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

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

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

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

Folks, this begs the question: Why the secrecy?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fiji Democracy Now

Where are your balls Mr Crosbie?

Mr Crosbie
FIJI: THE WAY IT WAS, IS AND CAN BE

Dear Sir

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stuff  that.

Where is your sense of righteous indignation?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kind regards

Radiolucas

Fiji a police state

Our totalitarian dictator is turning Fiji into a police state

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fiji Democracy Now

Fiji’s ratings improves

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

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

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

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

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

About Standard & Poor’s

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

Most of Fiji still without power

Up to 4,000 Fijians are still housed in temporary accommodation and 80 per cent of the country is without power after Cyclone Mick struck on Monday.

Two people are confirmed dead and three more are missing.

The western side of the most populous island, Viti Levu, had suffered most, National Disaster Management Office director Pajiliai Dobui said on Wednesday, with 2081 people evacuated from their homes, and major infrastructure damage.

Suva-based Tim Sutton, of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), said Mick was a “very vicious” cyclone that moved quickly and struck up to six hours earlier than expected, catching many people unprepared.

Fiji Electricity Authority chief executive Hasmukh Patel said the full extent of damage caused was still being assessed.

“More than 80 per cent of the country is without power supply. We had to shut down the Wailoa hydro station because of the rising water level in Wailoa,” he told the fijilive news website.

The loss of electricity and water supply left the capital, Suva, and the west coast urban centres of Nadi and Lautoka deserted on Tuesday.

Parts of the two main roads that encircle Viti Levu remained closed.

Cyclone Mick has been downgraded to a depression and was passing over the central islands of Tonga, north of the capital, Nuku’alofa, on Wednesday morning.

Winds were reported to be 30-40km/h and not expected to cause any damage.

NZPA

Crosby Walsh misguided

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

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

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

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

The Oracle

Junta to add to media control laws

Fiji’s interim government is about to pass another decree which it says will effectively control irresponsible journalism.

Acting Prime Minister, Attorney General and Minister for Communication, Aiyaz Saiyed-Khaiyum, has told local media the legislation will come into effect ‘very soon’.

It’s the most recent control in a growing list implemented by the interim government since the 2006 coup.

Fiji’s media already is working under strict censorship with an authorised member of the regime in each newsroom vetting copy before it can be published.

The Director of The Myer Foundation Melanesia Program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Jenny Hayword-Jones, says there’s no evidence to prove the media has ever caused trouble in Fiji.

“I’m really unconvinced by Commodore Bainimarama’s assertion that freedom of speech has caused trouble and political turmoil in the country,” she said.

“There’s just no evidence of this and he hasn’t offered any that the media has provoked any open conflict of political turmoil in the country. In fact, the only political turmoil that’s been initiated in the country since 2006 has been by Commodore Bainimarama.”

- Radio NZ

Two people presumed dead after cyclone Mick ripped Fiji

Two people are presumed dead in Fiji after the first category of the season ripped across the islands.

Cyclone Mick hit the popular tourist destinations of the Yasawa and Mamanuca islands yesterday, before tracking across Viti Levu, bringing with it heavy rain and strong winds.

Vuli Guana of the Red Cross in Fiji says the worst hit area seems to be the main island of Viti Levu and surrounding islands.

“Some recorded destruction of households, there are some reports also of people staying in evacuation centres. In terms of infrastructural damage there are still places that are still inaccessible because of flooded roads and blocked roads because of landslides and fallen power lines and trees.”

Vuli Guana says the Red Cross and Fijian authorities are out assessing the extent of the damage now.

Meanwhile, a tourist resort in the Yasawa Island group says it has been forced to close and take its guests back to the mainland because of extensive damage caused by Cyclone Mick.

Verity Wilson, a staff member at the Octopus Resort, says about 60 guests were forced to take refuge in the resort’s cyclone shelter.

She says while there are no reports of any injuries, a couple had a lucky escape from their yacht after it crashed onto rocks.

Ms Wilson says palm trees have been completely stripped of their fronds and tin roofs lifted off many of the resort’s buildings.

The resort will be closed for at least five days while staff clean up.

