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Minister Charan Jeath Singh, 'I have brought an investor to buy cassava from Vanualevu'. Crikey, the investor will be buying 10,000 tons a week at $400. In other others, $4million a week of cassava to make cassava chips

24/9/2023

The investor is 'Russian speaking business tycoon' ANWAR KHAN, the investor who had promised to start a million dollar oil and diesel project in Fiji.
What happened to his promise of opening petrol stations?
What about the large parcels of State lands that was doled out to him by the Bainimarama-Khaiyum government for fuel tanks and storage?

Good news for cassava farmers in Vanua Levu, as they can supply 10,000 tonnes of cassava every week at the price of $400 a tonne.

In a meeting held in Labasa yesterday, facilitated by Minister for Sugar Charan Jeath Singh, the sale of cassava will begin next week.

Mr Singh said during his campaign leading up to the General Election last year, many farmers asked him for assistance in terms of selling their crops.

“So we had a few options which included setting up a flour mill in Vanua Levu so I approached Anwar Khan in Lautoka who owns the cassava flour factory,” he said.

“He then offered to come and buy the cassava from farmers in the North every week and pay them $400 a tonne and that I why we have organized this meeting.

“This is good for the rural dwellers who can now sell their cassava to the company.”

The company, Tavioka Organics owned by Mr Khan will buy its first lot of cassava next week.

“Meeting with these farmers has been very fruitful and I see there is a need here for the sale of cassava,” he said. “So this is an opportunity for them to plant more cassava and make a good living and we will start buying next week with 10,000 tonnes.

“Our truck will come from Lautoka to Vanue Levu, pick up the cassava and we will buy all sizes as long as it can be peeled and used.”

Mr Khan, who was born in Drasa, Lautoka and moved to Australia returned home to set up his business and has helped Fijians.

“We are here to stay and to help people like these farmers who are in need of selling crops and get an income.”

Fijileaks: In May 2015, Anwar Khan phoned our Founding Editor-in-Chief out of the blue and claimed that big oil companies in Fiji bribed Police and the DPP to charge him

Originally from Drasa, Lautoka

Left Fiji at the age of 17 for New Zealand

Claims to have lived in Australia,Dubai, Russia and Ukraine for the last 40 years.

Claims to have built a refinery in Ukraine which is shown in his website Diesel Refinery Fiji.

Khan even is helping the regime to change to Euro Standards of Diesel in Fiji.

Khan wants to import black diesel which will be banned for use after 2016 to refines in Fiji to convert to diesel.

So many local businessman have invested in his service station and refinery that are to be built in Fiji.

Khan is always seen in company of Abdul Khan (FSC), Zarine Ali (Aunty's husband) also advisers for his project.

He has leased Vatia wharf in BA.

Given 20 acres of Crown land to develop a refinery in Natabua seaside prime land.

Name suppression for what reason?

Khan is also involved with the largest Madrasa (see photo below) located next to his factory

"A Lautoka businessman who allegedly imported 5.4 kilograms of pseudoephedrine has been allowed to travel abroad by the Lautoka High Court this morning. Aaron Anwar Khan’s lawyer made an application in court today to release his passport and to allow him to travel overseas. Khan was charged last year in August for illegally importing the drugs into the country. The parcel was sent from Ukraine and addressed to him before customs intercepted it at Nadi Airport. Khan’s lawyer had asked for name suppression but this was later squashed in the high court." FBC News, February 2015.

Listen to the 'Russian speaking business tycoon' ANWAR KHAN

FEASTING ON TAXPAYERS: Christian fanatic Bill Gavoka charters Fiji Airways to take a delegation with him to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Tabernacles from 26 September - 6 October, before new embassy in 2024

22/9/2023

The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot (or Feast of Booths) is a week-long fall festival commemorating the 40-year journey of the Israelites in the wilderness. Along with Passover and the Festival of Weeks, Sukkot is one of three great pilgrimage feasts recorded in the Bible when all Jewish males were required to appear before the Lord in the Temple in Jerusalem.
We wonder what the hell will GAVOKA and his delegation (names, please) be celebrating in Jerusalem. Throughout the holiday, Jews will observe this time by building and dwelling in temporary shelters, just like the Hebrew people did while wandering in the desert.
This joyous celebration is a reminder of God's deliverance, protection, provision, and faithfulness.
As for Gavoka and his delegation, the only recorded 'wandering' of the i-Taukei was on the high seas, when Chiefs Lutunasobasoba and Degei fled with their tribal subjects from Tanganyika in East Africa and landed in Fiji.

Fijileaks: One of the Faustian coalition pact demanded by SODELPA was the building of a new embassy in Jerusalem.
Another sickening demand was for the election loser and Rewa chief Ro Teimumu Kepa to be appointed PRESIDENT of Fiji in 2024.
Who the hell does she think she is to demand the PRESIDENCY?
*As for Gavoka, we are told that under the Sodelpa constitution, he will be booted out as party leader in March next year, and the Jerusalem embassy plot could see him become the FIRST Ambassador to Israel, soaking up and feasting on his Christian fundamentalism

SCAMMED: No Competition, No Announcement or Press Release. Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission CEO JOEL ABRAHAM accused of secretly employing one Jai Kumar as Chief Communications Officer

20/9/2023

Dear Jai [Kumar] and Joel [Abraham]
"We have to let you know that FCCC has employed you as a Senior Communications Officer since April 2023. Was the job advertised, and if so, when was it advertised? We also noticed that your LinkedIn page regarding your USP qualification is at odds with your CV, which we have on us. Which one is the correct one? We also notice that you have omitted your four years at Vatis, when in 2019 you had applied for a position with them. I am sending you, separately, your CV. I look forward to hearing from both of you ASAP."
Yours,
Founding Editor-in-Chief

