Croz Walsh's Blog -- New Zealand and Fiji: How Much Fairer They Could Be

WEEKEND READING. ♦ Allen Lockinton Column ♦ People's Charter, For Discussion: Pillar 3 and Chapt 8 State of the Nation paper  ♦ The CCF's Suggested Way Forward
N230. AGRICULTURAL SCAMMERS JAILED. Following the Speight Coup and in the year of the 2001 Elections, SDL politicians in the Qarase government, senior civil servants and leading businessmen colluded to use public money for their personal gain and political advantage.  Some were jailed when the Qarase Government was in power; others who should have been were not.

The court case concluding yesterday that saw Suncourt Hardware director (and former Suva mayor) Dhansukh Lal Bhika  and Principal Accounts Officer for the Ministry of Agriculture Suliasi Sorovakatini sentenced to 5 years and 4½ years was the latest in this sick story that had earlier implicated the SDL Minister of Agriculture Apisai Tora and many others in what came to be know as the Agricultural scam.

Some $20 million of taxpayers' money —set aside for the…

N0173. EARTHQUAKE CONDOLENCES. The PM signed the condolence book for victims of the Christchurch earthquake at the New Zealand High Commission yesterday. His visit to the High Commission follows his sympathy letter sent to his counterpart  John Key last week.  A formal reply is expected later when one also hopes Fiji's condolences will be reported by the NZ media. Confirmed deaths  from Christchurch now total 155 and could rise to 240. New Zealand's worst earthquake death toll was 256 in Napier on 3 February 1931.

N0174.TAGIVEIKATA TRIAL UPDATE. Monday

N0175.PM TELLS TUI CAKAU NO MORE TALKS.  In earlier talks Ratu Naiqama told the PM to step aside and reconvene the Great Council of Chiefs to appoint an interim government.(see N014).

N0176.SDL PARTY OFFICES SEARCHED. SDL senior executive Mataiasi Ragigia  says police searched the SDL headquarters and the staff was ordered to leave. Ragigia described police manners as aggressive, but “None of us were taken in for questioning. We …

N0072. AIR PACIFIC TO FLY TO RAROTONGA.  Regional tourist arrivals are expected to rise with the opening of a new route between between Nadi and Rarotonga. The service was previously provided  by Air New Zealand.

Air Pacific is in the process of reaching an agreement with the Cook Islands Government for a three-year contract on the weekly flight  that will also offer Cook Islanders direct north-bound connections to the Hong Kong service, and enable the islands to better market tourism from Europe and the UK. The international airport in Rarotonga, the largest of the nation's 15 islands, has daily internal flights to some of the other islands.

N0073. MORE BLOG DISTORTIONS. Two news items have been published on housing in Fiji late last week.  One was about the Housing Authority easing the lot of its mortgagees if they were poor or unemployed; the other was about the eviction of squatters who were thought to be drug dealers.

The anti-government blog, Fiji Today (I still hopefully cal…

SCROLL DOWN TO WEEKEND POSTINGS
PM'S NEW YEAR MESSAGE. "We must all work together and not shy away from taking tough decisions." Click here.

GREAT COUNCIL OF CHIEFS MUST BE APOLITICAL. For many years the GCC has been a body that exerted considerable influence on Fiji politics.  It appointed the President and Vice-President, appointed nearly one-half of the members of Senate (that could veto legislation), and "approved" the SVT and later the SDL parties to represent ethnic Fijians in parliament. It supported Qarase's Qoliqoli and Reconciliation legislation, and after the 2006 coup refused to appoint a Vice-President nominated by the Bainimarama goverment which led to its suspension. 

Government is committed to removing politics from the Great Council of Chiefs, and wants chiefs, not politicians and civil servants. These comments were made by the permanent secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office, Colonel Pio Tikoduadua while confirming that the re-convening…

"  There is next to zero knowledge about things like the plan to burn down Suva in 1999. Crooks like Duvuloco were even able to stand for election in 2006 when it's clear he should have been locked up with Speight. Something was very wrong with the Qarase Government when they were preventing Peter Ridgeway from completing his investigation."   -No Escaping the Truth, a comment on this blog.
This interview between ABC's Paula Kruger and Peter Ridgway, former Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions says something about the type of democracy that existed in Fiji between 2000-2006.

Sweetened Milk. Government has made an irresistable proposal to Fiji's 235 registered dairy farmers. They will receive government subsidies for milk production, directly access assistance from the Ministry of Agriculture, manage their own co-operative, and retain their shareholdings in Rewa Dairy. The farmers supply about 11 million litres of milk a year, all which will be purchased by Rewa Dairy.

