"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 Kasanita Kamakorewa Lindell on February 3, 2010 at 5:49pm: untouchable qori o ira ga na tabu tarai!

ya ga na one class ko kanaka tiko mai ya o KoNaBaji Ture! hahaaaii; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Iliesa Rainima on February 3, 2010 at 1:34pm: Vinaka Penina.

Ni Bula vinaka na veiwekani....dua na gauna dredre oqo nida mai vei volavolai tiko ena bula era sotava tiko mai noda. Vinaka se Ca io ena qai tukuna ga na gauna.
Noqu rai ga kevaka e sega ni cakava nai vakarau lolovira o Voreqe kei na nona i lawalawa vei ira na wekada mai Viti.....ENA GAUNA OQO TOU NA VEITALANOATAKA TIKO NA QITO ENA MACAWA OQO WELLINGTON 7s.

Ia me vaka tou sa tiko ena reality ! me vaka na bula dredre era sotava tiko na wekada mai Viti sa dodonu kina meda vosa ena vukudra na wekada era sa vakagalui tu vaka saurara ena veiliutaki nei Voreqe kei na nona i lawalawa....so era cuqeni Fb tiko...ra tukuna meda vakamuria ga se tokona na illegal gov sa cici tiko...baleta ?...so era via vosa vakaibalebale enai volatabu.
Ena tuga na duidui vakatamata..sa qai vakatau vei keda yadudua na gaunisala eda via muria ya na noda dodonu. Kevaka edua e via tagatuva na dodonu oya eda na cudruvaka....sa sega kina ni yaga na vakamumuri walega kevaka o sega madaga ni rawa ni valataka se tucake ena nomu dodonu vakatamata koya e solia vei iko nai vakatawa ni noda bula.

SO STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHT !

POWER TO THE PEOPLE.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Suliasi Daunitutu on February 3, 2010 at 2:08pm: Quack,

Vinaka vakalevu, au na via kuria ga vakalailai na nomudrau vosa me'u tukuna kina vei keda, ni ka bibi me da kila na kena ca ni nomu sega tu ni lewa na nomu dodonu - ena vakaukauwataka na nodra cakava ga na nodra i le na i lawalawa cala vakalawa era sa mai liutaka tu qo vakaukauwa na noda vanua.

Era sa tekivu me ra bulia e vuqa na lawa vovou, qo e dua ga na vuna. Me rawa ni maroroi ira tiko ena nodra veiliutaki cala suguraki ka sa cici tiko qo ena i ka 4 ni yabaki.

Me da raica mada na Lotu Wesele, e a tekivu mai na kena sogo na Koniveredi, e dua na bose se bera ni daro mai na yabaki 1838 sa qai mai daro ena yabaki sa oti. Sa toso qo ki na kena daro na bose vula tolu.

Vacava na dauvakau i tukutuku. Na turaga na Tui Nayau sa bale, Tui Cakau, era dauvakalewai kece ena nodra veiliutaki e liu. Ia qo, sa sega ni rawa ni caka vei ratou qo - baleta ?

Kevaka o na via vosa suruta e dua na ka e cakava na matanitu me baleta na nodratou veiliutaki, o na mai vesu, laki vakatarogi ka vuqa na gauna ena caka vei iko eso nai vakarau kaukauwa.

O ira na mata mai vanua tani era a tu i Viti e liu, ka ra dau veivuke tu vei keda, era a via vosa me baleta na dodonu keirau tukuna tiko qo kei Quack (nomu dodonu) - era sa cemuri ki na nodra dui vanua.

Nai lavo era dau solia tu me vukea na noda bisinisi, suka, bula raraba, vakacaca ni cagilaba, vuli toro cake e vanua tani kei na vuqa na ka eda dau marautaka, sa mai sogo e vuqa, baleti Bainimarama.

Na veilakoyaki me baleta na vuli, qaravi vakavuniwai, kevaka o lewe ni vuvale se veiwekani vei ira na sotia, sa vakatabui mo curumi NZ kai Ositereli, e dua na ka e dau caka tu ga e liu.

Mo ni kua ni vakamumuri tu vakamataboko, e na veika e caka tiko me vakalomavinakataki kemuni, ni raica tiko na i yaloyalo raraba, ka wili kina na nomuni veivale ni bula - ka sa sega tu qori nai i yaya ni veiqaravi me cicivaki ira - ka ko ni sa biligi tiko mo ni vakayagataka na private hospital koya e sau levu.

