"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 February 3, 2010 at 9:14pm: Sefo,

The issue about the turaga and the kaisi brought up by this gentleman is one that is irrelavant to treason. It was one that Baininmarama put the blame on for his unlawful takeover and somehow thought that one's right of birth is the cause of corruption. This could be true to an extent, but does it warrant dragging the country to economic disaster ?

I will tell you what I know of this discussion and it will not necessarily what you should believe, but most of what I know is passed on from my grandfather and also my dad. My father was born in 1928 and I think that what he has passed on to us from his father who I had the honour and pleasure of spending a few years with, would hold water.

Most of the Chiefs that we had were descendants of original chiefs who arrived in our country. The intricate relations of these chiefs and their marriges from where siblings of the chiefly bloodlines were born, have now been distributed throughout and around Fiji.

One thing I know about this bloodline and their behaviour, it is one of humility, respect, servantship, and paying particular attention to his subject's demands.

Those behaviours accompany real chiefs, if someone is showing behavioural patterns that doesn't agree with those I have mentioned, chances are that he doesn't belong to the respected status but dearly wants to be identified or accepted as one. This is where the word “viavialevu” makes its implication.

Levu means big and “viavia” mean want, and is applied in reference to status and behaviour or lack of manners, something a true chief has in abundance (manners). Respect is shown by chiefs to their people for their title because they remain in that posotion through wars and battles and will only be dethroned if their village was burnt and the chief takes the place of subject to the conquering chief.

Sometimes, chiefs' position can be threatened when they make wrong decisions in which dire consequences are the result. People leave their settlements and join up with other chiefs, or just migrate into other territories.

The Fijian structure has not changed in most places, it is still as horizontal as it was. The chief at the top and the tawa vanua “subjects" below, serving him. There are also the builders “mataisau” the fisherman “gonedau” and the warriors or caretakers “bati” There are aslo the heralds “matanivanua” and the personal advisors “sauturaga” or “turaga lewena” or “mai tu” “mai turaga” those that can inherit if the chiefly bloodline is “kawaboko” completely wiped out.

After the registering and mapping out of tribal territories or “butu-vanua” there were all diffenrent people from different origins living in different locations around Fiji. They can be identified by some things that they have connexions to by birth like their dialect, respective totems and mannerism. In this enviroment, fragmented from their respective tribes and forming a new one, they still respect a leader who usually a younger sibling from the original chiefly bloodline.

It is that fact that is drawing some to the claim of the chiefly title. There are some who say that they are the true chief of a village or Yavusa. But in my view, the true chiefs are well known amongst their own people and they (chiefs) have an uncanny way of showing their high status in the way they behave. They will always be drawn to them and them to him. If the attraction is not mutual then question marks usually jump into my head.

Also chiefs don't need to claim their title, it was inherited, it is a responsibility and the Bible says it is from God. Anyone claiming he should be chief is either not one or an atheist. Chiefs don't put their people through unneccessary hardship, they will go through hardship together if there is a reward for the Yavusa at the end of the commitment.

Chiefs will not say or do something that will bring hurt, disrepute, disorganisation or hatred into the Yavusa, they should have the best interest of his people close to his heart. A true chief will lead into battle, and when the battle is over will personally thank his warriors in the traditional “qusi ni loaloa” or wiping of war paint.

The bottom line to a Chief.......HE IS A SERVANT . Philippians 2: 5. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, 7: made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant

“ A sa vakadravudravuataki koya ka kauta vei koya nai tovo ni dauveiqaravi”

My grandfather was born in 1884 and died in 1964 when I was in class one at Draiba Fijian School; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Litia T Vitukawalu on February 4, 2010 at 2:17am: With the current Illegal Govt. it is not RACISM that is the problem, it is "HIDDEN BIAS" as portrayed in their release of "decrees" and never ending threats with the Methodist Church Structure and other anti-govt. groups.

Give back to the People what is really theirs.