Jai Kumar's CV and LinkedIn Qualifications at Odd
In his CV, he states that he was enrolled at USP from 2002-2004, reading for a BA in Psychology/Literature & Language. He did not complete his degree.
On his LinkedIn page, he stated he obtained a DOUBLE MAJOR in BA, English Language and Literature, General Psychology

As his contract reveals, Kumar was employed by VATIS from July 2020 to July 2023. However, he left the company in January 2023.
He was employed as a Research and Content Officer
*Intriguingly, Kumar omitted any mention of Vatis in his CV or LinkedIn page. Instead, he listed his last job with Greymouse Virtual Workforce.
Below, application to VATIS:

Greymouse Fiji is located in the capital city of Suva. It started its operations in 2005 providing online IT support to small and medium sized businesses. Back then, there were only two people working in the office. Today GM-Fiji has 32 skilled and experienced people in the team serving clients for their VA, IT and online Accounting needs.
The Fiji Team is especially apt for work that requires voice interaction with clients since the South Pacific Accent is readily understood by the Australian Market. With Fiji’s high service orientation, we are able to deliver exemplary service to our clients.
Being two hours ahead of Brisbane, the Fiji Team is able to help Australian entrepreneurs maximise the time difference to their advantage. Complimenting this with reliable and quality service seals the deal for businesses that want to get ahead of the pack

PULLING WOOL OVER OUR EYES

SACKED: Fiji's High Commissioner to Australia DAVID KOLITAGANE is given marching orders. He will be replaced by PAP'S AJAY BHAI AMRIT in Canberra. PAP's PARMESH CHAND puts his name forward for JAPAN

16/9/2023

RUBBER STAMP: The Public Service Commission is in turmoil, with Commissioners complaining that they are being forced to rubber stamp nominations from the three-legged Coalition parties.
They were shocked when Parmesh Chand, PS for Civil Service, allegedly put his name forward for consideration as the next ambassador to Japan.
The 'Vulagi' was really miffed, and felt humiliated, when he found out that he came last on the interview sheet.
Meanwhile, ROBERT LEE, a Fijian-Chinese businessman who served in the Fiji embassy in Beijing, is likely to replace Manasa Tagicakibau as ambassador to China. He outperformed Ratu Inoke Kubuabola at the interview for Beijing. Kubuabola to remain in Wellington.
Two of SODELPA's failed candidates SEMESA KARAVAKI and ANNA ROKOMOKOTI were also shoved on the PSC for diplomatic postings.
Karavaki failed to make the cut and Rokomokoti is being earmarked for London, Washington or as Roving Ambassador-at-Large.
According to sources in the PSC, there was concern that Karavaki, a staunch Seventh Day Adventist Church leader, would refuse to partake in any diplomatic functions and events if it fell on a Saturday.
Rokomokoti, who was recalled from Fiji High Commission in New Delhi in controversial circumstances, is most likely to be posted to London, to replace Jitoko Tikolevu, who was relegated to third position in the interview table of candidates.
Welcome, to OLD FIJI. And, don't forget the STINKING blackmail deal that failed candidate Ro Teimumu Kepa and SODELPA have negotiated for her to be the next PRESIDENT OF FIJI in 2024.

BOOTED OUT; Kolitagane

YO HO HO AND A BOTTLE OF JOHNNY WHISKEY:
The PSC was also forced to consider Biman Prasad's nominee for High Commissioner to India

HOUNDING South Koreans: One Kim in CUSTODY, awaiting deportation. Another Kim bashed and robbed in his own home. Grace Rd KOREANS accuse Tikoduadua, his snatch squad, of harassing and hounding them

14/9/2023

A Korean businessman alleged two men entered his home in Lautoka, assaulted him, and stole items worth more than $6000. Paul Kim, 64, who lives at Savala Street, operates a scrap metal business in Lautoka. Surveillance camera footage showed the men continuously punched and kicked Mr Kim, in the early hours of last Friday. The men then ransacked the home, took his wallet, credit cards, electronic items, bottles of wine, a diabetes tester, and other valuables. “I was awoken by my dogs barking; as I came out of my room, someone switched on one of the lights,” Mr Kim said. Source: Fiji Sun, 12 September 2023

Sharma

The Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission has received a complaint from members of the Grace Road Church in relation to the manner in which some of their members were taken into custody by state officials, use of alleged force during detainment, alleged denial of access to a lawyer while detained at the Suva Remand Centre; and the Church being labelled as a cult.

Commission Chair, Pravesh Sharma says one member was also allegedly denied a visa to re-enter Fiji.

He says persons awaiting deportation should be kept in immigration safehouses rather than at remand centres since they have not been charged with offences.
The Commission Chair says detained persons should have access to their lawyers and to other human rights defenders.

Sharma says the Grace Road Church members facing deportation must be given the right to challenge their detention and deportation. He says they have a legitimate expectation that their rights will be complied with. Source: Fijivillage News.

After the presentation of the petition, Grace Road Fiji has released another statement saying the current event clearly encompasses the entire Grace Road, not just a few of their members.

They say the underlying context represents a clear case of religious oppression, as indicated by the labeling of the group as a cult.

One of their senior executives, who was returning from an overseas business trip to Fiji, received a visa rejection notification while on the flight back.

Ana Sungdo, a senior administrator of Grace Road Group said she was denied entry into Fiji on Friday 8th September 2023, while having her investor visa all along.

She says she handles significant administrative tasks for the group, and she finds it extremely unfair that her visa was rejected, and she was even denied entry on a visitor visa. She further says she had no choice but to stay in Australia, but the Australian Immigration at the airport, who were notified by the Fijian Immigration, insulted her as a ‘cult’ and refused her entry.

The group also says in a separate incident this week, two of their senior managers, who are not on the list of the Immigration Department, were chased by unmarked cars during the day.

