Posted by rawfijinews
An interesting view Mr. Jone Baledrokadroka, and if one was honest with ones self, it would be fair to say it is a selective view. Whilst I do not disagree with your sentiments entirely, to add balance to your perspective, acknowledgment must be given to the demise of Fiji’s social economic prosperity and civil morale values since the coups of 1987. Since that time, the common tread to Fiji’s misery has been the military establishment with a perceived arrogance they know what is in Fiji’s best interests. Let’s be blunt, the best and brightest from our education system do not choose the military as a career, instead those who where challenged to have a profession tend to end up in the FMF. It is said a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and unfortunately for Fiji, when it comes to affairs of State and the military, this rings true. Since 1987 rather than being soldiers whose role is to defend the nation, we continually have a meddling into national affairs – a sad demise for an army that had a world reputation and respect for brave soldiers. Corporal Sukanaivalu I would suggest would be ashamed of what the FMF has become, and not just in recent times, but more so as a product of Mr Rabuka’s creation.
George Speight’s coup? I would suggest this is inaccurate, as the coup can be squarely attributed to the FMF where it is evident there was indiscipline within the force and rebel troops had the ability to secure arms and execute treason – with the assistance of shadowy officers and a PR man running his own agenda, being George. Could you have changed the course of events Mr. Baledrokadroka by instilling discipline and loyalty to the state? Please explain why the military failed to take appropriate immediate action after the coup was executed. Yes lives where lost, mainly because the military and police did not contain the situation and respond quickly to shut down the madness. In those dark days, the Parliament precinct was declared a DMZ, but the purpose seemed more about keeping witnesses out not to see first hand the incompetence of the disjointed, uncoordinated and outright unprofessional response. I sight this as an example of the unprofessionalism, indiscipline and incompetence that exists with the FMF, with much of these being in existence well before Frank was in command.
At the end of the day, Fiji needs to seriously consider the purpose and merit in having a military. Economically we cannot afford it, and history would suggest this organisation has proven itself to be dysfunctional and none conducive to nation building. In my view sir, the time has come for the once proud FMF to be disbanded.
pd12345
Posted by rawfijinews
Since the purported abrogation of the 1997 Constitution, Fiji has fallen into the laps of military rule under the guise of the Public Emergency Regulation, which has gagged our nation’s media, quashed any form of opposition, limited freedoms of the Fiji citizens and disengaged the people of Fiji from power. “The People of Fiji are given a false impression of what is happening with our nation’s government, economy and freedoms. To make things worse, injustices supposedly done by the Interim government and their supporters are not investigated – What future is this Government leaving for us the youth of Fiji” says Peter Waqavonovono the President of the YPCN. We the Young Peoples Concerned Network feel that it is time for the Interim Government to open avenues for dialogue without preconceived outcomes. “The longer this PER is in place, the more our youth will suffer – already investors and so many academic and financial benefits have been lost because of the Interim Governments lack of commitment to truly return Fiji to Democratic Rule” says the president of the YPCN, Peter Waqavonovono. “Lets face it, Fiji is no longer a Democracy and there are no solid plans to take this nation back to a Democracy. And lets be realistic, without consensus and open dialogues, you can’t return Fiji to a sustainable Democracy” adds Mr Waqavonovono. It is depressing to see that the Interim Government and the important aspects of our society refuse to work together; the YPCN feels that it is time for a meaningful process of Dialogue to map out a better future for Fiji. “In order to have open and free discussions, the PER needs to be lifted and limitations on our freedoms including the media removed as a sign of good faith, a true commitment to Democracy seen, and most importantly the Military must return to the barracks” say Mr Waqavonovono. “Important parties that represent segments of our society need to be engaged to openly discuss Fiji’s future and all parties must be ready to have their personal visions or solutions challenged or changed” adds Waqavonovono. The YPCN is also concerned with the lack of coherence in national objectives by the current Interim Government “The Interim Prime Minister has gone on record as saying that all people in Fiji are to be equal and that Fiji Citizens should be given equal opportunities and freedoms – however, he supports the Fiji Police Commissioners use of State resources to advocate in Christian Campaigns and force his officers and their families to accept his own brand of Christianity. This is a good example of incoherence where the head is not working with the legs – and there are many examples to draw from; it could either be that or we have been misled to believe the Interim Governments genuine reasons for keeping power” notes Waqavonovono. The YPCN stands by its call that Peace is the only solution for Fiji, The network will continue to advocate for this. “The longer our leaders drag their feet, the harder life becomes for the youth of this nation that suffer from Unemployment, Poverty and a lack of proper education or opportunities. Its time to end the Deadlock” ends Waqavonovono.
YPCN—o—
Enquiries call : 714 8480
The YPCN is a youth network of youth activists from around Fijifocused on providing a space for youth activists and youth issues toaddress their different advocacy issues on the national level.
Visit YPCN on the World Wide Webhttp://www.ypcnfiji.com/
Posted by rawfijinews
As support for the current Interim Bainimarama lead Govt gathers momentum, let us reflect on the near 3 years worth of achievements through a top ten list;

1. The Getting rid of Qarese and his dumb ass cronies from running Fiji……..These guys just did not have a clue what they were doing when running Fiji for over 5 years. Just total dumb asses filling their pockets under the guise of native rights.

