Development News from USP. www.fbe.usp.ac.fj Click/Drag to enlarge

BLOGSPOT IS HAVING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

I don't know how long this will last but for the moment I can't rely on being able to post or edit anything and you  may not be able to comment.  You will, however, be able to read the blog as usual. At the time of writing, I think I've fixed the problem. If not, please be patient.

If You Want Democracy, Support the Roadmap: Ratu Inoke

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, says Fiji’s roadmap to democracy has been accepted by countries within and outside the Pacific region,  and is recognised as a credible and sustainable.  “It will provide the best opportunities for all its citizens [to address] the problems of the country head on,  through a reform process running concurrently with preparations for elections,” he said.

The Minister criticised Australia and New Zealand for what he called their  stubborn dogmatic insistence on “early elections” as a panacea to all of Fiji’s deep-seated problems. He likened their past and recent statements to a broken record player that insists on elections and nothing more, despite general recognition that racism, corruption, and inequality, inter-alia in the electoral system that govern elections are deep-seated problems that have to be addressed if the country is ever to become a democracy in any real meaning of the word.

Budget Strategy to Cover 2012-14: Growth, Sustainability, Targeted Support

By Elenoa Baselala, Fiji Times

A SPECIAL sitting by the Cabinet yesterday [Tuesday] approved the 2012 Budget Strategy and also set the national budget announcement date as October—a month earlier than usual.

The strategy based on a submission by the Minister for Finance and Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama covered the three-year period from 2012 to 2014 and is said to be consistent with the government's efforts to achieve its dual objectives of fostering sustainable growth and achieving fiscal sustainability over the medium term.

Daily News for June

Cabinet Members , Portfolios and Permanent Secretaries

The foreign media seems to have accepted the notion, spread by the anti-government bloggers, that the PM and Attorney-General (or even the A-G alone)  are running the country. That they are prominent players and are most often sought out to front up to the media, there is no doubt. But the top of the Fiji administrative and legislative pyramid is Cabinet that consists of the PM and eight ministers.   It is Cabinet that recommends all decrees and regulations to the President before they become law, and it is Cabinet that oversees all general government business.

FIJI FOCUS. Check out this monthly Government magazine for news, letters to the editor, job advertisements. It's in English, Hindi and Fijian with lots of photos. To access the relevant government website and download this and earlier editions,  Click here. To access  the June edition directly, click here.

Fiji Stays Away from PACER Plus Talks

Fiji was excluded from the Pacific Forum PACER plus negotiations in January 2010. It doubts whether an agreement will benefit Fiji and sees no point in being involved now, at the late planning stage, assuming it is invited. Its exclusion has denied Pacific Island countries the opportunity to hear Fiji's concerns (that also will affect them) and permitted Australia, and to a lesser extent NZ,  to exert more influence  with Fiji (that has the Pacific's most developed economy) absent.

Repeka Nasiko reports in Fiji Live.

Seven Types of Blog Comments: For People Who Comment on the Blog

I am grateful to Jeff Goins for this classification of blog comments and how to respond to them.  He says there are seven types. My comments are highlighted in brackets:

Blessed are the (Latest) Coup Makers

By Graham Davis in Grubsheet

Tevita Mara aka Roko Ului : Fiji's next coup leaders?

Australia and New Zealand have a long history of misjudging events in Fiji and are adding to their litany of mistakes with their tacit support for the overthrow of the Bainimarama regime. Neither country – at leadership level – will acknowledge that this has now become official policy. Yet there are clear indications that Canberra and Wellington have abandoned any notion – peddled by the Lowy Institute, among others – that they engage with Bainimarama and help him meet his stated objective of elections in 2014. Instead, they appear to have embraced the idea that the regime will eventually implode, the dictatorship will crumble, sweet reason will triumph and their own brand of democracy restored.

