Foreign Diplomatic Relationship with Fiji Hits Bottom of the Barrel: "Fiji's Self Elected Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama Botches Again!!"

By Luvei Viti Think Tank group@ myvuw

Fiji people really need to take an intensive close look at the damage this regime is doing to Fiji's relations with Foreign Nations more so now with the most recent announcement. Frank Bainimarama, coup leader, now self elected Prime Minister of Fiji, has again expressed pointedly negative views about the two big Pacific neighboring Nations, New Zealand & Australia.

Is this another Faux-par?

Certainly not, Bainimarama, as Fiji coup leader, together with his 'inner circle' had the concept of insulting both these two Nations in their back pockets and had been been noted to be 'drip feeding' hints overtime in the recent months.

These Fiji regimes' arrogant and proud prickly ' inner circle' had the notion that it cannot be seduced into dancing the same tune with these two Nations. This attitude is very 'UN-FIJIAN' and anyone in their right mind and who are from Fiji will know what we are implying here.

The thrust of the recent announcement to expel foreign diplomats in Fiji and who are from New Zealand & Australia by Bainimarama resonates these points and can almost be likened to that of what happened in India during the British rule, quote, "transfer of power in India, and the collection and publication of the papers of many key Indian players in the processes of decolonisation."as observed in 'Shameful Flight: The Last Years of the British Empire in India, by Stanley Wolpert'

We believe, it must be noted, to those who may not be aware of the complexities of the relationship within the Fiji societies more so between the Indigenous Fijians and Fiji Indians exists vast range of differences in their thinking and attitudes towards Leadership and Governance. Fiji's Colonial Masters saw this and knew that the two races were 'poles apart' and may very well pose big problems in the future as is the current state, if it does not get reigned in. Fiji's late leaders were able to maintain peace in their effort to master this by exercising their insight, forbearance, consistency, perserverance, persistence and constancy.

Was Trouble Brewing in Fiji?

100 years plus after Fiji's Deed of Cession & ultimately its Independence from Great Britain in 1970 Fiji has enjoyed being guided into civilization under the British Rule. Did the Brits know about these impending issues that will one day haunt Fiji as it is doing now? Perhaps the learned ones or those valued thoughts from 'Turaga ni Vanua' (s) and Fiji elders, who are often forgotten, can point a way for us in this instance.

The fact is, Bainimarama & his 'inner circle' have driven Fiji far deeper into trouble, jeopardizing the Nations relationship not only with New Zealand and Australia but the Commonwealth Nations and other Super Powers within the International Communities. In a nutshell, Fiji's future generation will have to work extra hard to rebuild a Free & Better Fiji from the remnants of these two decades of Coup de tats and their type of governance. Meanwhile, how will Bainimarama & his regime regenerate confidence in their leadership?

Is Fiji weakening its Government to Government Diplomacy?

As noted by a US expert [PHK] in Whirledview, quote,

"Government-to-government diplomacy is an ancient and essential function, but public diplomacy is a newer tool that only governments with good things to share and relatively little to hide can use effectively. As the diplomatic tool par excellence of democracy, public diplomacy operates by precept and example.

Public diplomats disseminate information that can stand up to critical or even hostile examination—and when truth penetrates secretive or corrupt regimes the hold of tyranny erodes. Conversely, should an exemplar of good governance fall into patterns of deceit, dishonesty, abuse of power, corruption or hypocrisy, the way back is difficult. Credibility has been lost. " unquote.

Indeed, one can only deduce for themselves the outcome of Frank Bainimarama's most recent outburst on its bigger neighboring Nations, New Zealand & Australia.

--------------------------------

Read more about Australian's take on Bainimarama's recent Diplomatic Botch.

Excerpts of article below:

"Fiji expels Australia's top diplomat."

BRENDAN NICHOLSON AND JOEL GIBSON, November 4, 2009

AUSTRALIA is expected to formally expel a senior Fijian envoy today after Fiji's self-appointed Prime Minister ordered the high commissioners of Australia and New Zealand out of his country.
Commodore Frank Bainimarama said yesterday that he had told his Foreign Affairs Ministry to tell the Australian and New Zealand governments to recall their heads of missions within 24 hours.

"I have also informed them that our high commissioner in Australia is to be recalled with immediate effect,'' Commodore Bainimarama said.
Australian high commissioner James Bartley and New Zealand's acting high commissioner, Todd Cleaver, were expected to leave within hours.

Asked last night if he would formally order Fiji's acting high commissioner, Kamlesh Kumar Arya, to leave, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said he would make a considered decision today.
Mr Smith said he was very disappointed by Commodore Bainimarama's actions.
''It is very difficult to engage in dialogue when the other side won't have a conversation with you,'' Mr Smith said last night on Lateline."

In the same article, Michael Field & Tracy Watkins says this for NZ's reaction,

read on;
"Mr McCully said yesterday that he was disappointed at Fiji's action, which came as New Zealand and Australia had been making efforts to improve relations.
Australia had recently stepped up its representation and New Zealand had been considering similar moves.Commodore Bainimarama accused both countries of being dishonest.
"They claim to be our friends yet on the other hand they failed to recognise the efforts that we are making in being a good international citizen,'' he said.

"That is why I cannot understand why Australia and NZ are engaged in dishonest and untruthful strategies, to undermine our judiciary, our independent institutions and our economy.''
The announcement came two days after Fiji's Australian Chief Justice, Anthony Gates, said Australia and New Zealand had counselled seven Sri Lankan judges against taking up appointments in Fiji.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says the judges were merely advised that once appointed they would be subject to travel bans in place since April when Fiji's constitution was abrogated and the judiciary sacked.

It said travel bans had been relaxed in the past on humanitarian grounds.
Some of the Sri Lankan judges were due to arrive in Fiji on Monday via South Korea, after they cancelled their planned transit through Australia, thinking that they would not be allowed in.
With MICHAEL FIELD and TRACY WATKINS
Source: The Age

Is Fiji's Military leader becoming Trapped by some Viscious Cycle which he cannot Escape From? Or Has He Missed the Plot? More on Fijigirl's Blog.

Fiji PM says Pacific grouping to strengthen

Posted on October 30, 2009 by fijigirl

Fiji’s interim Prime Minister says he is being encouraged by some Pacific Island Forum nations to include them in next year’s Melanasian Spearhead Group meeting. It is Fiji’s turn to chair the MSG next year, and it is considering giving observer status to some island nations outside the group to enable them to attend the meeting.

Traditionally MSG membership is restricted to Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea. But since Fiji’s suspension from the Pacific Islands Forum and the Commonwealth, Fiji is barred from meetings such as PACER Plus.

Interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama says Fiji’s needs a forum to discuss issues of common interest to the whole region.

Presenter: Geraldine CouttsSpeaker: Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Fiji’s interim Prime Minister

Listen:
Windows Media

BAINIMARAMA: What is happened is a couple of leaders of the rest of the Pacific Island nations have come to see me, saying that there is now no forum for us to talk bilaterally and multilaterally, so they thought it would be a good idea if we they can talk to us in a forum such as that. Fiji will be chairing the MSG next year, so there has been some suggestion that in that MSG, I could also invite the rest of the Pacific Island nations to come as observers, not only as observers, but also be an opportunity for us to discuss issues that affects us.

COUTTS: So that you would conduct your own Pacific Island Forum without Australia and New Zealand?

BAINIMARAMA: No, no, I would be conducting the MSG Grouping meeting, but we will be inviting the rest of the Pacific Island nations, because that is what they want me to do.
COUTTS: Who wants you do to that?

BAINIMARAMA: I’m sorry, I am not at liberty to let you know, but the fact of the matter is that I have been approached by a couple of them to say that it would be a good idea for me to call them as observers, so that we can have a forum to talk on issues affecting a whole lot of us, including Fiji. As you know, we have been removed from the forum, so there is no forum that we can all talk.

COUTTS: It does seem that you want to get everybody together, the Pacific Island nations, including the MSG and hold talks of your own that would be similar to that of the forum?

BAINIMARAMA: Yes.

COUTTS: Who approached you? I know you cannot talk?

BAINIMARAMA: I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I am not at liberty to tell you

COUTTS: Yeah, I understand that, but I was just wondering because you met with a lot of the MSG leaders for a golf tournament recently, was this what was discussed then?

BAINIMARAMA: Yes, but remember I also met a lot of Pacific Island nation leaders in New York a month back.

COUTTS: So will Australia and New Zealand be invited to the forum meeting when you host or chair the MSG next year?

BAINIMARAMA: No, no, this is MSG meeting, it is not a forum meeting. It is not a Pacific Island Forum meeting. It’s a MSG meeting which Fiji will be chairing next year and so there has been a suggestion which I take very seriously in inviting the rest of the Pacific Island nation, countries to come and be observers, that way it would be an opportunity for us to talk as a group on matters affecting Fiji and the rest of the Pacific Island nations, because there is no forum such as that now.

COUTTS; That includes Fiji?

BAINIMARAMA: That’s includes Fiji.

COUTTS: So have you sent out the invitations yet for this meeting?

BAINIMARAMA: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I need to talk further on that with the rest of the MSG group.

COUTTS: And so will you restrict it, when you send out the invitations, will it include countries other than Forum island countries, like the northern Pacific, would you invite them as well?

BAINIMARAMA: I really don’t know what we’re going to do in the next 12 months, before we have this meeting. But if the meeting ever comes up, then of course it will be made public.
COUTTS: So what kinds of issues would you like to discuss, that you feel that you haven’t been able to discuss?

BAINIMARAMA: Well issues, issues that also includes Fiji, but which we don’t have a forum to talk in right now.

COUTTS: So because Fiji is suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum and the Commonwealth. You have tried to find another outlet so you can have discussions, so you can proceed. Is this is the first step for you actually saying you don’t want to be part of those organisations again?

BAINIMARAMA: Well no, we just want to continue talking with the rest of the Pacific Island nations and I guess with the rest of the Commonwealth countries. If we are suspended from Australia and New Zealand forum, I am sure there are other ways we can move forward without getting too involved in what Australia and New Zealand wants.

COUTTS: Now funding is always an issue and a lot of the funding comes from Australia and New Zealand and also from the EU. There is a story that is going around at the moment that the EU has offered Fiji a parcel of money, in excess of 200 million dollars, but Fiji has turned that down?

BAINIMARAMA: Eh I really don’t know that at this stage. No-one has offered Fiji any of that kind of amount in the last two, three months.

COUTTS: But money that has been offered, and Fiji turned it down because of the conditions attached?

BAINIMARAMA: No, as I said, I don’t know any of that type of offer. I have never been offered any of that kind of funds in the last, or Fiji has not been offered any kind of that funds in the last six months.

COUTTS: And is Fiji looking to the association of small island states for more support, because it seems after the climate change meetings, a round of the that some of the Pacific Island nations are adopted positions that more closely align those of the small island states, than it does the forum nations statements on climate change?

BAINIMARAMA: Well, you must understand that we share the same problems in climate change. Fiji and the rest of the Pacific Island nations, small island nations like Fiji.

COUTTS: So are they getting together on a formal basis then to make a presentation in Copenhagen with the Association of small island states

BAINIMARAMA: We are going to go to Copenhagen, with our own agenda, the agenda that has been endorsed by the small island nation forum in New York.

COUTTS: And s o what will you be putting to Copenhagen when you go?

BAINIMARAMA: Well, what we discussed in New York and that was what was discussed by the small island nations. But you must understand that we come from the same area. Geraldine, I have got something coming up very soon, so can we finish this off now?

COUTTS: Certainly, may I ask you one more question? You have appointed now Ratu Epeli Nailatikau as your president. When will that happen and for how long will he remain president?

