"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 Suliasi Daunitutu on January 13, 2010 at 6:14pm: Ratu Tau,

Qarauna de qai dua na nomu lesu mai ena dua na nomu soko wavoki ena yabaki qo sa caka oti na veidigidigi !! Lai biuta tu mada ga na yacamu ena petition Tau, sega ni tukuni kina ni'o tokona, mo vakalasui keirau tu mada ga kina kei Loru.......Taki !; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mike on January 13, 2010 at 11:08am: Fiji’s children face bleak future as global crisis hits economy

9:17 January 8, 2010

By Shailendra Singh in Suva

Shonal Chand, 16, has ditched school to work full time to assist his financially struggling family. He sells pineapples, watermelons and other local seasonal fruit by the roadside six days a week.

Today he runs a stall at Laucala Beach Estate, a busy hub about 12 kilometres from the capital of Suva.

Chatting away while expertly skinning and slicing succulent pineapples with a dangerously sharp-looking knife, Chand said he has been doing this work since he was 14.
Before he quit school, he was working only on weekends. Last year his parents gave him permission to start working full-time.

“I did not like school and I wanted to make money to help my family,” he said, smiling.

Chand’s father, who is a taxi driver, and his mother, a packer at a food-processing factory, did not protest too hard when their son said he wanted to leave school and work. The family was struggling to make ends meet, and the extra income was much needed.

According to Fiji’s 2002/2003 Household Income and Expenditure Survey, an estimated 43 percent of the total population of 850,000 lives in poverty of varying degrees.

Global crisis

Observers believe that the situation of tens of thousands of poor families like Chand’s has become even more desperate since the global economic crisis struck in 2007. Such families are now forced to prematurely pull their children out of school and send them to work.

Fiji’s compulsory education age is 15, which is also the minimum legal age for work. The law also prohibits Fiji children below 18 from working during school hours.

But just as in many developing countries with high levels of poverty and low levels of social welfare, child labour laws are either poorly enforced or ignored as strict implementation could lead to the affected family going without food.

Biman Prasad, an economics professor at the University of the South Pacific, said that despite having more than 95 percent of children in school, there are more children living in poverty and more of them engaged in child labour than before.

“The main reason why we see more students not being able to complete primary education is financial difficulties,” said Prasad. “While we have made some economic progress, we are still far from achieving levels of economic growth that can effectively lead to the reduction in poverty.”

More ominous for Fiji is the finding by a non-government organisation, Save the Children Fiji, of increased child prostitution. A 2009 survey of 87 adults and 104 children below the age of 18 in seven sites around Fiji uncovered evidence of more young people engaging in prostitution as a result of the economic hardships brought on by the crisis.

The results of the survey of sex workers commissioned by the International Labour Organisation have yet to be released , but a spokesperson for the international children’s charity said that many of the children interviewed had fallen into prostitution in the last two years as a result of economic hardships.

Child labour

Statistics on the scale of child labour in Fiji are unavailable, but several recent reports attest to the problem.

The “2008 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor – Fiji”, published by the United States Department of Labor, said that children work in agriculture, including tobacco and sugar farms, the informal sector, in family businesses, and on the streets, selling snacks, shining shoes and delivering goods.

Children are exploited through prostitution, pornography and sex tourism, and they are trafficked within Fiji for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation by Fiji citizens, added the report.

The US State Department’s “2008 Fiji Country Report on Human Rights” said increasing urbanisation has led to more children working as casual labourers, often with no safeguards against abuse or injury.

Economically, Fiji was already on its knees when the financial crisis hit, with the country experiencing its fourth military coup barely a year earlier on December 2006.

The global increase in fuel and food prices that followed only worsened the country’s predicament. As a bulk importer of food and fuel, Fiji is especially vulnerable to the price increases. In 2009, Fiji imported F$520 million (US$271.70 million) worth of food. Its fuel bill in the same year came to F$757.2 million (US$395.64).

The country experienced a 6.6 percent decline in growth in 2007 and zero percent growth in 2008. Its economy was forecast to grow by 2.5 percent in 2009.