Nomuni bula e tiko ga e ligamuni, nomuni mate kei na tiko dredre e toka ga e ligamuni na kena vakatulewa, ke ni sa via vakamumuri tu ga...ia mo ni kua ni cudru ke sa toso cake tikoga nai sau ni yaya, ka dredre tikoga mai na bula.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Suliasi Daunitutu on February 3, 2010 at 12:34pm: $1m for seawall project
Thursday, February 04, 2010

The proposed Seawall Project at Kiuva Village in Tailevu that was visited by the Chinese Ambassador - Doctor Han Ji Heng on Tuesday could cost over a million dollars to complete.

Director Lands Water Resources Management Lakshman Mudaliar says the damages caused by the recent Cyclone has forced them to re-look at the seawall design.

"Initially we had anticipated close to a million dollars but now with more damages sustained after cyclone MICK we are re- visiting the seawall design which we will be working together with the Chinese engineers and come up with the funds."

Mudaliar says the project should take less than a year to complete.

"We are looking at 7 months when the wet weather anticipates we have good weather coming up so that we can work long hours towards less wet weather."

Fiji Broadcasting Corporation; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Suliasi Daunitutu on February 3, 2010 at 12:41pm: This particular development will cost more than $1million and the Ministry of Works is being utilised to its fullest, while the very important time of back to school for thousands of children is upon us.

Over 1000 children from squatter settlements had the Save the Children group spending $60, 000 dollars so they could attend school this year. The misplaced priority of the Regime shows Nepotism and corruption, just like the decrees they are putting in place.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Loruama Tawawili on February 3, 2010 at 12:46pm: Fiji’s Military Ruler Tests the Boundaries By Julia Huang
Epoch Times Staff Created: Feb 3, 2010 Last Updated: Feb 3, 2010 Facebook Digg del.icio.us StumbleUpon | |
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COUP: A soldier mans a roadblock in Suva a day after military chief Voreqe Bainimarama took over control in Fiji in a bloodless coup on Dec. 9, 2006. (William West/AFP/Getty Images)
Fiji’s interim prime minister, Cmdre Frank Bainimarama, announced that democratic elections are still planned for 2014, but any elected government will follow the military’s plan for Fiji’s future. The leader says his aim to establish a multicultural nation has some support, but his methods of achieving it have been raising concerns amid democratic nations.

Bainimarama, who took over the country during a 2006 military coup, plans for the military to oversee any newly elected Fijian government, ensuring continued military authority over a wide range of institutions, such as the Great Council of Chiefs and the Methodist Church.

The former naval officer has exhibited few democratic principles so far, while exiling some of his critics and gagging local dissent, including the media.

“Bainimarama has made it clear that he intends to draft a constitution that will reflect the country’s unique culture and history. He has also promised to enact electoral reforms that will establish equal suffrage and to hold free, fair, and democratic elections,” asserted Eni Faleomavaega, the delegate of American Samoa to the U.S. House of Representatives, in a surprising display of support last year.

With Fiji cracking down even harder on its own people, this is not the time for New Zealand and other countries in the region to back down from their strong stance.—Apolosi Bose, Amnesty International’s Pacific researcher.

Regions that opposed Bainimarama’s appointment as prime minister were forced to apologize to the leader, with Bainimarama stating districts should “send away those who visit their villages and make complaints against the work of government.”

“People in Fiji must support reform implemented by the government or will be left out,” reported RadioFiji.
The Methodist Church has been banned from holding their annual conference until the 2014 elections. Additionally, Bainimarama has cancelled pension payments to pensioners who oppose the regime, among them former Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.

“[The decree] basically means that it will cut off the food line [and] starve those who may be against the government,” said Reverend Akuila Yabaki to ABC Radio. Yabaki heads the Fiji Citizens Constitutional Forum. “It is grossly detrimental to the attempt to have national dialogue, which they are calling for, and will hamper attempts to move the country forward. Such a decree undermines people’s rights, so I think it is not good governance.”; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Loruama Tawawili on February 3, 2010 at 12:48pm: Fiji’s Military Ruler Tests the Boundaries By Julia Huang
Epoch Times Staff Created: Feb 3, 2010 Last Updated: Feb 3, 2010 Facebook Digg del.icio.us StumbleUpon | |
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MILITARY CONTROL: Fijian military commander Cmdre. Voreqe Bainimarama may be smiling as his rule in Fiji continues, but New Zealand will be disappointed that the commodore appointed his military spokesperson as Fiji's ambassador to New Zealand. (Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images) Amnesty International has raised concerns about the status of human rights in Fiji, asserting that without a constitution, Fijians are vulnerable to the unchecked authority of their leaders’ decisions.

