Cogito, ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. (René Descartes, mathematician and philosopher,1599-1650)

Thursday 9 June 2011

Ratu Tevita and the Great Council of Chiefs: Damned by their own words

Ratu Tevita wants the Great Council of Chiefs ( Bose Levu Vakaturaga,BLV) to take over from the Bainimarama government pending a new election. He also seems to want elections conducted under  the racial provisions of the 1997 Constitution, which in turn protected chiefly political and fiscal interests, giving them the authority to appoint the President, and much more. We need to take a closer look at the BLV.



In March 2000, towards the end of the Speight Coup, the BLV passed several resolutions, four of which I cite in full below because they show the sort of institution Ratu Tevita supports.
  • The BLV agrees that amendments be made to the 1997 Constitution and that these amendments should embrace all concerns that have been expressed by the Taukei.
  • The BLV agrees that HE the President has sole authority to appoint the Council of Advisors and that some of these advisors be selected from the group led by George Speight.
  • The BLV agrees that HE the President be requested to exercise his powers to pardon all those who participated in the forcible take-over of Parliament and the kidnapping of the Peoples Coalition Government.
  • The BLV agrees that HE the President be requested to give full and urgent attention to the grievances as raised by the various Taukei groups during the recent protest marches with special attention given to ensuring that the position of President and Prime Minister together with other senior government positions (unspecified) shall always be held by indigenous Fijians and Rotumans.
This is the unelected, one-race body Ratu Tevita wishes to see reconvened with all its previous powers, irrespective of their endorsement of resolutions that would have embedded institutional racism; irrespective of the fact that the BLV is heavily politicised;  speaks only for one race (and by no means for all of them, or their chiefs) and has sought on more than one occasion to undermine democratic processes.  


It should be noted that the  BLV (and the Qarase Government)  failed to acknowledge that the truly  “aggrieved” parties in 2000 were not the itaukei or the Speight kidnappers, but the deposed FLP-led government whose members had been kidnapped together with Indo-Fijian shop owners in Suva whose shops had been looted and ransacked; countless numbers of  Indo-Fijian farmers who were forced to flee their farms, and many others — all Indo-Fijian—who were terrorised in their homes.  Many have since been forced to abandon their farms, some adding  to the urban squatter population, and a sizeable number of mainly skilled Indo-Fijians have emigrated.  


The Qarase Government elected in 2001 in the aftermath of the Speight Coup and again in 2006 acted on some of these BLV resolutions — by seeking to exonerate those who took part in the cou (the Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bill) and promoting ethnic Fijian interests (most especially those of the bureaucratic elite, for ordinary Fijians would have benefited little, if at all) at the expense of their fellow citizens.   


Make no misake about it, this is the Fiji to which Ratu Tevita apparently wishes to return when he talks of a "return to democracy."

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

good job Croz expose the racist lot of thieves

Anonymous said...

From what I observed in Fiji from 2000 to 2009 there was little great about the "great council of chiefs" in fact many people often referred to them as the "great council of thiefs". That is not to say people did not respect thier own chiefs. In fact many cheifs do a great job with their community but the wider role was never clear and little decisions ever got made.

Mara discredited said...

It is apparent that Mara is an opportunistic scion of the leading chiefly family of Lau. His utterances this far indicate that he is totally out of sync with Frank's ideas about where Fiji ought to be going.

I am flabbergasted that he is being given so much attention as he really has nothing to offer and has no credibility. It appears that Aussies (first) and Kiwis (second) will be giving him audience.

Nothing good is likely to come out of this entertaining of a baffoon -and a
former thug in uniform.

The best thing that can happen is that he returns to Fiji and faces the charges that have been made against him or that he seeks asylum in ANZ (NZ already has the racist Cacau as a refugee!) or among his kindred in Tonga.

A Hospice Movement for Fiji and the GCC said...

Where is a GCC-funded proposal for A Hospice Chain in Fiji for the Terminally Ill?

It would be a demonstration of their concern for all the people who suffer terminal disease requiring palliative treatment and care.

Mobile care would be delivered by specially-trained palliative care nurses who would be active in all the Divisions of Fiji to attend to people At Home.

Surely a worthy cause and deserving of their considerable attention?

Anonymous said...

Australia can have Mara for all he is worth..really it is like getting rid of bad rubbish and Fiji will be better off without officers of his calibre.

Observer1a said...

No sooner the Antipodes Government were reminded their "smart sanction" against Fiji is a flop, they start on this cock-eyed plan to "use" Ratu Tevita Mara. A true Lauan chief would stand by his people not abandon them in their hour of greatest need. He must be truly Tongan.

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous 9:07pm

No thank you. As an Aussie taxpayer, I dont want that good for nothing Ului Mara here, living on dole !!

As a holder of Tongan passport, he should go back to Tonga and preach democracy to the King and Nobles of that country !!