AAP
Entertainment group Amalgamated Holdings Ltd has purchased a New Zealand cinema business and its interests in Fiji cinemas for $A47.3 million.
Amalgamated said on Tuesday it had agreed to terms with SKYCITY Entertainment Group Ltd to purchase the SKYCITY Cinema business, which consists of 14 cinemas in New Zealand, and joint venture interests in the Rialto group that holds 16 screens in New Zealand and 10 screens in Fiji.
SKYCITY’s cinema business has a market share of over 35 per cent of New Zealand’s box office revenue, Amalgamated said.
It generated revenue of $NZ77 million ($A61.11 million) in the 2008/09 financial year, and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $NZ7 million.
The acquisition remains subject to due diligence, which is scheduled to be completed by December 15.
The transaction is expected to be completed by February 2010.
“The acquisition of the SKYCITY Cinema Circuit in New Zealand complements our dominant position within the Australian exhibition market and, including Germany and the Middle East, takes our total screens to over 1,300 globally,” Amalgamated managing director David Seargent said.
The acquisition will add to Amalgamated’s investment in the New Zealand hotel market through its ownership of the Rydges Hotels & Resorts group, he said.
The cinemas represents approximately three per cent of the SKYCITY Group, and its chief executive Nigel Morrison said he was pleased to be able to divest the non-core business.
Amalgamated shares were up 13 cents, or 2.4 per cent, to $5.54 at 1223 AEDT.
Tourism industry in Fiji struggling as more resorts go on receivership
November 26, 2009
Still trading with “business as usual”, an idyllic Fijian holiday resort that went into receivership just as the global recession hit has been put up for sale as a going concern.
Amunuca Island Resort and Spa, which is on Tokoriki Island in the Mamanuca Islands off the Nadi coast, consists of a 3-star resort with 86 existing accommodation rooms and a wide range of leisure activities.
“There is also plenty of potential for future expansion plus the opportunity to progress a 25-lot residential subdivision on adjoining land,” says Mike Bayley, managing director for Bayleys and lead sales consultant for the project.
The property is being marketed in New Zealand and internationally by Bayleys, under instructions from the receivers KordaMentha, with tenders closing on December 3.
Amunuca Island Resort and Spa opened in March 2007 and has accommodation for up to 278 guests, with 12 additional honeymoon suites under construction.
Room configurations are varied to suit guest needs, and include beachside executive honeymoon bures that feature four-poster beds and bubble baths for two.
“To date, eight bures have been completed with a further 12 bures commissioned,” Mike Bayley says.
Other accommodation units consist of beachfront studios, one-bedroom suites, rainforest and garden deluxe bures, and rainforest family bures catering for families and group travellers.
“Amunuca Island Resort and Spa has been designed to resemble a traditional Fijian village and constructed to blend in with the surrounding sea and forest environment,” Bayley says.
Exterior walls of the accommodation buildings are covered in traditional Fijian woven bamboo while the main buildings, incorporating the administration/reception, restaurant/bar and lounge areas, resemble open traditional Fijian pavilions.
The roofs of all buildings are clad in steel and covered in traditional Fijian thatching, while internal finishing treatments comprise a mixture of contemporary and Polynesian decor.
“Guest facilities at the Amunuca resort include beachside restaurants, bars, lounges, swimming pools including one with a waterslide and swim-up bar,” Bayley says.
- NZ Herald
Aiyaz Khaiyum and his fellow coup plotters have destroyed Fiji
November 26, 2009
Fiji’s economy is on the skids.
FNPF is on the verge of collapse and people’s savings are about to be lost forever.
Khaiyum and his fellow coup plotters have destroyed the nation.
The once proud and distinguished Fiji Military has lost all credibilty – if the UN does not cease to use these human rights abusers immediately its own shaky credibility will decline even further.
As for bottom feeders like Mind Pearl and Streamcom – where is the ethics in supporting a regime that tortures and murders its own people? Companies like these are parasites!!
nopryde
Aiyaz Khaiyum author of Fiji’s 2010 budget
November 26, 2009
We can confirm that Aiyaz Khaiyum is the author of the 2010 budget ready to be read out by Fiji’s tyrant Frank Bainimarama.
Insiders at the Ministry of Finance say that Aiyaz Khaiyum and his pup, John Prasad have been working late into the night at Aiyaz’s office putting together what is to become the “business-friendly” budget of 2010.
Aiyaz was tasked by Frank to compile the budget in his absence when he was galavanting in Brussels then to Rome.
Observers say the budget is a waste of time since nothing about the authors or the regime should be taken seriously.