2. Making the FLP and ‘taxi driver’ type cronies a non entity…….. Wasn’t it wonderful to see MPC and Co get the boot for the third time around. Even better last week, PM got rid of politics in the sugar industry by dissolving the SCGC. Mills are not breaking down for once and running very smoothly. Guess whose not minister in charge? Lets hope we never see MPC and his ‘yes man who think MPC is God’ run the country ever again.

3. Getting rid of Politics from Local Govts………just great to see council run so efficiently. Especially in Suva and Nasinu. Lets pray that idiots like Rajeshwar Kumar and Praveen Bala do not ever come back to run council in Fiji. Suva is pothole free. Imagine FLP, SDL or NPF being able to achieve this. No way!

4. No Kava Fiji Police Force- Thanks Teleni! Excellent work

5. Nivis Motors Roundabout, Thanks Teleni and Manu

6. Laqere Bridge four laneing

7. Giving Fiji Law Society the boot. Vinaka AG

8. Zipping Pramod Rae’s ugly face on TV. Please make this permanent

9. People of Fiji not having to listen to Angie Heffernan’s fake accent on TV

10. Charging Siti Wailelakeba and demoting Laisa Digitaki to the “Reserves and Too old” bench!
Vinaka
Balwant Singh Ramrakha JnrVaradoli Ba Ba to Ba hei!
Posted by rawfijinews
You are a mere soldier in the army – promoted to an officer – like all other sons of manufactured chiefs who could not achieve academically eg. E Ganilau, E Nailatikau, etc etc. Your mother is a real Gone-Marama-Bale, but your father’s chiefly status, though installed as Tui Nayau, is most questionable and almost a well known fact that he was not a biological son of the late Tui Nayau prior to him – Roko Tevita Uluilakeba.As far as most of Lau is concerned and if you do not know, your father was only brought in to continue the late Tui Lau’s (Ratu Sukuna) ambitions. Your biological grandfather is not Roko Tevita Uluilakeba; it happens to be Borron, the once Mago Island “owner”, who most probably was a “thug” that came to Fiji to escape being an ex-convict in Australia ( the then dumping ground for British convicts).
So you are not a real blue blood descendant of the Vuanirewa chiefly household in Lakeba. You are a “manufactured” descendant of the Vuanirewa. The birth certificates of your father was manufactured by the late Ratu Sukuna, who had all the power to do so as an administrator during the colonial days. Ratu Sukuna did what the biased British Colonisers of the day wanted him to do. And Ratu Sukuna had his personal agenda for a manufactured chiefly royal blood that carried out his ancestral and demonic wishes. The chiefly status you & your siblings claim to have in Lau is manufactured big time! Do you Mara siblings ever wonder why your endeavours will always come to nought? It is because you are not the true biological descendants of the Vuanirewa clan. If you really really want to know the real facts, then we suggest that since you have such strong powers in your military status today all over Fiji which has no boundaries it seems, you should go dig up the graveyard of the true holder of the name you have been given – the late true blooded Tui Nayau, Roko Tevita Uluilakeba – as well as your father’s – and then do a DNA test to compare! Oh no! That would be subjective…. we need to have an objective coroner to do the DNA test! Then only then will you settle the matter forever!
Word of wisdom – you do not have to carry on doing what you are doing in Fiji now. Stop being Lord of the Lau group, because many of us do not respect you at all. Many of us Lauans are now well educated and we are no longer like our ancestors where we “sealed” our mouths. No way hossay! It is about time that we brought out some hidden facts out into the open. We have been deceived for too long and we no longer can stand the “make believe” chiefs who want to throw their weight about.
Fiji is not a kingdom where the chiefly title goes from father to son! No way! We are not the Tongan Kingdom. No way! The titleship goes from one illegitimate child to another in one generation before it can commence on the next. So get off your high horse and have some respect for the real Lauans. O cei o iko mo lewa o cei keimami sureta na kai Ono-i-Lau me keimami cereva! Keimami lewa ko cei keimami vakamenemenea! Ko iko a luveni kai vanua tani ko qai mai via via lewa a neimami bula! Keimami sa fiu ona ko keimami a Lau dina! Stop protecting your brothers-in-law & your sisters who only want the name, fame & game! You need a life, real life outside Fiji. You can still negotiate your way out with international figures……..with that kind of name you carry outside of Fiji, it is worth more than being in Fiji wanting to be Tui Lau & Tui Nayau!
newbloodforfiji
Posted by rawfijinews
A farmer’s advocate says the Fiji interim government plans to dissolve the Sugar Cane Growers’ Council will leave the 22,000 sugar farmers powerless. The move is intended as another step towards restructuring the industry after the Sugar Commission and Fiji Sugar Marketing were wound down earlier this year. But former CEO of the Growers’ Council, Jaganath Sami, says the farmers will no longer have a collective voice. “So you can see the path the regime is taking is to give absolute power to the milling company and they will be calling the shots. So the growers will be in a very vulnerable, very weak position.” Jaganath Sami, former CEO of the Fiji Sugar Growers’ Council, says the signs don’t look good for the cane farmers with Fiji unable to meet its export market commitments, while it is also importing sugar for domestic consumption.
News Content © Radio New Zealand International, PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand
Posted by rawfijinews
August 17, 2009
A paradise lost, a noble experiment in democracy and multiracial harmony met its severest challenge and has failed. Sadly, it only took one man to destroy Fiji’s age of innocence. Pope John Paul 11 said; “a symbol of hope in the world” “Fiji was an oasis of stability in the turbulence of the 3rd world, peaceful and prosperous, a democratic outpost whose ethnic groups, Fijians, Indians, Chinese and Europeans were guaranteed fair representation under the constitution.” The late Leonard Usher former mayor of Suva uttered these sentiments; “I think we learned to live together as well as any multiracial society in the world.” I hope to God we can get back to that.” But the terrible danger now is that we have been divided and all that was accomplished has been swept away.” Ratu Mara was to have said after Rabuka told him of the coup; “20 years of my life just went down the drain.” Yet as the most influential politician in the South Pacific Islands until defeated by Bavadra refused to condemn the conspiracy. The simple fact is this Paradise, lost its innocence on the 14th of May 1987 and it will never be the same again. Fiji has been changed forever. The fragile shell around Fiji democracy has been broken. The Pacific way was always to “talk and talk and talk” until consensus is reached and all confrontation avoided. Instead people like Rabuka, Speight and now Bainimarama have allowed themselves the indulgence of breaking the law and justifying their actions later. When Fiji lost its innocence it also lost that famous saying on its Tourism advertising posters; “Fiji the way the rest of the world ought to be.” Brij Lal said; “The only lesson from history is that we don’t learn from history.” Rosalind PrattQLD
Posted by rawfijinews