News Content © Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand

Cyclone Mick keeps tyrant Frank Bainimarama from Copenhagen

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

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

Jo O’Brien reports

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

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

News Content © Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand

Crosbie Walsh jealous of Shamima Ali’s human rights award

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fiji Democracy Now

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

Powerful cyclone batters Fiji

Campbell Cooney and Geraldine Coutts

Last Updated: 3 hours 21 minutes ago

Tropical Cyclone Mick has passed over Fiji’s main island Viti Levu, after generating winds of up to 150 kilometres an hour and damaging homes.

The category two cyclone has reportedly caused widespread power blackouts and some damage but there have been no reports of casualties.

Late Monday night the cyclone was heading south-west, taking it across many of Fiji’s major population centres.

The Red Cross says it has reports of houses being completely destroyed in towns near Nadi.

Fiji’s director of Meteorology, Rajendra Prasad told Radio Australia, that Cyclone Mick has already caused some damage to property and vegetation.

“The damages have been largely associated with vegetation. So there’s a lot of tree branches, and several rooted crops that have been damaged,” he said.

“Plus there has been damage to some house roofs. Mostly the old roofs and buildings and ones that weren’t built too well.”

Fiji’s Meteorological Service has maintained the Cyclone Warning for Central and Southern Parts, but has cancelled if for other areas.

Tony Webb from the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Brisbane says flooding is Fiji’s biggest threat.

“There are places that have had hundreds of millimetres over the last 12 hours or so, including falls of around 150mm in six hours,” he said.

Those living in low lying areas have been urged to move to higher ground.

Speaking from his home in Nadi on the west coast on Monday afternoon, canegrower Bala Dass told Radio Australia local roads and crops had been damaged and torrential rain was limiting visibility.

“You can’t see the neighbour’s house” he said.

The country has virtually been shut down with people sent home and told to seek shelter.

- Radio Australia

Cyclone Mick intensifies as it approaches Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu

The tropical cyclone due to hit Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu is intensifying as it aproaches land.

The Yasawa and Mamanuca islands are already feeling winds on the edges of the cyclone.

Weather forecasters are predicting that the centre of Cyclone Mick will hit on Monday evening.

It is currently about 160 kilometres northwest of Nadi and has been classified as category one.

It has changed course slightly and is now said to be heading directly for the main island of Viti Levu.

But the whole country has been put under a gale warning

Close to it’s centre, Mick is estimated to have average winds of up to 75 kilometres an hour with gusts up to 125 kilometres an hour.

The Director of Fiji’s Meteorological Service, Rajendra Prasad, says the strongest part of the cyclone will hit the Western Division later today:

“It is very hard to give precise timing for that, sometime this evening I would say and by midday or so the Cyclone should be passing the Yasawas and Mamanucas and then passing on and then this evneing make landfall over the main island of Viti Levau. It is hard to say precisely where, but I would say somewhere along the northwestern coast of Viti Levu.”

The latest forecasts say Mick will lie 20 kilometres off Nadi at seven o’clock this evening local time

It is expected to bring squally thunderstorms and flooding to low lying areas and damage to some crops and light structures.

News Content © Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand

Fiji’s Shamima Ali wins Human Rights Defender award

Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand has named Fiji activist, Shamima Ali, as its first ever Human Rights Defender.

Ms Ali is executive director of the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre in Suva and was given the award for her contribution towards improving women’s rights in Fiji and throughout the Pacific.

The chief executive of Amnesty New Zealand, Patrick Holmes, says it saluted Ms Ali for the immense courage she has shown in challenging the 2006 military coup and in continuing, despite threats and intimidation, to document its impact on the people of Fiji.

Ms Ali says there are many human rights defenders throughout the Pacific, but this recognition is very important in Fiji where there is such a violation of human rights.

“To tell the regime that the human rights work continues carry on, it carries on. And also the fact that this kind of award encourages both myself and other human rights defenders, you know protectors and promoters of human rights in Fiji and the Pacific, to stick in there a little longer and continue the work.”

News Content © Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand

Frank is sadly misled if he thinks he’s walking the path of justice

Dear Doctor Samisoni:

I trust your brave post will call forth many others to stand up and say “Enough! Go now Mr Bainimarama &co. Go quickly.”

Let me add something from what I read just recently. You will find the book very useful in your own work as a professional person, as someone interested in organisational theory and as a Christian who wishes to make her mark in public life and scholarship.

The book is Jacob Klapwijk Purpose in the Living World: Creation and Emergen Evolution Cambridge University Press 2008. It is a discussion of how to understand the unfolding processes within creation as part of God’s purposes for what He has made and for the stewards (us) He calls into service. Of course it has to address the so-called evolution versus creation debate with all the recent kerfuffle about “intelligent design”. The author’s approach is, I suspect, unique although he would probably be somewhat embarrassed for me to say so. He just wants to add a carefully hewn statement to the consideration of this issue.

