"BACK TO DEMOCRACY FOR FIJI"

You are invited to share and pen your ideas, views or opinions that will facilitate/assist our country back to democracy. All positive and/or negative ideas and comments to steer us back to the road of democracy are welcome.

Whichever way one looks at our current situation back home, democracy has been completely raped. The rape of democracy in Fiji is a virtual degradation of the populus of Fiji. Their human rights are being deprived:

1. the right to decide their government;
2. who they want to represent them;
3. their right to free assembly;
4. free protest;
5. free to organise into groups so that they can talk about what is pertinent to their daily lives;
6. protest on issues they do not agree with....with no fear of intimidation from anybody.

With this military regime in place, the concept of freedom per the Constitution is a total myth!

And, we, the people of Fiji need to come together and be vehement about our total disagreement with the military regime. So give us liberty or death! The reality of the issue is that democracy in Fiji has been raped...from top to bottom...left to right....inside and out and vice versa!

Here we have a military regime that talks about freedom to the people and yet the very same military regime randomly arrest people, torture them, inflict unnecessary harrassment and emotional stress to those that seem a threat to them. The military regime talks about racial unity.......the communal concept of togetherness and yet Fiji is far more racially divided today than it ever was.

The so-called advisors, viz-a-viz, John Samy, these are rejects from their adopted countries and yet they are being rewarded with exuberant amount(s) of money by these rogue military regime who have no idea what they are doing. Lying to the international community does not augur well with this interim government and yet the interim Prime Minister continuously talks with a forked tongue when addressing international issues. The ministers talk about internal securities as if Fiji is going to be invaded.

All around it is clearly seen that the economy is in tatters and the Constitution is just a useless piece of paper. The rule of law is as what the military regime wants it to be.

The above are just some of my views (from a pro-democracy viewpoint). But, do not let that deter you from penning your comments if you share otherwise.

So, let us come together and voice our views/comments, whether they be for or against the military regime and have a very healthy discussion here so that in the end we can factually understand what our role is, what we need to do and how we can come up with ideas to help restore democracy back in our beloved Fiji!

Please feel free to write what you like or dislike about the military regime. Be sincere and honest about your thoughts, without getting personal or spiteful.

Kindly note, this "topic" will expire as soon as we have an election.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Joanne Campbell on September 6, 2009 at 10:30pm: .....and so begins another saga!!! I wonder if FICAC will be able to have it's blinkers removed to be able to take note of the corruption Bainimarama and his hoons wallow in as our beloved Fiji plummets even further south.....My poor Fiji...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ox™ on September 6, 2009 at 11:06pm: $70m loan approved

Ratu Josateki Nawalowalo

The Housing Authority has today confirmed that the Exim Bank of China has approved the 70 million dollars loan for the authority and Public Rental Board based on the condition that a company from China carries out all the works.

Acting Housing Authority Chairman, Ratu Josateki Nawalowalo said the soft loan with an interest rate of 2 percent will see the Housing Authority getting 50 million dollars and PRB getting 20 million dollars.

Nawalowalo clarifies that they will not receive the actual 70 million as the contract has already been awarded to a company called China Railway.
Nawalowalo said they are hoping that the Fiji and Chinese governments, the Housing Authority, PRB, Exim Bank of China and China Railway Company sign off the contracts by the end of the month.

Through the Exim Bank China loan, the Housing Authority is planning to develop 1,500 blocks and build 350 houses in Tacirua while the PRB is planning to build 500 multi unit flats in Raiwai and Raiwaqa for low income earners.

Nawalowalo said they are fortunate that the government has guaranteed the loan from China.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Loruama Tawawili on September 6, 2009 at 11:33pm: Mr Nawalowalo I wonder if you are thinking of how this illegal govt is going to come up with ways to repay the Loan to the Chinese Govt? As it stands now Joe I do not think the Illegal govt has any funds to repay this loan. Then if Fiji returns to democratic rule Nawalowalo the democratic govt has no obligation to repay the loan of an illegal regime.have you thought of that Joe or are you just shooting your mouthy off.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Suliasi Daunitutu on September 6, 2009 at 11:48pm: THIS IS A POOR ATTEMPT TO GET BROWNIE POINTS FOR THEMSELVES (REGIME). WE CANNOT JUST GO AROUND BUILDING HOUSES AND BLOCKS OF FLATS IN URBAN AREAS.

