Daily News for June

Thumbs up for Fiji

Thursday 30.4.11
FNPF REMINDER. All comments on the proposed FNPF changes should be made on the Peter Ponders posting, below. FICTU  seeks meeting. No confirmation date yet.
EMBRACE FIJI, SOLOMONS tell USA.
STRANGE ABC INTERVIEW. ABC asks to talk with the A-G. Sharon Smith-Johns says okay but he's between meetings and will only talk about X. If you want more, get back to me.  ABC asks about Y (a new employment relations decree affecting trade unions). A-G wonders what has happened to X, is aggrieved, loses his cool and hangs up. ABC has its story: A-G refuses to talk about new decree. But why didn't they get back to Sharon? Didn't they want to learn Government's position on the new decree? Or was the story really about getting the A-G off balance whichever way he answered?   This is an important controversial issue that needs careful analysis and discussion, not media traps and rebuffs.
SOCIAL NETWORK: HOUSING LOANS WRITTEN OFF. The Housing Authority's new social policy has seen 81 home loan accounts completely written off at a cost of over $1 million since it was instituted in January. The policy helps owners  who have either paid more than twice the principal loan amount, are retired or can prove genuine financial difficulty. It is not a Government hand out but a programme to assist those who otherwise might lose their homes due to disability, sickness or retirement. -- Based on No.1368/HAF.
LAND  BANK OR (N)TLTB: YOUR CHOICE. A Macuata landowner asked the PM which to lease to. He said it was up to the landowner but the TLTB deducted 15% for administration costs while the Land Bank paid all the lease money to owners.
PILLAR 9. A KNOWLEDGE-BASED FIJI. The Ministry of Education will begin computer education in primary schools in Term 3 next year. Computer studies is already taught in secondary schools.--Based on No.1366/MOE.
309 AMPUTEES have so far received new limbs thanks to a prosthetics team from India that will also instruct locals on how to make the limbs.

Wednesday 29.6.11

SUGAR MINISTRY MOVES WEST. As part of its efforts to revitalize the sugar industry, Government has decided to create a dedicated Ministry of Sugar to be based in Lautoka. The Permanent Secretary will be Manasa Vaniqi. The PM said no previous government had decentralised like this. “As I have emphasized before, the sugar industry is here to stay and we will do everything within our means to reform it in an effort to make it viable for all stakeholders.” The office of Commissioner Northern will also be revamped to ensure the industry in Vanua Levu is equally looked after and assisted. -- Based on No,1352/PSC.
THAKUR RANJIT SINGH REVIEWS TV3 KHAIYUM INTERVIEW. I thought interviewer and interviewed both did well but Ranjit saw it more as a competition, but I agree with him on the "Three Wise Men" at the end.
CASTING PEARLS BEFORE SWINE. From coup 4.5 comments......."I hope people are aware that Khaiyum is a racist. His marriage to a Fijian Taukei is a farce to hide his racist delineation; an insult to the Fijian taukei Race."  How much more nonsense like this is Coup 4.5 willing to publish?
TATE AND LYLE ENGINEERS http://www.radiofiji.com.fj/fullstory.php?id=37827 check mills.   
POOR ROADS AFFECT http://www.radiofiji.com.fj/fullstory.php?id=37827 sugar supply.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING. Fiji has been  removed from the US list.   
FIJI POST reports a poor  rural performance due in part to high phone bills.
NEW FHL CHAIRMAN  and board members.

Tuesday 28.6.11
PENSIONERS HURT MORE. Fiji Post is deducting 5% for handling pensioner cheques. The PM said he was going to fix this.  Waiting. See also the special posting on the FNPF proposals "Peter Ponders..." and add your comments.
THE MINIMUM WAGE for industrial workers has increased from $1.78 to $1.96 an hour.  No job loses are expected but employers want productivity considered in future wage negotiations.
NEW AUSTRALIAN MAGISTRATE sworn in.
UNION RESTRICTIONS LIKELY. government is planning a new law to restrict the work of unions in vital industries such as sugar and airlines. GenSec of the FCTU, Attar Singh, fears any such change would make unions toothless because the union rep will have to be an employee who could be vitimised if he speaks out. A valid point but it's a pity Attar, a strong Government critic, made it. Past union activity in the sugar industry has been politicised, an influence Government is trying to unlink.
"DEMOCRACY" A SMOKESCREEN. On Facebook Mobster DBone ask," Is "democracy" being pursued as a smokescreen for the return of elite rule?" Answer: Yes, by many, but not by all. One needs to separate the wheat from the chaff.
THE NZ MEDIA PHOBIA."This [bias] is even more evident in New Zealand than Australia, with a string of reports and editorials in the mainstream NZ media that appear so ill-informed about events in Fiji as to be almost willfully negligent in a country that prides itself on its Pacific ties. 
      Local commentators with intimate knowledge of Fiji —including David Robie at Auckland’s University of Technology and Crosbie Walsh, the academic blogger– are routinely ignored simply because they go against the grain of the accepted wisdom that Bainimarama is a tyrant and his political opponents are heroic bearers of the democratic flame." -- Graham Davis.
EXCLUDING ELECTION CANDIDATES. The A-G  says there has definitely been no such decision.

