Fijileaks: He is a snake who is trying to charm his way into power by blaming the violence and brutality against Indo-Fijians on a group of selfish persons: "I pray that God Almighty will grant all those hurting the grace to forgive me. To you I say, I am sorry"; "Many of them have been dealt with according to law," he says about the "mindless minority" while he is hiding behind the sulu of IMMUNITY Like 1987, Rabuka is surrounded by many extremist ethno-nationalists in SODELPA, who only have one thing in common - INDIGENOUS RIGHTS; all those who have FIJI at heart should be very wary of this snake- Sitiveni Rabuka! SODELPA have chosen him as their leader to appeal to naked native Fijian nationalism, FULL STOP! Was this High Chief "selfish person", if we are to accept Rabuka's claim? Were Rabuka's Fijian soldiers who beat up Dr Anirudh Singh, a group of "selfish persons"? No, they had been recruited by Rabuka to beat Indo-Fijians up, to ensure they complied or fled Fiji in their thousands so that native Fijians could become a majority, and he could ultimately become the Prime Minister of Fiji FLP leader and former PM, Mahendra Chaudhry said Mr Rabuka had made gains [in recent opinion poll] but needed to redouble his efforts to get within the striking distance [of power in the next election] 1999: FLP, in its quest to capture power, had made it very clear to voters
0 Comments
"By persons having no authority to do so but felt that they had. I had not fully realized the intent of such attacks... I need to tell you the reasons for my sudden resignation. Fijileaks: Was Robin Nair fired but was given the face-saving option of resigning? "As is customary, the Ministry had prepared a draft Statement/Talking Points (attached) through consultations, for our Minister [Bainimarama] to deliver to the Heads of Missions, to reflect his expectations, views, ideas, problems and a progressive agenda for the next 12 months, for the Ministry to achieve the breadth of Minister's and indeed Fiji's forward looking and progressive foreign policy objectives |
Unlike Julian Moti (right photo), Fiji regime and its kidnappers had not allowed any photos of Russell Hunter being shoved onto the plane, bound for Australia |
Ironically, Dr Shaista Shameem, the then Director of the Fiji Human Rights Commission, had controversially supported Hunter's deportation, and had called for the arrest of Victor Lal, if and when he stepped on the Fijian soil, for contempt of court under the relevant provisions of the 1997 Constitution, and the recommendation was made to protect public safety, judiciary, and national security (Fijileaks founding Editor-in-Chief Victor Lal: 'I do not know if the recommended charge had been drafted and is gathering dust in DPP's office, awaiting my fateful arrival in Fiji"); the conclusion in 2008 to charge Lal for contempt of court was based on the contents of the hacked e-mails between Russell Hunter and Victor Lal that were released to the international and local media by one Nikhil Singh, a Mahendra Chaudhry lackey, shortly after the plane carrying Hunter had taken off from Nadi. Again, IRONIES abound! While Fijian-born Julian Moti is back in Fiji working alongside Shaista Shameem at the University of Fiji, Victor Lal still has charges and legal writs pending that were filed against him for revealing the then interim Finance Minister Chaudhry's secret millions stashed away in Australia
Again, unlike the Australian government which allowed Julian Moti his legal right to fight all the way up to Australia's highest court, the Fijian regime under Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum gazetted a DECREE barring any challenge to Hunter's deportation, and KHAIYUM lied through his gritting teeth:
The then interim Attorney-General Aiyaz Khaiyum not only abused the due process of the law but made the excuse at the time that the High Court order wasn't served by Fiji Sun lawyer Suruj Sharma; Khaiyum was lying to the world. It was certainly served on Air Pacific and also on Captain Savenaca Siwatibau (guarding the then Fiji Sun publisher Russell Hunter) whose response was: 'Do you want me to bring the whole f_____g army down here?' Hunter: "When everyone, it seemed to me, had boarded, Captain Savenaca told me to get up; then he escorted me with his hand in the small of my back, much like a revolver which he pointed and held in place while he walked me to the plane."