THE INFRASRTUCTURE CANNOT SUPPORT THIS PROJECT, THE WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM IS POOR AND ELECTRICITY, ROADS, OVERCROWDED SUBURBS, CRIME LEVELS ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT HAVE TO BE TAKEN INTO SERIOUS CONSIDERATION BEFORE GOING AHEAD WITH SUCH PLANS.

500 MULTIUNIT FLATS IN RAIWAI RAIWAQA....UMMM...THIS JUST SOUNDS LIKE A BAD IDEA, ONLY BECAUSE, I DON'T THINK THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE QUALIFIED TO MAKE DECISIONS CONCERNING THIS HOUSING PROJECT.

IN FIJI, WHEN IT COMES TO BUILDING PROJECTS, WE TEND TO DO THINGS BACK TO FRONT. WE SHOULD BUILD ROADS FIRST, DIRECT ELECTRICITY AND WATER TO THE AREA, THEN LASTLY, BUILD HOUSES. NOT BUILD HOUSES THEN CONSTRUCT ROADS THAT NEGOTIATE THROUGH THE PROPERTIES, AND HOUSES STEALING WATER AND ELECTRICITY FROM NEIGHBOURS AND LAMPOSTS.

SA KUA GA NA VOSA !!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ox™ on September 6, 2009 at 11:52pm: hahahaha Only in Fiji !!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Viti N on September 7, 2009 at 12:24am: maybe thats where we get the term liumuri from LOLs....anyways, please read the very interesting article below :

"The Chinese Drywall housing crisis is spreading across this country. Tens of thousands of homeowners are suffering from contamination in their homes causing health problems and plunging property values. Defective Chinese drywall wrecks electrical systems, at conditioning systems, and exposed metal throughout your home. The sulfur contamination causes a terrible odor that will not go away, and creates a corrosive atmosphere that requires immediate attention. The members of our legal team are fighting for our clients across the country, including the battleground states of Florida and Virginia. Hidden legal deadlines in the construction or closing documents are shutting off many victims for making any recovery for this catastrophe. Don't let your dream home become a permanent nightmare: contact us for immediate legal assistance.

Chinese Drywall Symptoms

Frequent replacement of air conditioning systems or refrigerator components (such as air coils) may be a sign that your home is contaminated. DANGER: If you have experienced loss of "freon" or refrigerant from your a/c system, it may have leaked into your home from sulfur eaten pinholes in your equipment.

Wiring that has turned black and/or is corroded
Piping that has turned black and/or needs replacing
Silver jewelry that turning black
Electrical problems
Respiratory problems
Nose bleeds
Headaches
Eye irritations
Allergies

The defective drywall, also known as wallboard, gypsum board, or plasterboard, arrived at about 2 dozen ports around the country with 7 of them in Florida, but including New York, Texas, New Orleans, and California. During the housing boom after Hurricane Katrina, among other storms, from 2004 through 2006, the strain on the supply of domestic drywall required many builders to resort to international suppliers to fill the demand.

Many imported drywall from a German-based company, Knauf, with subsidiaries in China (such as Knauf Tianjin). Reports are showing that millions of pounds of Chinese drywall entered the US during this time frame and that is was used across the country in thousands of homes, condos, and office buildings. Most foreign manufacturers stopped shipping drywall to the US in 2007, after the building boom was over.

However, it has been discovered that another manufacturer, Taian Taishan (based in Taian, China), continued to ship large quantities of drywall to New York and Port Everglades into the summer of 2007. It appears that at least 550 million pounds of Chinese drywall have arrived at US ports since 2006. That is enough to construct 60,000 average-sized homes.