BOMB HOAX UPDATE. The Government Buildings were cleared for an hour on Friday afternoon following a bomb hoax. The anti-Government blogs were quick off the mark to claim it was a put up job by government to justify the PER.  Could be, but the PER have been around now for nearly two years and this is the first bomb threat. Why didn't they think of it before? If the blog publishers want a culprit, they would be better advised to read their readers' comments that not infrequently call for acts  of violence. On Saturday, a bomb threat also  closed Wellington airport. Another put up job by the Fiji Government?

Monday 27.6.11
TUILAEPA DRIVES WEDGE between Polynesia and Melanesia. The Samoan Observer heading for the Graham Davis article I published earlier as "Samoans playing with fire.
KHAIYUM TV3 INTERVIEW, SCRIPT. Click here. VIDEO Click here.
RECIDIVISM, AN INSIGHT INTO FIJI AS IT "CAN BE." The Prison service  aims to reduce recidivism by 25%, and urges public support for the Yellow Ribbon programme and for prisoners on their release.  "They need your support, they need your help. We the Fiji Corrections Service need your support." 

These concerns, and similar ongoing concerns about poverty, affordable housing, HIV/Aids, prostitution, gays, domestic violence, and rural development are those of a government committed to instituting enduring fundamental changes in society. They do not tally with the claims of the anti-government people who says it's all about filling the pockets people they disparagingly call Bainivuaka" and "Aiyarase." 
OUR SO-CALLED FREE NZ PRESS.  Our TV3 news on Saturday reported the Sean Plunket interview with Fiji's Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum screened in the morning on The Nation programme. The interview was fair and well handled by Sean and was followed by comments from three media editors with predictable opinions. They obviously didn't believe a word Aiyaz said and were probably of this view even before he spoke. 

Unfortunately, the evening news item went much further. Aiyaz was introduced as the real power in Fiji (thus echoing the divisive and implicit anti-Indian and anti-Muslim views of Tevita Mara and the anti-Government blogs).The visual backdrop, of close to 20 photo shots of barbed wire roadblocks and Bainimarama in several uniforms with military officers, were taken five or more years ago. Many viewers would think they are current photo shots,and with one picture a thousand words, it really would not have mattered what Aiyaz had to say. TV3 had "tuned" theri viewers into what they wanted them to believe. The item concluded with a free advertisement for the Fiji Freedom and Democracy Movement that is "meeting in Auckland tonight." It's surely time for someone to protest to the Broadcast Standards Authority.

TONGA EXTRADICTION, PAST AND PRESENT. The Government of Tonga has reply to Fiji saying that Tongan law prevents the extraction of Ratu Tevita Mara.  I am reminded of an incident in the 1960s when Prince Tungi (later King George Tupou) sent a Tongan ship (the Aonui?) to Apia and foreceably extradited/kidnapped a Tongan Government scholarship holder who had married a Samoan. Tonga finished up getting two for the price of one. She broke her scholarship bond and joined him in Tonga. I did not make this up. They were my friends.
OUTSOURCING, a warning to Fiji:  "It took the [NZ] government a while to realise that although contracting out sounded more efficient, it was in fact creating a very well-paid auxilliary public service." -- Jane Clifton,  NZ Listener.
FIJI STILL PACIFIC HUB. PACIFIC IP-ISP NETWORK operators have a week-long conference-workshop at USP starting today.The meeting, hosted by USP, is geared towards the continuation of the capacity development programme for IP-ISP network operators from the Pacific Islands.

 Friday 24/6/11

 FIGHTING RACISM.  The PM has told people in Nadogo, Macauata,  the government will do all it can to remove racism. He said Fiji would have remained a peaceful country if politicians did not spread racist ideas.
FIJI SOLDIERS FOR IRAQ. Some 52 soldiers will leave Fiji soon  for Iraq where to join 223 soldiers of the RFMF 1st Battalion.The UN asked Fiji to increase troop numbers in anticipation of US withdrawals.
PRESIDENT IN SINAI. During his recent visit to Sinai  the President was briefed by Major General Warren Whiting, commander of the Multinational Force and Observers, on the work done by the RFMF peacekeepers, who commending them for their professionalism and experience in one of the most challenging part of the Sinai region. Ratu Epeli met with officers at the Fiji Battalion HQ and was also able to meet soldiers manning outposts at isolated locations.   -- Based on No:1311 /MOI.
EXPEL FIJI, SAYS MARA. The anti-government blogs have published a call purportedly from Ratu Tevita, but clearly not written by him, asking the Melanesian Spearhead Group to expel Fiji. Dream on!   