“With Fiji cracking down even harder on its own people, this is not the time for New Zealand and other countries in the region to back down from their strong stance. They must intensify their calls for Fiji to immediately halt arbitrary arrests, intimidation, threats, assaults and detention of critics of the regime,” said Apolosi Bose, Amnesty International’s Pacific researcher.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra, Australia, said it will continue its sanctions, including travel bans on Fijian officials and their families, until the Fijian government returns to democracy and the rule of law.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute, however, has criticized their approach.

“[Bainimarama] believes that the process will now take until 2014 to do, that he has actually met the requirements of both the forum and the Commonwealth Secretariat in laying down a roadmap to full return to democracy,” said professor Richard Herr of the University of Tasmania to ABC Radio. “[Bainimarama] seems to find it strange there are those that won’t accept that he’s now met that condition and help him get on with it.”

The Commonwealth Secretariat is a voluntary association of nations that promotes democracy and economic development.

Eni Faleomavaega agrees, saying sanctions have not been helpful.“On Fiji, Canberra and Washington have employed heavy-handed tactics and misguided sanctions that have hurt average Fijians far more than the interim government at which they were targeted,” he wrote in an opinion piece for Fairfax News. “Foreign policy elites in Australia and New Zealand erroneously view the region with a Eurocentric mentality without having a better sense of appreciation of Fiji’s colonial history.”

The Australian government expressed its support for New Zealand in re-establishing diplomatic ties with Fiji after both countries expelled each other's representatives last year. Controversy, however, has since arisen over Fiji’s nomination of military spokesperson Lt. Col. Neumi Lewemi as its ambassador to New Zealand.

Apart from the fact that New Zealand still has a travel ban on military officials involved in the 2006 coup, Lewemi, in his role as permanent secretary for Information, was also responsible for the censorship of Fijian media.

Fiji’s Land Force Cmdr. Brig. Pita Driti told Auckland’s Radio Tarana that the appointment was “a test” to see how far the New Zealand government is willing to accommodate for diplomacy.

Professor of History at Auckland University Steve Hoadley says Bainimarama’s choice of appointment was just another act of defiance.

“So in a sense, the commodore is trying to provoke a fight. He may in the eyes of those who support his regime appear to be resolute, strong and defiant in Fiji’s interests, but I think objective observers will see him as being in fact…somewhat unwilling to take advantage of this opportunity in Fiji’s wider interests,” he told ABC Radio.

Concerns are also mounting about China’s influence on the tiny island nation. While Australia and New Zealand have disengaged from Fiji in an endeavour to force the re-establishment of democracy, China has been quick to fill the gap.

Fiji is poised to receive $70 million in aid from China for more infrastructure projects, such as the China-built and funded Navuso Bridge that opened in May 2009.

“Fiji regards the relationship with the [regime] and the people of the China as one of its most important,” Fiji’s Vice President Ratu Epeli Nailatiku said last year according to media reports.

While Australia, New Zealand, and other nations banned Fijian officials and their families from traveling through their countries, Bainimarama has continued to travel freely to China.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Suliasi Daunitutu on February 3, 2010 at 12:59pm: Talatala yabaki has shown that he is a dadakulaci. He is well known now for being a coup apologist, he is in the Charter group, and is the head of the CCF.

Now he comes out and supports the most important thing in a Democracy - which is a person's rights - that is being undermined by decrees. Everything they have done to the country undermines the people,s rights.

Those like him who are in too deep, cannot get out of their holes now, so they might as well dig deeper, because as long as they are holding on to power, there is no way of redemption.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Suliasi Daunitutu on February 3, 2010 at 2:37pm: Kiuva !!....Vanua levu is blind ...more cocoa butter for their hair and give them specs to help them to see better.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Suliasi Daunitutu on February 3, 2010 at 2:47pm: Kiuva se o Viwa me caka mada ga e dua na seawall !!!.....se vacava Tish ??; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Suliasi Daunitutu on February 3, 2010 at 2:56pm: Oti qori sa na lai vaka seawall wanoki o Vanua Levu...me ka cecere me vaka na Great Wall of China...baleta me ra kua ni escape mai na manji ni Vanua Levu; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Iliesa Rainima on February 3, 2010 at 2:34pm: Quack.

Okoya beka oqo esa ratou via tarova tiko kina vei ira na veiyatuyanuyanu era dau qoliva na sasalu ni waitui me volitaki me rawa kina eso nai sau ni suka ?? sa via tarovi tiko na volitaki ni sasalu ni waitui vei ira na wekada ?

Quack o ira na kai Esia era mona ni bisinisi vakailavo....they dont give a s... about everyday people that live on the land and sea for survival...era vinaka la na dola....

Drau Bula.; ▶ Reply to This