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| Tappoo's warehouse, Raiwaqa. Credit: Fiji Times. |
While over 80% of the target population have now received their first vaccination, new cases typically exceed a thousand daily, and the total number of deaths since the pandemic started is now 272. (So much for a friend's comment barely two week's ago when numbers seemed to be dropping that government was concealing numbers by not taking swabs!)
The government continues to rely on the vaccine to control the virus and achieve herd immunity, saying that regional or national lockdowns would limit the mobility people need for work, food and other essentials. It has delivered over 23,000 grocery and essentials bags to households in home isolation. So far cases have been limited to the Western and Central Divisions on Viti Levu.
The Bill to amend the iTaukei Land Trust Act has now passed into law, and former PM and 1987 Coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka has warned that further violence and protests could give the government an excuse to delay the 2022 Elections. (There could be an element of self-interest here. Rabuka intends to start a new political party to contest the election.)
The amended Act makes it possible for owners and leasees to mortgage and lease land without the authorisation of the iTaukei Land Trust Board. Proponents say this will help owners and leasees; opponents say it will reduce the guardianship of the Board. One thing it does not do is threaten the collective ownership of the land, which is what agitators on the social media have proclaimed.
Police have warned people not to relate the spate of suspicious fires to protests about the Land Amendment Bill. Acting Commissioner of Police Rusiate Tudravu claimed some Fijians were quick to use the two recent fires in the Central and Western Divisions to incite violence and rally more support against the Government, claiming they were linked. He warned that any attempt to destabilise and cause instability will be investigated and dealt with.
But it is hard not to see some link. The fires have all been on Indo-Fijian, and mainly Muslim, properties and the much-reviled Attorney-General —who many think controls PM Bainimarama— is a Muslim. Earlier there was a fire at a mosque in Labasa and the recent bush fire in Lautoka threatened a Muslim-owned bus company. On Sunday Tappoo's warehouse in Raiwaqa, Suva, was totally destroyed. There has also been a threat to set fire to pine forests in the West.
With Opposition protests and their detention, it is easy to see Fiji as an irretrievably divided country. While everyone's attention should be on controlling the virus and restoring the economy, too many of Fiji's leaders are attacking each other.
Fortunately, there are other voices. Catholic Archbishop Peter Loy Chong, for one, has called for unity, and the Tui Vitogo and the chairman of the Bose ni Momo Trust Ratu Wiliame Ratudale Sovasova has condemned recent social media attacks against the Muslim community.
He said the attacks on the Muslim community in the social media is "totally uncalled for We have been residing together peacefully since the times of our fathers and grandfathers.
“If there are any disagreements on issues, we should adopt the Fijian way of talanoa to reach amicable solutions. People should follow the law and respect the laws of the land. The grassroots people will suffer if there is any instability against a particular community. I don’t condone such messages or acts in any form.”
“We should fight together to eradicate COVID-19 in Fiji rather than fighting one another. So many people are suffering at the moment."
Amen to that.
-- ACW
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