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

Tuesday 24 February 2009

Last Week in Fiji: Third Week of February



To see the Noticeboard (a new item), scroll down to the very last posting.

Last Week. See Postings that follow ---Teleni---Elections---Sahu Khan---Chaudhry and FLP------Registered political parties---Fiji and Fiji Hindi for teachers---Wages---Baledrokadroka's claim---Qarase's Aussie "holiday"--- McGhie in NZ Listener

Media Man of the Week Teleni. The media, some NGOs and local and overseas blog sites, mostly anti-Interim Government, had a most enjoyable week, from Tuesday on, gorging themselves on the reputation of Police Chief Teleni. The most balanced blog summary is provided by John Liebhardt. See also "Picky Eater's" thoughtful comments to my post on the subject.
I have four comments to add: (1) I am not convinced Teleni's comments were racist. (2) I am uncomfortable when religion is so intensively expressed, and see no place for it in the police force -- but that is Fiji. (3) I do not like intimidatory sergeant-major-type commands -- but that is the way of the military. (4) Had a NZ army or police officer complained to the media, as the "unnamed" Fiji officer did, he would have been severely reprimanded. Like it or not, the tradition is that complaints are made upwards, within the service, not to the media.
To allow more flexibility and better indexing, I have de-coupled last week's postings from Last Week in Fiji. In future LWIF will comprise a list of topics covered during the week, and one or two short postings. I have also decided to abandon Tuesday and Thursday Updates. They were too time-consuming.

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