DO NOT BE EASILY MOVED:PM.The PM spoke at the Infantry Day celebrations at Sukanaivalu Barracks in Labasa yesterday moring. He encouraged the soliers to be strong, courageous, not to be easily moved or led astray, and "focus only on things that will help us build a better Fiji, focus on unity and togetherness.” Highlighting the progress and development in rural areas he said that Government was trying to ensure the equal distribution of resources, something that was normally only confined to urban areas in the past.-- Based on No: 1326/MOI.
SCHOOL GRANTS. Close to $500,000 of school grants were paid out last week, and a further 42 primary schools will each receive $15,000 soon. In addition, $185,000 was paid to Early Childdhood Centres, and nine Special Education schools have also received grants. --Based on No.1307/MOE.

 Thursday 23/6/11
IF NZ GOVT CAN'T EXTRADITE MARA as some claim, they could have denied him access or at least refused to meet with him.  Anything less is political interference.
FNPF MEMBERS WANT TO NOMINATE their own board.  At present the board is appointed by the Minister of Finance. [A mix would be a good idea.]
FIJI TODAY CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS.The blog reports an ABC interview with Fiji Hotel Association president Dixon Seeto who says: "China and India are likely to provide the greatest possibility for growth in visitor numbers ... But they usually do not speak English and that can be a challenge for tourism operators ...Previously there was a campaign to teach Japanese "and that was quite successful. And I think that we should be heading that way with the Mandarin, because you need to make them, the Chinese visitors, very comfortable." The Fiji Today's heading read:"China is our Future and Mandarin is our next language according to Dixon Seeto." He said nothing of the sort.  Whatever the hidden message here, this is cheap-shot journalism, more like Coup 4.5.
REJECTION CLAIMS POLITICALLY MOTIVATED. Reports of the rejection of local crop exports by Australian agents are false and politically-motivated.
DRITI SEDITION UPDATE. The case has been transferred to the High Court to be heard on 22nd July. Meanwhile Driti remains on bail.
LAU FORGER ACCUSED case has also been deferred until 22nd July.
 
 

CIVIL SERVANT I.O.U's. Ono-i-Lau shopkeepers say civil servants, including teachers and doctors, have left the island without paying their debts. The PM says the defaulters will be tracked down.
YOUTH TRAINING RECEIVES BOOST.Twenty-seven voluntary youth organisations have been selected from over 60 applications to receive grants totalling $47,000 to organise capacity building training for their members. Divisional Youth Offices vetted the applications before sending them to the Youth and Sports division that made the final decisions.--Based on No. 1239/DOY.
UNION ASKS FOR DEFERMENT. The FICTU  has asked that FNPF reforms be deferred until the 2014 elections; that current pensioners' contracts be respected; and that the International Labour Organisation conduct a review of the fund.
NEGOTIATOR SAYS PACIFIC NEEDS FIJI. Pacific chief Trade Negotiator Chris Noonan says any trade integration initiative, like the proposed PACER Plus trade agreement, needs Fiji.
LABOUR LEADER PHIL GOFF says Tevita Mara is unlikely to be extradited from NZ because he could not be guaranteed a fair hearing in Fiji."In a country that's effectively a military dictatorship, how could you be sure of that?"he asks. Well, for starters, there is absolutely no evidence of any successful interference in court decisions; several cases have gone against the government; Mara was released on bail by the system Goff prejudges, and NZ could negotiate terms for his extraction. And Phil,  do you think Fiji is getting a "fair hearing" in NZ? 
LOWY INSTITUTE SPECIALIST COUNTERS FRAENKEL.A month ago, Jenny Hayward-Jones of the Lowy Institute suggested changes to Australian policy on Fiji, not because she agreed with Bainimarama, far from it,  but because she thought sanctions were not working and she wanted a "more effective policy.". Dr Jon Fraenkel, a Fiji specialist at ANU who wants a "return" to democracy, virtually accused her of betraying the "democracy" cause.He has been active recently with public attacks on journalist Graham Davis, with helping to write the Ten Points of the  anti-Bainimrama FDFM movement, and with attack on Jenny Hayward-Jones.This is her response.
LISTEN TO HAYWARD-JONES INTERVIEW  with Chris Laidlaw.
CONGRATULATIONS DAVID ROBIE. David  received a VC's award for  excellence in teaching and innovation at an AUT ceremony yesterday. I would add excellence also in professional integrity, editorial balance and knowledge of the Pacific, evident in Pacific Scoop and his personal blog Cafe Pacific. May his students follow his fine example. 




IF YOU ONCE BELIEV
ED THE BLOGS, READ THIS. It is now exactly one month since  this rumour was circulating:"It is expected Frank will today (May 21st)  declare himself as interim president and prime minister."
 