Force line chairman of Fiji’s Lau Provincial Council, the military man, Ului Mara thinks he is making an impact because he is a Mara is nothing more than an excessive use of “I” and “me” He didn’t become the chairman of the Lau Council through proper channels and all he has acquired is the loss of respect from the Lauans that held his late Ratu in high esteem. Those that pretend to respect him only do it to get some in return. What an idiot! If Ului was so confident he had the support of the Lauans he would not have these insecurities, insecurities resulting in wanting to control everything. The people of Ono-i-Lau had months before the Ono-i-Lau Day, invited the Roko Tui Bau, Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi as the guest of honour to open the day. He was apparently uninvited by none other than Ului who told the Ono-i-Lau elders to invite someone from the regime. (Yes orders from the military man.)
To protect Ratu Joni from such embarrassment, the elders went to formally advise Rt Joni of the decision but declined to invite a replacement. They took all the mats prepared for him and gave it to him. Included was a Tabukaisi, the beautiful mat of these islands. Little did Ului know that they both had connections to the chiefly clan of Ono-i-Lau and he wasn’t the only one. Ono
Posted by rawfijinews
A leader of the Indo-Fijian community in the Australian city of Sydney says more and more blue collar workers are leaving Fiji in search of work in Australia and New Zealand. For years, Fijian professionals like doctors, accountants, lawyers and managers have been leaving the country for jobs in Australia and New Zealand. But Sanjay Ramesh, political editor of the Fiji Times, an Indo-Fijian community newspaper in Sydney, says now plumbers, construction workers and electricians are increasingly joining the migration trend. “They are really concerned about the future,” he said. “They think that there is no resolution in sight in Fiji and that’s what’s driving them out of there. They think that Fiji is heading towards some sort of economic disaster.”
- Radio Australia
Posted by rawfijinews
Ask Fiji’s Bank employees what impact has Frank’s rule on their lives and they will quickly say; “NONE” Their jobs are pretty safe because it is being managed by experts of oversea’s banks. ANZ and Westpac couldn’t care less about the political mess Fiji is in, as long as they are making huge profits. While they are making huge profits, their employees are being paid and turn a blind eye to what is happening around them. They will remain neutral, in denial and ignorant of others suffering and struggling to make ends meet. Profits made by these two banks go back to Australia and New Zealand and all they need to worry about in Fiji is to pay the locals that work for them. Bank employees have the intellect to know what “democracy” is all about, they should also distinquish what is right over wrong but do they care, “NO” they are too comfortable to rock the boat. They have access to computers and could easily read the blogs to know what is going on but they choose to carry on receiving their pay packet and pretending all is normal. If they lost their jobs, then you will see them making waves but for the time being life goes on without a thought of Fiji’s future. Rawfijinews had this to say; “Our sources say Fiji’s major banks, ANZ and Westpac, have failed to assist Fiji’s private sector by imposing more stringent credit line and loan conditions, while they continue to record phenomenal net profits of more than $40million in the last financial year alone.They say that Fiji’s business community continues to suffer major losses with their business shrinking away as they are unable to fund growth opportunities.”
Torika
Posted by rawfijinews
by Jone Baledrokadroka
The role of Fiji’s military has changed substantially over the last decade – in the mid-1990s, there was an emphasis on professionalism and meritocracy, and an effort to steer the armed forces away from the 1987 engagement in politics (which was viewed as having had a negative impact both on the nation and on the RFMF itself). Since the 2000 coup, the RFMF has emerged again at the centre of Fiji politics, most forcefully since the December 2006 coup, justifying this by a claim to be tackling corruption, racism and bad governance. However, it is important to judge Bainimarama, this so called nation builder by his actions rather than be swayed by his discernible shifting rhetoric.
Since the April 10th abrogation of Fiji’s constitution, the role of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces has now reached another new level of military intervention in politics. A new legal order has been decreed, the media censored and it is almost certain that Bainimarama or Ratu Epeli Nailatikau the former commander of the military will be announced President in the coming days. To reiterate what Stephanie Lawson said about the 1987 coup “the praetorian character of this development does indeed suggest that the military in Fiji has become a homus politicus in its own right.” The controversial People’s Charter that was put together by a National Council for Building a Better Fiji (NCBBF) in August of last year called for the realigning of the military’s role to include ‘Human Security’. Bad faith and deception can only be inferred on the part of Bainimarama and the military through the misconstruing of this concept. It is now clear Bainimarama and the military intend to run the political affairs of the state at least now till 2014. I would posit that he is there for life.
The Fiji Military, once viewed as the agent of Fijian political paramountcy, has now become its nemesis – core Fijian institutions and collective organisations have been destroyed or diminished – the Great Council of Chiefs, the public sector unions, the Law Society, the Media, the Methodist Church. It is as if Fiji society were being hollowed out to make way for the modernist state Bainimarama purports to be manufacturing for Fiji. Unfortunately the continued flight of intellectual and skilled human capital from Fiji of both Indo and Indigenous Fijians bares such a piped dream. The support by the Police and Military allows Bainimarama unbridled power. Bainimarama and the military are applying a dictum often attributed to a former Latin American dictator: “For my friends, everything . . . for my enemies, the law.” The recent arresting and charging of Methodist Church Ministers and a high chief confirms such a pitiful state of affairs where laws are invoked to penalize opponents of the regime.
The events of the present are being justified by a revisionist historical interpretation of Fiji’s 2000 Coup events. According to this view, the RFMF was a saviour of Fiji in 2000, when it stepped in to crush George Speight’s coup. What is forgotten is that (1) the RFMF was deeply uncertain about how to respond to the May 19th 2000 coup, and some senior officers were implicated in plots to unseat Chaudhry; (2) for some time after the coup, there was uncertainty about which side to take; (3) Bainimarama consistently justified his own abrogation of the constitution on May 29th 2000 - not (as some suggested) under duress due to Speight’s holding of hostages, but also much later, after the release of the hostages, in affidavits submitted at the time of the February 2001 Chandrika Prasad court hearings. In fact from May 29th to July 4th 2000 for some 37 days, Bainimarama had his first taste of power as head of government.