BAINIMARAMA: Initially for three years, so the cabinet people will be coming up in the next cabinet meeting on Tuesday and we will finalise all those issues.

COUTTS: So can we expect to see a vice president appointed shortly?

BAINIMARAMA: Eh no, there will be no vice-president.

Fiji Girl's comments below;

Oh brother. So we got thrown out of the Commonwealth, the Pacific Forum, the ACP sugar benefits, and countless other international alliances and aid programmes so that this idiot could be the small fish in the MSG.
Fresh, free and fair elections NOW.
God bless Fiji

"FIJI'S MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE". Fiji's Next President as agreed by Chiefs & Chiefly System [Pre 2006 Coup] is Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi.

"30/10/09 FIJI’S MISCARRAGE OF JUSTICE.

The People and the Land are One. We chiefs rule both. We own neither,” so said Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna when describing the chiefs of Fiji and the metaphoric three legged stool (1980 Writings Ed. D.Scarr).

The distinction is an important one.The Mara-Ganilau dynasty is trying to do both – Rule and Own the Fijian people and our land, clearly shown by the recent appointment of Ratu Epeli Nailatikau as President, but not yet sworn in.

How did this appointment come about?Since illegally seizing power in 2006, Voreqe Bainimarama and his stooges have consistently chosen whatever route lets him avoid paying the price, under the rule of law, for what happened under his command to the murdered Counter Revolutionary Warfare soldiers and the four civilians.

Meanwhile Fiji languishes under Bainimarama’s politics of expediency.This kind of politics does not promote public good or Justice. It is greedy for power, money and status and it is an insult to the Fijian people, to our history, our culture and our sacred values and aspirations.

Our next President, as agreed by our chiefs and chiefly system, was supposed to be Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi. Instead we have a dynasty.If this regime is so confident that it knows what is best for the people of Fiji, then let them know, with their new appointed President in situ, to call an election for a new Parliament."

Dr. Mere Tuisalalo Samisoni,

elected Member for Lami Open Constituency (deposed)"

Climate Change in the Pacific: Ulamila Kurai Wragg Shares her thoughts.[click to view Meltdown Fiji]

Today, I wanted to highlight one of the TckTckTck campaign's Climate Witnesses, Ulamila Kurai Wragg, a mother and a journalist, she has seen the impacts of climate change worldwide and has a perspective we could all do well to listen to:

My name is Ulamila Kurai Wragg [Climate Activist] and I am from the Cook Islands.
When invited to speak about how climate change is impacting my island home at the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week in New York in September, I did not know what to expect.

But I felt positive because I was going to be part of this great team of people working to ensure that a fair, ambitious and binding deal is locked and sealed in Copenhagen come December.
I met the media and (as a journalist) I got a taste of my own medicine. Plus, I was more careful with my second language, English, and did my best to captivate whatever audience I had.
But nothing prepared me for what I felt when I encountered three inspirational women – Sharon Hanshaw from Biloxi, Mississippi; Constance Okollet from Uganda; and Ursula Rakova from the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea. I came with an open mind and I absorbed as much as I could from them.

We were part of the ‘TckTckTck Campaign’ as climate witnesses. The diversity in our representation gave life to our agenda to get global leaders to act and they must act fast.
They have to sign that moral deal because as climate witnesses we are testifying that we are now living and regularly dealing with rising seas, hurricanes, eroding shorelines, vanishing islands, flash floods and much more in our daily lives.

Constance’s story of hunger, Ursula’s fear of her island now ‘a paradise no more’ and Sharon’s life of rebuilding after ‘Hurricane Katrina’ moved me to tears. I could feel their fears and aching hearts because I am a mother of four children living on an island with receding shorelines.
My mother told me stories that I cannot repeat to my children because there is nothing here to prove that there was a creek that meandered around some swamp where they would catch little fish and feed eels. All we see today are dry beds half eaten away by the waves.

I live on the beautiful Vaima’anga beach in the Cook Islands, my fears are now mounting as we enter into the cyclone season. Yesterday we put extra nails into some new roofing irons and are stashing away emergency boxes in case we have to vacate our house. We have learnt to always “prepare to expect the unexpected”. Proactive rather than reacting.

We are teaching our children what to do when cyclones hit us, we are also warning them to stay away from the shores when they see big waves crashing pounding the lawns.

After New York, I felt that there was still more work needed to drive home the issue that leaders have to work on a fair deal and seal ASAP.

I now see that there are many layers to this issue of climate change but I am proud to hold up my corner as a climate witness. But I am not seeing the leaders working on theirs.
I will moan about the leaders and their moral obligations but I refuse to be a victim of the situation. We are standing up to do our own bit making sure that we stay alive to see this through.

New York taught me that to be heard is to be seen.

Ulamila Kurai Wragg (Cook Islands). Ulamila is a veteran journalist who has worked for the past 20 years in Fiji and the Cook Islands, witnessing first-hand the diverse impacts of climate change in both island countries. She is the interim coordinator for the not-for-profit Pacific WAVE Media Network and heads its Climate Change team. WAVE (Women Advancing a Vision of Empowerment) is a network of Pacific women media practitioners focused on empowering Pacific women as leaders in and through media. Ulamila lives with her husband and four children on Vaimaanga beach in Rarotonga.

Richard Graves on Twitter: www.twitter.com/tcktcktck

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-graves/climate-witnesses-a-voice_b_334886.html

Reflections on Fiji Day in Wellington, Aotearoa, NZ.2009

Ni sa bula, No'oia, Kia Ora, Namaste & Greetings,

10 October 2009, on Saturday, was marked by many Fiji people worldwide as a day to remember Fiji's Independence Day from Great Britain. This year in Wellington, Aotearoa, we marked the day with much more sombre mood as we remembered also those Fiji families that have lost their loved ones at the hands of the military regime back in Fiji over the last three years.

It was not easy to celebrate as Fiji & its people still struggle to come to terms with the fact that their basic rights & freedom have been compromised. As of todate, there are still restrictions to freedom of speech, freedom of press/media, freedom to hold public meetings or church gatherings as in the case of the Fiji Methodist Church and many more. The question we ask, how can we celebrate this special day in earnest when the regime maintains a tight control on the individuals freedom of choice & expression in Fiji. We still mourn for the losses of lives and for many other reasons which are too many to mention.
On a lighter note, we have decided to blog some images of what took place in Wellington on 10 October 2009. As always, the intention is to give the children an opportunity to reconnect with their roots in Fiji by being a part of this day. This at the very least, will give these kids a taste of what Fiji Culture & tradition is all about. We wish to also take this opportunity to thank our sponsors, Wellington City Council (esp Rita for all your expert help and guidance & ensuring venues as well as all those finer details were met), & also your fellow colleagues,Bessie & Marie.

Trade Aid (Christian & Philippa, for co-hosting with us the Cheese & Wine evening on Friday 09/10/09 & also for being our special guest on Saturday 10/10/09. Thanks for having those crafts from Fiji by the Matemosi Women's groups on display & also for the team of Trade Aid Volunteers that helped out with us on the day.
Fijian Congregation Members of All Nation's Christian Fellowship, Wellington for the mekes & leading us through the evening vigil. Special thanks to Talatala (s) S.Tuinasau, E.Delana, Waiz. To Alisi & all Children, men & women that performed on the day and made the day so special.

Jan, Manager of Johnsonville Community Hall for assisting us with an alternative venue at such a late notice due adverse weather as predicted for Saturday 10 October 2009 which did not allow us to have the event as planned at Frank Kitts Park.

Steve Ready, the expert weather man in Wellington, who once lived in Fiji, worked @ weather Bureau, Nadi International Airport, now married to a Fiji lady.

Thanks for keeping your fingers on the pulse & alerting us well before hand as to weather predictions for 10/10/09.
All other members of Fiji Community & other denominations that made time to be with us on this day. We also thank members of the wider Wellington Community who joined us also.

Last, but not least all the hard working Luvei Viti Core Team for Fiji Day 2009, Valencia Mar Melesia, Pauline Teautama, Taniela Naitini, Rafaele Brown, Dennis Veisaku, Sally, Ana Fong, Adi Samanunu & all those Volunteers that helped out on the day.
Vinaka Vakalevu, Tena Koto Tena Koto Tena Koto Katoa.
From: Core Team
Luvei Viti (Children of Fiji) Community

A Minute of Silence for Tsunami Victims in Tonga, Samoa & Indonesia.

From Mr Kasi Muaiava @ myvuw.
Sent: Friday, 2 October 2009 2:06 p.m.

Dear All,
"Samoa and neighbouring island Tonga have been devastated by the impact of the Tsunami. The university are regretfully sorry about the pain, sorrow and despair this has caused to all who have been affected. The investigation in to the total of those who have perished is still under way as the rubble will take a few days to clean up. I hope we are all coping with the tragic loss of our loved ones who have been taken." unquote.

Our prayers are with all those students studying at Victoria University & also all over Aotearoa. together with their families & loved ones that may have lost someone in the Tsunami disaster back in Samoa & Tonga within our neighboring Pacific Islands.

We also would like to extend our prayers to those students from Indonesia that may have lost their loved ones & families too in the recent Tsunami.
Luvei Viti Think Tank Group @myvuw.

After the tsunami: Poems from the Pacific

Image: Sia Figiel and one of her sons

Writer Sia Figiel and her children live in American Samoa. Like many others they fled to the mountains as the tsunami hit their island, and viewed afterwards the destruction it brought.

Sia sent her reflections on the day's traumatic events and her family's survival to the BBC website and shared her thoughts with her family and friends.

Some of those close to her have responded by turning her words into poetry and adding verses of their own.

The evening bells have just rung for evening prayer.

Our prayer tonight is
that of gratitude
that our family and neighbours are safe.
But our hearts
are with those families

"our hearts are with those families"
who can not say the same,
who will sleep tonight
without a son,
a daughter,
a mother,
a father,
an uncle,
an aunt,
a cousin,
a grandmother,
a grandfather.
Their loss is our loss.
Even the night birds feel it
~ Sia Figiel

How right you are. I love the way you articulated it....and so I write for you:
Even the night birds feel it
your words

"even in our disconnectedness"
swim the sky
and through
red feather clouds
and blood tears
i know that we are
connected
even in our disconnectedness
of space

~ CF Koya

To continue the prayer-poetry chain, I take your last lines and invite others to continue in prayer:
even in our disconnectedness
of space
the whole of Samoa is on its knees

"memories of the day before Wednesday"
Samoa in Aotearoa
Samoa in Fiji
Samoa in Amerika
Samoa in Hawai'i
praying and
swallowing salt tears
swallowing time
shoes and soles of feet
swallowing bones and lives and sheet
memories of the day before Wednesday
swallowing distance and space
swallowing our sea memories
to taste this pain
that is ours
~ Selina T. Marsh

I've added my part to the weaving, it follows Sia and the others, taking the pattern of repeating the last line of the previous poem...
To taste this pain that is ours
To remember one's heart is there
On that day in September
At the earliest hour
They watched the sea disappear
The bay empty like a valley
The sea rush back in a moan
Took the weaver from her fale
Took the child from warm arms
Took the elder from his family
Took the sleeper from her sleep
The blue deep, deep moana
There at the sacred heart of us
That echoes through each of us
When the panic madness falls
And the calm tide breathes
With all Samoa everywhere
With all of Tonga too
Remember your hearts there
And my heart too
~ Dan Taulapapa McMullin