"TM" please contact me by private email croz.walsh@xtra.co.nz

RACISM AND RENTING ACCOMMODATION.A reader rightly wrote that  "Racism rears its ugly head every time we see 'To let' ads in the dailies saying 'for Hindi-speaking only'. It's common knowledge among indigenous Fijians that some Indian landlords hike up the rent for indigenous Fijian tenants and let their flats at much lower prices to fellow Indians." She was commenting on the way itaukei are accused of racism. In NZ such advertising is forbidden my law. Government should do the same in Fiji. Individual racism will take years to remove but institutional racism (and adverts in papers are a part of this) can be stopped immediately by Government regulation. Indeed, it may be covered by the Media Decree. Would someone please check this out?
RELECTIONS ON AUSTRALIA AND NZ POSITION. Sanjay Ramesh uses the Mara defection to ask questions about the NZ position and the racism of some "pro-democracy" people.
JOBS WE CAN DO OURSELVES. A reader writes: "My irritation with this constant looking overseas for aid,  at ‘preferential rates of interest’, of course, is that we pay for overseas consultants, overseas contractors, workers and even overseas materials to all come into this country to do something that we’re already well set up to do.  Then, as thanks for the (mostly Chinese) largesse, which keeps them employed, not us, we pay the loan back plus interest. I wonder why government just doesn't print more money and release it into circulation, thereby giving us the monetary ability to carry out the projects independently. This would devalue the currency as it did in 20009. The difference is that whilst devaluation brought gloom, there would have been smiles all round if there had been more money to create the jobs which are so desperately needed."
ANOTHER UNION QUESTIONS FNPF CHANGES. Fiji Bank and Finance Sector Employees Union secretary Pramod Rae queries proposed FNPF changes and suggests alternative providers.
THE PM's TOUR of the Northern Division starts today. Last week he visited seven islands in the Lau Group.
Monday 20.6.11 

DEATH FOLLOWS MEETING. One of the people at the FDFM meeting in Canberra on Saturday, Pastor Jone Tui, who had canvassed the idea of inviting businessmen in Fiji to fund the assassination of Bainimaramara and other senior government officials, collapsed at the meeting and died early on Sunday morning. May he rest in peace.
WHERE'S THE CENSORSHIP?  Much has been made of media censorship in Fiji but recent signs are that it has been greatly relaxed.  There are no censors in the news rooms and this is the sort of criticism that is now appearing in the media.  Ross McDonald, pensioner, criticizes proposed changes to the FNPF. [See also my PER article published on Saturday]
UNION ATTACKS PENSION REFORMS. In an Fiji Times article,the Council of Trade Unions (FICTU) says the immediately impact of the proposed reforms on "some 11,000 pensioners who would have their pensions reduced by 40 per cent (if they are on the 15 per cent rate) or 64 per cent (if they are on the 25 per cent rate)." The FICTU is among many others who want major changes to the proposed reforms before they are implemented.
COUP 4.5 CUTS LINKS.Cafe Pacific and the Pacific Media Centre - both links on Coup4.5 since it started, have now been removed within the last 24 hours. This blog's link was cut months ago. I reciprocated.
NO LONGER SQUATTERS.This Fiji Times story of Lakena when residents got their official leases on Friday.

Friday 17.6.11

FIJI LIVE POLLS. The online paper runs regular polls on political and sporting issues.  The web and sms results of the political polls since March probably give a reasonable indication of popular opinion among urban educated users of the internet.  "All questions start with "Do you think..." Here they are, the most recent first:

... Australia and NZ are meddling in Fiji's affairs? Yes 82% No 18%;
... FNPF should decrease its pension fund rate? Yes 27% No 73%;
... Fiji Government's poverty eradication policies are working? Yes 36% No 64%;
... More should be done to revive Fiji's sugar industry? Yes 87% No 13% ;
... NZ and Australia should lift their current sanctions on Fiji? Yes 78% No 22%;
... VAT should be dropped on all food items? Yes 63% No 37%.

KAITANI PLEADS INNOCENCE. "I am an innocent man and I do not understand why I am going through all this. I do not deny that I was with Speight at the Parliament during the coup. I was with him but I had a role to play. I was at the Parliament to calm the extremist elements present at the Parliament complex."
      But that's not how  hostage ousted PM Mahendra Caudhry saw it: "We, the hostages saw him and heard him on the loudspeaker inciting people with false information on issues such as land and leadership for indigenous Fijians and in publicly supporting [coup frontman] George Speight’s actions, confirmed our suspicions that he was one of the coup instigators.". Simione Kaitani is now one of the leading lights of the SDL "pro-democracy" movement that is supporting fugative Ratu Tevita Mara. [See also Weekend Reading]
HE CAN'T BE SERIOUS, CAN HE? "We all know your family only drinks and bathes in bottled Fiji Water." Simione  Kaitani, on Facebook, referring to Bainimarama's family.
RACIST COMMENTS. Rishab Nair on Facebook says it's good to see that Coupfourpointfive no longer accepts racist comments. I agree. But why? If they're trying to appear respectable, they've left it a little late.
NZ HERALD WELCOMES MARA TO NZ. Why don't  NZ papers use bylines so we can know whose views we are reading?