Within the RFMF, that mythical account of the 2000 intervention is being used to build solidarity in the rank-and-file, and to give Bainimarama popularity within the military. In addressing the Military’s Infantry Day Parade on the 23 Jun this year, Commodore Bainimarama said that the death of loyal soldiers during the 2000 mutiny at the Queen Elizabeth Barracks, Suva led to the event of December 5, 2006. The revelation was made by the Commander speaking in Fijian saying “Na nodratou mai leqa na tacida oqo e sega ni va ka waletaki (the death of our brothers (2000 mutiny) shall not be in vain).” Commodore Bainimarama said the death of the soldiers brought about many changes in the nation.
Again in his speech at the joint Passing Out Parade of 640 new soldier and police recruits, Albert Park, Suva, on Fri 26 Jun 2009, Bainimarama said, “The divide and rule policies espoused in the last 20 years has plagued us as a nation. Our objectives in the events of December 2006, was to arrest this trend once and for all.There are many obstacles in our path. Do not allow yourselves to be easily manipulated by external pressures and influences around you. Be just, be firm and steadfast”. Indeed, stirring rhetoric aimed at but two perceived threats-international intervention and ethno-nationalists.
The threat of ethno nationalism as demonized through the SDL and other nationalist parties has been overplayed by Bainimarama and the military. It is not a justification for the military’s high guardian role which since 2006 has increasingly burdened the tax payers with massive budget blowouts. More over in this modern age, Constructivist theory of ethnicity show that ethnic suppression in any form only exacerbates the polarization of a society. In fact, in 2000, it was the Military executive council headed by Bainimarama that co-opted Laisenia Qarase into the council and requested him to begin formulating an Indigenous Affirmative action plan as per the compact of the 1997 Constitution. This was the first strategy adopted by the military to appease George Speight and his followers in attempting to secure the release of the Coalition government hostages. Qarase then a senator was part of the Senate Committee on Indigenous Fijians in Business as mandated by the Chaudrhy government in 1999. Given his professional background, he had first hand knowledge from the senate committee submissions. The manipulation of ethno-nationalism as an inward destructive agent of indigenous instrumentalism by the military is ongoing. As seen in its truth and justice campaign prior to the elections in 2006 a smear campaign by the illegal regime is now orchestrated using the heavily censored mass media. The same baseless and biased rhetoric vociferously used to oppose the Qoliqoli (seashore customary rights) bills and the Reconcilliation Truth and Unity Bills of the first SDL governments is now used to harpoon past and todays Fijian leadership as racists and dismantle arbitrarily their institutions. It is as if the sum total of Crown and Fijian chiefly rule has failed Fiji quite contrary to the legacy of Lord Stanmore and native colonial administrators such as Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi. All for a created ‘multi-racial new legal order’ as if the phrase will inspire local and international acceptance and breathe life into what Professor Wadan Narsey describes as a morally gutted nation. Incidentally this new multi-racialism to be brought about by electoral reform by 2014 is – rather oddly – to be achieved and imposed under the watchful eye of a ninety nine percent indigenous military force. Even more perplexing is how the Military elite still regales itself of its bygone international peacekeeping reputation now tarnished by its installed regime’s abuse of human rights and the rule of law.