They say these vehicles dangerously stopped their vehicle by blocking the front and the rear in the middle of Suva.

They say they were then told that they were immigration officers, and held the members without any explanation and harassed them while not allowing them to leave for a while.

The group says during last week’s detainment of their members, the immigration authorities forcibly detained 62-year-old female member Nam Suk Choi in a heavy-handed manner.

They say the officials did not present any official letter, orders, or warrants.

The group claims just to detain one 62-year-old woman, over 15 police and immigration officers were involved.
They say the officials acted rudely and used physical force, causing fear among other staff, customers, and onlookers. Source: Fijivillage News

While the FFP government had granted 50 year lease to pastor Ok Joo Shin, now serving prison sentence in South Korea, the then Opposition leader Ro Kepa and her clan were also in organic rice farming partnership with the Grace Road Church.

South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol

News outlet Newstapa and broadcaster Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company (JTBC) have been raided by South Korean authorities after reporting in 2022 on an allegedly fake interview claimed to discredit then-Presidentical candidate Yoon Suk Yeol. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the Journalists Association of Korea (JAK), condemn the intimidation and legal harassment of media workers and news outlets and urge the authorities to cease all investigations immediately.

On September 14, investigators and prosecutors with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office were dispatched to the offices of online news outlets Newstapa and broadcaster Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company (JTBC), seizing materials related to a 2021 interview between trade union leader and former journalist Shin Hak-lim and Kim Man-bae, a key figure in a land development scandal.

At the offices of Newstapa, company representatives reportedly refused to cooperate with the prosecutors without the presence of a lawyer, however eventually allowed the prosecutors entrance. The homes of a Newstapa reporter and a former JTBC journalist were also raided.

The incumbent People’s Power Party (PPP) took issue with the report’s alleged framing of the current President (then-candidate) Yoon Suk Yeol as having participated in an illegal loan scheme in 2011. The interview, recorded in September 2021, was released by Newstapa on March 6, 2022, three days before the national elections, with JTBC reporting a similar story in February the same year. The digital publication was one of several outlets to cover or republish the interview and allegations.

Prosecutors raided Kim’s home and office on September 6, with Shin summoned for questioning at Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ office on September 7. Authorities announced on September 11 their intention to open investigations into several other outlets, including the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), treated the recording. The Office of the President described the interview as an ‘extraordinary political scheme’ a day before the initial raid, claiming the interview unfairly influenced the 2022 election.

Kim is also suspected of paying Shin KRW 165,000,000 (approx. USD 140,000) in September 2021 for books authored by Shin, with prosecutors alleging this inflated rate influenced Shin’s judgement. Kim has denied requesting an interview, instead alleging the conversation was strictly personal. He further claimed the inflated price paid for the publications was due to their exceptional value.

Announced on September 7, the decision by authorities to prosecute media professionals and outlets marks the first actioned prosecution related to press coverage since 2008. However, since his election in 2022, President Yoon has been at the centre of several attacks on press freedom. In October 2022, the MBC was targeted through legal action and protests led by PPP lawmakers, after the broadcaster allegedly misrepresented comments made by the President in a hot mic incident. President Yoon later excluded journalists and media workers with the outlet from a presidential envoy to the G20 in November.

JAK President Kim Dong-hoon said: “We express concern about the increasing intensity of the government's media suppression as we approach next year's general elections. The ruling party in South Korea, the People Power Party (PPP), has not only taken legal actions against media outlets and journalists who reported on the dialogue records of our fellow journalists, Shin Hak-lim and Kim Man-bae, both of whom have a journalism background but also against journalists who quoted and covered these records. Moreover, they have even targeted political commentators who wrote articles about the related content. Furthermore, they have filed defamation complaints against radio hosts who reported on the incident. […] The JAK, along with other major media organizations, is committed to staunchly opposing the ruling party's endeavours to manipulate the media and will dedicate their collective efforts to safeguarding press freedom.”

The IFJ said: “These raids and investigations against media outlets are the latest in a concerning trend of media rights violations led by the incumbent government in the Republic of Korea. The IFJ urges the prosecutors’ offices to withdraw all investigations against Newstapa, JTBC, and the outlets’ journalists, and calls on the People’s Power Party to ensure that press freedom is upheld and protected.”

JAI, HO, JAGANNATH SAMI. NZ based, failed NFP election candidate and its former general secretary, SAMI is recommended by his buddy BIMAN PRASAD as the next Coalition and Fiji's HIGH COMISSIONER to INDIA

12/9/2023

GENIE OUT OF THE WHISKEY BOTTLE
According to reliable sources in the Fiji Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NFP has recommended Jagannath Sami to replace Kamlesh Prakash as Fiji's new High Commissioner to India.
The former chief executive of the Sugar Cane Growers Council has for many years been living in New Zealand.
If our sources are correct, it will be another blatant cronyism.
Why should such an important posting go to someone living it up on 'Whiskey and Lamb Chops' in New Zealand?
*Is Sami permanently residing in Fiji or New Zealand, who is tipped to replace Kamlesh Prakash (below) in New Delhi?

From The Fiji Sun archive, October 2005:
Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase's visit to India with Love
By VICTOR LAL
"When Fiji set up its High Commission in Delhi, I expressed regret that an Indo-Fijian was not posted to represent us, and had suggested the name of the late Dr Ahmad Ali, as a suitable candidate. He would have been following in the footsteps of India’s first High Commissioner to independent Fiji , Bhagwan Singh, the father of the current Indian High Commissioner. In November 1970, Mrs Gandhi appointed Bhagwan Singh to our islands after the Fijian delegation to India, comprising Ratu Mara and the late Opposition leader Siddiq Koya, cracked a pre-dinner joke with her that in case at any time the Indian Government found Bhagwan Singh missing from India , they could always trace him in Fiji where he really belonged. Both Singh’s father and grandfather had served as bonded labourers on the sugar plantations here. It was a dream come true, as Singh later narrated in his autobiography My Father’s Land – Fiji. His son Ajay Singh is today the new
Indian High Commissioner to Fiji."