Thursday 16.6.11
LETTER ON FACEBOOK. "Although Fiji is considered a developing 3rd world nation where standard of living is not as "flashy" as our developed neighbors - Australia and New Zealand- I wouldn't consider trading my laid back, Fiji time lifestyle for anything. I'd say, Fiji is definitely the way the world should be.
     "Albeit the unstable political climate, Fiji is a country where everyone gives a warm  bula to passer-bys; offers their breakfast, lunch or dinner to strangers (regardless of the portion of that meal); neighbors are more than happy to look after your property when you go on a vacation; and more importantly even when the supermarkets run out of food, I can still eat well from my backyard garden and catch a few fresh water prawns/ fish from the river behind my home.
     "When the overseas media are reporting so-called unrest in Fiji, I take an afternoon stroll along the beach in peace without fear of being shot down by crazy fanatics.
Although reports say that our economy is not growing, inflation is on the rise and unemployment is rife, my family and I still survive because we live a simple, unsophisticated life but one of happiness and contentment.
    " No matter what the headlines read or political/social hear say being passed through the coconut wireless, I am more than glad I live in Fiji."  -- Serena Divi posted in Fiji Economic Forum.Jun 15 
SOLOMONS STICK WITH FIJI.  No to Mara.
TUILAEPA WANTS MORE SANCTIONS.At least, that's what I think he eventually said. Read this  carefully.  This man is actually a Pacific Island PM who had to be asked three times to answer a straightforward question and  who thinks there are no problems in the Pacific apparently because, "In the Pacific, we grow our own food. There is no hooliganism and we have plenty of bread fruits, plenty of taro, plenty of food from the sea to eat." Bring back the Noble Savage.
JUMPING ON THE BANDWAGON. Former SDL MP Rajesh Singh, now living in Auckland,  has recently started his own "pro democracy" NGO rather than throwing in his lot with the NZ Coalition for Democracy that was formed in 1987 and opposes all coups. Singh apparently only opposes this one.  Here is what one reader had to say about him:  "This is the guy who lied  to voters on national TV that he will give all his pay to the poor if elected, and retracted after being voted in.This is the same guy who shared SDL confidential information with ... the FLP.This is the guy who was sacked as a minister by the SDL. This is the guy who only started jumping a few weeks ago."
JUDGE EXCUSES QARASE ABSENCE. High Court judge Justice Priyantha Fernando  excused former PM Laisenia Qarase from appearing in court yesterday following confusion over court dates. Qarase and former Native Lands Trust Board (NLTB) general manager, Kalivati Bakani, are charged with abuse of office. It is alleged that Qarase and Bakani with others applied to transfer ownership and control of the Extinct Mataqali Funds valued at $800,000 held as an investment in the name of NLTB South Pacific Trustee Limited. At the time the alleged offence was committed, Qarase was the chairman of NLTB. Their trial is expected to commence in March, 2012.
MINERVA REEF. Ahongalu Fusimalohi, special advisor to the Tongan PM, says there's no tension between the two countries. Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum says there's no tension between the two countries. But ABC  presenter Janak Rogers and Dr Rod Alley of Centre for Strategic Studies in Wellington say there is. So there must be. It's in the press. It's on TV. What's more, Alley is concerned about "a very important meeting coming up here in New Zealand later in the year and they don't want those talks which they're putting a lot of effort into here derailed by a bilateral spat between Tonga and Fiji." What an admission! A meeting that might be spoilt. But if it is, blame the media, not Tonga or Fiji.
Wednesday 15.6.11 
KAITANI: ANOTHER 'SMOKING GUN' PHOTO. Click here for the Cafe Pacific story.

MISQUOTED. FijiLive misquoted PS Information as saying Rt Tevita supported the 2000 coup.  It should have read 2006.
MARA IMPLICATED IN OUTSTANDING DEBTS. Yatu Lau is a Lauan-owned unlisted company with paid up capital of over $2.5m and assets worth over $8m. But it has failed to pay outstanding debts totalling $63,000 for work on its boat Lauan Trader. The work and expected repayments were arranged by Ratu Tevita. Significantly or coincidentally, the PM,  visiting Vanuabalavu on his present Lau tour, has ordered that all payments for tourism services be paid to those providing the service and not to Yatu Lau, as has been the practice.  This seems to be consistent with land rent moneys that now have to be paid to landowners, and not through a bureaucratic and chiefly filter that left little for the actual owners.
LAKEBA VAKAMATANIGASAU. A traditional vakamatanigasau (apology) and vakasobu (traditional welcome) were accorded to the Prime Minister by a delegation from the chiefly Vuanirewa clan when he arrrived in Lakeba yesterday morning. Lakeba is Ratu Tevita's home turf.
BALL IN NZ COURT. Thakur Ranjit Singh in the NZ Herald.

Tuesday 14.6.11
McCULLY ON GRANTING RATU TEVITA'S VISA. "What  we're trying to do here is to make sure that there's an incentive for people in Fiji who leave the regime or leave the military to see a way forward, to see the way for the travel bans to be lifted, but to not act so quickly as to unsettle things in an environment where things are fairly tense." [Translation from politicospeak, anyone?]