Ratu Tevita — Ni Sa Moce, Namaste, Good Night

Despite one supporter's claim that "The momentum is building as the two speakers (Mara and Baledrokadroka)  make their way around Australia, NZ and the Pacific," attendance numbers in Canberra and Melbourne suggest the opposite. But the comments left on the SDL blog Coup4.5, give some indication of their quandry and what at least some of their supporters want.

Lockington's Everyday Fiji ... Life Goes On

Weekend Reading. Scroll down to see •The Fiji Media Environment • The Military and the Civil Service • Growing the Service Industry
• The Head that Wears the Crown • Faith in the Future

Allen Lockington is a self-employed customs agent and business consultant who has regular articles published in Fiji. I thank Allen for permission to reprint some of them in this political blog. They remind us that life goes on, whatever the political situation. And it's good to know that.

Passport Shortage

Many times I have been asked the question – why do we run out of passports? There are 800,000 of us in Fiji and if all of us were to be given a passport each it wouldn’t take five years. But as it is almost each year we run out of passports. As shown on TV, Director of Immigration Nemani Vinuwaqa said that the company that makes them is to blame because they print passports according to priority.

The Military in the Civil Service: CCF Press Release for Discussion

Lack of a succession plan

The Citizens Constitutional Forum notes the recent appointment of senior military officers within the civil service raising questions on how these reflect on the succession plans put in place by the Public Service Commission and the growing militarization of senior government positions.

Faith in the Future by Rodney V. Cole

Rodney Cole has a life-long association with Fiji and the Pacific Islands. He was born in Suva,  educated at  Suva Boys' Grammar School and was later District Officer in Lau, Lomaiviti, Navua and Suva, and Secretary for Finance in the colonial government.He was from time to time a member of the Legislative and Executive Councils and Council of Ministers, Financial Adviser to the Fijian Affairs Board, member of numerous boards and committees including Chairman of the Fiji National Provident Fund and Alternate Governor for Fiji of the Asian Development Bank, and  he held a Commission in the Fiji Military Forces. 

‘O thou of little faith wherefore doest thou doubt’ (Matthew 14.30-31).  Who will remember the plaque placed by the RNZAF on the rock breakwater at the Laucala Bay seaplane base to confound those doomsayers who said it would never survive the war! It survived well beyond the war. 
 
Much the same could well apply to those who continue to carp against the current Fiji Government ‘s oft stated intention to hold elections in 2014. Leading among the doubters are the so called ‘Fiji experts’ , kai valagi such as  Howard-Jones  (‘I did not accept at face value Bainimarama's intention to hold elections in 2014.’) and  Dobell (‘If the Supremo does hold elections in 2014 (a big if))’. And the academic ‘Fiji think-tank’ at the Australian National University.

Analysis: An Overview of the Fiji Media Environment.

By Stanley Simpson*

http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/pacific-media-watch/2011-06-14/fiji-analysis-overview-media-environment

SUVA (Pacific Media Watch):  The media landscape has changed significantly since 2006 – for better or for worse depending on who you speak to, and who is making the observation.

The first major change of course – is that we are not free – or as free as we were prior to 2006.

The Head that Wears the Crown

By Karam Chand Ramrakha* 

How does the saying go? Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. So far Fiji’s PM  Bainimarama has enjoyed an untroubled run.  He has the country firmly under his thumb. Dissenting forces, or areas of possible dissent, have been neutralised. For once no one is cursing the Indo-Fijians for Fiji’s problems. The two coups of 1987 and 2000 were based on a supposed Indo-Fijian takeover of Fiji and were claimed to have saved the embattled indigenous Fijian race. 

Growing Services Speech, ANZ's Michael Rowland at Australia Pacific Islands Business Council

Australia Pacific Islands Business Council
Growing Services
Michael Rowland, Speaking Notes
Nadi, Fiji – 20 June 2011

The Human Rights Some People Choose to Forget

Mal has left a new comment on your post "How Many Human Rights Abuses are Acceptable?":

During the attempted Coup in 2000 my father was beaten up, his wife threatened, his house ransacked,items stolen, his ute stolen and wrecked. Many of the participants of these events were ferried around in Rewa Dairy vehicles supplied by Sam Speight so his recent beating up by the army is not a Human Rights abuse but justice finally served.