For the future, what is unclear is whether there is credible commitment from within the rank and file of the military, to see this praetorian role continue, given mounting internal pressure brought about by ethnic empathy, increasing poverty levels, the poor state of the economy and international isolation. Indeed the weight of plain social, economic and political reality will unravel the regime and its empty scheming rhetoric. The denial of the legitimacy of opposition or even counter-argument in the mass media weakens the regimes puny justification for rule even further.

Jone Baledrokadroka- Fiji Update 2009, Stamford Plaza Hotel, Brisbane.
13 Aug 2009.
Posted by rawfijinews
Why fear Frank?
August 17, 2009
It is very interesting to note the extent that the military has gone to in trying to unsettle, stop, monitor and even tamper with the activities of the Methodist church in particular the annual conference. It has actually tried to control the church under the guise of politics and political motives. It has not done the same with the other churches. In addition the hibiscus carnival is next week but they are so worried about the methodist conference. Why cant the interim and the military allow the conference to go ahead but instead ensure the meeting venue is well guarded and security personnel be allowed in the meeting proper to sit in as observers. Only then can all fears be put to rest. It is very clear as the blue sky that there is not and will never be an uprising instigated by the church period. So why the fear guys ?
Posted by rawfijinews
Our sources report that the business community in Fiji is crying foul over their bank’s unwillingness to give them credit lines, restructure their debts, or to generally lend them money, even-though they’ve been banking with them for years with sufficient equity to cover their borrowings. They say that even-though the Reserve Bank Governor Sada Reddy is trumpeting high liquidity in Fiji’s financial market, reality on the ground proves otherwise confirming that Sada is only lying….yet again! Our sources say Fiji’s major banks, ANZ and Westpac, have failed to assist Fiji’s private sector by imposing more stringent credit line and loan conditions, while they continue to record phenomenal net profits of more than $40million in the last financial year alone. They say that Fiji’s business community continues to suffer major losses with their business shrinking away as they are unable to fund growth opportunities.
Posted by rawfijinews
The Suva Division is the largest division of the Methodist Church and that is why, they are requesting that it be held in the Furnival park. All those division that had done theirs indoors are very small division compared to Suva. If the Military is worried about the security, then they can send their armed soldiers (about 500 or 1000 personnel)to the Furnival park to guard it and keep in mind that they are good at peace keeping abroad and I am hopeful that they will keep the peace.
The Hibiscus will gather crowd similar to the Methodist Conference so what is the difference here? This Rally by the Methodist Church (Suva Division) will be smaller than the previous years so why hold it indoor? What are you afraid of Leweni? The Methodist is not political but they are just expressing their views because they represent a fair number in the population. People are crying and losing employment because of the situation that you created and the church is their to voice their opinion and the chuirch’s stand to the current difficulties that the people are facing because the Government dont give a damn about their livelihood but are adamant on reducing the size of the workforce which means the laying off of its people and for the current economic tribulations that we are going through, things is goiung to be hard for them.
josycam
Posted by rawfijinews
Fiji’s Methodist Church is seeking another meeting with government in an effort to obtain a permit to hold an open air fundraising event in the capital Suva despite being prohibited from holding public meetings. Church general secretary, Tevita Nawadra, said some circuits, including Suva, were hoping to have open air functions and wanted to use Furnival Park to hold their choir competitions and bazaar as part of their fundraising. Government spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Neumi Leweni yesterday reminded the church in a statement that all its functions had to be held indoors to avoid large crowd gatherings. Fiji Live reports Mr Nawadra as saying Suva district has a very large roll making it difficult to hold meetings indoors. The restrictions on the church follow the cancellation of its annual conference this year deemed by government as political. The church has since been allowed to hold its annual choir competition and fundraising indoors and at district level.
News Content © Radio New Zealand International, PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand
Posted by rawfijinews
Fiji’s Chief Justice Anthony Gates is currently recruiting judges from Colombo in Sri Lanka.
The Interim Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum told Fiji Live his administration is looking at sourcing qualified judges from Commonwealth member countries. In an interview with a Sri Lankan paper, the Sunday Times, Justice Gates said the government planned sweeping judicial changes in April next year. He said since Fiji and Sri Lanka were countries that inherited similar judicial systems, he wished to recruit judicial officers from Sri Lanka. It is reported that Justice Gates last week met Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice, Asoka de Silva, and Attorney General, Mohan Peiris, to discuss matters relating to his recruitment mission. A senior official of the Sri Lanka Justice Ministry told the paper there would be no problem in obtaining leave from the Judicial Services Commission for these 2-year assignments.
News Content © Radio New Zealand International, PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand
Posted by rawfijinews
There are revelations over the weekend that Aiyaz Khaiyum had confirmed to some of his mates that the 2014 election announced by Frank is baloney. Word has it that Aiyaz is confident they will be able to rule for as long as Frank lives. But he is not ruling out the possibility of making an early exit to pursue his own business interest in the North, where his family originates from.
Aiyaz, who’se been speculated by some as Fiji’s next illegal Prime Minister, has been keeping a low and quiet profile for the past few months, except to churn out spontaneous illegal decrees that tries to legitimise their every move.
Posted by rawfijinews
There are rumours swirling in Fiji that dictator Frank Bainimarama will implement a new constitution similar to the one adopted by US where there will be a President and no Prime Minister. And talks point to Frank himself as Fiji’s newest Pressie who will oversee everything relating to that doomed island state. But there is another group of rumour mongels who are saying that the Prime Minister’s office will remain suggesting that while Frank will take up the Pressie’s position, he has vowed to maintain his left cherry, Aiyaz Khaiyum, as Prime Minister.
This group say that Aiyaz is not liked by the military council who see him as a divisive anti-indigenous Fijian chap
Posted by Sai Lealea at 9:30 PM 0 comments
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Friday, August 07, 2009