Devaluation blow

On April 15 last year, Fiji’s Reserve Bank, in an effort to mitigate the effects of the financial meltdown, devalued the currency by 20 percent. This effort to bolster the vital tourism industry, attract investors and protect foreign reserves led to a further increase in the cost of living.

Again, it was the poor that bore the brunt of the devaluation. Earnings either declined or remained static while the prices of basic food items and the cost of transport shot up.

Under the prevailing economic conditions, Chand’s family is only too happy he is able to bring home as much as F$150 Fiji dollars (US$78.37) a week as a full-time fruit vendor.

Several other boys with similar stories to Chand are employed by the latter’s boss. Some, like 16-year-old Kunal Prasad, along with his younger brother and sister, are still in school. But further hardships could force him and his siblings to follow in Chand’s footsteps.

According to the Fiji Wages Council chairman, Father Kevin Barr, the dropout rate from Fiji schools before the onset of the global financial crisis was as high as 66 percent, mainly because of poverty.

Speaking at a regional symposium on “Population and Development in the Pacific Islands” at the University of the South Pacific in Suva in November 2009, Father Barr said that Fiji’s high literacy rates notwithstanding, only about 49 percent of students who enter primary school made it to secondary schools.

There are concerns that the dropout rate may have worsened since the financial crisis struck. In April last year, Fiji’s education minister Filipe Bole said about 15 percent of children did not survive the full eight years of their primary education, while about 74.9 percent did not complete secondary education. School dropouts often end up in the labour force.

Education research

The Foundation of the Education of Needy Children, The Rescue Mission Community Association and the Nourish Fiji Children Project are carrying out separate research on the impact of the global crisis on children and youths while raising funds to support the education of poor children.

Government is also taking measures to tackle what it sees as a looming problem. In addition to providing tuition-free education, it has set aside 10 million Fiji dollars (5.2 million U.S. dollars) in the 2010 national budget for free school bus fares.

Also, the education ministry has pledged to provide free textbooks to all students beginning this year, starting with primary schools.

This year about F$7.4 million (US$3.85 million) have been allocated for the Family Assistance allowance along with a monthly F$30 (US$15.60) – food voucher programme for poor families. Such assistance is expected to benefit around 20,000 people.

“Those on family assistance (about 21,000 people) are only the tip of the iceberg of poverty,” Father Barr was quoted as having told the Fiji Times, He added that 60 percent of the people in full-time employment – numbering around 210,000 – earn wages that put them below the poverty line, and over 40 percent of children in Fiji are malnourished.

Furthermore, an estimated 104,000 people in Fiji currently reside in depressed sites.

Even before the global financial meltdown, the country was already struggling with some basic indicators relating to child health and nutrition.

Iron deficiency

At the regional symposium on population and development, Dr Jimaima Schultz, manager of Fiji’s National Food and Nutrition Centre, tabled research that showed 40 percent of children between the ages of six months and five years were deficient in iron, vitamin A and zinc.

Dr Schultz said their research revealed that one in every three Fijian child surveyed was anemic. So were three out of every five children under two years of age. Additionally, for every 10 children surveyed, at least three were at risk of vitamin A deficiency.

She added that food prices were, in the vast majority of cases, strong determinants of a family’s diet.

Notwithstanding the children’s nutritional needs, Prasad, the economics professor, said Fiji’s future rests on how best the country can meet the educational needs of its children in primary schools.

“The best way to break the vicious cycle of poverty in households is to ensure that children from these households receive at least a complete primary education. The government must ensure that it provides funds for all primary schools in the country so that basic minimum standards with respect to facilities are provided,” he said.

“It is an investment in the country’s future.”

Shailendra Singh is head of journalism at the University of the South Pacific. This feature was produced by IPS Asia-Pacific under a series on the impact of the global economic crisis on children and young people, in partnership with UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Loruama Tawawili on January 13, 2010 at 1:01pm: SUVA, Fiji (AP) - Fiji's military-led government banned the country's powerful Methodist Church on Wednesday from holding their annual conference until 2014, accusing church ministers of spying on the nation's military for the government ousted in a 2006 coup.

