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

Monday 16 April 2012

Ratu Aisea Begs to Differ


This short piece was published before Ro Teimumu's letter to the PM

The Tui Macuata Ratu Aisea Katonivere
"Macuata’s paramount chief, Ratu Aisea Katonivere ... welcomed the abolition [of the Great Council of Chiefs] because it "would see a fair distribution of the vanua’s resources [and] "the return of the chiefs to their genuine roles as protectors of their people. The flow-on effect of this one move, if embraced genuinely and honestly by everyone, would not only save the chiefly system but would reignite the original “mana” that people under these chiefs enjoyed.”

Ratu Aisea recognized the earlier importance of the GCC and "upholds without compromise the traditional roles into which every iTaukei is born and the traditional network of kinship and links they have with the other provinces" but he warned that "these links and traditional roles should never influence universal suffrage of the Fijians."(Fiji News, 17.3.12)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

so presumably 'Mr' Aisea is up for the reform of the outdated chiefly system, that 'reform' that is imposed by the regime and without consulting with anyone? presumably he still does not believe in his birthright, perhaps he would be keen to get himself a real job on his own merits then?

Are you serious? said...

Very naive Anonymous. The "consultation" process allowed the Chiefs to manipulate and pressure their people either using race or the fear of extinction to preserve the economic power of the Chiefs. Fuedalism does not allow the common man to speak freely. Consultation was an excuse for forced submission to the wishes of the Chiefs. Actually we need systems to allow the voice of the commoner to be heard.