JUSTICE DELAYED AND JUSTICE DENIED - FILED IN 2008 - ITS 2017:
Russell Hunter on how regime sent army thugs to his house in the night: "I said "I won't come". I then picked up the phone and rang Suruj Sharma, my lawyer. No sooner had I got on the phone when five (5) men got out of the car. They were dressed in uniform and one of them said to me I had to come now. At this stage I was still talking to Mr Sharma I was bundled into the vehicle and I could not see the look of anguish on my wife's face as I was forcibly taken by the man from my home and forced into the vehicle. My daughter, I recall, was visibly upset and shaken. I still had my phone in my hand as I was pushed into the vehicle. Mr Sharma was asking me where I was being taken and sought from me details of the destination and the men in uniform, which I sought from them and they declined to supply."
"Unknown to me, the Interim Government had passed the Immigration Act (Amendment) Promulgation 2008 / No 3 of 2008) which in my understanding made it impossible to appeal a decision of the Minister concerning people declared to be prohibited, such as myself, and further sought to prevent or preclude any appeal from such a decision. A copy of the Promulgation is annexed hereto and marked "RDH-4". If what seems conveniently coincidental, the passing of Promulgation was dated, and appears to be published in the Gazette, on 26 February 2008, but is said to come into force on 25 February 2008. In essence, it deprived me of any right of review or appeal. It was retrospectively said to deprive me of my rights for appeal or review but promulgated on the very day of deportation. I say it was both unreasonable and misleading in the manner in which it came to be promulgated. I crave leave to refer to the Removal Order annexed hereto as "RDH-1". It is singularly significant as it does not have a reason or reasons on its face to enable me to understand or comprehend why it was being served, or what it was that I had done to warrant its issue. I seek the relief sought in the Application for Leave to Apply for Judicial Review and say that the grounds relied on are to the best of my knowledge, information and belief true and correct. " Russell Hunter, in his affidavit filed by Fiji Sun lawyer Suruj Sharma in the Fiji High Court
AT SUVA CIVIL JURISDICTION
Judicial Review No__________of 2008
IN THE MATTER of the Immigration Act 2003
AND IN THE MATTER of the Immigration Act (Amendment) Promulgation 2008
AND IN THE MATTER of the Constitution Amendment Act 1997 (the Constitution)
AND IN THE MATTER of Removal Order No 07/08 dated 25 February 2008
BETWEEN:
RUSSELL DOUGLAS HUNTER
Queensland, Australia
First Applicant
AND:
SUN (FIJI) NEWS LIMITED, a limited liability company having its registered office at 12 Amra Street, Walu Bay, Suva, Fiji Islands
Second Applicant
AND:
PERMANENT SECRETARY FOR IMMIGRATION, Immigration Department, Suva, Fiji Islands
First Respondent
AND:
ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF FIJI, Attorney-General's Chambers, Suva, Fiji Islands
Second Respondent
APPLICATION FOR LEAVE TO APPLY FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW
TAKE NOTICE that the Applicants seek leave of the Court pursuant to O 53 r 3(2) of the High Court Rules to apply for Judicial Review of the decision of the First Respondent, being Removal Order No 07/08 made 25 February 2008, requiring the First Applicant to leave and remain out of Fiji indefinitely whereupon the First Applicant was arrested, detained and conveyed from Suva to Nadi and further detained and then deported to Sydney Australia on 26 February 2008.
THE APPLICANT SEEKS:
(i) An Order in the nature of Certiorari to remove into this Court and quash the said decision.
(ii) A Declaration that the said decision was erroneous in law, unlawful, invalid, void and of no effect.
(iii) An order in the nature of Mandamus, requiring the First Respondent to reconsider the decision according to law and such direction(s) as are made by this Honourable Court.
(iv) Damages.
(v) Costs.
(vi) Such further or other relief as may seem just.