ABC SAYS PRO-DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT GATHERING MOMENTUM? Not if this  pathetic interview, coming on the back of Saturday's poorly attended meeting, is an example. The DomPost's Richard Long writes of the "deteriorating situation" in Fiji.   It's time the media do a  reality check on their sources of information. But Long did reveal why McCully would want to meet Ratu Tevita, while not actually interfering.
COUNTERING NONSENSE. I hope someone on Facebook's Fiji Economic Forum has something to say about this nonsense: "He [Bainimarama]sold our national assets put together by our forefathers such at Viti Corp, Rewa Dairy, Govt Printing etc and sold it to the Muslims."-- Cystal Tuinaceva. And that's only a little of what she has to say.
MORE WOMEN'S CENTRES. The PM will open a new $27,000 centre in Doi, Ono-i-Lau, next Friday, and new centres are underway in Buretu,Tailevu and Semo, Nadroga. The centres, to which the villagers contribute labour, are intended as hubs for socio-economic development and income generation for women in rural and island areas. The Doi women are already in touch with the Mokosoi group in Wailada, Lami, that will help market their handicrafts.
USE OF LEASE MONEY? The Land Use Unit has prepared a proposed distribution of lease money to be used by i-Taukei landowners. The proposal is that the money be divided into five categories for use in investment, education, housing and social obligations, village projects and a general fund. [Seems worthwhile but can anyone provide more details? Who controls the money and who decides the allocations?]




Monday 13.6.11
DUAL PURPOSE IN PROVINCIAL TOURS. Today the PM was in Lomaloma on the second leg of his Lau tour. As with other  provincial tours, the first aim is to talanoa with the people, listening to their concerns and informing them on issues of national importance.“We are here to hear you,” the PM told villagers,“This is the time for Government to hear your voice. Government officials usually bring your concerns to Suva but now that we are here, it is time to hear your voice.” The talanoa sessions are considered an effective means to keep communication links open with the people. The second aim is to inspect government facilities and the quality of services provided by Government officials.-- Based on No.1195/MOI.
PS INFORMATION EXPLAINS Fiji position on Australia. 
ELECTIONS BY SEPTEMBER 2014. Fiji will not be distracted by recent events.
TVNZ's GUY ESPINER TALKS WITH TEVITA MARA  Listen. He hopes to tell NZ Govt "what's happening on the ground." Nothing new. Diplomat Phillip Taula in Suva  will have told them all this before. Where are the secret documents he says he has? He's not mentioned them for awhile.
FLOATING HOSPITAL. Fiji's Ministry of Health said on Thursday that it has major plans to build a floating hospital to service those in maritime areas who find it too expensive and inconvenient to travel to main centers for medical treatment.

The "big" crowd at the FDFM  meeting

Sunday 12.6.11.The meeting was heralded as the "catalyst for a strategic alliance with SDL, FLP, Vanua, Church, Unions and Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Island Leaders Forum” against the Bainimarama government. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your perspective, the "cat" failed to turn up! See also weekend postings The Unholy Alliance by Graham Davis (with the incriminating photo of Fraenkel, Lal and Kaitani), Ratu Tevita's New Friends: the FDFM by Croz Walsh (on the FDFM's Ten Points and likely SDL links) and Plots Within and Support from Outside by Sanjay Ramesh.
Friday 10.6.11
THE PLOT THICKENS. Ratu Tevita has been given his Australian visa so that he may address Tui Savu's FDFN movement in Canberra tomorrow.  I'll have a posting on this "democracy" movement over the weekend. Meanwhile, Fiji Today says "It’s hoped the forum will be the catalyst for a strategic alliance with SDL, FLP, Vanua, Church, Unions and Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Island Leaders Forum." What's new? Looks like the same old team that put Fiji in the cactus in the first place. Fiji needs a new breed of leaders. See also new Government release posted below.
NZ GROUP OPPOSES MARA VISIT.Nik Naidu from the Coalition for Democracy in Fiji says he understands why Colonel Mara has suddenly "seen the light", and says he was one of the worst types of officers in Fiji.
CHARGES AGAINST TUISOLIA DROPPED. And they should be.  This was a clear case of government trying (unsuccessfully) to bend the judiciary to  its purposes. Such petty vindictiveness has laid government wide open to charges of interference that have, indirectly, also stained the reputation of the courts. The fact that the attempts have failed is overlooked by international commentators.
THE PRESIDENT Ratu Epeli Nailatikau is in New York where he adddressed the UN General Assembly on HIV/Aids. Ratu Epeli has a long record of work in this area. In Fiji, he has called for zero tolerance for stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV, and the Government's HIV AIDS Decree is part of its commitment to global efforts in addressing the deadly disease.
PM WELCOME IN KABARA, LAU. Lomati Village elder Mosese Kotobalavu said they were looking forward to meet the PM next week to tell him about their difficulties. “There is a big feast prepared for him and his officials and everyone on the island is looking forward to having him here with us.” Meanwhile, two men from  Lakeba, also in Lau and Ratu Tevita's home island, are now on bail in Suva  having been charged with forging signatures on a petition saying Lakeba did not want a visit from Bainimarama.
ITAUKEI SCHOLARSHIP HOLDERS BREACH CONDITIONS. All Government scholarship holders are required to return to Fiji on completing their overseas qualifications. Many are are not doing so. Permanent Secretary, Savenaca Kaunisela says most find employment straight after graduation and choose to stay in overseas countries and never return. What he did not say is that it is normal practice for overseas governments not to issue work permits to people on overseas scholarships until they have met their country's scholarship conditions. Someone is assisting these students to break the conditions. The result? Fiji pays for aid to the more developed countries!
PACIFIC DIALOGUE, A NEW NGO. Check out their website,and read in particular about the Citizens' Assembly recently held at JJ's in Suva and their work to inform youth and rural communities about electoral processes and alternatives.
ACTING ON PILLAR 10 OF THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER (Improving Health Service Delivery).The Ministry of Health has announced plans to open new hospitals in key areas. A new maternity unit will be built in Makoi in Naisinu, and futher down the road there will be a new 70 bed hospital in Ba, a dental hospital in Raiwaqa,Suva, a mental health institute in Tamavua and a new maternity complex in the CWM Hospital, Suva.
Thursday 9.6.11
YABAKI CONCERNED ABOUT "SPIRALLING" RACISM. He told ABC that the  online debate about Ratu Tevita Mara has "spiralled into an ethno-racist spat [while] we want to debate ... the big issues about reforms and land reforms, electoral reforms." He again called for the lifting of PER: "These are the issues that when you do not open up the discussion, people take cheap shots ... which tend to fuel the ethno-nationalist rhetoric we want to avoid."   
MARA HAS APPLIED FOR NZ ENTRY, saying he'll reveal military intelligence and tell the NZ government "what's going on." We truly hope so!
CROWDED MEETINGS ARGUE PROPOSED FNPF CHANGES. People are reported to be "turning out in big numbers to have their say.”
HIGHER SALARIES COMMISSION REPLACED. The salaries of senior officers in all government and municipal entities will now be determined by the Ministers responsible for Public Enterprise or Local Government following approval by the PM. The change is expected to enable a "commercial[and] market forces" approach to remunerations compared with the "public service approach" of the HSC. Ed. note. It will also replace an independent commission with people who are in effect the officers' employers.  A mix of approaches (Ministers and HSC) would be seen as fairer.
ALL INDIGENOUS. 'We are all indigenous people of Fiji and if some can't accept that then they have a problem. Indigenous means born and natural to a place and we were born, natural and bred in our country Fiji'.--  Alton Shameem on Facebook. 
PLEASE RESPOND TO 'YOUR OPINIONS PLEASE' in righthand column.