In the 21st Century every sixth human being will be Indian, says a former distinguished member of the Indian Foreign Service and currently director of the Nehru Centre in London, the author Pavan K. Varma in his book Inside the Real India-Being Indian. I would strongly suggest that the Indian High Commission in Suva send a complimentary copy to the Prime Minister [Laisenia Qarase] before his trip to India, for it is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand India. Being Indian is an essential book for foreigners who wish to understand Indians and for Indians who wish to understand themselves.

In the book the Prime Minister will, no doubt, find many of the parallels and contradictions to his own problems in our country. In it, he will find that the Fijians are more akin to the Indians than the Indo-Fijians, whose old world, in many respects, vanished under the rigours of the indentured labour system.

India, as Varma reminds us, is the world’s largest democracy. It is a nuclear power. Soon it is bound to join the even more exclusive club of manned flights into space. By the year 2050 India will be the third largest economy in the world, after the US and China . And yet how, for example, does the appalling indifference of most middle-class Indians to the suffering of the poor square with their enthusiastic championing of parliamentary democracy? How, Varma asks, can a people who so wholeheartedly supported Mahatma Gandhi’s strategy of non-violence during the struggle for independence burn young brides for more dowries, and beat domestic servants to near-death?

Why do Indians have a reputation for being spiritual and ‘otherworldly’ when their philosophy and traditions exalt the pursuit of material well-being as a principal goal of life. They worship animal Gods, and yet the Indian dog is the worst treated animal in the country. Moreover, like the Prime Minister, the Indians thought of democracy as a British ‘foreign flower’ and yet hero-worship it.

Varma also points out how Indians take to factions as naturally as a fish to water, something that finds echo in the current Fijian political factions. It is a cliché that if there are two Indians there will be two parties, says Varma. Swami Vivekanada had once observed that ‘three Indians cannot act together for five minutes. Each one struggles for power and in the long run the whole organisation comes to grief. A strong centre of power can keep factions in abeyance’.

But why will India, despite all her above-mentioned negative traits, not fall apart, and why can its people expect to prosper in the years ahead? According to Varma, no one reason can answer these questions satisfactorily, but a combination of factors can. The unexpected survival of democracy, in a people not democratic by temperament or heritage, is one factor. Democracy has given Indians an institutional framework for the exercise of political choice and the freedom to express dissent. This has acted as an indispensable safety valve in an inequitable context with great discrepancies in the distribution of power and wealth. Although the more privileged citizens saw it primarily as a means for their own advancement, democracy has by the sheer miracle of its survival, given the weakest and the poorest a stake in the system.

In Fiji, the fundamentalist Christians want to declare the country a Christian state. And yet, why have so many faiths found a home in India (Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam etc etc). The first reason, according to Varma, is that Hindus (despite a militant few) are not and have never been, insecure about their religion. Historically, Hinduism has shown a supreme complacency towards any threat to its existence. Co-existence is an imperative, not an option, in India. Indians are pragmatic enough to understand this. The great majority of Hindus and Muslims feel that it is in their self-interest to swim away from the islands of religious exclusiveness inhabited by mullahs and mahants (Muslim and Hindu priests), towards the mainland of greater secular opportunities. In 1947, against the background of the massacres of partition, many learned observers felt that Hindus and Muslims could never live together.

The people of India have proved them wrong, and whatever the pessimists may say, Varma claims, the situation can only improve because of the emergence in the last decades of a sense of Pan-Indianness that refuses to be circumscribed by religion or region. If religious fundamentalism has not taken over the Muslims in India, one of the main reasons is democracy. A new India has emerged in the last fifty years. It does not deny the past, nor is it immune to its influence. But, it is more a product of the challenges of the present, and the opportunities of the future.

In politics, the idea of cohabitation has become inevitability. Caste and communal leaders have made it their virtue to share the spoils of power. Today, the Centre in Delhi is ruled by a coalition of over a dozen parties, and more than half of the states are governed by a coalition whose parties have hardly any common ideology. For too long, both the Indian and the foreigner, have been struck by the bewildering diversity of India, a nation of many languages and ethnicities, deeply divided by insular fealties. But today the great salad bowl of India is gradually emptying into a melting pot. In a pan-Indian context, most Indians are ‘minorities in India ’.

The first Prime Minister of independent India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, whose ancestral original roots lie high in the valleys of Kashmir, spoke emotionally of Indians’ ‘majesty of soul’; he saw her as an anthropomorphic unity, Mother India, ‘a beautiful lady, very old but ever youthful’. He also spoke of Mother India’s ‘Overseas Children’. On the eve of India ’s independence Nehru raised the issue of citizenship, including that of Indo-Fijians, in the Lok Sabha on 8 March 1948: ‘Now these Indians abroad. Are they Indian citizens or not? If not, then our interest in them becomes cultural and humanitarian, not political. Take the Indians of Fiji and Mauritius : are they going to retain their nationality, or will they become Fiji nationals or Mauritians? The same question arises in regard to Burma and Ceylon . This House wants to treat them as Indians, and with the same breath it wants complete franchise for them in the countries where they are living. Of course, the two things do not go together. Either they get the franchise as nationals of the other country, or treat them as Indians minus the franchise and ask for them the most favourable treatment given to an alien.’

We are all too familiar with Nehru’s most memorable speech to the Constituent Assembly on the eve of India’s independence: ‘Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.’ For us in Fiji, Nehru should be remembered for his famous speech much earlier, when he was fighting for the abolition of the Indian indentured system. On 29 December 1929, he told the Lahore Congress: ‘This is not from any want of fellow-being with our brethren in East Africa or South Africa or Fiji or elsewhere who are bravely struggling against great odds. But their fate will be decided in the plains of India and the struggle we are launching into is as much for them as for ourselves.’