THE GROUNDS upon which the Applicants seek the above-mentioned relief against the Respondents are as follows:
(A) That the First Respondent erred in the manner and exercise of such discretion that was reposed in him and further erred in the purported exercise of his jurisdiction and/or misconstrued his powers under the Immigration Act 2002 and the Immigration Act (Amendment ) Promulgation 2008 (the Act and the Promulgation, respectively) by:
(i) committing an error on the face of the record, both in the analysis of and the construction of his power to make the decision;
(ii) denying the First Applicant procedural fairness to be heard prior to the making of the decision;
(iii) in implementing the decision whereby he caused the First Applicant to be arrested and detained and held against his will and thereafter to be removed from Fiji, he acted in excess of any or all such jurisdiction as was reposed in him pursuant to the Act;
(iv) insofar as he acted in coming to the decision made with respect to the First Applicant he acted ultra vires and committed an error of law in doing so;
(v) the First Respondent in making the decision, failed to take into account all relevant considerations and took into account irrelevant considerations, making the decision void and of no effect;
(vi) the First Respondent erred in the making of the decision and the service of the Removal Order by committing a jurisdictional error in coming to the decision for the wrong reason(s);
(vii) the First Respondent committed jurisdictional error by failing to ask and receive answers to the right questions, consider relevant material and disregard irrelevant material;
(viii) the First Respondent failed to properly construe the Act in respect of the criteria relied upon to determine the decision arrived at, as a result the decision was or involved a jurisdictional error and is regarded in law as no decision at all;
(ix) the First Respondent fell into jurisdictional error by deciding the threshold requirement under s.13(2) of the Act and as amended subsequently by the Promulgation, viz that the First Applicant was a member of a prohibited class, was not satisfied but based upon a misconstruction of the expression "prohibited person" in s.13(2)(g);
(x) the First Respondent fell into jurisdictional error by failing to take into account a relevant consideration in the exercise of the discretion under s.13(2)(g), namely:
(aa) the nature and extent of the circumstances warranting the First Applicant's inclusion in the class of prohibited persons;
(bb) the weakness or strength of the evidence supporting the alleged conduct of the First Applicant;
(cc) the hardship to the First Applicant as a result of the decision.
(xi) the First Respondent fell into jurisdictional error by taking irrelevant considerations into account in the exercise of the discretion to make the decision, namely:
(dd) that the Interim Government of the Fiji Islands has a strong interest in deterring non-citizens from exercising freedom of expression through the press and media when the First Applicant had not been convicted of any offence involving a limitation on such freedom in the interests of national security or public safety.
(B) The Respondents' purpose in issuing and enforcing the Removal Order by the First Respondent on 25 February 2008 and passing the Promulgation on 26 February 2008 was to allow the First Applicant to be detained when he had no right of appeal from a decision of the First Respondent pursuant to s.58(8) of the Act, as amended, and that was an improper purpose because -
(1) the Respondents knew that upon arrest and detention pursuant to the decision, no appeal could be lodged;
(2) the Respondents expressly took into account the fact that the arrest of the First Applicant on 25 February 2008 would, by reason of the Promulgation, despite being dated 26 February 2008, was said to come into effect on 25 February 2008, thereby preventing any appeal or review of the decision;
(3) the First Applicant had not been previously notified by the First Respondent that he was considering removal of the First Applicant and cancellation of his work permit to reside in the Fiji Islands;
(4) the purpose of the Respondents is to be inferred from the matters set out above.
PATEL SHARMA LAWYERS
Per: .................................
Solicitor for the Applicants
Dated: May 2008
This Application for leave to apply for Judicial Review was filed by Messrs Patel Sharma Lawyers, Barristers and Solicitors, 1st Floor, 18 Waimanu Road, Suva
Advocacy Journalism Needed in Region: Moti
Fijileaks: We want to stress that we are not devaluing the Moti saga and encourage those interested in his book to buy and read it
“I also have been inspired by the present Leader of the NFP, Professor Biman Prasad for carrying on that proud tradition of the Party and for his leadership qualities shown by his tenacity in the Parliament to fight for an effective and genuine democracy which we could all be proud of and call our own. He believes in an inclusive approach to Government. He believes in listening, caring and delivering to the genuine concerns of all, including and more importantly to honour the rich culture and traditions of our indigenous people.”