And my heart too,

along with yours.
We are reminded
in the most brutal way
that we are all connected.
We are reminded
in the most brutal way,
that our relationship
with the ocean
is never
on our
own terms.
We are reminded
in the most brutal way
why dominion over nature
was never a part
of our epistemology.
We are reminded
in the most brutal way
why we know ourselves to be
simply a part
of a sacred continuum
of sacred relationships
where even
the ocean is alive,
where even
the night birds feel,
where even
the rocks have spirit,
where even
the blood red clouds
know why they are red.
We are reminded
in the most brutal way
the balance of life between
is sacred, va tapuia,
endlessly interconnected
across distance, space, time, species, life, death.
We are reminded
in the most brutal way
why long before
Christ arrived
on these shores
we have always been
a people of spirit
a people of faith.
~ Karlo Mila
A people of faith
A people
A people of
A people of faith
Faavae i le atua
They said
God will protect us
They said
Samoa is founded on God.
O children of the great and mighty Fofoaivaoese
Those of us who watch, and listen
from the great watery expanses of all the corners of the earth
hear Samoa's cry
Fofoaivaoese will not desert you Samoa
For even now the groundswell of love, support and prayers
Wave after wave after wave will crash on the very same tear-filled shores
which tore our worlds assunder
and will overcome, embrace and lift up our people, our aiga, our villages...our Samoa.
from despair and devastation
Do not grieve Samoa,
Outou, mataou, tatou...
With one hand we will hold on to the ancient words and wisdom of our ancestors
And with the other we will grasp the almighty power of Le Atua
As we people of faith
Calmly but surely...do what we have to do
Do
Do what
Do what we
Have to do
To remain...
People of faith
People of the Vao ese
We are here, watching, listening
And waiting.....
~ Melani Anae
Aueeee, our fathers cry
>Aueee, our mothers cry
Auee, our children cry
>Aue, we all cry
>We cry salted tears
>We cry silent fear
>We cry mournful alofa
>For our people
>We cry, Aue…. We cry!
~ Allan Alo
We cry, Aue…. We cry!
The strongest of the strong cry
Through the push and pull of the tides
And waves of pain and agony
that crash against the shore of our wounded hearts we cry, Aue...
We cry
We cry tears of blood
that flow deep through the sea of sorrow flow with the whispers of our soft prayers ascending above the clouds and settle beyond the depths of our soul. It is there that our tears have dried dried into a grain of salt a grain of salt called faith, the one thing we continue to hold on to for faith, isn't faith until it is all that we have left to hold on to it is what will wipe the tears of the strongest cry give us comfort in the night allow the warm rays of the sun to brush upon our skin push and pull the greatest memories of love with that of the tides heal the waves of wounded hearts lost in the sea of sorrow dry our tears and carry us into tomorrow...
~ Christina Pelesasa http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/8286485.stm

Fiji Day-10 October 2009: A Tribute To Hon. Laisenia Qarase & all the Elected Politicians that Got Ousted by Fiji's Military Coup

Image: Elected Fiji Prime Minsiter, Laisenia Qarase.
by Mike

For rich or poor Mr Prime Minister? November 20, 2008 Power is almost synonymous to the amassing of wealth by those who think wield power. Ratu Kamisese was a very rich man during his reign as Fiji’s first Prime Minister. He was probably lucky he was born a chief which gave him easy access to the best education and he used that edge wisely to become a revered Fijian millionaire PM.

Timoci Bavadra we believe was comfortably wealthy but not a millionaire. His wife Adi Quini was far from being a materialistic kind and both were quite genuine in serving the people rather than to line their own pockets. Bavadra’s tenure as Prime Minister was short-lived but even if he had survived his full term, we still doubt very much that he would have been too carried away in building his own wealth nest.

Military coupster Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka came out an asset-rich millionaire after his reign. His rags to riches story made him splurge like crazy when he realised how he could use his Prime Ministership to pump up his own personal net worth. But he was a stupid fool and a show-off with his moral compass pointing permanently down-south at his untamed second brain. He had it all but almost lost it all with just enough to now live a simple pensioner’s life. He could have been a very rich men but fate proved that what goes around comes around if you are a power snatcher – hint hint to Frank.

Mahendra Chaudhry is another rags to riches smooth operator cum millionaire. His ability to cunningly accumulate millions of dollars from sympathetic people and later stash it away quietly outside of Fiji is the work of a genius. His brilliance as Fiji’s Robin Hood is second to none. If Chaudhry is able to raise such funds for ”him and his family” outside the ambit of being a full-fledged serving PM, you can’t blame Joe Blow’s imagination running wild on the possibility of the many more bundles of money bags Chaudhry would have re-routed to his other hidden accounts had he stayed in office for a full 5 years term.

Laisenia Qarase is a typical poor village boy from the outer islands with only a sleeping mat, pillow if his lucky ,and a cane knife as his start-up capital. His humble beginnings would almost mirror that of Rabuka and Chaudhry as poor commoners who have struggled and worked damn hard to earn their keep. Qarase proved himself as an astute banker in the private sector. He was probably earning the most as compared to the others before they assumed the PM’s job. Qarase seem to have been doing very well as Managing Director of FDB then Merchant Bank. And we don’t doubt the fact that he gave up his lucrative well remunerated top job to serve the people as a democratically elected PM on a much reduced pay pack. Simply put, Qarase is the only one who has factually sacrificed his better-off executive lifestyle to serve his country. His humble home at Moti St is not palatial like his counterparts and he is not known to have acquired any other new asset during his term as PM. Ask FICAC and they will tell you how useless their efforts are in trying to dig out dirt on this man. Their manufactured corruption charges against Qarase just doesn’t seem to stick.

Like his military coup-maker partner in crime Rabuka, Frank is wasting no time in feathering his own nest. His whooping $188,000 back-pay was an appetizer to many other shady deals that followed including real estate property acquisition, silent partnership with some Middle Eastern and Asian businessmen, siphoning of funds to his hidden offshore accounts and many more that will come out of the woodworks after his fall. Frank has been a public servant naval guy all his life with a reasonable pay pack. As CEO of Fiji, he is still at awe with the millions of taxpayers dollars he now controls. He just can’t believe he’s inside the pot of gold. And the nuttiest thing he will do is go to town with it which is exactly what he is doing, buying peoples loyalty. Perhaps Frank should seek advice from Rabuka on the hard realities that comes with being a power and money grabber. It’s all but illusive.

http://www.matavuvale.com/group/fijitruthcommissionmovement/forum/topics/maori-tv-news-debrief-on-fiji

Unearthing 'Na Dina' & Real Authentic Fiji Truths about Frank Bainimarama & his merry-coup Perpetrators.

by TK on September, 2009

As I was driving through the rough terrain of Nabukavesi towards Suva,on the evening of the sixth of Dec. 2006, every body knew that there will be a coup as the subject of all conversation were about how Ministers vehicles were taken and it went one by one and finally the news broke that the Prime Minister Qarase was airlifted from Naqali to Suva as there soldiers awaiting him at a road block in Sawani.

We all knew this a military coup. It is a saddest moment in Fiji.
How could one stop these Coup Cultures as it is not beneficial to anybody.
The biggest issue here ‘that the RFMF is for Fiji and not Fiji for the RFMF.’

What I meant that the people of Fiji is the final authority. Whatever it is, it is the ‘Voice of the People’ [that] should have been the final authority.

2006 election: RFMF ran a parallel campaign against the SDL but fail to acquire a seat with the Political party it was campaigning for.

The People just did not accept them and what they represent.

It was fair RFMF personnel went into villages, coast, to the interior and all over they convince nobody and the votes reflected that. This was so democratic unfortunately Tax payers dollars were used here.

Fiji Today,
· Every 3yrs or younger, ‘Children of Fiji have not seen or breath ‘a fresh air of freedom’.

· All they grew up with is fear.

· All the stories they would have grown up with:
· is intimidation, harassment, soldier in & out in everybody’s life & business, torture.

· It is these group in our population that we may have to educate, what is freedom and what is democracy.

· They have not seen any constitutional right neither have the opportunity to see and hear our traditional protocol taking it's position in all that is happening now.

· If 2014 were to be the year we return to a Democratic governance than we are denying our citizen, all those born form the 1990s by the year 2014 they would be in their early 20's.

· This goes to every kid out there son and daughters of chiefs, everybody they were closed out from a breathe of freedom and democracy.

· How would they live and what kind of life they would live is what Fiji will be.

· No one has ever consider to sit back and critically analyze this and how would these affect our society. At this stage I have’nt seen any reason so valid worth the national sacrifice of our society.

· Would the clean up ever provide any platform of fairness to our society for future definition of Fiji to be? All one see that Fiji the way the world should be is up for more much bumpier rides.

· I plead to everybody in Fiji lets not be shortsighted, lets all stop and re evaluate what is going on and what have done to ourselves.

· Fiji was made in a way by our forefathers totally the opposite of what we are doing now.

· We should all sit down and start looking at what we are doing, for the children of Fiji have been done wrong by the coup leaders & leaders and we have to do something about it.

· These children deserve better then all the reason put together for the coup.

· Now more social hardship is what they will be growing through and they do not deserve any.

· Whole generation has been taken out by Rabuka, Speight and now with the current adminstration [Bainimarama & co] and all leaders Alliance, SVT, FLP, SDL, NFP. Lets all stop and see what we've done to ourselves.

Everybody, and all Stakeholders, Political leaders to sit down and look at Fiji in a bigger picture and especially the children of Fiji to day and for Fiji tomorrow.

Investors Nightmare in Fiji is like Shifting Sand: The Reality of Investing your Hard Earned Dollars in Fiji. [Click for VB's Bluff]

Investors Nightmare in Fiji is like Shifting Sand: The Reality of Investing your Hard Earned Dollars in Fiji.

Resort investors attempt to get income moving

4:00AM Monday Sep 21, 2009

By Anne Gibson [New Zealand Herald's latest Update on Fiji Investors].

Some investors mortgaged their family homes to buy into the villas and were in tears about their plight.Investors who poured $200 million into the Fiji Beach Resort & Spa managed by Hilton are working with a receiver in an attempt to get money flowing again.

Villa Owners' Association members met in Auckland on Thursday and Friday at lawyers Lowndes Jordan to nut out a plan of action.

They are working with Grant Graham of KordaMentha, the Auckland receiver of Fijian companies Denarau Investments and Denarau International.

Those two Nadi companies received money from the hotel business and were expanding the 160-villa property which continues to operate.

But a big cost blowout for Greenlane developer Neville Mahon sparked major issues which came to a head towards the end of last year.

Receivers were appointed this month after Bank of Scotland provided a $45 million loan, and Strategic Finance is owed about $75 million.

The four association members paid $3 million-plus for resort properties but have had no income for months.

They are Rick Campbell, of Melbourne, who owns a villa and studio he bought for $860,00; Trevor Rogan, of Southland and Fiji, who owns a villa he bought for $425,000; Sarah Hunter, of Auckland, who has an $800,000-plus villa; and Graeme Knott, a Melbourne accountant, who owns a $940,000 de luxe two-bedroom villa.

Rogan said some investors had mortgaged family homes to buy into Fiji and were in tears to him about their plight. They were having to sell their family homes, he said.

Knott, of Moonee Ponds chartered accountants Knott and Associates, met Graham on Thursday and proposed an arrangement which has yet to be put to all villa owners. Knott emphasised that he wanted to keep them informed and would not act without their consent. He was reluctant to release precise details until the deal was in place.

But he wants money to go to investors from the hotel business, which he says enjoys high occupancy rates and is operating extremely successfully.

Rogan said investors first learned of problems in January when their $1.1 million payment for the quarter to December was not deposited. "We haven't been paid since then," a disappointed Rogan said, estimating that about $4 million to $5 million was owed.

Mahon invoked a force majeure clause in contracts to deny revenue, naming floods and a fierce cyclone during January, the international recession and Fiji's political situation.