And yet, when Indian independence came, he was far-sighted enough to urge Indo-Fijians to make Fiji their home, a point reinforced by her daughter, the late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi when she visited Fiji in 1982: ‘India wants to see the Indians, wherever they have settled, adopt the country as their own and continue with their traditions, culture, and religion.’

The Indo-Fijians had already taken the advice to their heart, for 98 per cent of them opted to take out Fiji citizenship on independence in 1970. They could also take comfort and pride in the words of a former Indian High Commissioner to Fiji, Mrs Sonu Kochar, who reminded them, and inter-alia, the Fijian nationalists in 1982: ‘The Indian contribution to Fiji is no less a feat of pioneering endeavour than that of European settlers in Australia, New Zealand or USA, but with one notable difference. The Indians did not decimate the indigenous people. Instead, in many ways, they became shock absorbers in the harsh reality of a colonial era.’

She also reminded the Indo-Fijians of their rightful status in Fiji: ‘To those Indians who themselves want to migrate, to seek greener pastures, I have always said that they are chasing mirages. This is the piece of earth on which you were born, shaped, made aware; whose flowers you have learned to love and whose paths to roam. You belong here.’

It was not long after that statement that I found out what she had actually meant. In the late 1980s, I went to the Indian High Commission in London for a research visa to India. I thought of myself as a prodigal son returning ‘home’ for the first time since our arrival in Fiji in 1879. It was a shock to my system when I was told to pay for the visa. I jokingly put to the Indian High Commissioner, whom I had met when he had accompanied Mrs Gandhi to Fiji as her Private Secretary, that it is India that has to pay for ‘selling’ our forefathers as coolies to work on the sugar plantations. In reply, and in zest, he gave me a simple test to fulfil – the three Rs. I failed the test miserably. I was a non-Returnable Indian (India was not my home), a non-Recognisable Indian (no caste or regional language), and a non-Rupee Indian (didn’t send remittances to India ).

I was, however, a truly Recognisable and proud Indo-Fijian. As a matter of fact, the majority of the descendants of Indo-Fijian labourers had lost contact with ‘Mother India’ long ago, except some like the Chaudhry family whose relatives live in Haryana. The following declaration of an ex-indentured woman labourer Rangamma, in 1979, who arrived in Fiji with her parents in 1899, still applies to the majority of Indo-Fijians today: ‘Fiji is my place. There is nobody in India for me.’

And it is this truly unique identity of ours in Fiji that the Indo-Fijian leaders must nurture and cultivate if we also want to turn the country into a truly melting pot. I always find it obnoxious and insulting to our history and heritage in Fiji when Indo-Fijian leaders talk down to us during radio interviews, at election rallies, funerals, and on other religious occasions, in pukka Hindi, which a vast majority of us fail to understand or absorb, instead of the colloquial Fiji-Hindi, which even our Fijian brothers understand and speak in many parts of the country. It is time we cultivated our Indo-Fijian heritage and history and not merely Indian history. It would be the first step towards reconciliation of the two major races.

The PM and Indigenous Rights Test

Finally, why do I support Prime Minister Qarase’s trip to India. I have already outlined some of the lessons he will be able to bring back with him in nation-building, hopefully. I would go further, and urge him to take Mahendra Chaudhry, as Leader of the Opposition, with him for the opening of the Fiji High Commission in New Delhi .

When Fiji set up its High Commission in Delhi, I expressed regret that an Indo-Fijian was not posted to represent us, and had suggested the name of the late Dr Ahmad Ali, as a suitable candidate. He would have been following in the footsteps of India ’s first High Commissioner to independent Fiji , Bhagwan Singh, the father of the current Indian High Commissioner. In November 1970, Mrs Gandhi appointed Bhagwan Singh to our islands after the Fijian delegation to India , comprising Ratu Mara and the late Opposition leader Siddiq Koya, cracked a pre-dinner joke with her that in case at any time the Indian Government found Bhagwan Singh missing from India , they could always trace him in Fiji where he really belonged. Both Singh’s father and grandfather had served as bonded labourers on the sugar plantations here. It was a dream come true, as Singh later narrated in his autobiography My Father’s Land – Fiji. His son Ajay Singh is today the new Indian High Commissioner to Fiji .

But the ball is in Chaudhry’s court, if Qarase makes an offer to him to accompany the official delegation to India . If Chaudhry rejects the offer, India must neither encourage nor condone if, by some quirk of events, the FLP sends him separately to Delhi, to coincide with the Prime Minister’s visit. The FLP has a remarkable history of sending its people to right places at the right time. To remind India, the Prime Minister Qarase is booked to be their honoured guest from 8-10 October 2005.

Significantly, the trip is important in another very important respect, which may be even beneficial to Chaudhry if he decides to once again gun for the Prime Minister’s job: should a minority leader rule over an indigenous majority? The Prime Minister’s visit might take the indigenous/immigrant rights debate over leadership out of the debate in the 2006 election.

For today THE KHANS-Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan, all Muslims whose ancestors came with their culture and religion from Arabia, rule the box-office destiny of Bollywood and feel no need to appear to be anything but themselves. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, the President of India, is a Muslim and the Oxford-educated Dr Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India, is a Sikh, whose 3,000 co-religionists were only two decades ago murdered during the anti-Sikh riots following the assassination of Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi by two Sikh bodyguards.

In an overwhelming indigenous Hindu India, no one has objected to a Muslim President and a Sikh Prime Minister. In Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s case, despite being married to the Gandhi family, she had still clung on to her Italian citizenship. Of course, it should not have been held against her. After all, a vast majority of Indians had voted for her and her Congress Party.