Robin Nair Joins NFP
Robin Nair announced today that he has joined the National Federation Party as a Member. After many decades as a professional civil servant both in the Fijian Civil Service, Australian Public Service and international organisations, Mr Nair described his first foray into the political arena as one to help build a new and better Fiji for all.
He said that he had wished to retire and pursue personal interests but he now believed that age, fatigue nor fear should be an excuse not to continue to serve your people; being true to one’s convictions.
He said, “I do not need a job but I cannot see my comfort coming ahead of the needs of our Fijian people. I hear them crying out, particularly at the grass roots level, for Change, Peace and Progress. Now is the time to make real promises of democracy, and with urgency. Fiji has defaulted, to date, on its promissory note for a democracy instead of honouring this sacred obligation. We cannot ever again subjugate our people to fear but we need to liberate them with the freedom of democracy, peace and progress.”
Nair said that he chose the National Federation Party as the best Party to lead us into the next Government because of its rich history of promoting the legitimate aspirations of all our people, always fighting for equality, social justice, democracy, and transparent and inclusive governance. The Party seeks to build a nation which has its foundation decency and intellectual, cultural and spiritual values. It is the only Party with a genuine democratic structure and of long standing.
He added,“I also have been inspired by the present Leader of the NFP, Professor Biman Prasad for carrying on that proud tradition of the Party and for his leadership qualities shown by his tenacity in the Parliament to fight for an effective and genuine democracy which we could all be proud of and call our own. He believes in an inclusive approach to Government. He believes in listening, caring and delivering to the genuine concerns of all, including and more importantly to honour the rich culture and traditions of our indigenous people.”
"The story is so awful it is funny- and by funny I mean gallows humour. When I read it I said ..how can this possibly happen to anyone? Well it did happen. Dr Merrell's book explains how and why. Julian, in his usual pithy way, put it well....he was, as he said, '...the last blackbird out of Melanesia'. He was not immune to kidnapping, destination Australia, even as the Attorney General of the Solomons."
Professor Shaista Shameem, Dean of the University of Fiji School of Law and Coordinator of the International and Regional Affairs Programme, University of Fiji. On the occasion of the book launch at Albert Park Pavilion, Suva, Fiji on 11th May 2017.
![Picture](/web/20170515081956im_/http://www.fijileaks.com/uploads/1/3/7/5/13759434/editor/wiis-shaista-shameem-talk-august.jpg?1494540328)
When Dr Merrell asked the School of Law of the University of Fiji to host the world first launch of her book 'Redeeming Moti' I did not hesitate for a moment even though I had not yet received the advance copy to read.
I said yes because I have known of Julian Moti for a long time, though we did not officially meet until he became Dean of the Unifiji School of Law where I myself had taught previously. I sought Julian out on one of my trips back to Fiji from NZ because I was pleased that he had been appointed the first substantive Dean of the School of Law, and I had liked the paper he had delivered for the inaugural Sir Moti Tikaram Memorial Lecture.
But back in 2006 I had no idea of the horrors that faced Julian. That year I was in Melbourne delivering a lecture when I heard the news that he had just been arrested in Papua New Guinea. The only news items I received were those published by the Australian press. These articles obviously favoured the Australian authorities who were responsible for his arrest (and then had him charged) with what I, as a human rights lawyer, considered to be an unspeakable offence.
Until I read Dr Merrill's book last week, I still had no idea of the actual facts, only that he had eventually been cleared by the Australian courts; and that was good enough for me. I did not want to know the details; he had been cleared.
But, Ladies and Gentlemen, I was naive. It is just not enough to know that Julian had been cleared. The wrongs inflicted on him by those who otherwise wave the flags of democracy, rule of law, due process and human rights, and trumpet all the politically correct platitudes at us, Pacific Islanders, thus far remain unpunished. The perpetrators have shrugged and moved on, as if to say, you lose some....so what? And that is the evil that this book exposes.