Reporter
Offshore Fiji investors crying foul
November 25, 2009
A receivership report on the Fiji Beach Resort & Spa says 241 investors are owed $1.5 million.
It also shows a Fiji state authority owes the investors and two businesses in receivership $1.5 million.
A group of 141 New Zealanders, 52 Australians, 16 Americans, 30 people living in Fiji, one from Dubai and one from Canada poured millions into the resort developed by Neville Mahon of Greenlane in Auckland.
The Fiji Beach Resort & Spa, managed by Hilton, continues to operate 274 rooms but investors are owed a year’s payments after a series of problems.
KordaMentha’s Grant Graham and Brendon Gibson say a preliminarily calculation showed investors were owed FJ$2.1 million ($1.5 million).
“With no sums available the receivers are not in a position to make catch-up payments in relation to the pre-receivership period. The serious matter of outstanding villa-owner revenue is acknowledged and recognised,” they wrote.
Daily room rates at the Denarau resort were also sinking from FJ$350 a while ago to FJ$206 “due to political instability, negative press, the January floods and increased villa owner usage”, the receivers said.
Villa owners also want to establish a new management structure and are worried the Hilton is not trading to maximise their returns.
On September 8, the receivers were appointed to the resort’s developer and manager Denarau International and Denarau Investments.
On the brighter side of the ledger, the receivers say the Fiji Islands Revenue and Customs Authority owes FJ$2.1 million ($1.5 million). The state authority owes the two Denarau companies about FJ$2 million and the investors FJ$175,136.
The receivers met the authority last month and plan to get the money back.
“Recovery of these sums is of prime importance to the receivership and naturally to those villa owners owed sums of money,” they said.
Stage two of the resort could also be finished. That involves villa blocks 62-68, a new bistro and pool, finishing infrastructure and services, Hilton’s requirements for back-of-house extensions and equipment and other costs.
“Our preliminary view is that the works will be completed during the receivership,” the receivers said.
Hilton had indicated problems paying villa owners, primarily because of falling average room rates last year. Payments to trade creditors were delayed and payments to Hilton for management fees were not settled in full.
The outlook is no brighter because Fiji now enters its low tourist season.
Investors will get another update on November 30 and that will deal with the receivership, capital works and timetables and the chance of their getting returns next year.
ISLAND WOES
* Fiji Beach Resort & Spa is managed by Hilton.
* Kiwis poured millions into villas but have gone without payments for a year.
* Receivers entered the resort on September 8.
* They issued a 10-page update on the situation.
* The next report is due out on November 30.
By Anne Gibson | Email Anne
Suspicions about Aiyaz Khaiyum’s Streamcon connection
November 25, 2009
Citizens of democratic countries should think twice before doing anything which helps the coup-installed interim government of Fiji. That’s according to Nick Naidu, from the Coalition for Democracy in Fiji, who is based in New Zealand. He says news that a New Zealand company called Streamcom wrote a report on the broadcasting spectrum in Fiji which led the interim government to to revoke all of the country’s broadcasting licenses is deeply disappointing.
Mr Naidu says while there could be a completely innocent explanation for the move, he’s suspicious about the interim government’s motives.
Presenter: Bruce Hill
Speaker: Simon Jackson, head of Streamcon; Nick Naidu, New Zealand-based Coalition for Democracy in Fiji
NAIDU: It sort of tend towards the sinister argument for the reason that the timing is quite interesting, it’s a time when shortly after the media has been censored and it appears that the censorship hasn’t worked as well as the regime most probably wanted it. So could this be a way to further control or muzzle those organisations or media outlets that were not playing ball with the regime.
HILL: The report that these moves were actually based on was conducted by a New Zealand company based in Auckland, Streamcom. Do you have any concerns about companies from outside Fiji being involved in this kind of thing which results in such a political decision?
NAIDU: It’s very sad that while the people of Fiji the average person is suffering, and poverty is getting out of control, unemployment at its highest level, the economy is suffering. While all that is going on we have New Zealand and Australia as governments are standing up and imposing sanctions but at the same time a lot in the private and education sector, professional areas have decided to go and support this illegal regime with no concern ethically for what they’re doing and the harm that they’re doing to Fiji as a nation and its people by indirectly giving the regime a stamp of approval.
HILL: It’s not just one company doing this; they’re a number of companies and individuals that are actually helping out the Fiji government from countries like Australia and New Zealand aren’t there?