Wednesday's move follows a ban last May on the 2009 conference and the arrest of eight senior Methodist leaders after the regime accused them of pursuing a political agenda to destabilize the government.

The government also accused the church of being in breach of the regime's Public Emergency Regulation that bans meetings and protests not approved by authorities.

The military regime, led by Commodore Frank Bainimarama, took power in this Pacific island nation in a bloodless coup in December 2006, ousting a democratically elected government. It tightened its grip on power last April, imposing a state of emergency, overturning the constitution, firing the judiciary and placing censors in newsrooms.

Dozens of opponents have been arrested, questioned and eventually released with warnings to stop their criticism of the regime, which plans to hold democratic elections only in 2014 despite international calls for a swift return to civilian rule.

Bainimarama said Wednesday that Methodist Church officials had spied on the military before the 2006 coup.

"Police have found that they were being paid as informers by the past government which indicated that politics was alive in the church," he told reporters. "There will be no Methodist Church conference until 2014."

There was no immediate response from the Methodist Church of Fiji, whose more than 200,000 members account for a quarter of the volatile South Pacific country's population, and which strongly opposes Bainimarama's regime.

The latest action comes just a day after Fiji and New Zealand agreed to begin a thaw of frosty relations by appointing senior diplomats to some of the posts in their capitals left empty by expulsions over the past 18 months.

Also Wednesday, the regime said pension payments to former Fiji civil servants who do not support the government will be stopped from this week.

"We will stop pension payments to all those who speak against the government or all citizens seen to halt government's work on moving the country forward," said the permanent secretary for information, Lt. Col. Neumi Leweni.

A decree stopping such pension payments was passed by Cabinet last week "to change the mindset of people who were against the government," he said.

Bainimarama said he knew of a few people who were working with "some of our development partners, our international friends and some sections of the media to undermine the efforts of government."

Those people were spreading wrong information about Fiji and what was happening in Fiji, he said.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This materialmay not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Loruama Tawawili on January 13, 2010 at 1:04pm: Fiji cancels pensions of reigime critics
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Updated January 13, 2010 17:18:35

Fiji pensioners who criticise the coup installed interim government will have their pensions stopped. Interim prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, made the announcement on Radio Fiji on Wednesday morning. He says a decree to that effect was passed last week, and payments to old age pensuioners who have spoken against the government were stopped then. Reaction from NGOs and unions has been swift and negative. Public Service Association President Rajeshwar Singh said he hadn't seen the news as he is in New Zealand, so he couldn't comment. But Attar Singh, General Secretary of the Fiji Islands Confederation of Trade Unions, has condemned the move.

Presenter: Bruce Hill
Speakers: Attar Singh, General Secretary of the Fiji Islands Confederation of Trade Unions; Reverend Akuila Yabaki, the head of the Fiji Citizens Constitutional Forum

Listen: Windows Media
YABAKI: Well I think you know it was quite shocking. Whenever anyone's pension which have been earned overtime, to royalty and service is under attack, and that is always a very serious issue and I would like to think that the government is really thought this one through. Although having said that, we are not very sure on what the target group is, because whilst there are targets, those who are against or acting against the Bainimarama government, from the way pensions are paid in Fiji, it is not very clear if it would be only against state employees or it may include former parliamentarians. So it is not very clear and I think now need to wait until more details are available.

HILL: It is a fairly draconian thing to interfere with peoples pensions like this. What affect do you think this is going to have on peoples perceptions of the interim government in Fiji?

YABAKI: Well at the moment, we don't know if they are still going to go ahead until the decree is out, but if it does go ahead, when the pension is out, then it basically means it will cut off the food line, starve those who may be against the government that is what we basically means.

HILL: This is the sort of thing the trade unions will not be very happy about. One of the things that unions work for is pension rights?

YABAKI: Well that's the pension is something that we unions work for all the time. I mean every worker all the time and after having served whatever number of years service, whether it's state sector or private sector service deserves a reasonable pension to be able to live the rest of his life and if that is taken away, when that happens it will be quite sad for those who will be affected.

