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

N0010. LOTTERY FUNDS MISUSED. Several serious allegations have surfaced in the Commerce Commission Report in relation to the Fiji Rugby Union lottery case. The Commission says the FRU lottery bank account showed it had $104,000 The Commission findings, however, showed that as at 30th December the  balance in the FRU lottery bank account totalled only $104,000. With lottery sales  the  balance should have been  $350,000.

Some money could still be coming in from vendors but it appears that only half the tickets were sold. It also appears ticket money has been used for  airfares, accommodation, visa application and game tickets for the 2010 Hong Kong 7s for a senior FRU Lottery Director. Government  has asked the FRU Board and Executive to resign.

STOP PRESS. Bill Gavoka  has resigned as FRU chairman but remains on the Board. Rafaele Kasibulu, who will lead talks with Government to discuss its demands, is effectively the interim Chairman.

N0011.WHEN IS AN INDIAN NOT AN INDIAN.  My  articl…

By Crosbie Walsh
In the relatively moderate anti-government blog FijiToday a Pita Massam writes to publisher Peter Firkin  raising interesting questions on race, racism, legislation and the 2014 elections.

Pita writes about an IndoFijjian business friend who says he can think of no one who would be acceptable to both i'taukei and IndoFijians as prime minister. "Both Qarase and Chaudry are way too polarised to be allowed to stand and the PM has promised to exclude them anyway."

Further, his friend doubts any "village Fijian would vote for a “Mongoose” and that is 30% of the total vote. No Settlement Indian would vote for a “Tu” and that is 18% of the population."

"He proposes a question to ask to gauge the level of racism bred into the current population. Would you be happy if your daughter married a Fijian or Indian? He believes that an almost 100% of parents would say “no way.” This will not change in the six years as proposed by the current Government. …

PER, A BROKEN PROMISE,  Speaking to the UN Human Rights Council in June, Ambassador Peceli Vocea said:

"The calls for the lifting of the Public Emergency Regulations are contained in Recommendations 27 to 35. I am pleased to convey that Fiji generally accepts the content and intent of each of these recommendations. The Government of Fiji in February this year has pronounced that it will lift the Public Emergency Regulation as soon as the Fiji Media Decree is promulgated." And again."The Government of Fiji has pronounced that it will lift the Public Emergency Regulation as soon as the Fiji Media Decree is promulgated." But then it didn't. Why did it change its mind?   Was it a wise decision?

I put these questions to the Sharon Smith John, the PS for Information:

Q. Why was it not lifted when the the Media Decree took effect, as previously promised?
A.It was decided to let the media work with the media decree before lifting the PER.

Q. Why is it now being extende…

Sulu or No Sulu By Subhash Appana, whose "humourous" school memories tell us much of race relations in Fiji  Sulu Uproar http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=139250 http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?ref=archive&id=139494
http://babasiga.blogspot.com/2010/02/labasa-college-and-short-pants.html
http://www.allvoices.com/news/5174495-sulu-uproar
STOP PRESS. Education Minister Filipe Bole says students can wear shorts or sulu Link.

The raging Sulu v. No-Sulu debate in Fiji makes one wonder whether the country really wants to move with the times. But hang on; this was a limited case of just two schools in the North wasn’t it? Two Principals had suddenly been found to have been left in an evolutionary time rut somewhere along the line.
That’s how the thinking would go amongst those who oppose the stance taken by the two gentlemen – and there are many of these progressives. From experience I know that much more would’ve been involved to prod the schools to make a public stand and ba…

NZ and Fiji's Foreign Ministers, Murray McCully and Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, meeting in Nadi on Friday and Saturday discussed "a number of issues of bilateral interest to both countries ... in a positive and constructive atmosphere, and have agreed to keep working at improving relations between the two countries."

One immediate outcome will be the appointment of new counsellors in Suva and Wellington (and later deputy heads of mission, and perhaps later still Heads of Mission.) Currently Fiji has only one official in Wellington while NZ has a policy adviser, two administration officials and immigration staff in Suva.

McCully said, "I think it got to the point in both cases where the viability of our operations were under threat. . .this is going to get us into a better space. It's only by maintaining the ability to communicate that you are able to move forward. Even if we strongly disagree, some good will come from ongoing communications."  The face-to-face …

(+) SCHOOL NAMES THAT DENOTE RACIAL AFFILIATIONS (Fijian, Indian) are to be phased out, as recommended in the People's Charter.Head of the Strategic Framework for Change, Filimoni Kau (photo Fiji Village), said they had informed the Education Ministry of this directive and the onus was on the Ministry to inform all schools.

Work is also underway on the process of having a common name for all Fiji citizens(with indigenous Fijians to be called i-Taukei) and the abolition of race-based entry qualification for scholarships. Kau said common name consultations requires a lot of work. The outcome will be included in the new constitution.Full story.

