SCROLL DOWN TO OTHER WEEKEND READING.
♦ Dream come true for Beqa and Yanuca Islanders
♦ Graham Davis interviews Fiji's leaders in May 2006: "Fiji - Democracy by the Gun"
♦ Croz Walsh asks questions about the American mid-term elections, democracy and lessons for Fiji.
♦ And the long posting on Friday, with all its comments
♦ Dream come true for Beqa and Yanuca Islanders
♦ Graham Davis interviews Fiji's leaders in May 2006: "Fiji - Democracy by the Gun"
♦ Croz Walsh asks questions about the American mid-term elections, democracy and lessons for Fiji.
♦ And the long posting on Friday, with all its comments
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.
Missing Link
When I saw the Fiji Times headline “Missing link”, I thought we had found our ancestral missing link. Then I read more and found something more profound. We'd lost our original copy of the Deed of Cession. How on earth could we have lost a document that is such an important part of our heritage and history?
It's probably a sign of how so many people in Fiji keep records? Just go down to the Registers office and you will see hundreds of people who gather there every God-given day to get birth and marriage certificates. No wonder the people at that government office don’t smile. They are busy from the morning to knock off time. And no wonder they don’t open at 8am and close at 4pm.
We need to learn that keeping records — all records — is important. Fortunately, the Fiji Times over the years has recorded in writing and photographs most of the important news about Fiji. I can go back to before my time and read and also see what happened. Such are the Fiji Times records. I take my hat off to them.
Perhaps if we were to browse through old copies — as I have been privileged to do — we may find who last had the Cession document. If we don’t find it immediately, somewhere in those very important copies of the Fiji Times we will get a good lead. And as you're searching, you’ll be surprised with what you will find during your walk through our history in the pages of the Fiji Times. Mr Mahendra Motibhai, Fiji without the Fiji Times would be unthinkable. Thank you for keeping it going.
8 comments:
Croz
As a selective coup supporter do you have any suggestions/criteria to decisions on which coups are good and which coups are bad. Given that coups in Fiji ane endemic (and will obviously continue unless professional leadership ever returns to Fiji military)- it could be usefull for people to know whether to support military juntas or not?
@ good coups - bad coups ... If a coup occurred in a basically just society where change could be brought about by normal democratic processes, I would deem it unnecessary for the public good, and therefore bad. The 1987 and 2000 coups fit into this category. The changes Qarase was seeking to introduce were not for the public good, though there is little doubt the would have benefited some. There was no way "normal democratic" processes could have prevented these changes. The 2006 Coup differed from the earlier coups, and the changes Bainimarama is seeking to introduce differ from those Qarase sought. For all its errors and shortcomings (some made worse because of international actions), I think most changes and intended changes are in the interests of the people of Fiji -- and therefore, according to your dichotomy, "good." This is why we should be working together to help keep Bainimarama on track and on his toes.
When Jesus Himself gets inside the military commander's office and asks him to stage a coup, this is a bad coup for sure.
A good coup is a coup that never happens or happens in an other country I guess.
Croz
Thank you for bothering to reply and giving your view on which coups are 'acceptable' and which are not.
I would never want to live in a country that saw this as the norm. And I suggest neither would you.
A dictator deciding what is 'public good'? I don't think so. Isn't this what both Hitler, Ceasescu and Saddam believed as well? They all got the message eventually.
One wonders why some people are still talking about good coups or bad coups. No coup is good; it’s the use of force to overthrow an otherwise democratically elected government. Many people thought that we would have gone pass that by now. And never mind if the government was riddled with bias, racism, corruption and bureaucracy, misuse of government vehicles, overspending of budgets, Public Works Department with managers who built their homes with material borrowed from the PWD yard, a judicial system that was questionable. Just look at the PWD building in Lautoka, the budget was bust three times and its still not finished 15 years down the road, because those in government back then said, “Oh shit we’ve spent too much.” Year in and year out we read the Auditor General’s report of the abuse of office, busting of budgets, officers breaking Financial Regulations requirements etc, Bugger the bias, racism, corruption and bureaucracy, the government was ELECTED by the people, its democracy at its best! Democracy is good - even if the people of that country do not practice democracy in their communal way of life and chiefly system. They WILL follow even if the sly politician comes over and promises to build a bridge and is told that the village has no river and says, “Don’t worry; we will give you a river.” The iTaukei is a young people, they haven’t learnt the ways of the world yet.
Anyway, what we need to talk about now is what good or bad has come out of the coup. What we need to talk about is if there has been and progress or if the country is going to ruin. And we need to show proof just like when blogger Coup 4.5 shows proof of what he posts. Just like when he showed proof of Reserve Bank’s CEO Sada Reddy siphoning money to a private bank account.
Yes I’m being sarcastic.
Croz, Coup 4.5 just can't help itself, claiming it knew about Teleni's appointment as ambassador to China in advance of the announcement but chose not to tell us.
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POSTED BY PACIFIC IN THE MEDIA AT 5:03 AM 0 comments
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2010
One of the tips given to Coupfourpointfive in the past two days has eventuated - the former Police Commissioner Commodore, Esala Teleni, has been made Fiji’s Ambassador to China.....
....The appointment was revealed by illegal leader Voreqe Bainimarama himself, but was tipped to Coupfourpointfive on Friday.
We were unable to run it then but its confirmation today, suggests other information given to us is also credible.
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"It was tipped to us on Friday ( but) we were unable to run it" Why? Because you didn't believe it? The computers were down? You were all out to lunch?
Why on earth claim it as a scoop now? Pathetic.
Teleni as diplomat... ????
The word diplomat needs to be defined..
Or will they redifine it. I suppose going to China diplomacy is not such a big issue.
@ Kid Colt.....
Diplomacy in China: the Chinese Civil Service is thousands of years old. The examinations to enter were rigorous. The poet 'Wang Wei' (The Old Man who does as he pleases) who lived from 699 - 761 allows us entry to this world through his poetry. He was a contemporary of Li Po and Tu Fu (whose fame and renown as poets outshone his). All lived through tumultous upheavals and Wang Wei sought refuge in the quiet of the countryside. "There is even the smell of the 'bien pensant' about one who managed to weather palace revolutions and a bloody rebellion unscathed. The fact is that he was not ambitious for worldly success; he probably only held office for social and financial reasons."
So he does have relevance for us?
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