HILL: Reverend Akuila Yabaki, the head of a leading civil society non-government organisation, the Citizens Constitutional Forum, has also criticised the stripping away of pension rights from critics of the Fiji interim government.

He's calling on the government to lift the emergency regulations and end media censorship.

But Reverend Yabaki says this cancelling of pensions is not only a violation of people's right,. but it makes it more difficult for organisations such as as his, which are trying to work with the government's national dialogue process.

YABAKI: This decree accordingly was passed last week, however the decree has not yet become available to the public, because we have not been able to get our hands on it. The rumours are that this decree is yet to be created, but here we are, we are trying to say that if such a decree is going to be implemented, it is grossly detrimental to the attempt of national dialogue which they are calling for and will hamper attempts to move the country forward. Such a decree undermines people rights, so I think it is not good governance. It is surmounting to the use of taxpayers money, abuse of power and corruption, they are also violating the workers rights. Pension is the rightful entitlement of public servants who have earned their pension through their long service career and they are entitled to their pensions, regardless of their opinions or beliefs, even if convicted of a crime, a pensioners is still entitled to receive the pension which they have earned. I mean it undermines their own brands of alleviating poverty. I mean if they want to subscribe to MDG [Millenium Development Goals], and this kind of decree undermines their payment of such goals, which is to alleviate poverty.

HILL: Your NGOs, the Citizens Constitutional Forum has actually tried to be fairly accommodating in trying to work within the system created by the interim government. What affect has this kind of promulgation have on your desires to work with the interim government?

YABAKI: We are hoping that media censorship and PR public emergency regulations would be lifted soon. We were told it had been lifted last year, but it has now been deferred until February. But we are not fully aware of what's happening and we are therefore calling on the interim administration to lift the PR so it can be open, healthy discussions and dialogue.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Loruama Tawawili on January 13, 2010 at 1:07pm: Yabaki this was the illegal govt that you supported which has brought about the Charter that you are an avid advocate for now you know ah?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mike on January 13, 2010 at 8:04pm: Kia Ora Sorby....I was merely putting it up here for others to see. Thank you for your comments though.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tevita Korodrau on January 13, 2010 at 11:59am: The illegal regime into pensions is and should be an alert sign to every Fijian on planet earth.If this is going to be allowed without challenge the worse is still yet to come. I call for all to stop taking such issue lying.There are new emergencies on the horizons and all should be ready for.Schools loosing their most senior members of their staff under the compulsory 55 retirement. Some big schools findng it hard to cope with it already.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Loruama Tawawili on January 13, 2010 at 1:10pm: Fiji: This Week's Repressive Snapshop
This week, the NZ government announced proudly that it was improving relations with Fiji. Unfortunately, this improvement comes at a time when the illegal military regime is increasing its crackdown on its critics.

In the past week, the illegal Fiji regime has:

Extended emergency rule and media censorship for another 30 days;
Initiated a baseless prosecution of a prominent human rights lawyer for opposing the regime;
Sacked magistrates who ruled against the regime's prosecution;
Started a purge at the Suva City Council, targeting those suspected of opposing the regime;
Banned all religious conferences by the Fiji Methodist Church until 2014, on the basis that they are "spies" working against the military;
Deported Dr Padma Lal, solely because she is married to a critic of the regime;
Used food as a weapon to silence dissent, by cutting the pensions of regime critics
In this context, improving relations simply looks like rewarding bad behaviour; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Loruama Tawawili on January 13, 2010 at 1:13pm: This weeks snapshot is showing the lies of the illegal govt being shown to the world.There is no shame and no moral obligation to serve the people of Fiji here but just a way to keep a job and please Bainiumarama.Today it is the pensions what about tomorrow the wages of the dissenters?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Loruama Tawawili on January 13, 2010 at 1:18pm: Fiji: WLUML Statement on charges against Imrana Jalal
Source: WLUML Networkers
The international solidarity network, Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML), condemns the politically-motivated charges brought against human rights lawyer, Imrana Jalal, by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) on 1 January 2010. FICAC, as with most significant government bodies since the coup, is headed by a military officer. FICAC was established to investigate and prosecute corruption, but instead has been used to also persecute persons not supportive of the military regime.