Some really really bad things happened in Tailevu during that time, far worse than anything that the military have done since 2006.Those events of 2000 have been swept under the carpet by supporters of the SDL and the anti Bainimarama factions. Only the most biased of individuals can claim that it hasn't been.

Prasad says Media must Help Fiji to Heal

The news media has an important role to play in uniting a fractured nation such as Fiji, says economist and academic Dr Biman Prasad.

“Media needs to become a force for unity – not disunity as we have sometimes seen in the past,” he said, speaking at a recent Lions Club dinner.

Dr Prasad stressed that a real start to a stronger nation could only be achieved once media censorship and the public emergency regulations were lifted. This, however, came with responsibility, he said.

How Many Human Rights Abuses are Acceptable?

Not in Fiji

"What level of Human Rights abuse is acceptable? At what point will you say enough is enough?"A reader complains I have not answered this question, despite several promptings. I have delayed because this has the hallmarks of a non-question, that will be considered unanswered whatever is said. Here is my answer:

It is not possible to briefly answer this question to the satisfaction of the reader. What appears to be a simple request for a concrete figure (presumably '0') is in fact a loaded request to put a figure on an abstraction. I am asked to make a value judgment in the absence of common agreement on whether each HR is of equal importance; whether each is always applicable, irrespective of the circumstances; whether everyone's HRs are of equal weight and importance, irrespective of individual and communal circumstances;whether it is ever justifiable to deny some HRs to some people; and whether some HRs can justifiably be temporarily suspended for the 'common good.'

To defuse the political element (which is the obvious point) of the question, I suggest we ask the same questions of "sin" where the answers will be seen to be no less difficult. 

The reader knows my general position on HRs in Fiji. I have criticised abuses when I have known them to have occurred and have recommended better practices. He also knows that the level of the alleged physical abuses have been exaggerated. Anti-Government people have referred to torture but they do not even come near to what people associate with the word "torture", as seen in Iraq, Afghanistan and on TV thrillers. And he knows I have called for the lifting of the emergency regulations.

I suspect the reader's motive for asking the question is because he wants to draw attention to HRs abuses since December 2006.  But the reader must know that the abuse of basic HRs did not suddenly start in 2006; that most physical abuses occurred in the immediate aftermath of the coup; that most people are not affected (on a world scale Fiji abuses might score 5 out of 100), and that the HRs situation appears to be getting better. The reader should also know that those who complain most about the post-2006 abuses were singularly quiet about human rights abuses in 1987 and 2000-01 (presumably because they did not affect them, or their ethnnic group); and even now such people speak only of their chosen "middle class" HRs, saying nothing about social justice and the denial of basic HRs to Fiji's second class citizens.  -- Crosbie Walsh

Civil Service Skills Shortages

The Public Service Commission is currently working on a Scarce Skills Retention Policy for Civil Service. Public Service Commission permanent secretary Mr Parmesh Chand said over the past years government has lost considerable qualified and skilled personnel to private and regional organization’s, adding that the absence of qualified staff in Ministries affects Government’s ability to deliver the required services to the public.

Pacific Islands Regional Busines Council Address

"Creating Regional Economic Growth through Integration" Address by Minister for Industry and Trade Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. Monday 20 June 2011, Radisson Resort Fiji.

Main points: • All agreements must most benefit the weaker parties • PACER plus will have minimum benefits with Fiji excluded • Get existing agreements working before PACER plus • Expand relationships beyond tradional parties

Frankly, this is a road to ruin for Fiji

Frankly, this is a road to ruin for Fiji. � Fiji Today FijiTodays Open Forum Blog

By Michael Field with elements of truth. Take your pick. At least he sees Ratu Tevita Mara for what he is. Thanks Fiji Today for this.