NAIDU: Of course I mean that’s always been the case but I think this time around there should have been some people who should have actually stood on principle and not gone and supported it. We have many people in the current regime, very close advisors, people who work in the civil service and the judiciary, the Chief Justice is an example, the Director of Public Prosecutions, all have taken oath under an illegal regime that has abrogated the constitution and compromised the judiciary, they’ve all been happy to serve and are continuing to serve what basically amounts to a government that’s working against the people of Fiji.
HILL: But Simon Jackson, head of the company which wrote the report on the use of Fiji’s broadcast frequency spectrum says such criticisms are wide of the mark. He says Fiji’s interim government is simply trying to clean up the allocation of frequencies after years of neglect, and there were no political motivations involved.
JACKSON: I agree that there should be an ethical basis to the work you do for anyone, whether it’s a government or another company. And the fact is we would not have undertaken this work if we believed that there was any ill intent. In actual fact what we believe is happening is that the Fijian government currently is trying to address years of neglect and mismanagement and actually corruption, we’ve found evidence of that in the way that the radio spectrum has been managed in Fiji. So we a tender to do some work to actually come up with a strategy for reorganising their broadcast band and I think you can see from the reaction of people like CSL, who have over 60 per cent of the market in Fiji radio, commercial radio, and people like My Television; these are the ones who if the government actually had some nefarious intent, these are the ones who would be concerned. And they’re not saying that, what they’re saying is look, this is good, there’s been a problem here that needs to be sorted out. Also the fact that the Fijian government is involving the ITU, which is the International Telecommunications Union, they’re actually an arm of the UN. So it’s not like this is something where somebody has decided let’s find a cunning way to take frequencies away from people, because to be honest if indeed they were acting as an evil dictatorship they could do that without having to go to this extreme couldn’t they? They’re doing a lot of work and doing it in the right way for somebody who’s trying to do something underhand.
HILL: How did your company feel about doing business with the Fiji regime? Are their countries and regimes that you wouldn’t do business with and where does Fiji fall in that sort of spectrum as far as you’re concerned?
JACKSON: Yes absolutely, we did some research first, I mean one of the first things we did on our own bat is that we did a visit to the site to actually Fiji and we took some time to talk to people in the Fijian community here in New Zealand, and look honestly it was very confusing. I found conversations that we were having with people on the street and people in New Zealand, like the first time that we approached somebody, we said oh look isn’t it terrible what’s going on in Fiji? And this guy who was an ethnic Fijian came and said no, it was great, and that kind of really confused us. But we have found more people supporting the changes if you like, plenty of people who may not support the regime, actually may not support the people doing the reforms, but it’s really hard to find somebody who doesn’t actually agree with the intent.
HILL: But Nick Naidu thinks there’s a wider principle at stake. He says citizens of democracy should be careful they don’t do things which might prop up a regime based on principles they themselves wouldn’t like to live under.
NAIDU: Well I think one, the professional organisations that these individuals or companies belong to should speak out. The governments concerned should support their sanctions by also making it clear to the private sector what their views are in terms of doing business as usual with Fiji. And I think it’s a sad reflection on society as a whole in New Zealand and Australia where people that are supporting regimes around the world, doing business with them like normal are living normal lives and enjoying democracy in these countries, while they’re going out there supporting dictatorships in other countries. It’s a really sad indictment on the democracy that we live in.
HILL: You think the people in Australia and New Zealand take their democracy a bit for granted perhaps?
NAIDU: Of course they take it for granted but at the same time they should be aware of the fact that their actions or the actions of their people are also in a way hypocritical because you want democracy to prevail across the world and when you are propping up illegal regimes by giving them financial assistance or indirect technical assistance, then you’re actually working against your basic principles and ethics. And that’s where the question lies, do people actually have ethics and as countries, as nations, as people, as organisations in this such as the Law Society in Australia and New Zealand, they should reprimand those members for taking part and propping up illegal regimes like in Fiji.
HILL: But that characterisation that Fiji’s coup installed interim government is disputed by Simon Jackson from Streamcom. He says corruption is no longer part of doing business in Fiji and that’s a positive development.
JACKSON: When we were doing this work we had people coming to us and saying what did it cost you? People who had been doing business in Fiji for a long time, and we were saying what do you mean? And they said well how much did you have to pay to get the contract? And it appears that the normal operating procedure in Fiji has been that if you pay good money for a contract it would be rude to expect you to actually do the work. So we think, we didn’t really notice any of that at all, but people we talked to they were sort of disbelieving that that’s actually the way that things are happening at the moment.
HILL: On the other hand is that the sort of system that you yourself would feel happy living under, that system they have in Fiji at the moment?