A former Fiji Human Rights Commissioner, who has worked with WLUML on law reform and related issues, Ms. Jalal has a long record of public opposition to all unlawful (military and non-military) undemocratic regimes. These include the regimes of Sitiveni Rabuka, George Speight and now, Voreqe Bainimarama; her stance against Fiji’s 2006 military takeover is public knowledge.

On 5 January 2010, Fiji’s Military Forces Land Force Commander, Brigadier Pita Driti, warned Fiji citizens that they should remember “who is in control.” He went on to threaten any dissenters “...there are only a few people who [we] could term as adversaries, but I would discourage them from doing anything and I would like to tell them to keep low and try to cooperate with us in trying to maintain peace otherwise they will be in for something really hard in terms of how we will treat them this year.” (Radio Fiji interview)

Ms. Jalal was served with seven charges alleging breaches of the Public Health (Hotels, Restaurant and Refreshment Bars) Regulations, the Food Safety Act and the Penal Code. The charges relate to a business operated by Bottomline Investments. Ms. Jalal is a director of this company but has not been involved in its day to day operations. The restaurant charges normally attract a penalty of FJD20.00 (USD10.00) and are Suva City Council offences. A large number of businesses in Suva operate without a licence, whilst their applications for licences are being processed. This is not a corruption matter, nor one which FICAC is legally permitted to prosecute, according to lawyer, Ms. Jalal.

Threats of rape

WLUML furthermore abhors the military regime’s repeated use of grave threats against the person of Ms. Jalal, and her husband. In December 2006, after her published opposition to the military takeover, Ms. Jalal was threatened with rape, via an anonymous call to her mobile phone, and warned to “shut her mouth” or ‘they’ would shut it for her. The call was traced to a phone booth outside the gates of the Queen Elizabeth Barracks, home of the Fiji Military Forces. Twenty minutes prior to the call, Colonel (now Brigadier) Mohammed Aziz had asked Major Davina Chan to call Ms. Jalal’s office to obtain her mobile phone number. Imrana Jalal made a police complaint about the threat of rape, which is a matter of public record.

FICAC has initiated these actions against human rights lawyer and Co-Founder and Board Member of the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement, in order to harass and intimidate her into halting her public opposition to undemocratic regimes. Imrana Jalal categorically denies the allegations and intends to strenuously defend herself against the charges. WLUML applauds her for her courageous resistance to aggressive efforts to silence her, and asks international civil society groups and governments to put pressure on Fiji to ensure the safety and freedom of expression of Imrana Jalal, and her husband, and to uphold the rights of Fijian citizens to freedom of speech and dissent.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kasanita Kamakorewa Lindell on January 13, 2010 at 1:05pm: HERES A GENTLE REMINDER to RATU TAU TAWAWILI about why he should remain on the higher road and not stoop to gutter level attitude like unnecessarily attacking and threatening turaga naita Eddie the way he has been. (it becomes you sir)

Please take note:

LORUAMA TAWAWILI
A highly motivated individual who walks his talk and motivates others on an elevated intellectual level. Humble, caring, a good husband, father, grandfather and friend. Highly principled with great faith in God, Loruama is a force to be reckoned with behind the Democracy Movement.

No organization is stronger than the quality of its leadership, or ever extends its constituency far beyond the degree to which its leadership is representative.
-Edgar Powell; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kuna Osea Malamalanitabua on January 13, 2010 at 1:43pm: Loruyama,...e dau tukuni mai Nadro...Na yalo ga ma tju dodonu....Mo kua ni yalo hewahea...Na Dina Na Dodonu kei na Savasava na i yaragi ena valuti kina na Meca.Mo tudei ka yalo qaqa...We need you as a leader and we ask our Mighty God to protect you and your family in our fight to restore Democracy back in Fiji.Your critics willl be forgoten but your fighting spirit will stay with us always.You are a Freedom Fighter...Leqwu Vulivata..1959-1963..ME VALATAKI NA NODA UCUNIVATU.; ▶ Reply to This