The Poverty Eradication Unit of the PM's Office held a workshop, addressed by a World Bank expert, on impact assessment yesterday.  The Qarase and Bainimarama governments have  paid out $1.5 billion from 2000 to 2008 towards poverty alleviation but poverty levels continue to rise.  The Roadmap, I think rather unrealistically,  aims to greatly reduce poverty levels by 2014.  Very major changes are needed to the Fiji economy, wage levels, land tenure, housing, institutional structures and the empowerment of the poor, to significantly reduce poverty.  At best, World Bank tweeking will on…

This comment  is from "The Max."  I'd be pleased to learn of any more "sightings." If Max is not  mistaken, why hasn't Rinakama or the SDL not admitted he is no longer being held by the RFMF.
Postscript. It now has. Rinakama is alive and well and was released from detention on March 10. See later postings.
TheMax said...
" Hi Croz,
I just noticed you still have the Peceli Rinakama missing story on your page when I surfed your blog today. I just wanted to put the matter to rest.

Last Saturday, I was standing near a church in downtown Suva and saw Mr Rinakama crossing the street just in front of me. He actually looked well wearing a pair of shorts, canvas/sneaker and a nice jersey (I think it was a Fiji Rugby souvenir jersey, must have worn the jesrsey in support of the Fiji 7s team).

I was even surprised to see him looking well and good considering I've been reading so much negative news about his arrest on the different blogs.

So please en…

The Australian government seemsto have taken no notice of Prof. Herr's report, repeating the old line: no relaxation of sanctions until there's signs of progress towards a "return to democracy and the rule of law."  But there are many things happening to improve governance long-term, and the lot of the ordinary Fijian short and long-term.

My Appeal to Australia (and NZ)

Leaving aside the "return to" (How could you  possibly believe the Qarase government was democratically elected or acted in ways that democratically-elected governments should, and usually do), there are "signs of progress": witness the Citizens' Assembly in Suva yesterday and the one in the West next month. Dialogue is going on.  Not as much as you may wish, but dialogue nonetheless.

You could argue that the old parliamentary parties should be included in the dialogue.  This seems reasonable until examined more closely. Qarase's SDL (and its links with the Speight Coup per…

Letter from a Reader

Dear Croz,   Your recent report on Paramount chief Turaga Na Tui Cakau Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu was well-put. Even so, you missed a more recent episode in his chiefly career:

Towards the end of August last year (2008), the National Council for Building a Better Fiji (NCBBF) offered to explain the draft Peoples Charter to participants at the annual Methodist Church Conference; however the offer was rejected by the church’s ‘Think Tank’, shortly thereafter resulting in the church [read, ‘it’s leaders’] rejecting the draft Charter. Immediately following the rejection, the heads of all three confederacies (Ro Teimumu Kepa – Burebasaga; Ratu Naiqama – Tovata; Ratu Apenisa Cakobau – Kubuna) presented a tabua to the Methodist Church as a token of their support for the church’s stance on the Charter.

This act was perceived as the chiefs using the Methodist Church and their own symbolic status to promote the interests of the SDL (the three are open supporters) – and by ac…

Thakur Ranjit Singh closely examines ten allegations made by convicted conman Peter Foster which, if true, implicate a number of prominent people opposed to the Bainimarama-led government in the planning and execution of the 2000 Speight coup, the murder of John Scott, and election fraud in the 2006 election.

Read more...

Fostering and Adding Credibility to Peter Foster’s “Fiji Truth”
Thakur Ranjit Singh

The mountainous scrap heaps of respectability, chastity, trust and reverence are littered with skeletons of priests, swamis, mullahs, Rabbis and other guardians of faith, godliness and goodliness on whose good character we are prepared to will our lives away. Despite this, at one time or the other, they end up betraying our trust.

Yet, we are so unprepared and unwilling to listen to people with shady past and who happen to be the other side of the chastity coin. We are so preconceived about such people who could deliver thoughts, opinions, view and revelations that strangely may hold great…

The Fiji Labour Party website reveals something of Mahendra Chaudhry's thinking. He sees Fiji's Commonwealth expulsion as regrettable (but is heartened it will remain engaged in seeking an early return to constitutional rule); largely symbolic (because little technical aid is involved, although Fiji's young people will miss out on the Delhi Games) -- but it does send a "clear message" to Bainimarama to reconvene the President’s Political Dialogue Forum and hold elections by October next year.

In awaiting the arrival of the Commonwealth special representative, Sir Paul Reeves, this week, Chaudhry lists the things the Government needs to do: include the SDL and FLP in discussions; reconvene the PPDF; and re-examine its roadmap.

He has no list of the things his party (and the SDL) need to do. Which is a pity because positive FLP (and SDL) roadmaps just might produce a positive Bainimarama response. The FLP and the SDL need to spell out what they have learnt from t…

STOP PRESS. CAN ANY READER PROVIDE INFORMATION ON THE TAPES AND WHETHER ONE WAS IN FACT BROADCAST ON TVFIJI?

"I don't expect anybody for one minute to believe one word Peter Foster says. I'm just a silly bugger who wore the video camera and listening device. Listen to what they say."-- Peter Foster.