JACKSON: Yeah well no probably not, I have to say I mean the issues of censorship to be honest I think are quite sort of overstated. We have in the course of doing this project spent some time on the ground. The stories about, we never saw a soldier, we never saw any evidence of the kind of behaviour which is described as being sort of everyday activity in Fiji. The one thing I came away from from actually meeting people in government there was that these people are not politicians, they make, they seem to have almost no media nous, they call a spade a spade. But what their intentions are seem to be really I guess noble.
Fiji’s leadership is being criticised for allegedly interfering with the 1997 Constitution.
Fiji’s interim Government has confirmed it will use parts of the abrogated Constitution as a basis for its future governance.
The country’s interim leader, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, recently told European Union delegates the parts he will use will relate to the rule of law, the judiciary, human rights and democratic principles.
He says those portions will be re-authorised by presidential decree.
Dr Brij Lal, a Fijian-born politics expert from the Australian National University, helped pen the 1997 document.
He says this latest move shows Fiji is again moving further away from democracy.
“They’ve abrogated the Constitution and now they want to bring it back in dribs and drabs,” he said.
“The larger perspective involved will be looking at what kinds of political culture, what kinds of political institutions we want in Fiji, rather than the interim administration deciding, ‘This is what we want, and this is what the people of Fiji ought to have.”
- Radio Australia
Aiyaz Khaiyum’s national spectrum rambles without the promised decree
November 25, 2009
Why won’t Aiyaz publish his new decree?
Our dictatorial regime’s ever-worsening record of failing to deliver vital and fundamental essential services such as water and electricity is no secret.
Rather it’s a sad reality, which an increasing number of Fiji people have to endure every day.
Yet the tin-pot dictator has always exhibited an admirable degree of military precision and punctuality when it comes to trumpeting his dictatorship’s various decisions and Decrees.
For example, take the regime’s Decree* to re-install Josefa Iliolo to the presidency on 10 April 2009 following the ruling a bare 24 hours earlier by the High Court of Appeal that the interim regime was illegal.
The Decree is an elaborate and well drafted legal document.
So much so, one could be forgiven for believing it was drafted, printed and ready to roll days before the Court of Appeal handed down its ruling.
Well, folks, it was! FDN has been told by the most impeccable of sources that the crooked lawyer, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, was busy drafting that Decree well in advance of the anticipated Appeal Court ruling.
Now this poses a very interesting question:
When will we all be able to see the fine print of his latest piece of drafting, the controversial Regulation of National Spectrum Decree?
We at FDN think it will be no time soon, no matter where you look. For example, the official government website, with all its military regime bells and whistles, won’t tell you anything.
Last time we looked the most recent Decree listed was The Fiji National University Decree 2009, posted on 3 November 2009.
And, as you would expect from a carping coup apologist like Crosbie Walsh, the “Decree” link implanted on his website is a deliberate furphy, which leads you nowhere.
The detail of the Regulation of National Spectrum Decree is being deliberately withheld to avoid close scrutiny, despite it having been made “law” something like two weeks ago.
Why? Because the sordid details, right down to the jail penalties for broadcasters who object to the Decree, gives the game away and Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum knows this all too well.
A trained lawyer with a decidedly voluble streak, Aiyaz is able to rattle off all manner of things, except the truth.
For some reason the truth makes him go curiously silent.
Fiji Democracy Now
Aiyaz Khaiyum, John Prasad and Aziz Mohammed tries to buy Fiji Military Forces loyalty
November 25, 2009
Q : What’s the purpose of paying military officers their ration allowance?
A : To keep them happy so they don’t turn their guns on Frank, Aiyaz, John Prasad and Aziz Mohammed.
Q : Are Frank, Aiyaz, John and Aziz afraid of a looming counter-coup to their 2006 coup?
A : If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be paying out ration allowance to the military officers only.
Q : Who’se grand idea was it to pay this ration allowance?
A : Acting illegal Minister Finance Aiyaz Khaiyum, illegal Permanent Secretary Finance John Prasad and Chief of Staff Aziz Mohammed.
Q : Will their plan work?
A : Only for now. The military officers don’t mind any extra pay but we don’t think it’s enough to buy their loyalty which is still very much with the indigenous Fijian people and their tradition.
Q : How about the hard working nurses, doctors, police officers, teachers etc. Why deny them from getting some money too?
A : They’re not important to Aiyaz, John and Aziz because they don’t carry guns.
IMF on the wrong foot on FNPF annuity rates
November 25, 2009
The visiting IMF Mission team’s recommendation to reduce FNPF’s annuity benefits is unfortunate and appears to have been made without a full understanding of all relevant facts.