In conclusion, India is the only country on the planet where no Fijian Prime Minister will be able to sell the ‘Indigenous Race Card’ to justify Fijian nationalism, racism, and exclusive political control of the country.

For the Indians will be able to shoot it down by reminding the Prime Minister of his hosts – a Sikh and a Muslim- who are ruling a billion indigenous Hindus.

We hope that the Prime Minister will, on the other hand, immensely benefit from the India trip, a country that has skilfully straddled the modern, medieval and the ancient at the same time. As India Today magazine noted in August 2005:

‘The world today is a different place and so is India. India may be an old country but we are a young nation with 70 per cent of our citizens under 35 years. With all its traditions and heritage, India is now a forward-looking nation. It is almost as if we have been freed again from the shackles of our past.’

We hope that the people of Fiji will also benefit from the Indian state visit.

It is high time the Indo-Fijians should say with Mark Anthony in Julius Caesar, ‘I love Caesar but I love Rome more’- ‘We love India but we love Fiji more.’

It is equally time we formed a GOPIFO (Global Origin of People of Indo-Fijian Origin) to help Fiji survive in the 21st Century.

For their part, the Fijians must also play a constructive role, and extend their hand of togetherness, for it will take both hands to wash away the ugly stains from the 1987 and 2000 coups.

Unfortunately, a glaring omission from the Delhi celebrations in October will be the voice of Indo-Fijians through our national anthem. For one reason or another, while the national anthem ‘Blessing grant oh God of Nations’ has been translated into Fijian, ‘Meda Dau Doka’, it has NEVER been translated into Fiji Hindi or Indian Hindi, for that matter.

Surprisingly, no Indo-Fijian leader of repute has called for a translation of the national anthem.

It is no doubt, therefore, that many Indo-Fijians have grown up singing Sa reh jahan se aacha, Hindustan hamara, hamara (Of all the lands, India is the best land).

Its time the Fiji Government’s actions spoke louder than words.

Bon Voyage. To India With Love! Jai Hind.

Fiji mata ki jai ho! Isa Lei, Fiji.

DARK SIDE OF INDIAN PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI:
Despite India becoming the first country to land a rover on the dark side of the Moon, the Hindu nationalist Modi, like his counterparts in the current Coalition government, is determined to impose his Hindutva - an ideology or movement seeking to establish the hegemony of Hindus and Hinduism in India.

LETS CELEBRATE THE LIGHT SIDE OF THE MOON ROVER LANDING

FOUR FNU SACKED COUNCIL members are REINSTATED by Radrodro. Adi Kesaia Seniloli, Robin Nair, Dr Priscilla Paumau, Peter Zinck back. Radrodro accepts Rabuka's directive and the Solicitor-General's opinion

11/9/2023

We understand that Solicitor-General Ropate Green advised that the Minister did not have statutory powers. Radrodro accepted and re-instated the four FNU Council members.
The failed SODELPA candidate Semesa Karavaki as FNU Chancellor will go back to his position as Deputy with Seniloli taking over her old position as Chancellor.
*We suspect the decision could be tied to the fact that KARAVAKI is being recommended by SODELPA as next Fiji High Commissioner to London after Ro Teimumu Kepa is no longer in contention.
SHADY DEAL?

GRACE ROAD SEVEN, INTERPOL AND SOUTH KOREA. TIKODUADUA should have waited until investigations by KAMIKAMICA were complete. DANIEL KIM must be in Fiji for the probe. Why the hurry to DEPORT him?

11/9/2023

There is widespread chattering among the business community that either Fijian Holdings Ltd or NFP supporter and businessman VINOD PATEL and his company are lined up to takeover Grace Rd business empire in Fiji. We have investigated Grace Road operations in Fiji for over a decade and our investigations lead to some prominent i-Taukei currently aligned to the Coalition government.
Is Pio Tikoduadua telling us that if his Ministerial colleague MANOA KAMIKAMICA's investigation team find out that Grace Road president DANIEL KIM is implicated, will Tikoduadua request INTERPOL and the South Korean government to return KIM to Fiji for TRIAL?
When the investigation into Grace Road was announced by Kamikamica, we sent to him and Tikoduadua the name of a prominent i-Taukei lawyer who seemed to have facilitated the Grace Rd members into Fiji?
We will write in greater detail the double standards on Tikoduadua's part on the subject of Prohibited Immigrant status of Daniel Kim and NFP's championing of the lifting of the Prohibited Immigrant status of the late BRIJ LAL who in the 1990s had consciously and voluntarily given up his Fiji citizenship to become American and Australian citizen respectively, so he could pursue his academic career, and complete books on NFP leaders A. D. Patel and Jai Ram Reddy.
*Tikoduadua's current actions remind us of that narcissist, arrogant, Walter Mitty lawyer and former Attorney-General and Minister for Justice AIYAZ SAYED KHAIYUM who, in 2008, ignored Fiji High Court Order and deported the late Fiji Sun publisher Russell Hunter out of Fiji after our Editor-in-Chief had revealed FLP leader and then Interim Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry's tax details. The then Fiji Human Rights Commission director SHAISTA SHAMEEM, while supporting the deportation, had recommended that our Editor-in-Chief be arrested, if and when he entered Fiji, for 'violating Chaudhry's human rights'.
There is something really rotten in the Coalition's 'House of Denmark'.

TOSO VITI FLYING FIJIANS as HALF of Fiji will be singing with you the MEDA DAU DOKA. Who wrote it? Our research reveal it was the late Sir Josua Rabukawaqa before he became High Commissioner to London

10/9/2023

Ratu Mara and Josua Rabukawaqa receive copies of the cassette tapes of Ratu Mara's own song Ciri Koto from South Pacific Recordings managing director Ravindra Patel.