But the interesting thing for us, as Christians and as South-West Pacific followers of Jesus Christ – in whatever denomination or no denomination we find our discipleship path to take us – is that Kalpwijk’s discussion has everything to do with politics and that institution we call “the State” and that non-state amalgam of institutions, organisations and personal relationships we call “civil society”.

As a European whose early years were impacted by the disastrous WWII, Klapwijk also knows about the impact of Social Darwinism (the survival of the fittest ideology). In that sense he has a good intuition of what you, Mrs Samisoni, and all your fellow Fijian citizens, Professors Lal and Narsey together with all citizens whatever their ethnic background, have been going through since December 5th 2006 when the long-nurtured elitist ideology of the survival of the fittest had been conceived was brought to birth in your belovéd Republic of Fiji Islands. But as I have said before, the fact that we can see such a Social Darwinist militarism in the SWP is a serious and critical judgment upon all of us citizens of the region and our governments.

Mr Bainimarama and his supporters are sadly misled if they think they are walking the path of justice They are not. Enough of my introductory sermon. Here is the passage from Professor Klapwijk’s book where he is considering the systems theory of Peter Checkland Systems Thinking, Systems Practice who uses so-called systems thinking to analyze societal organization.

“In Checkland’s analysis of these societal systems – his book deals among others, with the family unit, the factory, and the nation-state – we encounter the phenomenon of emergence time and again. Checkland wants to demonstrate that human activity systems, no matter where on earth they took shape, are complex organizations ith features entirely their own.In these systems a distinct new principle manifests itself, a normative value that is incorporated intothe system, and with which the system stands or falls. Of course, in the dynamic of history this value is always expressed and worked out in different ways, but in his view it remains recognizable as an “irreducible residue”, a core value that cannot be reduced to the physical domain.
“Here I am reminded of the words of the Church Father Augustine. Long ago he commented that a state that disregards the norm of justice is nothing but a magnum latrocinium, a band of robbers on a large scale (CW: Father Barr, I hope you as a fellow Christian are listening?). A state that does not uphold justice arms itself and wages war for the sake of power and gain, thus resembling a gang of robbers. For a gang of robbers, too, accepts leadership, forms a closed community, fights for gain, and divides the spoils as agreed beforehand. In this context Augustine recounts the delightful story of a pirate who was captured by Alexander the Great The man had a way with words, for when the King asked him how he dared to make the oceans unsafe he answered boldly: “We both make the oceans unsafe. But my ship is small and your navy is large. That is why you are called a king and I am called a pirate.”

In Fiji’s case, the pirate Bainimarama and his gang know that they are now never going to develop their military careers as they would have had if they had remained law-abiding officers. Thus Fiji is seriously diminished by its much-loved now almost totally compromised military They know their careers are as good as ended and it seems they are simply selfishly hell-bent on taking all the junior ranks with them. And they are also evidently in the process of deciding whether to take Fiji in toto down with them. That is their fork in the road. They may try, in the meantime, to issue justifications based on their view that they are merely a “small ship” on a big ocean that has been provoked by the bigger guns of bigger regional ships. They regularly try to justify themselves by spinning out verbiage that what they have done was provoked by the “piracy” of Australia and New Zealand. That’s no argument – how can a pirate justify his own piracy by both condemning and hiding behind the piracy of others? Moreover, how can you be proud of your drua if you have demanded it has a hole in its bough. So what’s it going to be?

Trying to run Fiji as if it is merely a South Pacific version of Camp Pendleton simply can’t work. Fiji society is not, and should not be transformed into, a military base despite the path the RFMF is evidently taking. Trying to ensure that Fiji’s military leads Fiji into the future simply can’t work and Jaap Klapwijk’s work is a good place to begin for students in all disciplines to understand why development, including the development of political life, doesn’t happen by a species, whether plant or animal, let alone military, trying to force the evolutionary process in order to confirm its own survival.