In its concluding statement, the team recommends that the Fund be made actuarially sound by reducing what it describes as … “the generous rate of conversion of FNPF benefits to annuities”.
To call the current rate of annuity ‘generous’ shows the Mission team’s lack of appreciation of what these so-called “generous” annuities convert into in real terms and whether it is sufficient to support a reasonable living standard for an ordinary worker who has contributed to the fund throughout his/her working life.
The current rate of annuity is 15% of the member’s balance in the Fund on the date of his/her retirement. This is by no means ‘generous’ bearing in mind the very low wage rates paid to about 80% of Fiji’s workforce.
Moreover, almost every member in the lower income group is constrained to make partial withdrawal from the Fund during his/her working life to pay for children’s education, for deposit on housing loans or for medical expenses thus substantially reducing individual account balances.
It should be recalled that the rate of annuity has been gradually reduced over the years from 25% to 15%. Any further reduction will result in severe hardship to those members of the Fund who retire on lower wage rates.
There is no argument against the fact that the Fund must remain actuarially sound. But that must not be ensured at the cost of depriving some 80% of the retirees of a reasonable annuity to provide for basic needs in their twilight years.
What then is the alternative? FLP believes that the rate of current contribution of 8% needs to be reviewed upwards to provide sustainability to the Fund. Indeed, the rate of contribution needs to be generally increased to 12%. The FLP had begun to address this issue when it increased the contribution rate from 7% to 8% during its tenure in government in 1999.
A contribution rate of 12% each (employee/employer) would result in a much more enhanced rate of national savings. The funds thus generated could play an important role in national development, both in the public and private sectors, while ensuring the Fund’s sustainability and a decent pension (annuity) at retirement to those on lower incomes.
One wonders how much in annuity benefits will members of the IMF team collect on retirement considering their hefty salaries, perks etc?
As a final comment, it is strange that the IMF Mission should make no mention of the fact that FNPF’s investments of over $500 million in real estate, resort development and in shares in poorly performing companies is a major cause of its current financial predicament.
Why then penalise the retirees??
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Price control removal will hit poor hard
November 25, 2009
The interim government is definitely ill-advised on its decision to remove price controls from 146 basic consumer items.
“It is a shocking and irresponsible move which will hit directly at the stomachs of the poor at a time of galloping inflation,” said Labour Leader Mahendra Chaudhry.
A recent survey of basic food and consumer items by the Consumer Council has shown that prices have generally doubled, in some cases they have shot up by as much as 200% since the devaluation of the dollar in April.
A move by the Prices and Incomes Board to bring an additional 24 items under price control was rejected by the interim government. And yesterday it made the shocking announcement that controls will be removed from an additional 146 items that were already under price control.
This will leave the consumers, low income workers and the poor in particular, totally at the mercy of unscrupulous merchants and profiteers.
Commerce Minister Aiyaz Khaiyyum tried to justify this anti-people policy with the claim that “government is pushing ahead with developing an economy that is investor and business friendly”.
“Doesn’t government have an equal responsibility to protect the people at large and ensure that ordinary consumers are not ripped off by unscrupulous merchants and retailers?” Mr Chaudhry asked.
Even in free market economies the State imposes controls on basic food and household items despite these countries having strong consumer protection agencies.
Mr Khaiyyum’s argument that price controls distort the market is equally flawed. The items in question or the raw materials used in their manufacture are largely imported and have little impact on local market conditions.
Market distortions and upheavals only take place in the absence of effective regulatory controls. Free market serves only the rich and the powerful and they tend to get their way at the expense of the poor.
Prices of all goods including food items have shot up astronomically, and often unjustifiably, in recent months particularly after the 20% devaluation of the Fiji dollar in April inflicting untold hardship on families in the middle and low income brackets, not to mention the very poor.
This is shocking. One expects any responsible government to act in such extreme situations to protect at least the poor and not leave them open to commercial exploitation.
NZ Streamcom admits it was used by Aiyaz Khaiyum to effect new broadcasting decree
November 25, 2009
A New Zealand company has defended a report that prompted Fiji’s interim military government to cancel all existing broadcast licences in the country indefinitely
The company, Streamcom, compiled a report on the broadcasting spectrum in Fiji and found it was disorganised and needed a clean-up of frequencies.
All television and radio stations in Fiji then had their broadcast licences revoked by Fiji Communications Minister Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum (pictured).
He says there is nothing sinister about the move.
But it drew criticism from Australia’s foreign minister Stephen Smith, who believes it is another attempt by Fiji to silence its critics.