It is possibly accurate to state that had the accuser not confessed practically on his death-bed that he had made up his story about Julian's so-called 'crime', a confession that Dr Merrell obtained on video at the 11th hour and publicised, the story may not necessarily have had a particularly pleasant ending. This is the true horror of this saga. I have to use the word 'serendipity' for that reason. But for that....we don't know.
'Redeeming Moti' is going to be an important book for universities and scholars for a number of reasons which I will go into in a minute. But it is not a scholarly book- it does not have the kind of language that scholarly tomes tend to have nowadays in the post-modern tradition- convoluted and Foucaultian It is uncompromisingly straightforward; a High School student can read it and will find in it both tragedy and comedy, take your pick. The story is so awful it is funny- and by funny I mean gallows humour. When I read it I said ..how can this possibly happen to anyone? Well it did happen. Dr Merrell's book explains how and why. Julian, in his usual pithy way, put it well....he was, as he said, '...the last blackbird out of Melanesia'. He was not immune to kidnapping, destination Australia, even as the Attorney General of the Solomons.
Now, what will scholars and universities find in the book? What will my law students take from it? That was the litmus test for me as I read it.
Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, let me tell you why I think that every person in the Pacific and the world should read this book. They will find everything in it. It has all the ingredients of a good thriller; it has a good survey of Pacific and international politics; a good review of media culpability in the persecution of a man who stood up to neo-colonialism, sometimes without support even from those he was protecting; there is a love story (of sorts) in it; and there is redemption, that is, a belief, a desperate belief actually, that one day the truth will be out and then everyone will understand.
At the time that Julian was suffering in various filthy police cells, under trees on a remote Solomon Island air strip, as a "refugee" in an embassy in Papua New Guinea and in the court rooms where his very privacy was violated and exposed to public ridicule, he clung to that hope that he will be redeemed. It is remarkable that his legal intellect remained intact despite these assaults on his dignity and person. And the effect on his elderly parents must have been enormous. How did the long term stress of it all affect his father, also a victim, who sadly passed away just as the Court redeemed Julian.
Ladies and Gentlemen, there are several observations that I can make in reference to why this book will rightly have a scatter-gun effect. First, it exposes mainstream media for what it can be- banal, here today, gone tomorrow, slavish to those in power, hence denigrating its own power to do good, or if that is too hard, at least to be fair, occupying its own colonizing space shamelessly, and then, without warning, becoming self-righteous and unjustifiably indignant.
I say all this with some confidence because my very first job after leaving university was as a journalist with Fiji's only daily newspaper at the time. I was absolutely amazed when I read Dr Merrell's book to find that nothing had changed with the media since I was a rookie reporter more than 40 years ago. Is there something to be said about the way mainstream media works in the Pacific and how journalists are trained? Or about the difficulty with the concept of truth? Or if not truth, if that's too complex, just plain facts? I do advise you all to read the book and reach your own conclusions.
But what Dr Merrell shows as a journalist, and she is one despite her political science doctorate, is that the mainstream media must understand what it means to be the 'critic and conscience' of society. That goes for Universities to. That, being the critic and conscience of society, is the core value of both the media and universities. We lose sight of that too easily in both institutions.
Secondly, I turn to Pacific Politics, both external and internal that is exposed in the book. During this sorry series of events apparently now known as 'Motigate', parliamentarians of some Pacific Island states switched sides so fast, it made me dizzy just to read about it. What this book says about Pacific Island politics is revealing, to put it mildly. It appears we have no ethics, no loyalty to anyone but ourselves (certainly not to the constituency), no shame in changing sides to stay, even precariously, in power, and no guilt about selling our country or ourselves to the highest bidder. Instead we say, oh well, that's politics for you. It's just a dirty game and anyone entering politics must learn to play it. After all this is the way the world has been even in the western tradition; look at what happened to Julius Caesar. So why should we expect anything different in the Pacific?