The association says its first task in January was to ascertain the identities of other property owners: 141 investors are New Zealanders, 52 are Australians, 16 live in the United States, 30 in Fiji, one lives in Dubai and one in Canada. People were drawn to the resort for regular income payments and the benefit of a free 10-weeks-a-year stay in their studios or villas. The beachfront resort opened in 2006.

Hunter said the association wanted one organisation and was seeking an accord with another investor association led by Tappenden's Rob Campbell, of the Viaduct Harbour.

Rick Campbell said this had been accomplished and the investors would be "moving together as one group with a common purpose".Grant Watson was appointed chairman of the new combined investors' body on Friday and Rogan said the next step would be to send information to all owners.

http://www.matavuvale.com/profiles/blogs/investors-nightmare-in-fiji-is
As re-blogged by FTCM

Will Fiji Be Another Little Slum City like Mumbai in the Pacific? [Click to view].

This is an interesting threads of discussion in a Fiji Family Forum called Matavuvale.com. It is interesting to read all the views of the ordinary people who genuinely wants some solutions to be reached so Fiji & its people can enjoy a peaceful existence once more in their beloved homeland.

It is obvious that all the well thought out reasons and/or excuses to say whether this coup has been good or bad, the bottom line, Fiji is in a terrible Mess as recently echoed by one of Fiji's seasoned Politician.

Read further to get a feel of what matters to these ordinary Fijians.

Luvei Viti Think Tank @ myvuw.

-----------------------------------------------------

Dave Langi, (response by Na Dina FTCM)

[latest response to D.Langi's post which can be read @bottom of page]

Your threads makes a lot of sense indeed. Forget Eddie & others like him who are just bleeting out rhetorics to suit their cause. They remind us of what that man called Takur Singh who blogs at Pacific Scoop together with Cros Walsh, Robbie David, they are pushing for a Fiji 'Mumbai Slum city'!!

Its people like Eddie & co that likes to ride the waves of popularity because they are the illegal regime of the day. So what do they do; they shine the shoes of their masters with their faces!! Simple version 'soli maka deo' big time.

Fijians at this point in time are pitted against those like names mentioned above who are computer literate, they scam,spam, hack, & block your internet access because thats their trade.

These people are vocal, ambitious, money-minded, individualistic & are in a diffrent world of their own. They know fully well Fijians are disadvantaged in this sense so they come out in droves dominating the blogosphere, newspaper articles, radio news and any other media they can get their hands, feet & face on.

They have all gone beserck if you ask for our opinions, thats the bottoms line. Its Fiji lolly scramble or Chilli Scramble for that matter as it might suit what they are all about.

They promote suppression to the voiceless & marginalised. One only needs to see whether VB reaches out to each village or people in the streets in Fiji?

Evidence shows they select who they want to reach out to & this unfortunately is being dictated by the likes of those that think from their nose up!! So where does the ordinary Fiji person end up - no one cares' thats the attitude this regime has. This is why Fiji people need normalcy & democracy to be reinstated asapo PERIOD.
---------------------------------------------

Just some excerpts of earlier threads of discussion

ZAC
Na vakadonui koya vakataki koya ga, koya la o vunau taka toka qori e cake e tu sara ga qori vei kemuni Eddie. ..." but the one who execute well, I think is right.." Maumau nomuni dau vosa vakamaqosa, qai sega ni titobu nomu rai.. Your ideas are so fixed on Voreqe being the only one who can bring about changes to our Nation...bahhhhhhhhhhTovolea mo vakarabailevutaka na nomu rai, Mr. Koroitunalagi. Sa dina sara ni da masumasu kece tu oqo. I don't see why some hypocrites like you cannot accept the fact that if God had put VB there, then all the repercussions that are taking place now, are all part of God's plan as well.. Sega ni rawa ni ko na mai kaya tiko meda mai toso vata.. Na veika ena yavu taki mai ena i naki ca kei na lewa kaukauwa, ena saqati ga. It's a universal knowledge, that " Dictatorship and Freedom Fighters, come hand in hand..!!!!!!"

Reply by Eddie C.Koroitunalagi
@Zac.......E sega ni dua na vakasama ni toso ki liu e tiko vei kemuni,eda vinakata kece me caka na veidigidigi vaka democracy,ena sega ni rawa ni yaco na duavata kevaka e tiko na veivaka duduitaki.Toso mai tagane,sa kua mada na vakabebe tiko,na veikakece e yaco, e yaco ena gaunisala duidui ka sa noda i tavi ga na vakavinavinaka tiko ni sa i'a kina na vei vakavulici keina veivakadodonutaki.......na leqa gona ni veika vinaka e tu na kena meca and that universal knowledge tagane......vodo ga mai meda mai qai.

Reply by Justin
Eddie vodo vei Voreqe??lolzz,sa rauti iko ga mo vodo yani mana,ni rauti iko vinaka,,wahahahahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Reply by Eddie C.Koroitunalagi
@Justin.....cakacaka vakaukauwa mai yasana qori Ratu J,mo lesu mai mo bau mai yaga talega.....kua ni leqa e sa maroroi vinaka tu na noda vanua.

Reply by Alexander Tabua
Eddie taura mada na vakasama qo..You stole from a shop and you end up in jail even though you have your own reasons..Lets say Bainimarama stole from the same shop as you did and he did not go to jail and his got his own reasons...Both your reasons are not that much difference.

The judge was sacked in order for Bainimarama to escape justice that you served...Thats where we are coming from...The fight for fairness to equality..So that he too should face the law like you did..His reasons should not be looked..He stole..period..Because of his stealing in a shop or armed robbery..it has cost the lives of two people..Sakiusa Rabaka and Verebasaga...So i beg you my friend,come join us...George speight is in prison so must Bainimarama..A coup is a coup..Reasons should not be looked at..

Reply by Eddie C.Koroitunalagi
@Alexander.......E rawa ni tautauvata na nomudaru cala ena duidui ga na gaunisala drau dui muria,koya ya e duidui kina nai totogi.I feel sorry for the deceased family and my prayers goes to them......very simple,kevaka eda na coqa na lewa,ena coqai keda tale ga ka rawa ni tini sara ena leqa koya e yaco vei rau na wekaqu qori....Ni qai kalougata tiko..!!!!

Reply by Alexander Tabua
On one condition to your commentGeorge speight should be freed..so should the CRW soldiers...The families of the deceased fully compensated..Then we can move on..Just a thought..

Reply by Fiji Truth Commission Movement
Eddie C.Korotunalagi.Obviously you have missed the point or [missed de bus to your village...]

Here read for your self what Article 7 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights say:

"Article 7.All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination."

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/Your lot need to read & evaluate for yourselves how many of the articles listed that Fiji's current military dictator have breached.We will indeed look forward to having a field day in court & seeing Due Process being carried out.

Na DinaFTCM Team

Reply by Kasanita Kamakorewa Lindell
Oilei!!! O iko talega naita Eddie....me daru sota mada mo qai taroga vei au na taro qori, qai macala sara mada.....freeze se melt! lol... Show me your book first!God bless OUR Fiji indeed!! :)

Reply by Dave Langi
It is not worth the suffering of any Fijian, be it physical, emotional or spiritual, beause of the dictatorship in place.

For lesson learn which was never considered after the Rabuka debacle, each clan should reign in their own boys/men who are in the military, so their ties to families, clan, vanua, and church is so tight, there is very little room for loyalty to a dictator.

Look at the Council of the Chiefs. It is becoming a huge joke. The dictator in place dictates who can join and who is to be booted out. Never before in the history of Fiji.By having soldiers keeping close ties with their own family, they will always come first, not the 2-bit dictator who put the country to shame and chaos.

There is an old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice, I am an idiot." Isn't this the third of fourth coup in the last 20 years? No wonder the whole world is laughing.

Faith and work move mountains. Faith and pray? Hope you have a lot of patience, for this comedy will last a long time and Fiji will change in front of your own eyes. And then you will ask God, why did it happened. God will probably say, "I don't know! Frank asked for it and he went out and do it. And all the while, you just hope and do nothing about it."

I was just saying........... I don't know what God would really say, but I hate for him to tell me to wait because Frank will be done in 20 years. That will be very disappointing news, coming from God. Because, tommorrow, I may be in a bus accident which seems to be happening more and more these days.

And God will say, " Chill out! Why do you care, you are not in Fiji anymore. There are men in Fiji who can decide for themselves the future of Fiji. Let's wait them out for they are still arguing on what they need to do." But, I'm just saying........You know what I mean?

TO READ MORE GO TO: http://www.matavuvale.com/profile/FijiTruthCommissionMovement

Indigenous Fijians & their Cultures/Chiefly System Must not be Forgotten: A Message to the Commonwealth & Bainimarama's Regime.

Revisiting what Raw Fiji News had echoed earlier in their blog below. We believe 'Nuggets of Truth' are revealed in this piece which articulates what most 'Ai Taukei Dina kei Viti' [Indigenous people of Fiji] are feeling in their hearts right now.

Sir Paul Reeves, representing Commonwealth Secreatariat, returned from Fiji on 11 September, 2009.

As we monitored and watched details of these meetings one can read the Master Plans a mile off, Bainimarama & his regime are using 'rail-roading' tactics, as they have been doing for the last 03 years with little or nothing to show for, except, military men, vb included, parading around in uniforms & regalias as if Fiji was a war-zone. Get Real!!

We are told those that were allowed to see Sir Paul Reeves were University academics ['yes -men' to VB & cronies], Business or Commerce Groups made up of mostly Indians & current regime.

So where are Indigenous Fijian Chiefs, other Representations from other Societies in Fiji i.e Rotumans, Banabans, Europeans, Chinese & others, the elected & Seasoned Politicians, Heads of Religious Organisations, Law Fratenity, trusted & much respected Fiji elders who have served their time lifting Fiji from the bottom of the barrel?

Questions:

How one sided can these meetings be?

• How can these so called money men & a handlful of academics & the corrupt vb regime 'Re-Contsruct Fiji'?


• Who are these people?
• Do we know them?

Can we trust these so-called 'wannabe experts' for our lives, our families, our resources, our future and Fiji's future?

Veikeda na Lewe ni Vanua o Viti kei keda kece sara na Kawa i Taukei:

Esa dodonu beka me ra mai vakatulewa o ira na kai tani ena noda Vanua Lomani o Viti. A cava era sega ni sureti kina o ira na noda Turaga ni Vanua? Esa cava e manati ratou tu na dabeca toka nai tutu ni veiliutaki vaka mataivalu ka ra gone i taukei? Era sa sega ni nanumi ira na wekadra se sa vesuki tu na nodra mona. Ena gauna oqo sa gaunba meda yadra mai ena veika e latitaki tu me da kua ni raica. Me da veitauri liga ka masulaka na veika baleti keda vakai Taukei de na qai yaco me da vaka lolomataki ka bula tu ena bula ni veivaka bobula taki me vaka esa caka tu vei keda ena gauna oqo. O ira na noda Turaga mera rokovi ka mera taqomaki.

Na kerekere vei keimuni kece sara na noda gone i Taukei ka ko ni curu tu ena mataivalu e Viti - Ni lomani keimami na kawa i Taukei me vaka ga ni levu sara vei kemuni e susugi ga mai ena kawa vaka i Taukei. Mo ni yadra ka raica na veivaka loloma taki ko ni sa vakayacora tiko vei keimami. Me tini ka tamusuki. Ni vaka nadakua na i vesu ni bula ko ni vesuki tu kina. Sa ra lewai Viti mai oira na tani. Sa ratou sureti oqoti o ira na veiliutaki ni dau ni vuku mai na Universiti oqo e Viti [USP]. Era na lewe levu ga kina oira na tani ka lewe lailai sara na gone i Taukei. O iratou na dau ni bisinisi, eda kila vinaka sara tu ga ni ra ulubuki kece ka lailai sara na kawa i Taukei. Dou yadra de da na qai vaka loloma sara vaka levu na kawai Taukei.