Expressed
Similar views were expressed by New Zealand’s foreign minister.
But the head of Streamcom, Simon Jackson, says he feels Fiji’s interim government has done the right thing
He said: “In fact, what we think is happening is that the Fijian government is currently trying to address years of neglect and mismanagement and actually corruption.
“And we found evidence of that and the way that radio spectrum had been managed
One of Fiji’s largest commercial broadcasters says the interim government’s decision to revoke all of the country’s broadcasting licences does not threaten freedom of expression.
Communications Fiji, which claims 60 per cent of the radio market, says it is unconcerned as the airwaves are due for a shake-up.
Television and radio stations in Fiji were given temporary licenses on Saturday.
- Radio Australia
Fiji’s coupster Frank Bainimarama, like his key adviser, Aiyaz Khaiyum, are so caught up in their own deceit that telling lies has become a norm to them.
They quickly make up things to justify their existence and spurt out lies after lies in their hope to keep the Fijian people at bay.
They’re master deceivers and will twist words, situations and events into something they concoct as a temporary “feel good” to their otherwise tormented souls.
The IMF group visit to Fiji is another great example.
The trip to Fiji by the IMF gang is nothing out of the ordinary. They do it all the time to assess the economic, financial and social status of various countries and is a mandatory visit.
But for demented Frank, their visit was something he could use to his benefit,so out comes his lying tongue spitting out his bull that the IMF are in Fiji in relation to funding of his illegal reforms thought up by his side-kick Aiyaz.
Alas, the IMF have spoken in Fiji.
They say “they did not receive a formal request for the funding of the planned reforms.”
So whose lying?
We doubt IMF is lying!
So Frank and Aiyaz, IMF caught you with your pants down again fellas….shame!
International Monetary Fund urges junta to stop borrowing from FNPF
November 25, 2009
The International Monetary Fund has urged the interim government in Fiji to stop borrowing.
Fiji Village reports the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Chief Ray Brooks says the government must reduce its reliance on the Fiji National Provident Fund as a source of finance.
He says reforms are also needed within the provident fund
After a two week visit to Fiji, Mr Brooks said the government must shrink its expenditure, and said one way to do this was to reduce spending salaries and wages.
The Reserve Bank of Fiji has said the government’s outstanding debt totalled 1.5 billion US dollars at the end of June, or 51.3 percent of gross domestic product.
The IMF has also revealed it did not receive a formal request for the funding of the planned reforms.
The interim Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, had said the IMF and World Bank were coming to Fiji regarding the funding of the government’s reforms, and to check the state of the economy.
News Content © Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand
Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum corruption must be stopped
November 24, 2009
We need to separate the facts from Aiyaz’s shallow fiction
Our illegal attorney-general is deeply miffed that his secret plan to use a seemingly innocent piece of legislation to hijack control of our radio and television has been exposed for all to see.
Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum hates the fact that the spotlight has been turned onto his thinly veiled strategy to further tighten media control and deliver a cut-price launch of a pro-regime TV service run by his younger brother.
So he has resorted to lies and half truths to dress it all up as “nothing sinister.”
But he’s not convincing many people. The fact that it took 10 days from the date of the Decree’s secret gazettal until it was finally given a qualified mention in our censored media is certainly sinister.
If Aiyaz had nothing to hide, why wasn’t he upfront from the beginning?
Why didn’t he publicly announce it the day it was promulgated, as he has done in the case of other Decrees?
Perhaps even the brash Aiyaz realised that no one would be fooled. After all, the military regime’s record on media control is not a pretty one.
That’s why no one believes his explanation that the regime’s hijack of our radio and television frequencies is purely about preparing for the digital age”.
It just doesn’t stack up.
Firstly, a noted broadcasting authority has confirmed that, compared with many other countries, Fiji’s broadcasting spectrum is already very well managed.
So what’s the real reason for the sudden move on licenses?
Secondly, we are expected to take Aiyaz at his word when there are so many issues that he evades and refuses to address.
Thirdly, the facts, as they relate to Aiyaz Sayez-Khaiyum, speak for themselves.
FACT: It was his younger brother, Riyaz, CEO of FBCL, who on behalf of the military regime commissioned Auckland based firm Streamcom to carry out a study of the frequency spectrum in Fiji.
FACT: When undertaking its “’study” Streamcom was under firm instructions not to meet or consult with any broadcaster of existing license holder, and didn’t.
FACT: Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has never explained why his regime blocked Radio Australia’s terrestrial broadcasts and broadcast feeds to FM stations.