Wednesday 8.6.11
ARMS AND LEGS FOR THE PACIFIC. Health minister Dr Neil Sharma  said Fiji will soon be able to produce prosthetic artificial limbs. He said the Jaipur team from India is conducting an artificial limb rehabilitation camp for the next two months in which five technicians will be trained to produce the same quality of prosthetic artificial limbs as produced in India. Deputy Secretary for Hospital services Dr Eleni Tora said initially 300 people will be receiving artificial limbs free of charge. She also said the Ministry plans to establish diabetic hubs at Labasa and Lautoka.
FALSE PROPHECIES NOT ALLOWED IN FIJI. This might have been the heading the anti-government blogs would use, as if there's something wrong not allowing false prophecies. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) does not agree and has refused to withdraw the charge against Rev.Lutunacevamaca who last year had thousands of people perturbed about his prophecy of unprecedented climatic disaster. He is charged with one count of malicious act where it is alleged that he breached the Public Order Act by distributing information to cause public panic in relation to a prophecy he made last June about a natural disaster.
SEE Mara Beat the Women ... below.
Tuesday 7.6.11
RADIO NZINTERNATIONAL  must be close to the bottom of the barrel of people they can report as anti-Bainimarama. Rajesh Singh, an Indo-Fijian, Mormon and ex MP is their latest find. They announced him as a former Minister of Youth and Sport. He was one of the two Indo-Fijians in the SDL Qarase Government.  
What they didn't say was that he was a protege of Ratu Inoke Takiveikata who was jailed for supporting the Speight Coup; that he was sacked as an SDL Minister after only six months in the job, that he had stood unsuccessfully for the NFP in 2001, resigned from the SDL in early 2007, briefly supported Bainimarama, and said he  expected to stand for parliament, in a different party, in the next election. 

I would suggest that a man who changes parties so often would seem to be more interested in status and  power than in principle, but he's certainly not lacking in self-importance. He's written to Bainimarama and told him to resign. If this is why Radio NZInternational interviewed him, all I've got to do to be interviewed is to do the same.

2012 PUBLIC HOLIDAYS ANNOUNCED. New Year’s Day:Monday,2nd January;Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday:Monday,6th February;Good Friday: Friday,6th April; Easter Saturday:Saturday,7th April; Easter Monday:Monday,9th April; Queen’s Birthday:Monday,11th June; Fiji Day:Wednesday,10th October; Diwali:Tuesday,13th November; Christmas Day:Tuesday,25th December;Boxing Day:Wednesday,26th December.

UN HUMAN RIGHTS SUVA Branch Commissioner  says it's doing all that's needed on torture allegations.

"ONE CRUCIAL STEP and it’s got to be a credible one, is to get up to the level of political dialogue with political stake holders. I think that’s the one that needs to be undertaken,"  says CCF's Akuila Yabaki on news that constitutional dialogue could start earlier than next year, adding "the report opens the door for people to put aside differences and take part in consultations." (See also CCF Press Release below).