Hydrogen sulfide, the compound that causes rotten egg smell, was not found in the air quality reports. However, tests administered directly from the Chinese drywall material itself, revealed that higher concentrations of hydrogen sulfides were indeed present. Knauf Tianjin, a Chinese drywall manufacturer who has had reports of problems with their drywall, reported that test administered on the drywall in 2006 also found high concentrations of hydrogen sulfides.

Property Values Plunging Deeper
Homeowners across the country are worried about declining home value from the housing crisis. Homeowners with defective Chinese drywall have twice as much to worry about. Realtors across the country are lining up to make homeowners disclose on a mandatory basis any history of defective drywall contamination. The Chinese drywall lawyers on our legal team are fighting for our clients to protect them from this catastrophe."

http//:www.chinesedrywallclaims.com//

This info should give us enough warning as to the quality of housing the chinese will be building here. They have been well known to maufacturers of toxic toys that led to the removal of thousands of "made in China" toys off shelves in US toy stores. We should be very wary even more when it comes to the quality of housing they will be putting up here.....; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by boso on September 7, 2009 at 6:24am: What a Joke? Better use the millions to buy ship to service Kadavu, Vanua levu and the Yatu Lau..; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Samuela Tawakilai on September 7, 2009 at 10:28am: Suli and Friends,
I am supprised and flabbergasted at the news of Ratu Josefa Nawalowalo appointment as Acting Chairman of the Housing Authority.
Ratu Jo or "My people", as he is known to his inner critics, is a man of many colours, ideals and an artist in "self survival." Good on you Ratu Jo, I see you popping up in this illegal regimes' leadership, when least expected. The dictator must have found your unique talents hard to replace.
Io saka- SUCKER! your famous quotation will now apply to you.
This is the same Jo Nawalowalo that told the Chiefs, while he was Chairman of the "Great Council of Chief Taskforce" that if they reject the illegal government, no development will come to their Province from the government!
Ratu Jo will do the same thing to the would be tenants of the Housing Authority: Support the illegal government or else....
Ratu Jo...o ni sa levulevu mai ena kania na vei tavioka o ni a sega ni tea!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mike on September 6, 2009 at 11:42pm: Rowan Callick | September 07, 2009
Article from: The Australian
THE Pacific-watching community, such as it is in Australia, is wringing its hands about what to do about recalcitrant Fiji - but Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is displaying no second thoughts.

He is going for the jugular.
The government has asked the UN to order a "progressive replacement of Fijian troops" in peacekeeping operations - which provide the third-biggest source of national income after tourism and sugar.

A Foreign Affairs Department spokesperson said last week: "We have conveyed our position on a number of occasions to the UN at senior levels, and the UN has advised us that it is aware of and has taken account of our position."

This tactic strikes at the core of the support for prime minister and military commander Frank Bainimarama - his own army colleagues, who have been the principal, arguably the only, material beneficiaries from the coup he led in December 2006. What happens when the perks stop coming?

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully has said that "it is very hard to see how (the UN) can justify using military people who have overthrown the rule of law in their own country as the agents to enforce the rule of law as peacekeepers somewhere else".

The army spent a long time responding to the coup in mid-2000 when George Speight seized the entire cabinet and held them hostage in the parliament compound for 56 days.

Eventually, it did regain control, and Speight was jailed for life. Bainimarama set up Laisenia Qarase, a government banker and senator - in which role he championed affirmative action for ethnic Fijians - as prime minister.

But Bainimarama failed to gain the enhanced status and voice in the public realm he felt he deserved. The attempted mutiny of November 2000, when five mutineers and three loyal soldiers were killed, underlined his sense of unease, his desire to gain a more prominent role and with it greater control over the nation's - and his own - destiny.

He appears to have been sincere in seeking a less racially based political structure in Fiji, where voting has run in part on ethnic lines since independence from Britain in 1970. This stance was accompanied by a stepping up of the tension between the army and the government led by Qarase that it had installed, undiminished by that government's obtaining narrow mandates at elections in 2001 and 2006. The first coup in Fiji, and in the Pacific generally, was led by then colonel Sitiveni Rabuka in 1987 in order to reinforce the dominant position of ethnic Fijians at a time when the country was more equally divided demographically.