Samoans Playing with Fire

The principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries is a cornerstone of international law yet that principle is being flagrantly breached by Samoa in its dealings with Fiji. In a remarkable development, the Samoan Government has publicly endorsed a campaign spearheaded by the renegade Fijian military officer, Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara, to remove the Fijian leader, Frank Bainimarama. In doing so, it’s set the scene for an even bigger rift between the two countries with potentially serious consequences for the entire region.

Click this link to Graham Davis's Grubsheet to read the full article and comments.

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What to Keep and What to Lift in the Public Emergency Regulations (PER)

Scroll down to other Weekend Reading

By Crosbie Walsh

Abstract. I believe Government would win much support in Fiji and overseas —and take the wind out of its opponents sails— if it lifted the PER completely. Failing this, I urge Government to increase the authority of the police vis-a-vis the military; revisit detention practices and  blanket immunity; selectively and progressively lift restrictions on meetings and assembly; and lift the PER restrictions on the media. Readers too busy to read the full article may care to use the subheadings to read those parts of most interest to them.

Some time back a reader said that with the imposition of PER 'Government had embarked on a path that is only likely to see further rumour-mongering and division in society [and prevent] the dissemination of the ideas and the goodwill that will be essential in the next few years if the aims of the 'Roadmap' are to be achieved.'

Another reader thought PER and the attitude of the military were preventing the emergence of the new leaders, leaving Fiji only with the old leaders who had lost everything from the Coup, and not those it would need in the future. He wrote that if the Prime Minister wanted 'balanced, genuine new leadership in the country' he had to be more inclusive and open to alternative views and approaches. On PER he wrote: 'When you try and silence everyone someone somewhere screams....that is what is happening now.' Neither reader was opposed to government.  Both, in fact, wanted Government policies to succeed.

I'm sure one of the readers echo the thoughts of many when he said the last thing Fiji needed was a 'bunch of has beens back in power or the military leadership staying in power forever.'  He concluded by wishing the PM 's the best of luck as he faces his greatest challenge: how to can change from a military to a civilian style of governance where leaders take advice and know when it is the right time to step aside.

This article takes up these issues first by examining the PER and their purpose, and then by considering ways by which they can be lifted without jeopardising public order and the path the Bainimarama government has chosen to follow in the lead up to constitutional and electoral reform and elections in 2014.

Lockington's Everyday Fiji ... Life Goes On

Scroll down to other Weekend Reading
• The Camera Doesn't Lie: FDFM Links to Extremists 
• Graeme Dobell's Fiji Dilemma 
• Mara’s Charade of Democracy: Why NZ Should Not Make Him a Martyr  
TO BE PUBLISHED LATER THIS MORNING
•What to Keep and What to Lift in the Public Emergency Regulations

 Allen Lockington is a self-employed customs agent and business consultant who has regular articles published in Fiji. I thank Allen for permission to reprint some of them in this political blog. They remind us that life goes on, whatever the political situation. And it's good to know that.

The Pacific Way

Fiji and Tonga are  arguing over who has sovereignty over Minerva Reef, two coral reefs  that are covered with water at high tide. Why does one or the other have to own them? How about them sharing like good neighbours?   Tonga is called the Friendly Islands and Fiji has been referred to as the way the world should be.
Then there is the issue about Roko Ului’s “rather unusual” rescue from somewhere in the seas. And now we are irked by the fact that New Zealand has granted him passage. So what, for goodness sake! Let him go! New Zealand is also a neighbour. Their people have been coming to Fiji for visits and we have been going over there because our relatives live there, or to play sports, work or have a holiday. For goodness sake, let's be good neighbours. We practically live next door to each other yet we are doing things the wrong way.