FACT: Neither will he publicly explain why there is no conflict of interest in his family’s recent sale of prime residential land to the Tappoo Group
FACT: Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is the military regime’s Minister for Tourism and Tappoo, with its investments in large tourist hotels and duty-free outlets, is a major player in our tourist industry.
FACT: Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum talks about accountability but displays a spectacular contempt for accountability when it comes to the regime’s broadcasting agenda and his own questionable business dealings.
FACT: In the civilized world the official and private dealings of Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum would be regarded as corruption.
FACT: Thanks to the imposition of military dictatorship and the elevation to positions of power of third-rate crooks like Aiyaz, Fiji is no longer part of the civilized world.
Fiji Democracy Now
IMF says Fiji’s economic growth sluggish
November 24, 2009
The International Monetary Fund has spent two weeks in Fiji, investigating the state of the economy.
IMF delegation leader Ray Brooks says Fiji’s economic growth has been sluggish, with unemployment rising to 8.5 per cent in 2008, and the economy expected to shrink by 2.5 percent in 2009.
A modest turnaround is expected in 2010, when the economy is expected to grow by 2 percent, but Mr Brooks warns there is considerable downside risk, especially from government debt and inflation.
The IMF has recommended Fiji keep its deficit to 2 per cent in its 2010 budget.
Mr Brooks has also warned the island nation of the need to reform the National Provident Fund, Fiji’s main pension fund.
He says benefits must be cut and management made independent of the Government if people’s retirement savings are to be safeguarded.
- Radio Australia
Fiji Methodist regret military intervention in induction service
November 24, 2009
The Methodist Church in Fiji says it’s disappointed an induction service for senior church ministers was stopped by the police and military last weekend.
The church says it was told the ceremony to mark the election of ministers to senior positions was cancelled because some of those taking part are involved in court proceedings.
The Methodist Church president Reverend Ame Tugawe, General Secretary Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu, and seven other ministers and officials were charged in July with breaching the public emergency regulations by organising church meetings.
The church’s deputy general secretary, Tevita Nawadra Banivanua, says he’s saddened the activities of the church have been stopped again.
“All that we have been trying to do as a church is to get along and move on with what is happening in Fiji right now. Not to be speaking out against this against that, acting as almost we are the opposition party. We thought that the government is slowing accepting our situation.”
Reverend Banivanua says the church does not want to breach the bail conditions of its members by speaking out on political matters or breaking the law.
News Content © Radio New Zealand International
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Aiyaz Khaiyum the architect of the 2006 coup
November 24, 2009
Comments I’d like to make’
1. If the Khaiyum brothers are giving themselves the licence to print money, we the Fijians have no one to blame but ourselves. Our displayed and collective ineptitude, inertia and reluctance since December 06 has allowed the Khaiyums a free hand…”
2. I dont understand what “…..which also owns the monopoly Papua New Guinea TV broadcaster EMTV..” is supposed to mean. In PNG, you have a choice of up to 120 (yes one hundred and twenty) TV Channels that you can choose from. EMTV is not even a “carrier”. From a local (PNG) TV station point of view, PNG has more than just EMTV, there are other PNG TV Channels e.g. Yumi TV, Kundu 2 etc.. PNG businesses use Australian TV stations to advertise to their PNG markets, e.g rice companies.
3. The military council and indeed Frank are coy of removing Aiyaz BECAUSE they know they are in the deep end and the only way they can find their way ashore is with the Aiyaz. He is the architect of the coup.
qasex
Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum driven by his racist agenda
November 23, 2009
We all know jokes about crooked lawyers. But there is nothing funny about our illegal attorney-general, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
Least funny is the way his actions are driven by his pathological antagonism towards Fiji indigenous institutions, demonstrated most recently by his Regulation of National Spectrum Decree.
We’ll get to the background of Aiyaz’s racist attitudes, but first let’s examine the frightening ramifications of the illegal attorney-general’s latest move.
In a nutshell, the new Decree gives Aiyaz the power to strip the licenses of broadcasters, potentially costing investors millions of dollars if their companies are de-licensed.
Khaiyum has made no secret of his distaste for our dominant television broadcaster, Fiji TV, which is owned by Yasana Holdings, representing the 14 ethnic Fijian provinces.
Together with his younger brother, Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, head of the government-owned FBCL (Radio Fiji), Aiyaz has been plotting for months to set up a rival pro-regime television station.
Now the National Spectrum Decree provides the means to do that effortlessly and Fiji TV, which also owns the monopoly Papua New Guinea TV broadcaster EMTV, is a sitting duck.