Since then, and substantially as a result of Fiji's political instability, the members of the Indian community with portable skills and savings have largely fled, leaving the ethnic Fijians with at least 60 per cent of the population.

The Bainimarama coup, while ostensibly to support fairer status for the Indians, has instead seen an acceleration in their exodus as they fear both the economic consequences of the promised four further years of military rule and an eventual reckoning by suppressed Fijian nationalists.

In April, Bainimarama raised the stakes considerably by abrogating the constitution, sacking the judiciary, imposing censorship on the media, replacing the Reserve Bank head and declaring that no election would be held until September 2014.

Justice delayed, justice denied. Democracy delayed that long, democracy also denied.

The army has taken on Fiji's other core institutions, including the chiefs and the Methodist Church - which have formerly championed the ethnic Fijian cause - and effectively silenced them, too. Since April, Fiji has been suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum and since last week from the Commonwealth. Its foreign reserves have slumped, in part because of its "coup culture", says ratings agency Moody's, which like its competitor Standard & Poor's has downgraded Fiji this year.

The measure that has been most effective, though, hitting Fiji's elite hardest, has been the ban on entry to Australia or New Zealand by people in senior government positions or boards - and their families.

This underlines the importance to Fiji of those two "great powers" of the region. It also provides people who view the military regime with distaste, with an excellent excuse not to accept invitations to serve it.

Is China seizing the chance of rushing in to the resulting vacuum? Wang Yongqiu, the head of Pacific relations at China's Foreign Ministry, formerly posted to Suva and Canberra, told The Australian during the recent Pacific Islands Forum summit in Cairns: "While we are conducting interactions with Fiji, we have tried to persuade it to conduct friendly relations with its neighbouring countries, but its future is decided by its own people and its own government."

Carefully calibrated words. China naturally wants to increase its influence, but not at the cost of utterly alienating Australia even at this awkward time between Beijing and Canberra. It has learned from the global response to its earlier embrace of outcast regimes in Africa.

Fortunately, we have in James Batley, our high commissioner in Suva, Australia's top Pacific diplomat.

But within Australia, many Pacific-watchers worry that Canberra's strategy of isolating the Suva regime is counter-productive because it leaves no room for incentives for the military to do the right thing.

Peter Thompson, the second-eldest of a fifth generation of Britons in Fiji and Fiji's secretary for information during the first coups, talked on ABC Radio National's Counterpoint program about a recent visit to Suva.

He had a 90-minute meeting with Bainimarama, and compared his line on multi-ethnic harmony with the worrying legislation lined up by Qarase to return all freehold land and beaches to the original Fijian owners, and to free Speight and his gang.

It's true that such forms of democracy in Fiji have not been healthy in recent times. But at least there was an institutionalised capacity to debate and disagree.

The inflexible Suva regime has given little cause to believe that it is truly capable of serving people, as opposed to ordering them about. It is a military regime of a different order entirely, in its ubiquity, from that imposed by Rabuka. It has deployed ill-equipped military officers to run almost every area of public life.

Jon Fraenkel, a Fiji expert and former resident, now at the Australian National University, said recently that Bainimarama "has cast himself in the role of a modern-day Robespierre seeking to transcend the parochial divisions of the ancient regime, or as a born-again Kemal Ataturk intent on building a modern secular order.

"More usually, 'coups to end all coups' that aim to transcend communal divisions have ended in forms of dictatorship. The idea of the army that stands above the fray finds little historical support, especially when the military itself reflects communal divisions - as in Fiji where it remains 99per cent indigenous," Fraenkel says.

Should Australia be "imposing" democracy on such a country - especially when it does not push China, for instance, to become democratic?

This is where the politics, the "art of the possible", comes in to play. Compared with China, Fiji has been a democracy, however flawed. It has now gone backwards. And it is hurting, economically and socially. It is hard to see the status quo surviving another five years, as planned.