The Camera Doesn't Lie: FDFM Links to Extremists

By Graham Davis in Grubsheet Grubsheet has come under withering attack for its previous posting that exposed the apparent links between the so-called Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement in Australia and indigenous extremists who staged the 2000 George Speight coup. Tempers in the diaspora of the disaffected who oppose the Bainimarama regime have been sorely frayed since we published a photograph of two supposedly independent academics at the Australian National University – Dr Jon Fraenkel and Professor Brij Lal – with Simione Kaitani, one of the coup perpetrators who’s been granted permanent Australian residency.

Graeme Dobell’s Fiji Dilemma

Graeme Dobell writes short pieces for The Interpreter, the blog for the think tank Lowry Institute.  While his experience is mainly in Asia, his journalism assignments have taken him to Fiji. His latest four-part  article The Fiji Dilemma has been widely cited in the anti-Fiji blogs, and a link is  provided here for your evaluation.

When you have read it you may wish to compare your opinions with those of someone better equipped than me to know where Dobell is coming from.  Here is what he said:

Mara’s Charade of Democracy: Why NZ Should Not Make Him a Martyr

By Thakur Ranjit Singh

Mere elections do not deliver democracy. One that does not grant freedom, equality and social justice to all its citizens is not worth defending.

A seminar was organized by the Coalition for Democracy in Fiji in late December, 2006, in Auckland, just weeks after Bainimarama ousted Qarase’s supposedly democratic government. In that presentation some four and a half years ago, this author had presented a paper and accused New Zealand and Australian government of hypocrisy, double standards and being ungrateful and blinkered neighbours because of their lack of understanding and appreciation about Fiji’s fundamental ills. NZ mainstream media, which lacks diversity in its newsrooms, was also not spared for its inability to analyze the real truth about Fiji, and appeared to be singing from the same hymn sheet of their government’s dogmatic foreign policy on Fiji’s faltering democracy and governance issues.

Murray McCully Should Read This. Steps towards a Solution for Squatting

Bangladesh leases, December 2010

There never has been, and there probably will never be, a simple answer to the squatter problem in Fiji. Its underlying causes are poverty and lack of land and housing people can afford. But international research has shown that for squatters to help dig themselves out of poverty and improve their residential environment, security of tenure is a must.   

An Appeal to the People of New Zealand

After being in NZ  for the last two weeks, and seeing why people do not understand what is happening in Fiji, I am reminded of Alice Walker's words in her book We Are the Ones We Have been Waiting For.

Writing of those who work to improve the world, she says:  “They are the ones who feel no joy at another’s defeat.  No satisfaction at another’s pain.  Sit for a moment and consider what it means to be aware;  let yourself feel the many ways you have been morally and politically manipulated and tricked.  Consider your own part in this.”

This made me think of groups outside of Fiji (New Zealand and Australia) that  are calling for a "return to democracy" in Fiji by opposing the Bainimarama government, while many of us in Fiji are working with his interim government to create what we see as a true democracy.

We see democracy as different from that which was practised before. Our democracy will not allow

Bainimarama Government a Curate's Egg

Barry has left a new comment on your post "News Regularly Updated":

The Bainimarama Government is such a curate’s egg!

On the good side they have started tackling many of Fiji’s longstanding problems that were avoided, ignored or actively fostered by previous governments including Racism, The Land Issue, the politicisation of the Great Council of Chiefs, the power and politicisation of the Methodist Church, the instability of the FNPF, Dual Citizenship and the neglect of rural Fiji - and they have even found time to modernise our licensing laws!

On the bad side are censorship, an untrustworthy judicial system, restrictions on freedom and a lack of

Why it is Unpleasant but Necessary to Attack Ratu Tevita

The least pleasant part of writing this blog is having,  as in the Ratu Tevita case, to attack the man.  I would far rather attack an argument, but several readers have said  I’ve ”gone over the top” and revealed my “true bias” by attacking Ratu Tevita and the role of Australia and New Zealand in helping him to spread his message.  I have no idea how representative their views are but if there are others, with open minds, who share these views, it is necessary to answer the accusation.  