Power to the People; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by vulaono on February 4, 2010 at 3:41am: Absolutely Litia!Power to the people;and that means election!Election Now.Soro vei ira na qase ni Lotu.Move back to the right place to the camp and let the one be elected to run the govt freely not with the gun; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Loruama Tawawili on February 4, 2010 at 4:32am: Economy

[Print] [Email]
Australia eases travel ban to let Fijian minister visit for first time since Fiji's 2006 coup
By: ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press
02/03/10 12:41 PM PST CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA — Australia has relaxed a travel ban on members of Fiji's military-led regime to allow the first Fijian minister to visit Canberra since a 2006 coup on the South Pacific island nation created a deep diplomatic rift.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said he had invited his Fijian counterpart, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, to a trilateral meeting in Canberra on Wednesday to discuss restoring senior envoys to their posts in Australia, Fiji and New Zealand.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully will also attend the meeting, which indicates a thaw in diplomatic relations that have been in tatters since Fiji's democratically elected government was overthrown by military commander Frank Bainimarama.

Fiji has since expelled Australian and New Zealand top envoys, known as high commissioners. Australia and New Zealand retaliated by expelling Fijian high commissioners.

Smith said he expected the meeting would start the process of restoring all diplomatic heads their former posts. Australia was not backing down from its view that Fiji must return to democracy, he said. But he added, "We've also always made the point that there's a need to have a dialogue."

Fiji's Foreign Ministry confirmed on Wednesday that Kubuabola was in Australia. He could not be immediately contacted for comment.

Bainimarama has resisted international pressure to restore democracy or to ease strict censorship before his timetable for elections in 2014.

Ron Huisken, an Asia-Pacific security expert from the Australian National University's Strategic and Defense Studies Center, said Australia's desire to thaw relations could stem from concerns about growing Chinese influence in Fiji and elsewhere in the South Pacific.

"That is a legitimate piece of speculation," Huisken said.

Bainimarama visited Beijing last year to seek aid for Fiji's sinking economy.

The Canberra meeting comes after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the Obama administration wanted to engage with the Pacific region.

Her plans to visit Australia, which regards the United States as its most important ally, as well as New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, the most populous South Pacific island nation, were canceled at the 11th hour due to the Haiti earthquake last month.

President Barack Obama is due to visit Australia in late March, as well as the Pacific U.S. territory of Guam and Indonesia, the Southeast Asian nation where he spent part of his childhood.

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/economy/83475462.html#ixzz0eZdV5bwL; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Loruama Tawawili on February 4, 2010 at 4:36am: The move to China will hold Fiji hostage to the commuist Nation because of unpaid loans for reforms but Fiji is going to miss out on USA hand out to 3rd world countries because of the chinese move by Bainimarama.All Pacific Nations are going to benefit from the Obaa and Clinton visit except the illegal govt in Fii.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Loruama Tawawili on February 4, 2010 at 4:40am: New Zealand and Australia do not intend to replace their high commissioners in Fiji until they get some reassurance they will not be turfed out any time there is a disagreement between the countries.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully had talks on Thursday in Canberra with his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith and Fiji's Foreign Minister Inoke Kubuabola.

Those talks lasted about 1-1/2 hours and Mr McCully and the Fiji minister then met for the same period again in the evening.

Relations between New Zealand and Fiji have been fraught since the 2006 coup in Fiji and further deteriorated last year with the tit-for-tat expulsion of senior diplomats, which followed interim Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama's repeated rejection of international deadlines for elections.

Efforts to re-staff high commissions hit another hurdle when Fiji provocatively put up Permanent Secretary for Information and military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Neumi Leweni for the position of counsellor in Wellington.

New Zealand has a travel ban on members of the military-led regime and Lt Col Leweni played a central role in the coup, was responsible for censoring local media, deporting journalists and curbing free speech, all moves that have met with criticism from the Australian and New Zealand governments.

McCully told NZPA that he had got Australia involved in the talks after an initial meeting in Nadi in January where he and Kubuabola discussed lower level appointments to commissions.