Vei keda na kawa vakai Taukei, Na Noda Vanua, Na Noda Kawa bula, Oira na i Solisoli, mera maroroi me rawa ni ra marautaka na veika era a valataka tu mai ena dua na gauna balavu ko ira na noda qase mai liu, mai liu sara.

Na vaka mamasu oqo, mai vei dua na gone kawa i Taukei ka mosita tu na noda Vanua kei na veika maroroi baleti keda nai Taukei.

Read more:

INDIGENOUS FIJIANS ANGER MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN!

The international community’s response to the Qarase case High Court ruling is comforting indeed for the many disillusioned people in Fiji. They must be feeling so helpless with the added pressure of knowing that things will only get worse in the coming months and maybe years. Their self-styled interim PM Bainimarama have Fiji’s judicial system under his control. He has some of the best unethical legal minds on his side who have mapped out his judicial exit outside of the 1997 Constitution using the rubber-stamp Pressie’s prerogative powers to take him there. And good for them for being damn smart to carve out all those convoluted twist and turn legal maze.

But Frank and his legal, political and economical advicers must understand that they can not continue on with their manipulated forward march without the indigenous Fijian support they badly lack. When the coup happened, many saw it as Fijians piting against Fijians with the Maras, Ganilaus, Boles, Bainimaramas and the likes daring to oust the Qarase’s, Lalabalavu’s, Kepa’s, Cakobau’s and others head on using their gun power. But when the interim government line-up was announced with the inclusion of Chaudhry’s FLP threesome and the young ambitious muslim lawyer Aiyaz Khaiyum, the perception by many was that the coup of 2006 was an Indian coup. Many believed that it was a coup orchestrated by some key Indo-Fijian legal eagles, politicians, retired economists and development consultants who used Frank’s desperate situation to cease power on their behalf.

These coup masterminders and supporters are now well known with the key players coming out openly to display their role in the whole set-up. And guess what, these real movers and shakers behind Frank’s 2006 coup are no longer the Maras, Nailatikaus, Ganilaus etc but it is now the Khaiyum’s, Shameems, Pathiks, Maharajs, Gates, Byrnes, Chands, Samy’s, Narayans, Chaudhrys and so on. The Fijians have simply been relegated to mind the regime’s gun power security side of things while the Indo-Fijians and others are the main ones calling the shots for Frank.

One must not forget though that the 21st century indigenous Fijians are a completely different breed to those before them. They can clearly see through Frank. They know that Frank is a front to these selected few Indo-Fijians and others who think they are a gift to the Fijian race by trying to revolutionize their cultural and traditional belief system to one that is geared more towards capitalism and economical gain. Many are well educated with positions of influence in their own villages and it is through these civilized advisory roles by these educated Fijians that majority of their kind are often kept at bay from carrying out ruthless attacks on those they feel are invading into their cultural norms. It’s these same educated Fijians who insist and reminded their fellow villagers that their Fijian constitutional rights be fought legally through due process after Dec 2006 and not through physical confrontation they are akin to.

But now with the court ruling against them, the indigenous Fijians will naturally feel cheated by being patient, enduring and accepting of the legal process they had put soo much faith in. They must be thinking that they have done the legally correct thing to prove to others that they have matured and have become civilized as a race by addressing injustices against them through the judiciary and not on a one-to-one kill or be killed warrior like manner their ancestors were well known for.

According to a Fijian psyche, Anthony Gate’s High Court ruling legitimizing the 2006 coup is a ruling against their indigenous race especially when the same judge had declared Frank’s 2000 coup as illegal. How Gate’s arrived at his judgment is immaterial to them. The only thing of concern to them is that Gates has contradicted himself and that his earlier ruling in 2000 that a coup is illegal was a lie. To them, this faggot of a judge is not deserving of their trust and has let them down in a big way by making them believe that a coup was illegal but now legal. Speaks alot about Gates own confused personal judgment on whether he is a man or a woman! Give us a break Gates! Will do you good if you get a legal judgment from your two friends, Bynes and Pathik to determine your sexuality. You will always have a right to appeal it you know!
But when all is said and done, the indigenous Fijians anger must never ever be forgotten. Frank and his minority Fijian supporters at QEB must find ways to reach out to these masses or else!
http://rawfijinews.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/indigenous-fijians-anger-must-not-be-forgotten/

Read Commonwealth's Article on Sir Paul Reeves recent trip to Fiji.

Sir Paul Reeves Concludes Visit to Fiji

10 September 2009

Sir Paul Reeves, Special Representative of Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma to the Republic of the Fiji Islands, departed Suva early on 11 September following a two-day visit to the Republic of the Fiji Islands

Sir Paul Reeves, Special Representative of Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma to the Republic of the Fiji Islands, departed Suva early on 11 September following a two-day visit to the Republic of the Fiji Islands.

At the invitation of the Interim Government, Sir Paul visited Fiji to explore opportunities for continued Commonwealth engagement with Fiji. The objective of his visit was to support the early restoration of constitutional democracy in the country, in line with Commonwealth principles.

Speaking on the eve of his departure, Sir Paul said his discussions with the Interim Prime Minister, members of Cabinet and others had been cordial, frank and informative.
“While I do not wish to pre-empt my report to the Secretary-General, I can say that I depart Fiji with a clear understanding of the Interim Government’s plans for Fiji following the abrogation of the Constitution in April. I welcome the importance Fiji attaches to its relationship with the Commonwealth, and the willingness of the Interim Prime Minister and his government to remain in discussions with me.

“I reiterated to Commodore Bainimarama and his Ministers that the Commonwealth stands ready to support an inclusive and time-bound national political dialogue, to facilitate the return of constitutional democracy. I also emphasised the importance Commonwealth members place on the fundamental principles that underpin our organisation, including representative government, respect for human rights and the rule of law.”

Read more :

http://www.thecommonwealth.org/news/34580/213478/100909statement.htm

Dr Mere Samisoni Shares her Thoughts on "Why Fiji is in a Mess?": Fiji & The Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth and Fiji

Posted by Mere Tuisalalo Samisoni

View Mere Tuisalalo Samisoni's blog

Why is Fiji in this mess?I agree with the comments made by Apete on ' Interim Regime moving the goal posts' and I have also sent this comment to the Commonwealth for discussion and debate.

The reasons put forward by Bainimarama for carrying out his 2006 coup provide a good parallel of Fiji’s post-coup state of instability. His justifications have been wandering all over Fiji’s political landscape and represent the height of insincerity.

These started off in 2004 with:

(1) “national security” to get the military on side. Once that was “done” he moved on to

(2) “corruption”, to get the general public on side. Then when that did not work, he moved to

(3) “multi-ethnicity” or race, to at least keep his Indian-Fijian coup support intact. It then morphed over to

(4) the Role of the Military as he began to fill the 'civil' service with Military Officers for their loyalty. When the lies of 2006 and the treason of April 2009 began to cause rifts amongst the troops, he again re-invented the 2006 coup as

(5) the only “intervention” that could right the wrongs of the killing of loyalists in the November 2000 Mutiny. Meanwhile, the public rationale for the coup has now moved on to

(6) the need to fix the purported “damage” of the past 20 years of alleged “divide and rule” government policies (none of which has been named or explained).

The real reason for the 2006 coup is of course completely different, and is well known to people like former Police Commissioner Hughes who had the evidence to expose it in 2006, before soldiers were sent to arrest him.The problem for institutions like the Commonwealth is that they require honesty, legality, co-operation and good faith, to be able to achieve much. It is evident from the above that the Commonwealth is unlikely to get any such thing from the Fiji Regime whose interest in subjects other than its own survival and self-preservation, are easily expendable.

Dr. Mere Tuisalalo Samisoni legal elected member of Lami Open Consituency in 2006.Please also go to the following site to give you valued comment on the bottom line in the rape of our democratic rights under Fiji and he Commonwealth. Pick up the thread of what is right for Fiji. Many thanks for your time.

http://www.thecommonwealthconversation.org/

Current Regime Promoting Vandalism in Fiji? Check out Discom Bubu's blog reprinted here as our Support for Graham Leung & Ratu Joni Madraiwaiwi

Howards Lawyers Offices in Suva broken into
An act of vandalism at the Howards Lawyers offices in Suva earlier this week has taken a malicious turn especially when we consider carefully the following factors:

1. The media has not reported it - which means that the story did not make it past the censors - which in turn means the military regime had a reason for suppressing the story.

2. Howards Lawyers are where Graham Leong and Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi are based. Both gentlemen are well regarded critics of the military regime.

When the military junta hijacked the process of LAWYER LICENSING in Fiji in May 2009, via one of their illegal decrees (namely the 'Legal Practitioners Decree 2009'), all legal practitioners in the country had to reapply for their practicing certificates with the Chief Registrar of the High court as their licenses expired.

Being men of high principle, both gentlemen decided not to renew their licences.

The careful and deliberate manner of the break-in has cast the finger of suspicion straight to Bainimarama's men, and have indicated the nefarious desire by Fiji's self-installed regime masters to 'catch' these gentlemen in the act of practicing lawyer activities. (Because of course, then they can be prosecuted under the new and illegal fascist decrees)

3. The method of the break-in. This was a very neat cut in the door right around the lock, rather than a forceful smash of the door or breaking a pane of glass.

This would indicate that the break-in was done by experts rather than just common robbers, and we know the military and the police would have the equipment to cut such a hole.

4. The items things targeted and taken were related to things "Fijian" - namely documents pertaining to the Constution & Registration of the Institute of Fijian Studies that is an off-shoot of the Fijian Retired Teachers Association.

One would have to ask the question - why would a common criminal be interested in taking those sorts of papers ?

My understanding is that this organisation has been on the receiving end of endless delaying tactics and nitpicking by the Companies Registry who are trying to undermine the process of getting the organisation registered and the susequent applications for UN aid for its establishment.

It may be of additional interest to itaukei that this regime is demanding that any mention of the word 'Fijian' has to be deleted , and that even though the organisation is being set up as an academic and research institute of learning (and as such, qualifies for UN aid and other agency funding) the junta are demanding that it has to be registered as a Company even though it is not a company.

As a Company, the regime can demand fees and taxes and monitor their aid monies now that they have entrenched themselves into all levels of governance.

Yes folks, yet another example of the criminal ploys typically undertaken by Bharmybanana's regime to keep the truth from getting out. Shame !
Posted by discombobulated at 6:26 PM
Labels: Howards Lawyers Offices in Suva broken into

Guess Who Has the Iron Yoke around his Neck in Fiji Post Commonwealth. Read Mr S. Daunitutu.analysis.

Think Tank,
I thought I would post some of my thoughts to you after the full suspension of Fiji from the Commonwealth, for your consumption and analysis.

I thought I'd bring to your attention (if you haven't noticed already) how Voreqe has a blatant diregard for figures, numbers, statistics, ratios or numerical gauges which allow him to place his performance in regard to progress, others, and also for his own government's graphical illustrations.

A good example is the full suspension from the Commonwealth, at which the CMAG have been instrumental in trying to get him to adhere to or reflect on some numbers, figures which potray the failing economy and the southward spiral the country is in, since the takeover in 2006.