There is nothing secret about my bias. It is clearly stated in the blog description in the tab Aims/Principles.  As for going over the top, that’s Ratu Tevita. I’m only calling his bluff. 

I have attacked Ratu Tevita for three reasons.  

Letter to John Key and Murray McCully from (NZ) Coalition for Democracy in Fiji 12 June 2011

Dear Sirs
Re : Application by Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara to visit New Zealand


It is understood that the Government of New Zealand has agreed to allow former Fiji Military commanding officer, Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara, to visit New Zealand. The Coalition for Democracy in Fiji is very much opposed to this visit, and strongly requests that the decision be re-considered.

The Coalition for Democracy in Fiji was formed on in Auckland on 14 May 1987, on the day of the first Fiji coup d'état. We have since then been standing up for the rights of Fiji people, and for justice and democracy. The group is made up of former Fiji residents, and concerned New Zealanders.

Australian High Commission Mailing List: No Interference in Fiji Internal Affair?

    

Unholy Alliance on Fij

The photo that tell: Fraenkel, Lal, Kaitani at FDFM meeting

Read what Graham Davis has to say about the Canberra FDFM meeting, Ratu Tevita's speech, the role of Dr Jon Fraenkel and Prof Brij Lal, and the  interesting participation of Simione Kaitani, former minister in the Qarase SDL government and more than just an active participant in the Speight Coup of 2000.

Ratu Tevita's New Friends: the Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement

The Beast, an image favoured by Suliasi Draunitutu

  It's always hard to know whether to acknowledge or ignore an event. To acknowledge the overseas-based Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement meeting in Canberra at 2pm today where the special guest was Ratu Tevita Mara may be giving it publicity it does not deserve. 

Their march in Sydney last December attracted 60 people, including many children (and one Indo-Fijian!), somewhat less than the 300 they expected, and their support for a planned Suva protest march earlier this year that was billed to attract 10,000 to 20,000 protesters attracted not a single one. They have a tendency to hyperventilate. 

But if one of their supporters is to be believed about Ratu Tevita (“This special friend is God sent at this hour to break this deadlock of evil holding our country from having our freedom”), I would be unwise to ignore it.

Plots from Within and Support from Outside: The Gathering of the Anti-Bainimarama Coalition outside Fiji

By Sanjay Ramesh

In February 2011, a new Commanding Officer of the Fiji Third Infantry Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Jone Kalouniwai, was appointed by the military. The appointment came following speculation that the former Commanding Officer, Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara was under investigation together with another senior military officer, Land Forces Commander Brigadier General Pita Driti, for plotting the removal of Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama in 2010 (The Fiji Village News, 4 February, 2011).

Nadarivadu Hydro Dam

At a time when global oil prices are scorching high and reserves decreasing experts say a country like Fiji which depend on its diesel generators for power must turn to renewable energy as the best solution.Fiji’s fuel importation bill is the highest component within the nation’s import bill.

A Chinese expert says Fiji has the capacity to tap into renewable energy, which is the best solution given our rich resources which could contribute not only towards a greener and cleaner environment but also help reduce our reliance on fossil fuel.

Tales of Tonga and Minerva Reef

Directions from Nuku'alofa: Fonuafo'ou, North; Ono-i-Lau and Tovata-i-Ra, West; Minerva, SW.

STOP PRESS
Near confrontation.

The ownership of Minerva Reef has been an unresolved issue between Fiji and Tonga for quite a while but recently heightened sensitivities about where — exactly— the marine boundary lies between the two countries have allowed the issue to resurface —an apt term because the reef is submerged at high tide— at an unfortunate time and in an unfortunate way.

I have no special knowledge on the issue and have no intention of taking sides, except to say the reef seems closer to 'Ata in Tonga than Ono-i-Lau and Tovata-i-Ra in Fiji. (see map.)  I have lived and worked in both countries, and have warm feelings towards them.   But I'll make one observation and point to an historic precedent for Tonga's propensity for staking its territorial claims. 

