NEW ZEALAND SPYING — SO WHAT? Among the thousands of Wikileaks revelations comes the story that NZ was spying on Fiji in 2000 and 2006 and had the capacity to listen in to cell phone conversations. I wouldn't be too surprised or concerned because I suspect most countries engage in such spying. It makes sense to use all available technology to better inform your diplomacy. My larger concern is with NZ's misinformed diplomacy.
In Suva the PM seemed not at all surprised and PermSec Information Sharon Smith John said they knew along along. NZ spying was no surprise says they knew all along. It was only NZ that was denying it.
She said Fiji has nothing to hide and New Zealand could go on listening if they want. “Let them listen to what the government has to say...We know where the Roadmap is taking us.We know of elections in 2014. We know when the constitution will come into place. We talk about this openly so let the NZ government spy on us and pass that information onto America or to Australia or to whoever they’re passing the information to.”
VANUATU AND FIJI SAID SORRY TO EACH OTHER. and both accepted. Fiji has also assumed the chairmanship of the Melanesia Spearhead Group is was denied six months ago. Click on highlighted words to read both stories.
PUBLIC SERVICE RATIONALISATION CONTINUES.
Some people may find this sort of news boring but it is important to know that the bricks are being put in place to build a more responsive, less costly and more efficient public service. The reforms are another part of the Roadmap.
Work on the functional review of the civil service to determine its optimum size and resources allocation has already begun by a 13-member team led by a project manager,
“There is a mixture of short term consultancy expertise and existing staff of the commission, who have been assigned to undertake this assignment,” said Public Service Commission chairman Mr Josefa Serulagilagi.
“The consultancy expertise will be from retired civil servants, who served in various ministries and departments at director level and bring with them a wealth of experience and knowledge of government functions and responsibilities and their backgrounds range from public administration, auditing, agriculture and fisheries.
“The review is divided into two phases with phase one focusing on the evaluation of large ministries including education, health, works, transport and public utilities & primary industries, Department of Fisheries and Forests and Department of Agriculture. This is expected to be completed by February 28, 2011.”
Phase two of the operation will focus on the review of all other ministries and departments, starting on April 1. Mr Serulagilagi said this study was a priority for Government because it would set the framework for further restructuring within the civil service.
The purpose of the review is to assess functions that ministries and departments are mandated to perform, look into areas where there are duplication of roles and functions that could either be outsourced or commercialised, resulting in ministries focusing more on their key priorities areas and strengthening human resource capabilities.
The work of the study team will be overseen by a steering committee comprising of permanent secretaries and chaired by the PSC permanent secretary. -- 2010, No:2173/PSC.
ANOTHER CONSOLIDATED MINISTRY. Civil aviation has been added to the Ministry of Public Enterprises, Tourism and Communications which will now be known as the Ministry of Public Enterprises, Communications, Civil Aviation and Tourism (MPECCAT). -- Based on 2010, No:2172/MOI.
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7 comments:
New Zealand's Foreign Minister Goff publicly acknowledged/let slip during the 2000 takeover that technology to listen into phone conversations was being used. This was understood in Fiji as being the reason why no attempt was made to stop mobile and other phones being accessed from within the parliament. Better to know what is going on than not. So there is nothing new in this 'leak'.
Sharon Smith knew about "the NZ spying" all along? It sounds a bit like a schoolyard response - even though whether or not NZ was spying is all a bit nonsensical - I doubt that they found out anything more than anyone in Suva knows at the moment.
I am also very glad Sharon knows "of" the elections in 2014 - does she know anything more concrete about the elections or the roadmap?
Perhaps we should ask New Zealand? Maybe that is the big scoop here?
@ Cros
Thank you for a selfless service writing about Fiji. In your next article, please use this headline:
“Tourism Australia paid A$6m to have Oprah Winfrey spend her holiday in Fiji”.
So much for paying $6M to help promote Aussie’s stagnant tourism industry, Oprah Winfrey still chose Fiji for her holiday and reunion with partner. Fiji is still the winner handsdown, end of story. Oprah said bye to Aussies with $6m in her pocket heading to spend the money in Fiji.
Oh come on, Radio Who! We all must have known that NZ was spying along with everyone else including the Chinese. Why does no one mention them? Their capacity to spy on us is equal to none and the language is no encumbrance. So, speak up and chatter on. Who dares to tell us that we shall not speak freely however and whenever we choose - in any language devised since the Tower of Babel?
The Commissioner of Police never said a truer word than what was reported in the FT and the Fiji Sun today:
"There are bad Police Officers". My goodness are there ever! We have just seen some examples at first hand. Lazy, hands-in-pockets, slack and slovenly and - above all - incapable of arriving on time even to a proverbial "Piss Up in a Brewery". So what hope is there for these men (they are invariably male)? If they cannot reform themselves or be reformed, they must be sacked. Jamaica and Venezuela are two countries currently sacking the entirety of their police forces. Colombia has successfully militarised its Police into its "Jungla" to fight the drug warlords and the global cocaine cartel "La Hermandad". what are we going to do in Fiji? It has to be thorough and fast. Organised Crime is marching in on us and "the Police are playing CATCH UP" said the Commissioner yesterday. Indeed they are and catch-up will NOT DO! Get onto the internet and check it out for hits on certain websites. Then see where these hits lead. You will not be reassured or comforted to find that the entire criminal world is looking in on Fiji and planning its next moves on the ground. The Cyber-Crime Unit at Toorak will be working overtime. But they cannot do it alone. Get rid of the slovenly, late-at-every function-and-crime-scene-ones and move in the "lean, mean machines". Bring in the SAS if necessary and train them up to 'Jungla' standards of pro-activity without the guns. There is no time to waste for 'Rome is burning' and the 'thickos' do not yet know it.
Croz, of course the Kiwis and Aussies can spy on Fiji. They have ample means to do so, with state of the art eavesdropping facilities capable of monitoring telephone conversations simultaneously across the Asia Pacific. You say the revelation is meaningless in that everyone knows this is going on. But there's another element to this that people in Fiji do find disturbing - that it's our traditional friends who are covertly listening in to what we say to each other for their own perverse reasons. How would you feel if I lived next door to you and tapped your phone and invaded your privacy? Would you still consider me a friend? We're pretty old fashioned about such things in Fiji. If there's a threat to national security or a terrorist outrage in the making, then fine. But Frank Bainimarama isn't a terrorist and poses no threat to the national interests of either NZ or Australia He's embarked on domestic reforms in Fiji that are our business and our business alone. Just like your phone calls are your business and I don't have any right to listen in. How sad that it's all come to this. The Wikileaks material also told us that it was the Malaysians trying to keep us in the Commonwealth while the perfidious Kiwis were trying to kick us out. So now we have official confirmation that they spy on us as well. They're not our friends, they're our enemies. The "special" relationship is over.
NZ was spying on Fiji in 2000 and 2006 and had the capacity to listen in to cell phone conversations. I wouldn't be too surprised or concerned ... It makes sense to use all available technology to better inform your diplomacy. My larger concern is with NZ's misinformed diplomacy.
Are you listening to yourself?
Having established that NZ can listen to cell phone calls, you still maintain that their diplomacy is misinformed.
You presume that they can listen at will, and then have the audacity to suggest that your own understanding of the situation (fed by the Fiji regime's poorly constructed PR and your pre-independence experience of Fiji) is superior?
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