Sir Joshua Rabukawaqa in his office in 1977 as Fiji's roving regional ambassador - photo, Fiji Times

It was Sir Josua Rabukawaqa who wrote the MEDA DAU DOKA before he left for London to become Fiji's first High Commissioner.
Rabukawaqa joined the Fiji Colonial Civil Service and was Commissioner Central from 1968 to 1970. He was knighted in 1977.
*In 1970, the late Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara sent Rabukawaqa to set up Fiji's High Commission in London. As expected, Rabukawaqa became Fiji's first High Commissioner to London.

He hailed from Bua. Besides being a civil servant, Rabukawaqa was the leader of the famous local i-Taukei choir called The Phoenix Choir, and the Choir's recordings can still be found on cassette tapes today.
It was Rabukawaqa who wrote the MEDA DAU DOKA before he left for London to become Fiji's first High Commissioner.
In 1980, Rabukawaqa and his Phoenix Choir also provided music and sung Ratu Mara's song Ciri Koto e Loma ni Wasaliwa* that Ratu Mara had written as a tribute to Fiji soldiers serving in the Middle East. In his autobiography The Pacific Way: A Memoir, Ratu Mara writes:
'On a plane journey to London, my thoughts were with our soldiers on peacekeeping duties in Lebanon and Sinai. The idea for a song came to me, but I had nothing to write on until, rooting around, I found the usual sick bag in the pocket in front of me. On this unlikely manuscript paper, I put down my thoughts in a matter of 15 minutes. The song tells of the thoughts of a Fijian soldier as he stands ready to give his life if need be. The chorus tells of the silvery sea ruffled by the cool surf, the bright sunshine followed by the light of the moon, his far away island with its long beach of gleaming sand. For that sacred land and its good name he would give his life, as his thoughts ever return to his homeland.'
*When Ratu Mara arrived back in Fiji, he handed his song to Rabukawaqa, to write the music to his lyrics. In 1980 the song was sung by the Phoenix Choir under the leadership of Rabukawaqa. It was one of 14 songs by the Phoenix Choir released on cassette tapes by South Pacific Recordings in Nadi.

"I don’t know who wrote it (Meda Dau Doka, does anyone?) but it seems to me to have been someone who was not a native speaker. Incidentally, who if anyone has been getting the royalties?"

Dr Paul Geraghty, USP, Letters to Editor,
The Fiji Times, 26 August 2023

By Paul Geraghty, USP, Letters to Editor, Fiji Times, 26 August
PLEASE allow me to contribute to the discussion on a Fijian version of the national anthem. As I’ve pointed out a number of times in these columns, ‘Meda dau doka’ is not the Fijian version of the anthem. There is no Fijian version, it was written only in English.

Since some seem to be under the impression that it represents the spirit of the national anthem, let me give an English translation so more people can judge:

Let us all respect and want the land
Where clean people now live
A time of peace and harmony has been achieved
Unclean behaviour has been abandoned
May Fiji flourish and continuously advance
May the leaders be good men
May the people be led in good things
So bad behaviour will be eliminated.
You young men in Fiji are to blame
Act so the land will be clean
Do not put up with filthiness
And let us now abandon it forever

This is in my opinion not only unidiomatic (‘let us want the land’) but inappropriate in apparently blaming all young men of Fiji for filthiness.

I don’t know who wrote it (does anyone?) but it seems to me to have been someone who was not a native speaker.

Incidentally, who if anyone has been getting the royalties?

If we want a national anthem in Fijian – and clearly I think there should be one, as do many others – I suggest we have a competition to find the best.

Also we should consider following South Africa in having a multilingual anthem.

PAUL GERAGHTY USP, Suva

FLP: 'The $350,000 to political parties is a ruse to help Coalition parties clear debts, amass funds to fight next election. It was kept secret from voters, smacks of corruption. What about Girmit celebration accounts?

8/9/2023

"Under the Political Parties Act, political parties can only be funded from the proceeds of membership fees, investments, or donations from individuals who are citizens or former citizens of Fiji. The donations are not to exceed $10,000 per individual per annum. The huge grants of $325,000, in addition to the special annual payment of $5000 per MP, do not fall under any of the lawfully authorised source of funding of political parties, and are thus unlawful. I see it as nothing but a ruse to enable the parties in the Coalition to clear their election debts and amass funds to fight the next elections. It was kept a secret from the people until revealed by the general secretary of the Fiji First Party this week. Not only is it illegal, it smacks of corruption. The taxpayers are being taken for a ride by this self-seeking government. There is a glaring lack of transparency. We are still waiting for the long promised accounts of the Girmit Celebrations and the National Economic Summit. The funneling of State funds to political associates, and now to partner political parties, has become a hallmark of this government."

Labour says $325,000 payment to parliamentary parties unlawful

Fiji Labour Party has written to the Supervisor of Elections to investigate the payment of annual parliamentary grants of $325,000 to each of the four political parties in Parliament in breach of the Political Parties Act.

“The payment is unlawful,” says Leader Mahendra Chaudhry.

"Under the Political Parties Act, political parties can only be funded from the proceeds of membership fees, investments, or donations from individuals who are citizens or former citizens of Fiji. The donations are not to exceed $10,000 per individual per annum.

"The huge grants of $325,000, in addition to the special annual payment of $5000 per MP, do not fall under any of the lawfully authorised source of funding of political parties, and are thus unlawful”.

“I see it as nothing but a ruse to enable the parties in the Coalition to clear their election debts and amass funds to fight the next elections, said Mr Chaudhry.

It was kept a secret from the people until revealed by the general secretary of the Fiji First Party this week.

“Not only is it illegal, it smacks of corruption. The taxpayers are being taken for a ride by this self-seeking government. There is a glaring lack of transparency.

“We are still waiting for the long promised accounts of the Girmit Celebrations and the National Economic Summit.