Lockington's Everyday Fiji ... Life Goes On

Allen Lockington is a self-employed customs agent and business consultant who has regular articles published in Fiji.  I thank Allen for permission to reprint some of them in this political blog. They remind us that life goes on, whatever the political situation. And it's good to know that.

Don’t Fear the LTA
 

 Thank you to LTA officers who were in Waiyavi Jinnu Road checking on vehicles recently. Monday being a public holiday many people were going to the beaches, visiting friends or driving around on joy rides and with the festive mood, alcohol can also be on board. 
 
But it was amusing to see the many illegal carriers do a u-turn when they saw the law up ahead. One mini van, the match box kind, came down Sukanaivalu road towards Jinnu Road and  just as he came over the hill he spotted the road block. The LTA officers waved for him to stop but to our amazement he turned up Jinnu road at top speed. I laughed when I saw the look on the driver’s face. Such is life on the road in Fiji. 
 
But thank you, the LTA officers.  Drivers who don’t like them must have a problem with their vehicles or they are illegal carriers. Why should drivers hate LTA officers, have they done something wrong? Just don’t over speed, don’t drink and drive, and have your car checked and you won’t have any fear of the law.

Bits on Ratu Tevita Mara and My Take on the Situation

ONE PICURE IS SAID TO BE WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS. Australian readers, Do your TV channels, like ours, show old 2006 film footage of soldiers, Bainimarama in uniform and barbed wire roadblocks with almost every item on Fiji? This is what we have seen on TV1 and TV7, government channels. and the "independent" TV3 when covering the Ratu Tevita affair. I'm sure that any survey of popular opinion would show 95% of New Zealanders think this is what Fiji is like today.

TV3 NEWS tonight asked Nik Naidu, Rajesh Singh and Peter Williams QC debate whether Ratu Mara should be allowed in NZ. The answers, in order, were no, yes, yes. The story as usual was accompanied by old film footage but this time the broadcasters obviously did not know that the woman they showed with a brace on her neck had been beaten up by Ratu Tevita! As for the story there were "thousands like her", what utter poppycock. No one previously has made such an outrageous claim.

BIZARRE MICHAEL FIELD, referring to the MOI release I published yesterday, thinks "The statement on the website is so completely out of kilter with previous Fiji Government statements that it raises questions over who now is in control in Suva."Out of kilter? Good old Michael. Always a one to speculate. He'd bet on a horse with only no legs. The only difference to an earlier statement by Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabole is that it was far more direct, and pulled no punches. But since Ratu Inoke spoke, the Australian government has granted fugitive Ratu Tevita Mara a visa, knowing full well that he would be speaking to an anti-Government rally in Canberra.** This runs counter to normal protocols, even between countries that are not enjoying a normal relationship.

** I'll publish  a full article on the aims of  this meeting and its organisers later in the weekend

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MY TAKE ON THE SITUATION

In granting a visa to a known fugitive such as Mara it would seem that the Australian Government cares little for the due process of the law in Fiji.  If it has problems about the rule of law, as it claims, it should cite instances of political interference in judicial judgments. It has not done so because it cannot cite a single case. One wonders what the case would be if Fiji gave refuge to an Australian criminal, and the authorities assisted him to evade capture and extradition.
 
Fiji and Australia, along with many other countries, have for a long time had mutually beneficial arrangements for dealing with issues of fugitives from each others' jurisdictions. Australia's actions in granting a visa to a known fugitive risks jeopardizing these arrangements.  It is hard to see how can justice will be served and what Australia can possibly hope to gain by this action.
 
The Australia government  is now permitting a fugitive into the country, a fugitive against whom an extradition order still awaits a decision from Tonga. These are not the actions one would expect from a country that respects Tongan jurisdiction or one that genuinely wants to help Fiji  back to democracy. Their action, unfortunately,  can only be seen as another slap in the face that will do nothing to lessen tensions and improve dialogue between the two governments.
 