Well, I can't uphold that perspective to my law students; and I hope no lecturer here tonight will be able to say that to their students either. Dr Merrell's book exposes the farce of Pacific politics, including in Australia, in such a way that we have now to decide what we want our politicians to do and be.
It is the constituency that will have to take the responsibility for keeping its politicians on a tight leash. Deceive us and you are history. That is the message we have to teach our young people- take responsibility for keeping your representatives straight. Challenge them at every opportunity; make them answer your questions; hold their trouser legs with sharp teeth until they beg for mercy. Above all, don't be frightened of them; they are your servants, not the other way round.
Finally, the law. Ultimately, what comes out as a force for good in this book are the courts. But not easily. In Dr Merrell's account, courts' decisions are based as much on chance as on law. If there had been no death-bed confession by the false accuser that the entire story against Julian had been absolutely fabricated to get money out of the Australians who wished to continue milking the RAMSI cow, a story that was published widely by Dr Merrell before the appeal court heard Julian's case on deportation, who knows how the Australian courts might have ruled. It was as serendipitous as that. In my own experience as a lawyer in Fiji, I know only too well that one can never predict a court outcome. It's Russian Roulette.
All I and my colleagues at the Unifiji School of Law can do is to advise our students that if they define law as justice, they can keep their heads high; because without justice there is no law. They will still lose on many an occasion because not everyone thinks like that- and the courts very often do not. We should remember, and learn from, the remark attributed to the US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jnr. to a young lawyer arguing that his client required justice from the court. Justice Holmes told him, quite kindly,....'This is a court of law young man, not a court of justice'. But the Australian court that released Julian into the arms of the country of his birth, was a court of justice - at the time. That is the one bright light in the book.
But above all, for all that I have made some remarks that would be pertinent to scholarship, this book is about human foibles, including the author's own which she freely shares with her readers, and about, almost Shakespearean, tragedy, and regret.
Nevertheless, the phoenix does rise, as did Julian who is here with us today to talk a bit about the aftermath, the postlude. No one involved in this saga remained unscathed, least of all Julian, and also the author- that is clear.
However, we are reminded that despite the evil that we know for a fact exists in the world in myriad forms, there is good also, and that is the only thing that counts in the end. But, of course, only if we can find the difference between the two because, quite often, evil masquerades as good. That is the message in the book.
I congratulate Dr Merrell for having written it, warts and all.
But most of all I commend Julian for having considered the story, unauthorised as it was, important enough to agree to having it launched publicly here today despite the obvious wounds that would be re-opened for him in the process.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am indeed very happy and honoured to formally launch 'Redeeming Moti' and to highly recommend it to you.
In December 2011, the Australia media reported: THE High Court has halted Australia's prosecution on child sex charges of former Solomon Islands attorney-general Julian Moti. Ordering a stay of charges against Mr Moti, the full bench of the High Court ruled he had been illegally deported from the Solomon Islands in December 2007. “Further prosecution of the charges would be an abuse of process because of the role that Australian officials [played] in Mr Moti being deported to Australia,” said a summary of today's judgment. Mr Moti, an Australian citizen, was charged in 2008 with seven counts of engaging in sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16 years whilst in Vanuatu during the 1990s. In today's majority ruling, the High Court found there was an abuse of process because Australian officials facilitated Mr Moti's deportation from the Solomon Islands to Australia in 2007 knowing that it was, at that time, unlawful under Solomon Islands law. The High Court also ruled that a financial deal the Australian Federal Police struck with the alleged victim and her family was not an abuse of process...The decision opens the [Australian] government to a compensation claim from Mr Moti and ends the controversial five-year effort to bring him to trial, under sex tourism laws, for the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl in Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
"After next year but you should not go on TV and say that this government is not doing anything and that this government is not good. If you are doing that, we are not going to look after you. We will watch next year and after election if you are with us, don’t worry... OK Tamana? Vinaka, Vinaka!" - Education Minister Mahendra Reddy
Its time to doll out the sewing machines. Vuniwaqa follows Jiko Luveni
From Fijileaks archive, 28 January 2014:
"This is typical of their executive who have used and abused Ro Teimumu Kepa, despite the fact that without her almost half their members in Parliament would not have a seat."