Mr. Narube, one of if not, the best we have in the country with numbers, was apparently sacked for informing Bainimarama that the figures that represented the country's piggy bank was down to petty cash and needed urgent replenshiment, in the shape of getting to the dialogue table, or show urgency in getting the country back to democratic rule. Bainimarama brushed aside not only the governor of the Reserve Bank, but one of the most qualified people in the land, to give him that advise, he actually sacked Mr. Narube, placing him under house arrest before letting ADB get their hands on him (I think that's where he is now)

What about figures that kicked the population in the guts last week, the upward hike of bus/taxifares and electricity rates ? He did not think anything of that, because he is chauffered to work, and businesses give his families present, the automobile versions. There was an uproar of disagreement from the general public, because those figure, are now matching the figures that they spend, on food and daily living.

Then there was the confirmation of his lack of knowlege in numerical dipsticks, when he boastfully corrected a reporter about the National Foreign Reserves, halving it in front of the reporter boastfully, for the world to hear. What does that say about his knowlege of these statistics, in regard to his leadership, his government, his mentallity, even his conscience ?

When the Commonwealth started talks with Bainimarama way back in 2006, that was three years ago. When they finally gave him the figures, 1:9:2009, it really did not mean anything to him, as all the other important ones before that he had an explanation for.

We all remember the figures 55, yes, he thought that was a good time to retire, as he mentioned in his reasoning, but it backfired, so he came up with "you can be taken back if you have special skills" aren't nurses and teachers, people with special skills ? God only knows how those people, who have mortgages, children in high school and have made plans, up till retirement at sixty. Of course, their minds would have been racing, and as we have heard, some commited suicide, because of that.

What about the MDG figures, I bet he doesn't know that Fiji is part of that excercise, it was set for 2020 or thereabouts. At last count, our level was sitting at 40% the total population, comfortably living at that very level we are trying to eradicate, that of poverty.
Fiji is a vibrant well balanced Nation with a good mix in the agrarian and metropolitan divide, he needs to listen to sound advise, so he can harness all our resources and turn them into props for those failing stats.

Put it this way, he cannot answer dichotomous questions, the chances that he will notice bigger figures, is practically zero.

To conclude, the CMAG talks from three years ago with its deadline has come and gone, the only figures he has drummed into the heads of the military, his illegal ministers and his own is, 2014.
SULIASI DAUNITUTU

Fiji's Control Room Rests with Press/Media & Fiji Bloggers.[Click for AV].

Fiji suspended from the Commonwealth now a Done Deal!!

As a point of interest our team did a random snapshot sneak-preview of what other International news agency are saying re recent announcement by the Commonwealth. We must note in particular New Zealand's position as of todate 2/9/09 per McCully's comments where he states, quote, "...so there be a period of patience..." unquote.

Is it back peddling or what Mr McCully? Has the pressures from some Fiji-Kiwi Indian voters positioned @ Taranga Radio station & Indian Newslink in Auckland who have been very vocal in their support for the current regime in Fiji took the better of the Kiwi Voices?

For sure, other Fiji Kiwi Community Voices are placed on the sidelines as they are not commercially well placed. What is indeed surfacing is the 'Power Play' between a group of voters that have bigger purses than those that do not. As one of the University Professors who recently said in his Inaugural Public Lecture recently, 'Profit margin cost accounting is world's most Evil Devil: The other side of Real Value Economics".

As Fiji people, unfolding before us, are attempts by those that either have money or a handful of academics claiming to know Fiji because they once lived there. Their efforts to usurp core essense of what matters to the ordinary Indigenous Fijians in Fiji. This is now being used to the extreme that the Fijians are being treated like slaves in their own country. Their rights are being pulled from under their feet. Their Chiefly Institution being compomised. Their Chiefs being thrown into cells for a few nights stay at the hands of Indigenous Fijian soldiers. Why is it that Fijian soldiers who makes up 99% of Fiji army are now protecting others and not their own Indigenous people or their own families? Are their 'brains frozen in time' by the current regime? Or are they so sensitized, they cannot even see the griefs & pains they have have caused to the ordinary Fiji people?

Of course, there are those brave Fiji lawyers like Richard Naidu, Graham Leung and the likes that had to be interrogated by the military regime not so long ago. We applaud them for their stand and they will be remembered by many as brave Sons of Fiji. These young men are not Indigenous Fijians but know fully well, as experts, the destruction Bainimarama & his regime are doing to Fiji. The regime have destroyed much ingrained values, we, as Fiji citizens have grown up in since Fiji's Independence from Great Britain.

The coup cultures of 1987 to 2009 has reaffirmed the facts that Fiji had groomed wrong guys to take over its leadership for Fiji's Military. Both Bainimarama & Rabuka, coup - 'thugs' had ulterior motives and knew fully well they will be wealthy if they followed orders from 'men with money' behind the scenes and executed these Coup-de-tat(s).

Based on past events both Bainimarama & Rabuka's coup are geared to helping segments of business men, Fijians & Indians alike. Orders had to be followed. Bainimarama's push for reforms are so biased that evidence now shows Indigenous Fijians would have become knowledgeable on business & money matters as Qarase was trying to implement in his government. This posed red flags and a worry as Fijians might become too powerful if they increased their know-how of business & 'money handling'. The rational by these 'money men' behind the coups will be to rid any opportunity that may surface that will be beneficial to these Indigenous group of Fijian people. These segments of Fiji Indigenous people must remain at the village level or always at the lower end of the spectrum in any given business, never at the top. As we had noted in one of Cros Walsh's comments in one of our early blogs, quote, "Fijian Chiefs should remain at the village level..."unquote. How can an academic like Walsh who claims to have lived in Fiji say this? We are told that the world can be viewed from many lenses.

In essence those like Walsh, have enjoyed the privileges of having lapped up the honours accorded to them by ordinary Indigenous Fijians, be it their housemaids, ceremonious occasions where they have been honoured guests in Fiji etc. These groups of Coup-apologists like Walsh, Robbie David, Peter Thompson, Ah Koy as well as the failed Fijian politicians with 'R & 'A' (s) ' propping Bainimarama's regime, they will be held accountable in time to come. As the saying goes, quote, "Every Dog Has Its Day."unqote.

We conclude with more questions;

• Why is it that the ceremonial aspect of being in Fiji, [Bainimarama, his regime & visiting dignatories] are still being treated to a lavish Traditional Fijian Ceremony? Why are they lapping up this good old age Fijian Tradition, if they are trying to do away with what matters to the ordinary Fijian? Why can't they have an Indian ceremony or a Chinese one or even a Western way? Such a state of hipocracy at its highest indeed.

Posted by Luvei Viti Think Tank Group@myvuw.

Read more:
BBC News: "Fiji has had a chequered relationship with the Commonwealth. It was expelled in 1987 after two military coups, but was readmitted 10 years later when democracy was restored. It was also suspended in 2000 for 18 months. "
FIJI'S COMMONWEALTH HISTORY
1987 - Fiji endures two military coups, declares a republic; the Commonwealth expels Fiji
1997 - Fiji readmitted to the Commonwealth after it introduces a non-discriminatory constitution
May 2000- Parliament stormed, PM Mahendra Chaudhry and cabinet taken hostage. Businessman George Speight proclaims himself acting PM
June 2000 - Commonwealth suspends Fiji
Dec 2001 - Fiji readmitted to the Commonwealth

• 2005 July - Military chief warns that he will remove government if proposed amnesty for those involved in 2000 coup goes ahead.


• 2006 March - Great Council of Chiefs elects incumbent President Iloilo to a second, five-year term.
  2006 May - Former PM Sitiveni Rabuka is charged with orchestrating a failed army mutiny in November 2000.


• Ruling party leader and incumbent PM Laesenia Qarase narrowly wins elections and is sworn in for a second term.


• Military coup
  2006 October - November - Tensions rise between PM Laesenia Qarase and military chief Frank Bainimarama, who threatens to oust the government after it tries, and fails, to replace him. Qarase goes into hiding as the crisis escalates.
  2006 December - Frank Bainimarama says in a televised address he has taken executive powers and dismissed PM Laisenia Qarase. Commonwealth suspends Fiji because of the coup


• 2009 - [September 2] Fiji is now suspended from Commonwealth.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8231717.stm

WHAT CJA SAYS:

COMMONWEALTH JOURNALIST ASSOCIATIONS

Fiji’s Bainimarama secures pariah status as worst dictator in the Commonwealth
Free speech and free press paralyzed.

Media organizations through the Commonwealth have compared notes to conclude that Commodore Frank Bainimarama's prime achievement as dictator of Fiji is to have attained the worst media reputation in the Commonwealth.

With that comes the paralysis of basic human rights - free speech and free press - and the pursuit of policies so retrograde as to drag down his beautiful country socially and economically at huge price to its wonderful people.

Bainimarama has expelled foreign media (but invited some back for supervised coverage). He has closed media institutions, monitored those left standing and bullied and intimidated those who have resisted - including the judiciary, which he sacked. The constitution has been tossed out at his direction to make way for one of his choosing.

http://www.cjaweb.com/index.pl/article?id=306381

NEW ZEALAND HERALD

McCully: We can't force Fiji to hold elections
9:40AM Wednesday Sep 02, 2009
Military Commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama holding a press conference at the Queen Elizabeth Barracks. Photo / Getty Images, Phil Walter

"New Zealand can do nothing to force Fiji to restore democracy so there now be a 'period of patience" Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon Murray McCullysays...."
The rule of law, democracy and human rights were "the glue that holds the Commonwealth together".

New Zealand would not be imposing new sanctions, he said.

"We've simply taken the view that the rest of the international community have fallen broadly into line, we don't see any reason for new initiatives to take place at this stage," Mr McCully told Radio New Zealand.

"There's really nothing we can do to force Fiji to move down a path towards democracy."

Economic pressures would contribute eventually, he said.
The government would be no better than the military regime if it banned New Zealanders from taking advantage of cheap holiday deals to Fiji, he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10594724&ref=rss
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WHAT THE AUSTRALIANS SAYS:

Journos call for Fiji tourism boycott

By Radio Australia's Bruce Hill

The International Federation of Journalists wants travellers to rethink any plans to holiday in Fiji.

Fiji is facing suspension from the Commonwealth at midnight Tuesday (local time) for its slow progress towards a return to democracy.

Interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who led the December 2006 coup in Fiji, has refused to bow to Commonwealth and regional pressure to hold elections sooner than 2014.

The editor of the Fiji Times newspaper, Netani Rika, told a recent journalism conference in Brisbane that Australians appear to have no idea how lucky they are to have a voice through free media.

The International Federation of Journalists Sydney-based spokeswoman, Deborah Muir, has told Radio Australia anyone thinking of holidaying in Fiji should reconsider.

"What Netani Rika says is it's unnerving to know that tourists from Australia and elsewhere, other free countries, would still be going to their resort holidays seemingly oblivious to the fact that Fiji is being administered by a dictatorship," she said.

"Fiji is no paradise right now. Any advertising campaign that says it is a paradise is false advertising.

"The International Federation of Journalists would strongly urge people who are considering holidays in Fiji to think twice about it and to use the rights that they have in the free countries in which they live to inform themselves what is happening elsewhere in the world."
But Frank Yourn, executive director of the Australia-Fiji Business Council, says it is the innocent that will suffer, not the interim government.

"I think it's important that people who are considering this understand the impact that a decision like that would have on the ordinary people of Fiji, the people who are employed in the tourism industry and the various industries that surround the tourism industry," Mr Yourn said.
"It's not a matter of propping up the dictatorship; it's really a matter of trying to ensure the economic survival of people who are really suffering quite badly."

LOS ANGELEES TIMES....."Simply not interested unless its FIJI WATER CRISES' by Mother Jones.http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/afghanistan/la-fg-afghan-troops2-2009sep02,0,6170770.story

UNITED NATIONS STILL ENGAGES FIJI SOLDIERS WHILE CITIZENS SUFFER UNDER MILITARY RULE ?