(+) SUVA'S REPORTED CRIMES HAVE DROPPED to 1360 from 2285 at the same time last year, and work between Police,City Council and the public hopes to make the capital crime-free.  Initiatives include community involvement in four "crime watch" zones; crime prevention committees; and an aggressive approach towards addressing crime whic…

USP's Professor Wadan Narsey has an article on this topic in Pacific Scoop, and a second instalment is to follow.

I believe some of his analysis and deductions are flawed, and shall argue along these lines when his second instalment is published.

Fiji's future political alternatives need to be publicly debated in Fiji's media, and not be limited to blogs and websites published from overseas. Unless Government is privy to information not generally known, the Emergency Regulations need to be lifted and the President's Political Dialogue Forum reconvened very soon. How else can there be constructive feedback on the Government's intended reforms? Meanwhile, check out Wadan's argument. Photo: USP.

IF DEMOCRACY IS ABOUT VOTING, WHY HAVE YOU NOT VOTED?
SEE LEFTHAND COLUMN -- PUBLIC POLLS ON FIJI'S POLITICAL SITUATION, AND HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THIS BLOG?

There is no room for racial discrimination is this government, says interim PM Cde Voreqe Bainimarama. Speaking at Dawasamu, Tailevu yesterday Cdre Bainimarama said the interim government was committed to eradicating discrimination at all levels. "I will not tolerate racial discrimination as a way of dividing people of this nation."

This may mean having to write a new constitution "so that racial discrimination, a tool previously used by many politicians to win votes, is eradicated."

Cdre Bainimarama said Government did not want a repetition of the 2000 [Speight coup] event where little trust was shared by Fijians and other races and drove many people to parliament to support rebel leader George Speight for no reason. FijiSun.

Thanks once again to Coupfourpointfive, this time for publishing the address Prof. Brij Lal would have given to the Accountants' Conference had Government not decreed otherwise. Its publication by at least two blogs supports a point made in his speech: “The whole exercise of controlling speech is futile and self-defeating.” To read the full address on the topic of ‘Fiji and the International Community: Acceptance or Isolation: Are these the only choices?’ click here. SummaryOn Fiji's relations with the international community, his main points were: Fiji cannot go it alone; Australia, the EU and New Zealand want to help but need evidence of “progress” from Fiji; China's interests in Fiji are limited. “Many initiatives contemplated by the interim administration [IG] are praiseworthy, and I have no doubt that there would be a meeting of minds on many of them. That is why there is an urgent need of tact and diplomacy.”He thought the situation had deteriorated sharply since A…

Fiji Live reports that in a traditional visit to Government House today, more than 60 chiefs from 20 tikina (districts) in Ba, Fiji's most populous province, pledged support for the Tui Vuda, President Ratu Josefa Iloilovatu Uluivuda. Ratu Iloilo said it was a relief to see his people and his province supporting him in the decisions he has made in the past few weeks. He reminded the chiefs that the decision they have made today is important since it will also affect the next generation who are relying heavily on them to make the right choices for a better Fiji. He called on his people to truly worship God and always work together with the other races, and ensure that they live together in harmony.


MEANWHILE
A Fiji Live poll shows that to date 38% of those polled thought Fiji's Forum suspension justified, and 62% did not.

The 2006 Military Takeover in Fiji: a Coup to End all Coups, edited by Jon Fraenkel, Stewart Firth and Brij V. Lal, ANU E Press.

An invaluable, wide-ranging collection of papers, mainly by Coup opponents, but with no apologies for the policies of the deposed Qarase Government. Click here for the whole 472 pages. 1.5MB, but quick broadband download.

Brij Lal's comment quoted below points to one, as yet little considered, possible consequence of a failed coup. While race is not the only driver of politics in Fiji, it is an easy way for the unscrupulous to rally support.

"People in power in the FLP–RFMF* interim administration appear unconcerned about the incontrovertible fact that a large cross-section of the indigenous Fijian community feels deeply humiliated. They are the outright majority of the population, and in their view they are the underprivileged ones who needed special assistance, who as the taukei, the indigenous inhabitants, were ‘by right’ entitled to control the le…

(o+B) Living under the ‘Barrel of the Gun’
Fr Kevin Barr
Fiji Sun 21 April 2008

[Fr Barr discusses Fiji’s so-called “coup culture” by analysing the interests of the instigators and their hidden and stated goals, and the role of the military, in the 1987 and 2000 coups. He concludes by comparing these coups with the military takeover in 2006 and the very different stated goals of the Interim Government. In a separate paper Dr Sitiveni Ratuva describes the composition of the political factions in post-2006 Fiji.]

When one thinks of the so-called “coup culture” in Fiji, one immediately thinks of the Royal Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) and casts the blame on them as being primarily responsible for ousting democratically elected governments and holding the country to ransom by the force of their guns and military weapons. We often hear the expression “they came to power through the barrel of a gun”. There can certainly be no doubt that the Fiji Military have played a major role in Fiji’s four co…