Well done Dr Samisoni. The web-site for Purpose in the Living World is http://www.jacobklapwijk.nl

Charles Whyman
South West Pacific Citizen for Public Justice

Frank’s Public Emergency Regulation used to cover his junta’s corruption

The Public Emergency Regulation or PER is back again! For another 30 days! But why? Sorry, but I’m cynical and the re-imposition of the PER tells me that we are looking at the increasing probability that its true purpose has got EVERYTHING to do with the “public” but NOTHING to do with any “emergency”. In other words, its true purpose has to be a hidden one.

For as long as Bainimarama keeps the PER in force more of us will suspect the obvious, that its real purpose is to conceal the corruption that he and his supporters are happily engaged in. Let’s face it, what other reason in today’s Fiji could there be for censoring the media and preventing people from assembling?

At this point Bainimarama cannot possibly be scared of the people, the GCC or the Methodist Church. We and those major Fijian institutions know only too well that he’s got the guns to back him up and that’s all there is to it.

So if if we know that it’s not organized opposition that makes him shit scared, what is it? The obvious answer is that Bainimarama is scared of the truth.

Exactly what truth is he scared of? Well, truth becomes a threat when you fear that it might reveal something that will cause harm. But everyone knows what Frank Bainimarama did on 5 December 2006 and everyone knows how he lied through his teeth about having elections.

So what else is it that he needs to hide? That’s exactly my point. There is something very sinister that Bainimarama wants to hide and it has nothing to do with national security.

Instead it’s about his fear that either he or one his closest cohorts will get caught red-handed as they fleece the national coffers and use their power to manipulate the system to their advantage, just like Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum was exposed in his corrupt deal with the Tappoo Group.

It’s a case of if it looks, walks and quacks like corruption, then the PER is designed to prevent you from finding out that this particular duck is the corrupt Bainimarama dictatorship.

That’s the REAL REASON why we have the PER and that’s why month after month Frank Bainimarama keeps it going so the media remains muzzled while he operates with impunity. As Professor Biman Prasad of the University of the South Pacific pointed out back in October of this year, there’s no way to stamp out corruption if you don’t have a free media.

Let me quote Professor Prasad directly: “Corruption flourishes in an environment where the media is curtailed. In addition, the government can have more legitimacy if it allows the media to operate independently. Many people who may have information and would like to expose some of the corrupt practices are reluctant to do so. A free media would help the government to have a better handle on the level of corruption.”

Another authority I can quote is Transparency International, which knows a great deal about corruption because its main purpose in life is to root it out. This is TI’s definition of corruption, “Corruption is operationally defined as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.”

I hope Aiyaz has not forgotten those words. He used to be on the Board of Transparency International Fiji. Isn’t it amazing how the wheel can turn full circle in our Fiji Islands?

CORRUPTION FIGHTER

Native Fijians “lamu” people

Fijians are the real ‘Lamu Sona” people and I am talking about the native sons of Fiji , not the Indians. During the Rabuka, Speight coup they were marching, showing herosim in defence of the chiefly system, trashning Indians and showing their physical power against the Indians. I ask what has happened to them now, their chiefly institutions are gone, their church silenced forever an dall other sacred instutions raped. Just because the guns are now turned on them they have become the real ‘Lamu Sona” people. Why are you not marching now, why are you not speaking up now? Where is your guts and glory now?

At least Indian leaders had the guts to protest and go against the military in 1987, what about the Fijian leaders, they have accepted everything Banana man has dished out and have never raised their voice and protested.
Bavadra stood up to Rabuka and was never afraid of anyone, why cant we have Fijian leaders like him?

Why is Qarase not protesting day in day out.

Listen you all so called Fijians, don’t be Lamu Sona, come out and start protesting, start a revolution as this is the only way you will get your Fiji back.

Cone on now and do it and get this mad Banana man behind bars where he belongs. Fijians, if you don’t stand up and fight, then I am sorry you guys are the true Lamu Sona people who when convenient can show their muscle against Indians knowing that the guns are with them but when the guns are turned towards them they run away and hide and become Lamu Sona people.

fijiflash

Fiji going down the tubes

I predict that if the government does not change by 2012 Fiji will be returning to the crown or egoistically handed to China on a plate.
 
Alluding to my concern clearly outlaid by FLP, Warden Narsey, and Brij Lal , to put it plainly the interim (and I mean INTERIM) government is too generous. And while they have a vision (that they call the peoples vision), there is no sign of genuine convictions to achieving milestones.
 
Its like the saying, “set a beggar on a horse and he’ll ride to the devil”. Such an adage is the obvious appropriate motto of the INTERIM govt.
 