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High Commissioner appointments were not discussed. "In that respect New Zealand and Australia were in identical positions and we were not going to get involved in topics that affected Australia or set precedents for Australia without Australia being in the room," McCully told NZPA.

"So the trilateral meeting yesterday was in order start a conversation involving the three parties over matters that were different from or an extension of those we talked about bilaterally."

At New Zealand's High Commission in Suva staff from New Zealand were down to seven: one policy officer, two support staff, two NZAID staff, and two immigration officials. Since the coup three senior diplomats have been expelled, while the trade representative, who was married to one of the expelled diplomats, was also expelled, and the defence and police liaison positions were unfilled because Fiji would not agree on roll-overs for the positions.

Fiji was down to a single non-local staff.

McCully said one goal of the talks had been achieved.

"The first objective is to be able to conduct a good civilised diplomatic conversation because it's fair to say that New Zealand and Fiji, and Australia and Fiji, have not had a good track record on being able to agree to disagree."

The ministers were working on establishing a base for diplomatic conversation.

"Hopefully that leads into upgrading the machinery by which we have diplomatic dialogue which means lifting the capacity of our missions. But in terms of... high commission appointments both Steven Smith and I have made the point that there's no point in us appointing high commissioners who are going to be sent home the first time there's a disagreement between New Zealand and Fiji and we are not yet at that point."

McCully said while no solid understanding had been reached, a framework for future discussions was in place.

"So it's just a question of moving this thing forward deliberately and slowly."

McCully said the mood had been "constructive and professional".

He had talks later in the evening with his Fijian counterpart to continue discussing the issue.

Kubuabola was "someone who is trying to do his best in difficult circumstances".

McCully said removing the travel ban was not on New Zealand's immediate agenda.

Fiji was suspended from the 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum in May last year and from the Commonwealth in September over Cdre Bainimarama's broken promises to hold elections by March 2009.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Litia T Vitukawalu on February 4, 2010 at 4:43am: Absolutely Loruama, Fiji will be by-passed by USA...so so pathetic...just because of the "red packet" from China...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Loruama Tawawili on February 4, 2010 at 4:43am: Fiji reduces coup penalties
PHOTO
Fiji has been ruled by its latest coup-installed government since December 2006 under the leadership of Commmodore Frank Bainimarama. [AFP]
Last Updated: Thu, 4 Feb 2010 15:22:00 +1100

A new decree has been gazetted in Fiji which reduces the penalty for coups and treason.

An act of treason once attracted a life sentence, but under the new ruling it's been reduced to 15 years.

Fiji has been ruled by its latest coup-installed government since December 2006 under the leadership of Commmodore Frank Bainimarama.

Dorsami Naidu, President of the Fiji Law Society, has told Pacific Beat, the decree is an unfortunate measure.

"I mean when this regime came into power, one of their reasons was to wipe away the coup culture, but by giving leaner sentences, it seems there's more of an encouragment and we will never get away from this coup culture," he said.

"It's very unfortunate."

Tags:fijigovernment-and-politicslaw-crime-and-justiceprisons-and-punishment

Permalink Reply by Loruama Tawawili on February 4, 2010 at 4:47am: Power has gone to Bainimarama's head and he is not about to let go at any time soon.As I have mentioned many times before, this coup culture will only end if we hold the perpatraters accountable for their treason and send them to prison for life or Fiji must give up its army. At this point and time in Fiji's development wedon't need a Military Force in Fiji.See how Bainimarama is trying to save himself from being prosecuted for the traitor he is? Another Decree to save his behind.

Permalink Reply by Justin on February 4, 2010 at 10:04am: Sovea sivia na vamalaca macawa o vakauta tu mai,,tamata waca...namu...

Lave; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by StRYka aka LOne rAnger on February 4, 2010 at 10:06am: lol osoo justin kua ni dau kaya mai a ka dina hahahaha...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Justin on February 4, 2010 at 10:07am: qo me sa kua ni tukuni vua na TALO,,me sa LAVE,,tabana ni namu qai QVS club..; ▶ Reply to This