Voreqe you are to Blame and No one Else


Fiji to withdraw from Pacific trade agreements
http://www.fijivillage.com/ - 07/08/2009


Sai Comment:

- Here we go again- Voreqe blaming the world but his ignorant and arrogant self for Fiji's exclusion from trade and other talks involving Pacific island nations. He is so bent on running Fiji and its people to the ground, just to hold on to power and prolong his illegal rule. One thing is for sure- His time will come and either he will be removed at the point of a gun or by those close to him when they know what is best for them, their families and fellow Fijians. Anyone out there want to be paid to be a hero for Fiji? This question has increasingly being asked and takers are increasingly coming forward right in Fiji and elsewhere- Mark this Voreqe!



Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has today revealed that Fiji will withdraw from the Pacific trade agreements PICTA and PACER. This follows the Pacific Islands Leaders Forum's decision to leave Fiji out of the PACER Plus discussions. Commodore Bainimarama said the Forum member countries will also be informed about this decision. There is an audio file attached to this story. Bainimarama said the Secretary General of the Forum Secretariat should also take the blame for the exclusion of Fiji from the PACER Plus discussions. There is an audio file attached to this story. The Forum leaders only agreed to keep Fiji informed about the trade discussions but they had decided that Fiji should not participate in the negotiations. The leaders also called for political dialogue in Fiji between parties on the principles of genuine, inclusive dialogue without preconditions or predetermined outcomes.
Posted by Sai Lealea at 9:59 PM 0 comments
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No one is safe in Fiji as Human Rights are Ignored