If the military regime were simply to be invited back into the fold in the meantime, the message, the precedent, would be clear. You can seize power, defy the world, and win. If, of course, you have the weapons - and personnel trained, hardened and rewarded through UN international operations.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ox™ on September 7, 2009 at 12:21am: Police officers face action in drug probe
Fijilive
September 07, 2009

Fiji police personnel suspected of involvement in drug dealing now face incarceration as internal investigations heat up.

Police spokeswoman Ema Dimila said the investigating team had pictures of the alleged deals and vehicles used in transactions where drugs confiscated in major police raids in Fiji’s highlands this year were resold to peddlers.

Dimila said police commissioner Commodore Esala Teleni will make the decision on the kind of disciplinary action warranted in the matter.

“The photos are with the Commissioner and were tendered in the report and I know a lot of the members of the public are talking about how credible police officers are with these kinds of issues going on.”

She said that such activities had been prevalent in the force and a cleanup was now taking place.

“I must remind the public that this has been taking place for a long, long time in the force and it could not only be in the Drug Unit, it could also be in other avenues as well.”

She added this is part of efforts by the force to rid corruption from within its own ranks.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Suliasi Daunitutu on September 7, 2009 at 8:30am: TELENI AND HIS BROTHER ATU ARE LIVING IN A FANTASY. THE DON'T KNOW THAT WHEN A MAN HAS BEEN PUSHED TO THE CORNER HE WILL RE-ACT ACCORDINGLY IF HIS LIFE AND THAT OF HIS FAMILY IS IN DANGER OR WILL BE GAUGHT IN A COMPROMISING POSITION.

DRINKING GROG IN THE BARRACKS IS STILL GOING, THEY HAVE A NEW SYSTEM CALLED "OBO LO" IN PLACE FOR THOSE GROG SWIPERS IN THE FORCE, WHO DON'T MIND A BILO AFTER WORK BEFORE DINNER. THAT IS A SHOW OF DISOBEDIENCE.

THIS PROBLEM OF PEDDLING DRUGS FOR EXTRA CASH IS TO BE EXPECTED, BECAUSE FAMILIES NEED TO EAT, CHILDREN NEED TO GO TO SCHOOL AND BILLS NEED TO BE PAID.

TELENI, THE CRIME FREE FIJI YOU ARE LOOKING FOR YOU WILL NOT FIND BY FORCING YOUR OFFICERS TO JOIN YOUR CULT OR GETTING THEM TO STOP DRINKING GROG BECAUSE YOUR BROTHER SAW A SNAKE IN HIS DREAM.

SUBORDINATES WILL AND LIKE TO FOLLOW A LEADER WHO DISPLAYS THE RIGHT QUALITIES. SO ONE WHO THREATENS, MOCKS AND DISRESPECTS WILL END UP FINDING A NON PRODUCTIVE UNIT UNDER HIS COMMAND.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ox™ on September 7, 2009 at 12:28am: Aust makes fresh push against Fiji at UN

Fiji's Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Ratu Epeli Ganilau says he is not aware of fresh attempts by Australia to have Fiji moved out of international peacekeeping operations with the United Nations.

The Australian newspaper says Canberra has asked the UN to order a "progressive replacement of Fijian troops" in peacekeeping operations.

“We have conveyed our position on a number of occasions to the UN at senior levels, and the UN has advised us that it is aware of and has taken account of our position,” the newspaper quoted a Foreign Affairs Department spokesperson as saying.

The move follows from similar efforts by the Australian and New Zealand governments in recent months.

Ganilau told FijiLive that they were not aware of any fresh moves by the Australian government to have Fiji soldiers removed from UN peacekeeping duties.

“As far as I know there have been no changes to the current standing on peacekeeping.”

A meeting between senior UN officials and a Fiji delegation at the UN headquarters in New York last month ended with the assurance by the UN that the mandate governing Fiji’s peacekeeping in involvement in Iraq would be reviewed.; ▶ Reply to This