![Picture](/web/20170515081956im_/http://www.fijileaks.com/uploads/1/3/7/5/13759434/beddoes-new_orig.jpg)
Perhaps the most momentous development in race relations between the itaukei and Fiji Indian community in our lifetime has just taken place in Noco, Rewa. Yet it has not been given the coverage by our media that is warranted when something of this significance happens. To give credit to the Fiji Times their reportage and analysis of it leads the field. More power to them.
The Rewa clans have taken to their hearts the descendants of the victims of the tragic wrecking of the Syria all those long years ago on Naselai Reef. The ship was filled with passengers from India who had signed up to be indentured labourers on Fiji’s sugar plantations. On a dark night of cruel seas the Syria went aground with the loss of many lives. At great risk to themselves the indigenous people from nearby Noco valiantly did what they could to save terrified victims.
Now, under the leadership of Ratu Isoa Damudamu, the Chief of Noco, and his people, and their paramount Chief Ro Teimumu Vuikaba Kepa, na Marama na Roko Tui Dreketi, the vanua of Rewa has solemnly sealed a pact that makes the relatives of the survivors officially part of the province. They are kai Rewa forever; brothers and sisters and children of this place in Fiji. They are one with the tribes, never to be parted.
The magnitude of this encompasses many virtues such as courage and nobility; a deep level of generosity, caring and humanity as well as kindness, grace and mutual respect. In the words of the Marama, it also represents in a pure form the Christian ethic of loving your neighbor. For our country it is an unprecedented act of unity, multi-racial togetherness and hope for the future, not just for Rewa, but for Fiji.
The embracing of the girmitya and everything it means is worthy of every citizen’s support and respect. All honour should go to the Tui Noco Ratu Isoa Damudamu and his people, as well as to Ro Teimumu who has continued to show great leadership especially separating her political responsibilities from that of her traditional obligations.
Attempts by some in SODELPA to try to take some credit for this great example of statesmanlike leadership by the Vanua of Rewa is disgusting and deplorable. But this is typical of their executive who have used and abused Ro Teimumu Kepa, despite the fact that without her almost half their members in Parliament would not have a seat.
A further observation: I understand the PM was invited to be present at the Rewa ceremony. But he was overseas. Yet he did not bother to send a representative. And what have the coup perpetrators got to say about this? After all part of the justification for committing their capital crimes is the supposed deteriorating race relations. Yet they have nothing to say!
Neither it seems has Fiji ’First’s Geneva rep Nazhat Shameem had anything to say, yet not so long ago she reported to the UN Human Rights Commission that quote
‘it must be noted that racism was institutionalized in Fiji to such an extent that it instilled in a privileged class, a sense of entitlement based on ethnicity and class, and that racist attitudes were ingrained in all communities, which have resulted in mistrust, resentment and suspicion." "Racism in Fiji is often disguised by assertions that a community’s own cultural identity is being submerged under the blanket of national unity. Unquote
Fiji First’s Human Rights Commissioner and Chair of MIDA and Shameem’s loyal defender Ashwin Raj who speaks in terms and with words that the average ‘Joe’ can’t understand, whenever he defends the Government and its official’s racist’s remarks and gestures. Also has nothing to say about this? Their collective silence is deafening!
These so called advocates for better race relations just ‘talk’ about it.
The Tui Noco, Ratu Isoa Damudamu, his people and their Paramount Chief Ro Teimumu Kepa, have done something unprecedented about it.