The illegal regime took another step on its Roadmap to dictatorship with the announcement that it plans to set up a commercial arm of the prisons department. Slave labour is a well established part of every evil dictatorship. Stalin had his Gulags. Hitler’s Auschwitz had a banner over the gate: “Work Brings Freedom.” A large slab of the North Korean economy is carried out by half-starved prisoners. So it looks like we’ll be going down that path. If prisons can help pay for themselves, the regime can afford to throw more people into prison. With no independent courts or constitutional protections to stand in their way, the regime will be able to jail its opponents at will. With the plan to farm 1000 acres, this is no small plan. I’m not making it up. This is the report that was carried on Fiji Village on 6 August. “Prisons Dept proposes to set up commercial arm. The Prisons Department is proposing to set up a commercial arm in future to utilise the 1,000 acres of land around the Naboro prison complex. Deputy Prison Commissioner Auta Moceisuva revealed this to members of the Lau provincial council after touring Naboro prison yesterday which was done as a means of strengthening the relationship between inmates and their families after they serve their term in prison. Moceisuva said they hope that the Prisons Department will not rely on government for financial assistance if the project is successful.
Moceisuva said government has allocated $400,000 this year for the farming project involving prisoners.” No-one is safe.
Navosavakadua
Posted by rawfijinews
The Commonwealth Secretary General says he is still considering what form of engagement the grouping will take with Fiji. The interim Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, has invited a Commonwealth delegation to Fiji for talks over the Pacific nation’s position in the grouping, after it issued an ultimatum for progress towards elections by September.
Kamalesh Sharma says he has received that invitation. “We are always ready to engage in the pursuit of promoting democratic constitutionalism. Dialogue is the way of the Commonwealth. So we are ready to respond as appropriate but I still have to consider what this form of engagement should be.” Kamalesh Sharma says timing, and the level of the delegation is what needs to be considered.
News Content © Radio New Zealand International, PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand
Posted by rawfijinews
Tom Ricketts new FNPF and ATH board member
August 7, 2009
Tom Rickett is now a confirmed board member of FNPF and Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Limited. His appointment was confirmed via a market announcement by ATH awhile ago. Ricketts was a former military regime minister together with 2 other Fiji Labour members, Mahendra Chaudhry and Vayeshnoi. Ricketts resigned from cabinet along with Vayeshnoi after Frank asked Mahendra Chaudhry to tender his resignation following Chaudhry’s insistence to apply tax on all bottled water and refused rebate to bus owners disrupting public transportation and bottled water exports. Even though Chaudhry was asked to leave Cabinet, his propositions on bottled water and on bus operators were approved by Frank’s cabinet and later adopted by the regime boosting government receipts.
Posted by rawfijinews
Rowan Callick, Asia-Pacific editor August 07, 2009
Article from: The Australian
KEVIN Rudd has adroitly applied his diplomatic skills to come through the first international meeting he has hosted as Prime Minister with wins on the major proposals for which he fought. The big-ticket items agreed to unanimously yesterday by Mr Rudd’s fellow leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum summit in Cairns were a call to action on climate change, a compact on aid to Pacific nations, a push to extend the region’s free trade area to Australia and New Zealand, and keeping Fiji in the “sin bin”. Mr Rudd remains chairman of the forum for a year, until the next annual leaders summit in Vanuatu; thus he takes ultimate responsibility for ensuring the leaders’ decisions are implemented.
Flanked by the other leaders, he said the need for climate change action was “not just a matter of importance or of urgency but of national survival for some of the world’s most vulnerable countries, many of whose leaders are standing with me on this platform”. The forum agreed on a “call to action” to global leaders to agree at the Copenhagen climate change summit in December to reduce emissions by at least 50per cent below 1990 levels by 2050, setting the world on a path to limit the increase in average temperatures to 2C. Australia was contributing $25million, Mr Rudd said, to help the islands replace “the enormous cost” of imported fossil fuels with renewable energy.
The forum also agreed on a compact to co-ordinate aid, including $1 billion a year from Australia, going to Pacific countries, where 2.7million people, more than a quarter of the whole population, still live in poverty. Mr Rudd said the importance of aid had increased with the global economic downturn. But it was proving a growing challenge for hard-stretched island governments to handle the “spaghetti bowl of conflicting and sometimes competing” aid programs on offer.
Sometimes, he said, ministers in those countries discovered half their staff were travelling offshore on trips funded by donors. “We can’t wait for this to get worse and worse,” he said.
The forum also agreed to retain Fiji’s suspension from the forum, Mr Rudd said, until the military-installed regime “give us any confidence” of its desire to return to “the family of democracies” that comprise the other 15 countries of the forum. Fiji strongman Frank Bainimarama flew to Port Vila, Vanuatu, last month and appeared to win the support of his fellow leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group countries — Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu — for his continued rule. Mr Bainimarama was vociferous about the impossibility of extending the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER Plus) to Australia and New Zealand. The forum agreed on an early start to negotiations to extend the free trade area covering the island countries, to the region’s economic heavyweights, Australia and New Zealand
Posted by rawfijinews
Sereana Qoro demotes her gal pal
August 6, 2009