Under the provisions of the Decree it would require only the stroke of a pen for the Khaiyum brothers to re-allocate or demand a share of Fiji TV’s frequencies in order to put their new television station to air.
There would be no need for investment in transmission towers or reception antennas. Under the Decree it’s all there for the taking.
And under the provisions of Aiyaz’s Decree the management of Fiji could face up to five years jail if they refuse to cooperate in the hijacking of their broadcasting facilities, which represent millions of dollars worth of honest investment.
In any other society such a blatantly corrupt act would be theft, pure and simple. But under the latest dodgy decree hastily concocted by Aiyaz it’s all within the law!
Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has certainly come a long way in a short time. When he jumped onto Bainimarama’s bandwagon following the armed coup, he was a relative nobody.
His main claims to fame were his legal qualifications and his well known antipathy for traditional Fijian cultural values.
In particular, he had long had his sights set on dismantling the chiefly system, which lies at the very core of those values. This is what he proposed in his university thesis in Hong in 2002 when setting out his case to dismantle the Bose Levu Vakaturaga (Great Council of Chiefs):
“. . . The Chiefly system must go. Cultural autonomy must have a sunset clause .. . ”
The sons of long-time NFP politician, Sayed Abdul Khaiyum, Aiyaz and Riyaz have each done well very out of the coup and the Bainimarama dictatorship.
Two years ago, and despite having no business experience, Riyaz, a former Fiji TV journalist, was suddenly elevated by the regime to the position of CEO of Fiji Broadcasting Corporation.
But not everyone in the dictatorship thinks the sun shines out of the Sayed-Khaiyum brothers, notably the majority of senior RFMF officers that make up the Military Council that was established by the dictator immediately after the coup.
As well as privately deploring the way in which Aiyaz has used the coup to build his illicit powerbase, they are especially sensitive to Aiyaz’s racist attitudes towards ethnic Fijians.
Given that the RFMF is nearly 99 percent composed of ethnic Fijians, the military’s hostile suspicion of the brash and vain young Aiyaz hardly comes as a surprise.
But Aiyaz has never had much time for the military, either. As he wrote in his thesis for his Hong Kong law degree in 2002 when analyzing the 2000 (Speight) coup:
“…a a rescue of the prime minister and cabinet by the Fiji Military Forces, which prides itself in its military prowess, was an obvious and relatively easy task. However this was not to be. The ineptitude, inertia and reluctance displayed by the military in the first few weeks of the crisis allowed the kidnappers a free hand…”
Well, the Military Council certainly didn’t display “‘ineptitude, inertia and reluctance” in demanding the dictator sack his then interim Minister for Finance, Mahendra Chaudhry.
But does the Military Council have the balls to insist the dictator deals similarly with the out-of-control illegal attorney-general?
Fiji Democracy Now
Speculation rife after Fiji cancels broadcasting licenses
November 23, 2009
One of Fiji’s largest commercial broadcasters says the interim government’s decision to revoke all of the country’s broadcasting licenses does not threaten freedom of expression.
Communications Fiji, which claims 60 per cent of the radio market, says it is unconcerned as the airwaves are due for a shake-up.
Television and radio stations in Fiji were given temporary licenses on Saturday.
The interim Attorney-General and Communications Minister, Aiyez Sayed-Khaiyum, will now decide which of the licenses will be renewed.
The government says the move has nothing to do with freedom of expression, however, both Australia and New Zealand’s governments have condemned it.
New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Murray McCully has called the decision “a step backwards”.
Mr Sayed-Khaiym says the decree will allow a review of signal bands and is solely aimed at preparing Fiji to move into the digital age.
Decision criticised
The decision has been described as “heavy handed” by Radio Australia’s Manager of Rebroadcasts.
Speaking to Geraldine Coutts on Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat program, John Westland said speculation about the overhaul would continue so long as information about it was withheld.
Radio Australia is already banned and off-air in Fiji through its terrestrial radio network and FM stations.
Mr Westland says there can be winners and losers when the allocation of signal bands is reviewed.
“It can either open it up to new players, or it can shut off existing players,” he says.
“They can put a price tag on the licenses, which happens for example in Australia where the spectrum is actually auctioned and the player with the most amount of money can win.”
“Frankly as long as there’s as little detail as there is at the moment, we just don’t know.”
Mr Westland says from his experience Fiji’s spectrum is relatively well managed.
“The radio stations are quite well spaced, there is minimal interference in the manner that we experience quite severely in other parts of Southeast Asia where the airwaves are very crowded and people are colliding with each other all the time.”
- Radio Australia