Australian convicted con-man Peter Foster (photo*) has been jailed in six countries, been charged with money laundering, selling slimming products without a licence, work permit violations and dubious political and land dealings in Fiji, and has only recently been released from jail in Australia. With this reputation he's difficult to believe, but he's also been an undercover agent for the Australian and British police; a backer of Tupeni Baba's NLUP party in the 2001 Fiji election; a confidant of SDL 2001 and 2006 election strategists Navitilai Nasori and Jale Baba, and, in early 2007, he was "wired" by Fiji's military to secretly tape a meeting…

The NZ DominionPost reports (2 March):  "Fiji's military regime is quietly moving towards general elections for later this year despite public utterances by dictator Voqere Bainimarama rejecting regional calls for an urgent return to democracy, sources in Suva say.  Growing speculation around a November-December election was reinforced by a statement that he had been looking at Indian voting machines this week."  [One really does wonder about the sources for these stories and why no effort is made to check their reliability. Any news is better than no news?  Note also the "unbiased" choice of words!]
Col. Pita Driti continues with his warnings about who will not be allowed to participate in the President's Political Dialogue Forum.  His most recent "victim" is former SDL MP and HotBread owner Mere Samisoni who he accused of supporting the 2000 Speight Coup. She had delivered bread to the coup-makers for which she said they paid.  I suspect Mere did…

All major English-medium newspapers ran articles on last week's night-time stoning of Attar Singh's car. All those invited to comment by the media (except Government spokesman Major Neumi Leweni) called upon the Interim Government and the Police to condemn this and other recent similar actions. The attacks would seem, as Mike Beddoes told the Fiji Sun, to be the work of "elements linked or sympathetic to the Interim Government."

The Police said the enquiry was especially difficult: it was dark and there were few witnesses.

Major Leweni said, "The Interim Government does not need to be told what to do." But I'm afraid it does, if it does or says nothing. The DepSec. of Information could have approved, condemned, or said he would respond later. The one thing he could not do was not answer the question. This could --and no doubt has-- been taken as approval. Showing no knowledge of (civilian) tactics, he has played straight into the hands of the IG's opp…

The Interim PM's decision not to invite* three hostile political parties (Qarase's SDL, the Indo-Fijian NFP, and the racist Vanua Tako Lavo) to the President's Political Dialogue Forum process meeting (due to start tomorrow to decide the PPDF's terms of reference and agenda) can only be bad news for Fiji. Perhaps the worst in a long time.

The reason for their exclusion is obvious. Their collective record over the past two years has not helped Fiji, and they would almost certainly have sought to disrupt the Forum process, or walk out having not agreed to the agenda and terms of reference. From this perspective, Bainimarama's position seems perfectly understandable (“we want people involved in the political dialogue process who are loyal to Fiji and will discuss issues in terms of the national interest of the people of Fiji.”).

But it is also besides the point. This is a process leading to dialogue, not a rally of political supporters. You cannot arrive at an acceptabl…

Auckland-based journalist and political commentator Thakur Ranjit Singh (TRS) has a weekly column in the Fiji Times. Last week, in "Un-Pacific Neighbours", he reflected -- fairly but a little sharply -- on recent comments by Samoan PM Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegao that he thought aggrevated the situation and could make Bainimarama more resistant to calls from the PI Forum.

Here are some extracts.

Tuilaepa advised Bainimarama to seek advice from his Church leaders.
TRS: "He fails to realise that the Methodist Church has become a political wing of the SDL Party and has been so heavily embroiled in politics that it has overlooked its manifest functions of promoting spiritual enhancement, love for neighbours and moral values."

Tuilaepa advised Bainimarama to return to the barracks.
TRS: "I shudder to think of the outcome of Tuilaepa's advice to Bainimarama: allow for elections within this year to fulfill the Forum's demand, return to the barracks and make the mil…

SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE FOR THIS WEEK'S NOTICES
Punch Drunk and the 3R's

It's been a bad week for the Interim Government. First they were hit by the US Human Rights Report; then the International Bar Association Report ; then the Commonwealth CMAG Report (each with opportunites for umpteen opponents to make umpteen comments) and, if that was not enough, this weekend produced some bad economic signals from Moody's and the tourism industry, on which brief comments below. I will comment on the "human rights" reports later in the week.

Postings this week included:
* Commerce Commissioner dismissal
* Two important "historic" comments by Steve Ratuva
* Ratu Isoa on the role of the military [Major post]
* Walsh on Bainimarama's need for a public relations
officer --- the Commonwealth announcement [Major post]
(o) The Commonwealth Ministers' Action Group.
I thought their decision very reasonable. They didn't ask for elections by September; only …

I don't suppose you can blame him, but Qarase was allowed to leave Fiji pending a court case to visit his family and grandchildren. He now admits he is on a fundrasing tour to defray SDL legal costs, and SDL leaders Samisoni Tikoinasau and Peceli Kinivuwai will soon join him. Some 30 Brisbane Fijians attended a fundraising dinner last Saturday. The low turn out? "Many people did not want to get involved as they did not want to be seen at the event." The ABC reported Qarase as saying the interim government was ruling through fear, and that his life remains under threat from the military-led government. “I was warned by an anonymous callers that I would be killed or thrown into jail.”[This was months ago and the claim was investigated by police] Qarase also said he wanted the other 12 Forum countries to apply a travel ban similar to the "very effective" ban imposed by Australia and New Zealand. Of the Interim Government he said “Their message is ‘Agree with the r…