The vindictive bad-hearted liar Sereana Qoro, has demoted her one-time confidante and gal pal, Mariana Saumadu. Sources say Mariana was pushed by Sereana to be FHL’s board secretary, which she got. Sereana even threw in a brand new Honda CRV for the board secretary’s role to win Mariana’s continuing support. But all that loyalty-buying by Sereana back-fired when Mariana replaced her as Acting FHL group Managing Director while Sereana Qoro was sent to the sin bin by Frank & Co. People who know Qoro well say that Mariana’s sudden rise to fame and her few days of acting in Qoro’s seat didn’t sit well with the deceitful Sereana Qoro. Mariana became a thorn and a threat to Qoro overnight and had to be pruned by stripping her off the Board Secretary job. FHL market announcement also report that Mariana will now be replaced by Tevita Gonelevu, Manager Financial Markets.
Posted by rawfijinews
The Fijian Resort hotelier, Radike Qereqeretabua, must be regretting accepting the military’s appointment to rejoin the FHL board. FHL website reveal that Qereqeretabua is not new to FHL. He was a past director when Lyle Cupit was the Chairman giving him the benefit of compare and contrast between the ousted shrewd business-smart board verses the green prideful militarised FHL board of today. A market announcement by FHL reveal that Qereqeretabua has tendered in his resignation citing “demanding work and personal commitments” as his excuse to opt out. But those close to Qereqeretabua say otherwise. They say he is disappointed and embarrased by Sereana Qoro, Col Aziz Mohammed and Isoa Kaloumaira’s lack of business ethics which catapulted in the failed BP Oil acquisition proposal crap Qoro took up to the board. Qereqeretabua was heard to have said that he no longer wants to be associated with FHL’s bunch of crooks. Unfortunately for him, his term as Director FHL post 2006 coup will continue to haunt him. A law suit against the FHL board and management will be a litigation matter in the coming years. That’s for sure!
Posted by rawfijinews
Police Commish Teleni is a very bad example of what a christian crusader is all about. He thinks he’s doing God a favor by imposing his “souls for Jesus” draconian rules onto his officers and the public of Fiji. The endless rolling over of Fiji’s Public Emergency Regulation powered by Teleni is nothing but a bully tool he uses to instil fear and control the populace. The PER lie has been abused big time by Teleni. Case in point is Sakiusa Raivoce’s two nights detention who was later released yesterday without any charges. So Teleni, now that you’ve failed to find any legal charges to hammer Raivoce with, will you allow Raivoce to use his rights to seek redress on your unfounded allegations? If Teleni can apply PER on Raivoce and others, then it is only proper that these law-abiding citizens be given the equal chance to go to court for their unfounded random detention based on some flimsy personal vendetta by Teleni and others. But Fiji is a pariah state.
There’s no such thing as fair justice nor rule of law in coup coup land.
Posted by rawfijinews
Hasn’t somebody told Alipate Qetaki that he’s living in a totalitarian state? He claims that the Native Land Trust Board is bound by law and can not take action against defaulting tenants.
According to Qetaki “the process of reentering a piece of land that has been in default on rates is a lengthy one according to the Native Land Trust Act”. Where has Qetaki been since Easter? Holidaying on the far side the moon? The constitution, which did make it difficult to change the Native Lands Trust Act, is gone. A change in law or the constitution for that matter needs no more than a decree. And decrees issue from an orifice that we don’t refer to in polite company.
Qetaki says he hopes “that some areas of the existing law can be changed to assist in the re-entry of leased land that are not being utilized so that they can be leased again.” That’s no excuse you moron and everybody knows that except you.
Navosavakadua
Posted by rawfijinews
Australia adopting double standards on travel ban
August 6, 2009
coupfourpointfive reported Mahendra Chaudhry is in Australia.
Now then, Mr Rudd failed to execute a ‘peaceful step by step resolution’ he talks about. It was very simple and remains simple enough for Mr Rudd to penalize peacefully those coup supporters INCLUDING Australian citizens shamelessly tucking away bloated wallets on the ground. Australians openly supporting dictatorship rule in Fiji without fear of recriminations from their motherland travelling back and forth countless times a year.
truetofiji
Posted by rawfijinews
Two and half years later if Frank Baimarama thinks that his is “victory” he should think again. Dishonest victories are sure to backfire and Frank’s is no exception. We can only conclude in saying that the illegal regime’s actions after the 2006 has resulted in a “Pyrrhic Victory,” a victory by them that has been accompanied by enormous losses and has left them as winners in as desperate shape and isolation as if they had lost. It is a victory gained at too great a cost, a victory or success that comes at the expenses of great losses or cost to the nation and its people. Pyrrhus, an ancient general who after defeating the Romans told those who wanted to congratulate him; “one more such victory and Pyrrhus is undone.” Let us hope Frank and his regime realizes sooner than later because they will never be given a chance to do it again or get away with all the misery and hardship they have brought to the people of Fiji. Force and not moral reasoning is Frank’s ally, an ally in which exploits and negates the triumph.
Frank and his team have gambled away the trust placed in the nation’s constitutional powers for the use of the guns and has temporarily secured their power base by means of suppression and now tenuous monopoly on any information. The cancellation of the Methodist conference is a great disappointment but like all of us and the Roko Tui Dreketi we are learning to cope and survive. It is a case of have to and we will do it. However, what concerns us greatly is the Vunivalu of Rewa, Epeli Mataitini, undermining the Roko Tui Dreketi publicly in his statement of her. His attitude will reflect greatly on the youth of today. With proper upbringing it is not acceptable that another chief undermines or embarrasses another chief in public, no matter the provocation. Proper upbringing when practised should mean something and sadly it is not happening in our beloved Fiji. Torika
Posted by Sai Lealea at 9:49 PM 0 comments
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