The Australian government must know this man's record and what he hopes to achieve. His calls for a peaceful uprising echo strangely against those of his followers who have put a bounty on the heads of senior government officials and threatened to put bullets though their heads. These are the words of people who, in another situation, Australia would label as terrorists.  They are certainly not democrats. Yet these are the messages who, thanks to an Australian visa, will soon be spread to his supporters in Australia. Fiji needs engagement with Australia to assist it towards democratic elections.  It does not need underhanded politics aimed at toppling the country's de facto government.
 
Many will think the Australian government is applying double standards in issuing  visas. It will not allow spouses or relatives of anyone in the military into Australia. Entry has even been refused for a child seeking fully paid medical treatment for cancer. But Mara, who is the brother-in-law of the President of Fiji and who was instrumental in the coup, seems to have been welcomed with open arms.
 
I cannot see how this can help anyone concerned with justice, dialogue between governments, or democracy in Fiji.
 

Fiji Responds to Australian NZ Involvement in the Ratu Tevita Affair

(Friday June 10th 2011, No: 1192/MOI) PRESS STATEMENT BY THE FIJIAN GOVERNMENT

The impending arrival of Fijian fugitive Tevita Mara into Australia and the presence of the Tongan Navy boats within Fiji’s EEZ at Minerva Reef demonstrates a concerted effort by the Australian Government in the form of Kevin Rudd/Stephen Smith followed by McCully on their coattails to subvert the path towards the holding of truly democratic elections in Fiji.

It is evident that hitherto Australia and New Zealand foreign policy towards Fiji has been a failure.

The failure of their policy was recently highlighted in a report by the Australian think tank of Lowy Institute. A number of other Australian and New Zealand political commentators, academics and ordinary citizens of these two countries have also attested to this failure.

They all seek and propose engagements, just as the Fijian Government has always wanted.

The recent fleeing from Fiji of Mara as a fugitive without a Fijian passport, the subsequent issue of Tongan passport to him and the willingness of the Australian Government and now we understand the New Zealand to grant a visa; and the Tongan Government’s inaction on extradition papers, all show a web of deceit, collusion and a complete lack of disregard of legal extradition processes.

Where is there a Hospice for the Terminally Ill? Two Readers Comment

Beggars Belief! has left a new comment on your post "News Regularly Updated":

While proposed developments in the area of Health Service Delivery in Ba, Tamavua and elsewhere are welcome it is very obvious that urgency must be shown with A dedicated Hospice for the Treatment of Terminally Ill patients.

The Tongan Mara and his Aussie Visa

RATU TEVITA SAYS HE'S A TONGAN. Tonga Chronicle: Do you consider yourself under the “protection of the King”? Mara: No, I consider myself Tongan. If I’m traveling from Fiji to here, it’s just like traveling within the Fiji group ... Where I come from ...we are very closely related to Tonga. Not only us, the whole part of the province is related to Tonga in many ways.  [This won't please some of his new admirers who previously said President  Ratu Epeli Nailatikau was not a true Fijian because of his Tongan blood.  That's the way racists think.]   
TONGAN PASSPORT. And now we  have the NBR story he's travelling to Australia on a Tongan passport and NZ won't be fast tracking his application to visit NZ. There's also speculation he may be applying for political asylum in NZ.
KUBUABOLA QUESTIONS AUSTRALIAN INTERVENTION. Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola has expressed disappointment that Australia has so quickly issued a visa to Ratu Tevita Mara on Tongan travel documents, rather than awaiting a response from Tonga to Fiji’s extradition request. He says that by intervening in what was a bilateral issue under consideration, Australia has shown little regard for achieving a resolution to the matter. Australia’s action in welcoming a fugitive from Fiji risks an escalation of tensions in Fiji-Australia relations, for which Australia must take responsibility.

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.