GOVT WORKING ON OVERDUE TECHNOLOGIES  "This should have been done 15 years ago," said the A-G, giving the example of the Titles and Companies Office where one could not even do on-line searches. "We are trying to play catch up of 20 years on indecisive decision making and lack of progress in thinking and modernising," he said.

For earlier news and comments click Achives, last day of April, May.

 Monday 6.6.1
• TWO MILLION DOLLAR VENTURE set up by returned resident.
• MANGANESE MINE. The Ministry of Mineral Resources has received a lease application from Viti Mining Limited to mine manganese at Vorovorobitu in the Sigatoka Valley. When commissioned, this will be Fiji's fifth mine.
• BUY A PINE TREE FOR $4 and sell for $140. Bua landowners complain.
• NEW EMERGENCY PASSPORTS not yet accepted by Australia, New Zealand.
• SPOT  ERROR #1. "The [NZ] "Government is ...not obliged to admit  to admit... Fiji's land forces commander simply because interim prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama has engineered his elevation to the head of the Fiji Rugby Union.--  DomPost unsigned Editorial. Sports editors should be discouraged from writing political editorials.
• SPOT ERROR #2. "During the 18th century[it] was a chief from Lau [sic!], Ratu Cakobau (I’m also related to him), who was conquering all the islands in Fiji. -- Ratu Tevita tells Tonga Chronicle reporter. 
• RATU TEVITA'S NEW GIMMICK.  See posting below.
Friday 3.6.11.
• FREDOM TO DEBATE."The intensity of debates at the FNPF public consultations is an indication that freedom to debate government policies is very much intact." -- Blog comment.
• GRUBSHEET. The article by Graham Davis The King and I and the extensive comments are well worth a read.


• ONLY ONE GUESS WHERE THIS QUOTE IS FROM: "The campaign now is to be rid of the drunk puppet and the puppet master Taliban at any cost." It goes way beyond the "Muslim" description Tevita Mara made in the Fijian (but not the English) version of one of his Youtube postings, and even that was a clear dog whistle to the Christian grassroots.
• SOMETHING'S MISSING. Risto Harmat said he took Ratu Tevita Mara on a fishing trip to Kadavu, where he dropped him off. Staff at the Kadavu resort said they saw Ratu Tevita go fishing (presumably on another boat) and local fishermen said they saw a big boat pick him up. What happened to the second fishing boat that he said he'd been at sea in for two-three days? It sank? (I hope he rescued the documents he said he was carrying while fishing). It was taken to Tonga? Where is it now?  It never existed? Take your pick, along with his other stories.
• FACEBOOK. Visit Fiji Economic Forum for lots of discussion among its 155 members. It's moe political than economic.
• AUSTRALIA US NOT IN STEP say Aust opposition. See also FBCL item.
• McCULLY  SAYS "What is going to be required for us to make any substantive progress there is for the regime in Fiji to give some positive signals about how they're going to go forward. Having military people assume control of their rugby union isn't the sort of signal that is going to help, nor is the suggestion that human rights are coming under pressure." [He needs to be specific, and check the facts on military control of FRU, and Ratu Tevita's claims on human rights.]  See also Charlie Charters in Weekend Reading.


• TUPENI BABA speaking in Guam. Short bio.
Thursday 3.6.11
WORLD CUP TALKS CONTINUE to ensure 'best possible' Fiji team. I repeat: NZ should spell out what they mean by 'progress' towards elections.
FRU SAY OLYMPIC BAN COMMENT out of line.
SURFING DECREE helps.
 McCULLY ATTACKS ADAMS  not his argument. Not the nicest of statements from the Minister.
GOVT'S $80M for NAITASIRI PROVINCE for roads, rural electrification and water
Wednesday 2.6.11
• 'NAVY PEOPLE ARE STUPID.' Ratu Tevita's latest.
• DRITI CASE adjourned two weeks.
• NADRIVATU 44 Mw HEP STATION at the head of the Sigatoka and Ba Rivers is on track to open in December.
• McCULLY ON WORLD CUP. Bans stands; doesn't say what he means by 'progress'. 
Tuesday 1.6.11
• FIJI TODAY PUBLISHER, "Peter Firkins" says "Remove PER and the Media Decree and I will close this Blog."  I'm more than happy to match this when the overseas media show some knowledge of, and more impartiality toward, events in Fiji. With more time to spend in retirement, I may be able to reduce my golf handicap and get another hole-in-one.
• RATU TEVITA ON ABC'S Pacific Beat.Mainly on the Military Council
• TWO LAUANS ARRESTED for allegedly forging signatures telling Bainimarama he's unwelcome. The Lau  Provincial Council has distanced itself from those arrested.
• LAND BUY BACK scheme.
• BOYCOTT WORLD CUP. Fiji's Olympic head says Fiji should boycott the World Cup unless Fiji games venue shifted from NZ whose travel ban will prevent Fiji fielding its best team.