Well, he should not have rushed to prop up Bainimarama's fledgling dictatorship, informing US ambassador to Fiji that the Qarase Government was SO "AWFUL":
"This [2006] coup is different because the Qarase Government was so awful...Fiji could not have survived another five years." - Mahendra Chaudhry to Larry Dinger
"Mahendra Chaudhry, former PM deposed by the 2000 coup and still head of the FLP, phoned today to let the Ambassador know he intends to accept Bainimarama's offer of the Finance, Public Enterprises, and Sugar Reform portfolios. He put it in terms of having to move Fiji forward and get back to democracy ASAP. When the Ambassador noted how disastrous the past coups had been for Fiji and for Chaudhry personally on two occasions, Chaudhry suggested this coup is different because the Qarase Government was so awful...Fiji could not have survived another five years...Interim Finance Minister Chaudhry is showing his vindictive side. Under the interim government, Chaudhry crony Vayeshnoi is Sports Minister and Chaudhry son Rajendra is on the FSC board." :
The former US Ambassador to Fiji, Larry Dinger to Washington
Addressing a gathering of Sodelpa and FLP supporters in Sydney last Saturday, Labour leader Mahendra Chaudhry emphasised the need for Opposition political parties to work together in the run up to the 2018 general elections.
A change of government is not only imperative but has become absolutely necessary if Fiji is to be saved from becoming an entrenched dictatorship, said Mr Chaudhry.
The tailor made 2013 Constitution,unilaterally imposed on the people, laid the foundation for authoritarian rule. The severe curtailment of the fundamental rights of the people, following the unlawful abrogation by the Bainimarama regime of the 1997 Constitution, has been continued under this constitution.
'There cannot be democracy under an authoritarian constitution' said Mr Chaudhry.
The Fiji Fist government has failed to deliver on its promises. Instead, it has worsened the social conditions in the country. Poverty remains high at around 45%, compared to 32% in 2006. Unemployment levels have risen as thousands of jobs were lost under government's so-called reform programs and as a result of the sharp decline of the sugar industry. Unemployment is high amongst youth - estimated at around 25%.p
Cost of living has soared to a level making it the number one election issue with the people. Crime rate has assumed worrying proportions, exacerbated largely by the rising incidence of poverty.
There is glaring neglect of the rural sector as people abandon their villages and farms to migrate to urban centres in search of non existent jobs.
Fiji's health services have deteriorated sharply under Bainimarama despite a number of reshuffles of health ministers.
There are serious issues of mal governance as well. Corruption is endemic in the public and private sectors because of a total lack of accountability and transparency in governance. There is little respect for adherence to the rule of law and allegations abound of interference with the legal processes.
These are worrying national problems which to resolve require a concerted and unified action on all fronts. There cannot be another approach to it. The Opposition parties should not be under any illusion about it, said Chaudhry.
He cautioned that free, fair and credible elections were out of the question under the existing conditions.
Several changes will have to be made to the existing electoral laws which were written to suit the current regime. Indeed, some major changes have been recommended in the reports of the Multinational Observer Group which observed the 2014 elections and also the Fiji Electoral Commission. These changes are intended to enhance the integrity ad credibility of the electoral process.
The restrictive laws standing in the way of free, fair and credible elections must be scrapped and the electoral environment made free. It is pleasing to note that the opposition parties are working on this together.
He warned that the coming months will be hard, requiring firm resolve and discipline on our part, as we take our message to the people. It may be hard but it is not impossible. We must be determined to succeed.
Mr Chaudhry thanked the organisers of the Sodelpa fund raising function and called on them to maintain their resolve to assist in the process of bringing about the much needed change of government in Fiji.
Author
"...Secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy... censorship. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, 'This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,' the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives." --Robert A. Heinlein, -If This Goes On
click link below:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Norway-Sweden-Disunion-Recorded-Diplomatist-Scandinavia-ebook/
d/B00QZ39714#reader_B00QZ39714
Categories
The Draft Ghai Constitution 2013
The Explanatory Report
Appendage to Draft Constitution
Professor Yash Ghai's Statement
Archives
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
October 2012
September 2012