We’re heading towards the bright light but because the media in Fiji is literally gagged, the people wont realize false hopes until the train hits. By the time the train blasts its horns, the chances of escape is luck. 
 
Recently a relative brought up in the village returned from Australia for a 2 week break. He returned after 3 days utterly surprised and dismayed with the Cost of Living in Fiji. With him went any second thoughts he had to retire in Fiji.
 
 
We are staring down the barrel of a revolution, where peoples needs will redefine the meaning of people power.
 
I know the idiots at the army media cells are reading this and genuinely hope that they realize what damage their short term gain is doing to the survival of this nation. 
 

blogger

Free-riders Nailatikaus, Maras and Ganilaus have never earned their place

I would like to comment on the racist attacks against the highly regarded Professors Brij Lal and Wadan Narsey who have made the high academic grades on merit.

The Mara Ganilau Dynasty and their illegal supporters, as you can see, are against “meritocracy” and they will use their lowest forms of tactics that include their treasonous act of December 5th 2006, in the removal of the peoples’ elected representatives, the abrogation of the peoples’ Constitution in April 10th, 2009, ruling by decrees and the Public Emergency Regulations (PER).

They are goons, strategically demonstrating their core culture of autocracy.

Autocracy is the antithesis to meritocracy.

I am not surprised by the autocracy to attack merit as they have NEVER earned their place. They only know how to impose by FORCE and RAPE the peoples” human rights to civilized choices and living.

Dr Mere Tuisalalo Samisoni elected SDL member for Lami Open Constituency (deposed 2006).

Fiji’s non-active stock exchange a sign of Frank’s disastrous influence on Fiji’s economy

Activity on the South Pacific Stock Exchange (SPSE) is slowly grinding to an alarming and unprecedented standstill.

Where weekly transactions once involved millions of dollars of trading activity, the SPSE is now lucky if activity totals a few thousand.

Nowhere is the disastrous economic impact of our military dictatorship more starkly evident than in the ignominious crisis of confidence in the SPSE.

For example, not a single share was traded on the SPSE on Tuesday 8 December 2009. And the previous day saw only one solitary trade, a parcel of 1000 shares in Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Limited worth $1,007.

But if you had been tracking SPSE activity you would have seen this coming.

In the week ending 4 November 2009 there was only one transaction for 715 shares worth $1,956.

The week before there were 15 transactions amounting to $27,358, which was less than half the previous week’s trading worth $69,460.

Yet current capitalisation of the SPSE currently stands at just over $904-million.

While down more than 10 per cent on three years ago, it nevertheless tells you that there is a helluva lot of invested capital at stake.

But it appears no one wants to buy in, which means that no one can sell out. It’s fiscal stalemate.

Check out the SPSE website* to see the truth staring you in the face.

http://www.spse.com.fj/

So why has the SPSE become so profoundly moribund? And if it continues, as appears likely, who will pay the wages of SPSE staff and meet other operational overheads?

There’s but one reason for this shocking state of affairs and it’s called the Frank Bainimarama military dictatorship.

The shocking failure of the dictator’s coup and the broken promises, the lies and the deceit of his incompetent and corrupt regime have had their inevitable effect.

The fire of investor activity that drives business in Fiji has been reduced to a few spluttering flickers, which is a damning indictment of all our idiot dictator stands for.

But don’t tell him. It might spoil his junket to Copenhagen.

Fiji Democracy Now

Frank’s junta living a false sense of champagne security on a juice budget

Milking the superfund by incompetent and corrupt governments has reared it ugly head in the melanesian islands in recent history.

Several years ago, PNG had NPF and a bank which is now BSP then called PNG Banking Corp (PNGBC). Both these were created by acts of parliament and the board and executive positions were political appointees…jobs for the boys kind.

These institutions became the corrupt government/politicians wallets for many years until to the extent that NPF wrote back contributors funds by few millions.

To stop this rot, a brave PM moved to corporatise these intitutions and they have never looked back since (Beaut is that there was a govt, unlike our case), with both these institutions becoming extremely well capitalised by local and international standards.

For our case, I dont believe that we are about to make that about turn anytime soon. FNPF is the lifeline of the regime and they ain’t about to let it go and wean off it…too tough. The regime is cash strapped and is at loss to crank up the economy to bring in the dollars.

By looking after their own to hang onto dear life, they are living a false sense of champagne security on a juice budget.

qasex