Posted:luveiviti@myvuw

Take a look at the number of Fiji soldiers still engaged with the United Nation Peace Keeping Force as at 31 July 2009.

Country UN Mission Description Members

Fiji

UNAMI Troop . . . . 221 = UNAMI 221

UNAMID Police . . . 13 =UNAMID 13

UNMIL Police . . . . 31 = UNMIL 31

UNMIS Police . . . . = 8

Military Observer . . . . = 6

UNMIS 14

UNMIT Military Observer . . . . = UNMIT 1

FIJI TOTAL = 280

Refer United Nation site: UN Mission detailed by country: http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/contributors/2009/july09_3.pdf

• Deploy to prevent the outbreak of conflict or the spill-over of conflict across borders;


• Stabilize conflict situations after a cease fire, to create an environment for the parties to reach a lasting peace agreement;


• Assist in implementing comprehensive peace agreements;


• Lead states or territories through a transition to stable government, based on democratic principles, good governance and economic development. '

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note we have made reference & quoted UN write-up on Fiji. When one searches its sites for report on current situation in Fiji be it Human Rights Abuse todate or stories of unstable government. The answer is ZERO.

• What does that tells us? Is there a direct link between the current regime and the United Nations?


• Or there is something going on with their representatives in Suva that the United Nations have decided to take a SOFT APPROACH' to Fiji's problem.

People of Fiji are looking for answers to these questions!!

United Nations's Statement on Rule of Law, quoted below excerpt states;

" For the United Nations, the rule of law refers to a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions, and entities, public or private, inclduing the state itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards." unquote.

Why is it that United Nations appears to take a back sit while watching Fiji go to ruin at the hands of Military Dictatorship? Why are the UN continuing to engage Fiji soldiers for peace keeping mission?
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More dated article on Fiji appearing on United Nations Site - the best one can get.

Is this a joke?

** Fiji [24 Nov. 2008]

The Secretary-General has sent an exploratory mission to Fiji from 23 to 28 November. He has conveyed his hopes to the Interim Government that discussions with all stakeholders would lead to finding a mutually agreeable way forward on the political situation in Fiji.
The mission is headed by Tamrat Samuel from the UN Department of Political Affairs. While in Suva, the UN mission will meet with a broad range of national stakeholders, as well as with regional and international actors, especially the Pacific Islands Forum and the Commonwealth.

http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2008/db081124.doc.htm

"For the United Nations, the rule of law refers to a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards. It requires, as well, measures to ensure adherence to the principles of supremacy of law, equality before the law, accountability to the law, fairness in the application of the law, separation of powers, participation in decision-making, legal certainty, avoidance of arbitrariness and procedural and legal transparency."
(S/2004/616, Report of the Secretary-General on The Rule of Law and Transitional Justice in Conflict and Post-Conflict Societies"
http://www.un.org/en/ruleoflaw/index.shtml

DID UNITED NATIONS REALLY BAR FIJI SOLDIERS??

UN bars Fijian soldiers
by medwar @ 2009

CANBERRA: The U.N. has barred Fijian soldiers from future peacekeeping missions in the latest sanction against the South Pacific nation's military rulers for suppressing democracy, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Tuesday.

The U.N. decision was announced as Fiji authorities detained a nationalist political party leader and five others for distributing pamphlets.

Australia successfully lobbied the United Nations to ban future deployments of the well-trained and well-regarded troops as a means of denying Fiji's flagging economy precious income from lucrative U.N. paychecks, Rudd said.

The U.N. Information Center in Australia could not immediately confirm the policy change Tuesday.

"The revenue remittances to Fiji from Fijian forces working with U.N. operations around the world are important sources of revenue back into the military families, in particular within Fiji," Rudd told reporters.

"Through our own interventions with the United Nations and supported by New Zealand and other countries, the United Nations now is not going to engage future or new Fijian troops for new operations," he added.

Rudd condemned Fiji for suspending the national constitution and press freedom as well as for undermining the independence of the judiciary. The island nation has been ruled by military leader Frank Bainimarama since a 2006 coup.

The U.N. decision apparently would not affect current Fijian peacekeeping missions.Fiji has up to 2,000 troops on U.N. peacekeeping duties in hotspots that include the Sinai, Iraq and the Sudan, with battalion-sized groups in both Iraq and the Sinai desert.In Iraq, hundreds of Fiji soldiers provide security for U.N.operations in the capital, Baghdad, as well as in Basra in the south and Irbil.Foreign exchange earnings the troops send home to their families are worth millions of dollars a year to the Fiji economy.

The cash remittances rank with tourism and sugar exports as the nation's top three foreign exchange earners in a crashing economy that recently devalued its local dollar 20 percent and imposed strict controls on cash transfers offshore in a bid to slow its dwindling foreign exchange reserve levels.

Fijian authorities also said Tuesday they had detained a nationalist political leader and five other men for distributing political pamphlets that could cause instability.Police Operations Director Waisea Tabakau said officers had arrested the general secretary of the nationalist Vanua Tako Lavo Party, Iliesa Duvuloco, and five others on Monday for allegedly violating the nation's emergency regulations by distributing propaganda.Bainimarama launched his 2006 coup to oust what he called a nationalist government that he accused of imposing "racist" policies against Fiji's large ethnic Indian minority. Bainimarama himself is from the indigenous Fijian majority.

The Vanua Tako Lavo Party seeks control by indigenous Fijians, and it opposes political or economic power being wielded by ethnic Indian Fijians, who make up about 37 percent of the population.

Police did not release details of the pamphlets they accused the men of distributing.The detentions were the first for alleged violation of the nation's public emergency regulations since they came into force April 10 when President Ratu Josefa Iloilo overthrew the constitution, sacked all judges and imposed a monthlong emergency.Iloilo took the steps in response to an Appeal Court ruling that Bainimarama's 2006 coup was illegal.

Under the emergency regulations, a person can be detained for seven days without charges if he or she is deemed to be a threat to the community and the country.The emergency regulations are due to expire in 12 days, unless the regime decides they should be extended.
Courtesy The Himalayan Times
http://bulafiji.blog.co.uk/2009/04/28/un-bars-fijian-soldiers-6025991/

A Winning Unity Award Speech by Rayhan Langdana @ NZ Diversity Awards last night @ Te Papa.

NZ Human Rights Commission

Race Unity Speech Award 2009
Winner: Rayhan Langdana - Yr 11, Wellington College, Wellington

“Dear God, please make me white”, the non European child prayed after another day of being bullied at school for having brown skin.

Where do you think these words were spoken? Maybe in the deep south of the US? Perhaps in England in the early 60’s? No. These words were spoken in Island Bay, Wellington, New Zealand, 2009. I was shocked. To me, this kind of stuff only happened in the articles of the newspaper. But the harsh reality is that racial prejudice is alive and well in our own little antiseptic bubble at the bottom of the world. Little year 1’s at school taunt their classmates because that is the way they have been brought up. This raises the question: if kids are turning out like this, where do they learn it from? How would the father of the bully treat the new Chinese family who moved in down the street? How would his mother treat the little Indian girls selling Girl Guide biscuits?

It is children like the bully mentioned above who must quickly learn that good neighbours come from all races and cultures. The definition of neighbour is “a person who lives next to or near another”. However the word extends far beyond this dry dictionary definition. The kid you sat beside in year three, he was your neighbour. Your batting partner in the cricket team, he was your neighbour. The nice lady whose office was next to yours, she was your neighbour. Therefore the message that good neighbours come from all races and cultures is not only applicable to domestic life, but to school, recreation and the workforce. This makes the message doubly important to teach.

When I come back from hockey late on a Friday night, I drive down the street and smell the delicious aroma of beef rendang wafting over from the Hassans’ house at number 32. The Dales on the other side are having a barbeque, and the smell of grilling sausage is mouth watering. Our house is fragrant with the smell of mum’s special chicken curry. What does this show, besides making us all hungry? It shows just one of the countless streets in which families of completely different cultures live next to each other in perfect harmony. When mum cooks a large amount of some amazing Indian food, my brother and I are dispatched to the houses on either side of ours bearing containers of it to give to our neighbours and last weekend we all went over to Tony and Carols’ for a BBQ. We’ve learnt to accept the fact that when Ramadan ends, the Hassans have guests whose cars take up the entire street and who party until the wee hours of the morning. We’ve learnt to realise that Guy Fawkes Night for the Dales means alarming booming noises until what feels like sunrise, and both our neighbours have learnt that on Diwali, they may as well come and join the party at our house because they’re not going to get much sleep!

This relationship between our three families began as wary suspicion. The Dales were courteous enough when we first moved in, but it was apparent that they were unsure of what to expect: their previous neighbours of 20 years had been European like them. However, this soon shifted to tolerance and then to friendship. Why was this? Because they looked past the colour of our eyes, hair and skin. They looked past our accents and made the effort to get to know us as individuals. After that, it was smooth sailing. In my opinion, a good neighbour is a person who initially throws the life raft to the new family next door, helping them navigate the rough waters of a different kind of suburbia. This neighbour then reels in the family and nurtures them on their metaphorical ship. After the family have acclimatised to life in this part of the ocean (or this part of the city), the good neighbours send them on their way. We experienced this instantly. On day one of moving in, Carol Dale from next door weaved her way through bulky furniture movers, many boxes and a piano to give us some fresh baked cookies. These cookies were like polar bears–they broke the ice. Later that week she invited us around to dinner and made a real effort to get to know us. Over the following weeks she introduced us to various parents of kids who went to my brother’s school, and friendships began being formed.

This family fulfilled the one key criteria of being a good neighbour: making us feel welcome. Because of it, we quickly became happy and truly settled in to life in Northland, Wellington. I think that point (feeling welcome) is a key factor in experiencing acceptance regardless of the neighbour’s race, age or gender.

However, some further steps must be taken to ensure neighbours of different cultures feel welcome in their new community. A key one is understanding. The people living on either side must try to understand their new neighbour’s culture. That doesn’t mean knowing their country’s entire history but it does help to refer to the new family as Japanese instead of Chinese; as Maori instead of Samoan. Because when the roles change; when one of us is seen as the neighbour of a different culture, how would we like to be called Australians? It would make us feel that we make no difference to our new neighbour. It would make us feel that our new neighbour didn’t even care to try and understand our culture. Understanding is a further step one can take to being a good neighbour to someone of a different culture.

On the other side of the scale, the book “40 Ways to Raise a Non–Racist Child” (by Barbara Mathias) raises an interesting point. It says that while it is good to foster good relations with people from all races and cultures, we shouldn’t do it as a project or as an activity to prove to ourselves how liberal and PC we are. There is a difference between being nice to the new Chinese family because they seem like nice people and being nice to them just because they are Chinese. The former is being a good neighbour. The latter is being patronising. One should choose to get along with their new neighbour because they like them as people, not because they want another brownie point for when they’re at the pearly gates.

A good relationship with a neighbour is like a good relationship with a colleague at work. If you don’t have one, then you become permanently prepared for confrontation. If you’re impassive, then you will watch them move away and be just as much of a stranger to them as you were when you first met. But if you get on well, both your professional and personal lives will flourish. You’ll have someone to go and borrow a bike pump from. You’ll have someone to talk to when the dreaded in-laws are coming and you haven’t got enough pillows. But most importantly you’ll have someone to trust.

Next time you hear one of your friends darkly muttering about the new people who’ve moved in down the street, stop them in their tracks. Persuade them to understand and welcome their new neighbour and. Tell them about the time your son had international week at school, and the closest he’d ever been to going overseas was a week in Nelson, and how your neighbour from China kindly told him some Chinese myths and legends for him to share with his class.

If you ever hear your kids or siblings taunting a classmate because they look different, don’t tell them that we are all the same underneath – we’re not. Instead tell them that everyone being so different is why the world is such an interesting place. Remember – we don’t watch movies in black and white anymore; we watch them in full colour. Similarly, our society has changed from being strictly divisive to being brighter, more vibrant, a better place. The path to racial prejudice being eliminated is long and we are only a few paces along it. But seemingly small things like being welcoming to your new neighbour can make a world of difference not just to them, but to you as well. Good neighbours come from all races and cultures. How do we know this? Look around you. We are all living proof.

posted by luveiviti@myvuw as member of the NZ Diversity Program.

Trinidad & Tobaggo Express News: 'No Fiji in T &T' as blogged by Fiji Truth Commission Movement.

Message to Voreqe Bainimarama & his military led government.

Sir Ronald Sanders,a Consultant & former Carribean Diplomat have articulated precisely what most Voiceless Fiji people in Fiji & Fiji bloggers would have wanted to say in a nutshell.

We thank Sir Sanders, for such a well written article. The Real & Authentic FIJI TRUTH surfaces ultimately. This well written article has just reaffirmed what we had been suspecting all along but were not too sure how the International Community & the Commonwealth would have viewed our stories.

Shame on Voreqe Bainimarama & his military regime as another opportunity for 'Fiji Bites the Dust'. Hopes of being heard at the CMAG is history for Fiji.

It will be now left to the people to link in with the Commonwealth Society to air their thoughts, views & aspirations for returning Fiji to a Democratically Elected Political Party to run its affairs in lieu of military led government.

Luvei Viti Think Tank Group @ vuw

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Read more:
Trinidad News:’No Fiji in T & T’ Sanders says. [Trinidad & Tobaggo will Host Commowealth Heads in Novemeber, 2009]

August 22, 2009 by Fiji Truth

Author: Sir Ronald Sanders,

Trinidad & Tobaggo Express, Thursday, August 20th 2009

When the Commonwealth leaders meet in Trinidad in November, they might have expected to welcome back to their councils a government of Fiji that had been elected in March. As it turns out, there will be no Fiji in Trinidad.

If a contest was held to choose a country with a culture of coup d’états, the Pacific island state would be a front-runner. There were two coups in 1987, a third in 2000 and a fourth in December 2006.
Now, come September 1, the 53-nation Commonwealth is expected to suspend Fiji from its membership.

The suspension will come after almost three years of trying every diplomatic and negotiating device to convince the military government of Commodore Frank Bainimarama to restore the country to democratic rule.

A consistent figure in the last two coups, Bainimarama has shown a remarkable failure to honour commitments he gives to the international community.
Fiji is made up of a group of islands in the Pacific and has a population of 872,000 people consisting of indigenous Fijians, indigenous Rotumans and Banabans, Indo-Fijians, Chinese, Europeans (mostly Australians and New Zealanders) and people of mixed race.

The 1987 coup and the abrogation of the 1970 Constitution led to a new Constitution in 1997 which, containing a social compact among all the political parties, provided for affirmative action for indigenous Fijians, gave indigenous Fijians the majority of communal seats in the elected House of Assembly and a near two-thirds majority in the appointed Senate. It also provided for shared governance and settled tensions between the indigenous Fijians and the Indo-Fijians.

Bainimarama’s 2006 coup had nothing to do with racial differences in Fiji and much more to do with controversies between him and the then prime minister, Laisinea Qarase, who was threatening to arrest Bainimarama and others for their part in the coup of 2000.

The Commonwealth has patiently engaged Fiji since the 2006 coup. The previous and current Commonwealth secretaries general, Don McKinnon and Kamalesh Sharma, as well as the organisation’s watchdog body-the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG)-have engaged the military regime and other groups in Fiji to try to restore democracy.

While the Commonwealth did suspend Fiji from the councils of the Commonwealth after the 2006 coup, it did not suspend it from membership of the grouping.

Along with the Pacific Islands Forum (Fiji and its closest neighbours), the United Nations and other bodies, the Commonwealth had been working to persuade Bainimarama to hold elections by March this year – an undertaking that he had given. But March came and went, and in April the government abrogated the Constitution, further entrenched authoritarian rule, cracked down on freedom of speech and assembly, and undermined the judiciary and legal system.

Bainimarama also scrapped the paramount Fijian institution, the prestigious Great Council of Chiefs which selects the president and vice-president. It is widely believed that he did so because the chiefs did not rally to him. He also prevented the dominant Methodist Church from holding its annual convention demanding that it must first be cleansed of political clergymen.

Making matters worse, Bainimarama issued a “Strategic Framework for Change” which he described as “the only path to ensuring sustainable and true democracy, the removal of communal representation and the implementation of equal suffrage based on common and equal citizenry”. Under this plan, work will begin on a new Constitution in 2011 and elections would not he held until 2014.

CMAG, which had shown considerable patience with the Fijian regime up to that point, finally decided enough was enough. Among its nine members is the foreign minister of St Lucia, Rufus Bousquet. Together, the ministers, meeting on July 31, gave the Fijian regime until September 1 to “reactivate the [resident’s Political Dialogue Forum process, facilitated by the Commonwealth and the United Nations”.

The group said it wanted the regime to “state its firm commitment” to reactivating the political dialogue “in writing” to the Commonwealth secretary general by September 1 or “Fiji will be fully suspended on that date”.

No one is holding their breath that such a written commitment will be forthcoming from Bainimarama.

His government has already condemned Fiji’s neighbours in the Pacific Islands Forum for expressing, in early August, “their deep concern for the people of Fiji in the face of Fiji’s deteriorating economy as a consequence of the military regime’s actions, including the undermining of the private sector and the negative effect on business confidence in the absence of the rule of law”.

Suspension of Fiji after almost three years of trying to reason with the military regime is necessary punishment now; but engagement is also necessary to give back to all the people of Fiji their right to democracy, constitutionality and the rule of law.

Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.

Previous commentaries can be read at: www.sirronaldsanders.com -Courtesy Jamaica Observer

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_opinion?id=161520139
re-blogged @ http://luveiviti.wordpress.com/

Posted in Fiji News Update Tagged Commonwealth Heads Meeting, Fiji, Military coup in Fiji, Triinidad &Tobbago

Even the 'International Law Prof Blog' have noted Fiji's troubled Nation by military juntas.

Fiji to Recruit Judges from Sri Lanka

Fiji is a nation troubled by a military who fired all of the judges in the country and suspended the Fijian constitution as an "emergency" measure after a court ruled that the military government there was illegal. Since then there have been severe crackdowns on lawyers, the press, and even on internet usage.
A new press report is stating that Fiji will now look to Sri Lanka to supply it with some judges, at least on a temporary basis. Click here to read more.
(mew)

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/international_law/2009/08/fiji-to-recruit-judges-from-sri-lanka.html

The Price we pay for Being a Fiji Person: Is Fiji's Voice & Participation Important in this Pacific Village Online by Prof. PakYoong

Whilst it is a noble thought for Prof.Pak Yoong to have conducted & set up under New Zealand Aid a platform for ongoing dialogue for Pacific Nations, Fiji may very well be left out again. Is it a worry? Well, we think it is, as Fiji's voices and its ability to progress on a common ground with neighboring nations is vital.

Doors of opportunities opens & closes within the Pacific Rim and internationally where Fiji could very well benefit from. Developing Nations are progressing while Fiji explores their options of either stagnating or looking offshores to bigger players that have no vested interest in the basic Cultural & Human Rights Development of Fiji & its people.

Fiji, like a kid that has thrown most of his toys out of his cot, suffers the concequences of bad behaviour. Fiji remains the outsider within the 'Pacific Hood' all because of mischiefs created by Bainimarama and his current regime. Are the current Fiji Military regime so proud, that those within the ruling circle cannot come down their 'high horse'? Or is it so ingrained in corruptive activities that they are still trying to stitch up the loose ends in the event they are all hauled in to Nukulau island where George Speight is doing his time for the crimes he committed.

When I read Prof. Pak's announcement for this seminar, I felt sad for Fiji. As a Fijian-Kiwi, we are aware of some public dialogues, forums and/or opportunities that are blocked from us, simply because we are from Fiji. The minute you state the 'word', Fiji, it resonates negativity, infectious or virus-like effect, militarism, suspicion, Bainimarama-ism, rabuka-ism, coup-de tats etc.

Should we then alter our Community name Luvei Viti 'Children of Fiji' to 'Children of Kiwi-Fiji', maybe not, as we would like to keep our name as is. Bainimarama's current Military regime must change, not the people as he [FB]and his followers have committed Fiji & the people to a life of uncertainity and must be held accountable for their actions or inactions. Repercussions of their actions & mischiefs are causing grief to many Fiji people both in Fiji and living abroad.

A concerned Fijian @ Victoria University.

Luvei Viti Think Tank Group [luveiviti@myvuw]

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Read on:

Facilitating regional co-operation in the Pacific: The emerging role of online communities of practice

Published 17 August 2009

One of Victoria University's finest teachers will reveal how he is bringing Pacific Island communities together through the internet in his inaugural professorial lecture tomorrow night.

Professor Pak Yoong has developed an international reputation as a scholar in the field of technology-enabled collaboration and knowledge management, and more generally the human side of information systems.

Tomorrow night he will present a work in progress report on one of his most recent endeavours—a multi-year action research project called the Pacific Village Online, which he is conducting in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat and NZ Aid.

"Once a year, the heads of the public sector in the Pacific meet to identify regional issues and develop an action plan. The problem has been how to translate this plan into actions that can be implemented," he says.

With his expertise in Information Communication Technology (ICT), Professor Yoong is helping Pacific leaders do that. He will explain how an online community of Pacific human resource managers has evolved to take on this critical translation role.
"For a long time they would simply issue a communiqué at the end of the conference about key areas to work on, but there was no visible follow up. The cost of travel between Pacific islands was a big obstacle to more effective regional cooperation."
For the last two years Professor Yoong has been tackling the issue through annual conferences in Canberra where Pacific human resource managers are gaining expertise in ICT to facilitate Pacific cooperation within an online community of practice.

"One of the key ways to follow-up plans in the Pacific is through the use of ICT—they become an online community of practice through the use of email, teleconferencing and via the Pacific Village Online website," he says.
The website, which Professor Yoong helped develop, also provides Pacific public servants with an online forum, and an invaluable repository of material for knowledge sharing.

"This is a practical example of regional cooperation in the Pacific. I’m hoping it will provide another dimension of how regional cooperation can be enacted through the use of ICT."

Professor Yoong is currently working with the Commonwealth Secretariat to possibly extend the results to Africa, in the form of an Africa Village Online community as well.

Victoria University Vice-Chancellor Professor Pat Walsh says Professor Yoong has a reputation as one of the finest teachers in the School of Information Management, having previously won three Victoria teaching awards.

"He has also played a critical role in the School's development, first as founding Director of its Honours programme, and more recently as the Director of the Research Degrees programme and Chair of the Research Degrees committee within the School. Under his leadership the School has enjoyed considerable success both in attracting excellent PhD students and in improving the management of the programme itself."

Professor Walsh says Victoria's Inaugural Lecture series is an opportunity for new professors to provide family, friends, colleagues and the wider community with an insight into their specialist area of study.

"It is also an opportunity for the University to celebrate and acknowledge our valued professors."

The public lecture is at 6pm in the Hunter Council Chamber, Level 2, Hunter Building, Gate 1 or 2, Kelburn Parade, Wellington on Tuesday 18 August. To RSVP, email rsvp@vuw.ac.nz with 'Yoong' in the subject line.

http://www.victoria.ac.nz/home/about/newspubs/news/ViewNews.aspx?id=3027&newslabel=hn