“The funneling of State funds to political associates, and now to partner political parties, has become a hallmark of this government,” Mr Chaudhry said.

The filthy and run down Global Girmit Institute - Worse than PIG STY.
We repeat: Biman Prasad, wife and Ganesh Chand must be arrested and questioned over the $200,000 Girmit Fund Scam. In the annals of girmit we don't find our girmitiyas as BAIMAANS. Shame on the TRIO.

The New Zealand Ranjit Singh inspecting the Global Girmit Centre

CRY BELOVED GIRMITIYAS – THE NEGLECTED AND RUN-DOWN FIJI GIRMIT CENTER -A SHAME TO THE MEMORIES OF THE GIRMITIYAS

I had written previously in Facebook as well as in The Fiji Times about the neglect of this monument, and lack of efforts by government or Girmityas descendants to add value to this 12.5 Prime land very strategically located on the road to Nadi Airport from Lautoka. This land was donated by Fiji Government in 1979 and the centre was opened by the then Indian PM, Indira Gandhi some 45 years ago.

And this place still needs some dignity and attention by Fiji Indian descendants of Girmit.

But it seems I am whipping up a dead horse. You just saw the indignity of Professor Brij Lal and Dr Padma Lal Library in a derelict shopping centre up the road in Saweni. Why cannot this Girmit Global Institute work with Fiji Girmit Council, and work jointly in memory of the Girmitiyas? How long will it be directly or indirectly fuelled by government funding to open up a rival body.

I visited the Girmit Centre on 31 August, 2023, and am delighted with its potential, but shocked with its neglect. What a shame and pity that this grand monument in memory of the Girmitiyas has been lying unutilised to full potential for some four decades. Shame on us. For how long will I remain the lone voice to cry for this centre.

The place is now partly run down, the land allocated to people to plant cassava, and is a shame to the memories of my forebears.

I just hope the Ministry of Multi-Ethnic Affairs will take some interest to whip this dead horse to life.

CRY BELOVED GIRMITIYAS – your hope now is in three hands: Minister Charan Jeath Singh, and Permanent Secretaries Yogesh Karan and Parmesh Chand.

Hope this is read by some millionaire Fiji Girmitiya descendant in the Fiji Indian Diaspora, who may have some dignity, honour and respect for Girmitiyas that surpass Fiji’s interest in this place.

In my primary school Hindi ki teesri pothi (third year book), I read a poem, which said:

Parvat par jo charna chaho, pahle charho Pahari. Translated it means, IF YOU WISH TO CLIMB A MOUNTAIN, FIRST, ATTEMPT TO OVERCOME A HILL.

That is the story with this dubious organisation, GLOBAL GIRMIT INSTITUTE. What have they done locally, on the ground, within Fiji before becoming GLOBAL?

Have they held any Girmit functions locally, apart from a questionable International Girmit Conference, using taxpayer money, given by well-connected politicians, and flushed down the toilet. What is the outcome of that conference? Any links, communique or benefits worth some $250,000? What will the new generation learn or benefit from this publicly-funded price tag? Doesn’t Fiji have an accountability system?

AND DUBIOUS AND SHAMEFUL PROFESSOR BRIJ LAL AND DR PADMA LAL LIBRARY IN A DILAPIDATED, RUNDOWN AND NEGLECTED CORNER OF RURAL SAWENI

Well, come down to Saweni Shopping Centre on the way to Nadi Airport from Lautoka, up the Saweni hill, near a service station, with potholes that can hide an anaconda. At the end of this dirty, messy, unkept area, you have a wooden shack, with a signboard, Global Girmit Institute. At the entrance is a dairy-type shop, maybe for nightly sales. This is supposed to house PROFESSOR BRIJ LAL AND DR PADMA LAL LIBRARY, that reportedly the then leader of PAP, and now PM, Sitiveni Rabuka opened or inaugurated sometime in 2018.

Well there are no signs indicating it is any library, named after anyone-as there are no signs to, or sign of any respectable library.

I hazarded to venture in this shack, “jhopar patt”i-type of structure, negotiating up a risky stairs, overgrown with grass, scattered with rubbish and an area which delivers no respect to any library, especially the one named after the distinguished Professor. Some statues of elephants outside seem to be struggling to run away from this shameful environment.

And just some ten minutes’ drive to Lautoka, near Lautoka City is government-donated 12.5 acres of land known as FIJI GIRMIT CENTRE, which could have housed such a library with dignity. But who can beat individual egos?

I ventured there with my wife, Shashi Shankar Singh, who fell and hurt her knees which was bleeding, in negotiating up the dirty, hazardous and unkept driveway, on her way out. I have a word of caution for Dr Padma Lal if she gathers courage to visit this derelict supposedly named after her husband and her. Fortunately, there are no signs saying this, hence, it saves their dignity.

I visited the library on Thursday 31 August, 2023, and enquired about the following books, which any library worth the name of Professor Brij Lal needs to house:

Professor Brij Lal's: CHALO JAHAJI, IN THE EYE OF THE STORM (Autobiography of Jai Ram Reddy), and TULSI'S STORE, among others.

Rajendra Prasad's TEARS IN PARADISE and ENSLAVED IN PARADISE

Totaram Sanadhya’ s MY 21 YEARS IN FIJI - FIJI MEIN MERE IKKIS SAAL
.
Reportedly, NONE OF THESE BOOKS ARE IN THIS LIBRARY, and there appears to be no catalogue.

Then, one may question, what the hell does Professor Brij Lal and Dr Padma Lal Library hold?

I will stop talking, and let the photos I took speak, and hope the Minister for Multi-Ethnic Affairs can speak something about this and the neglected Fiji Girmit Center, where the books could be housed with dignity, and we can have one central Girmit Library and memory to Girmitiyas instead of this shameful, breakaway division, promoted by Government Assistance directly or indirectly.

One day PM Rabuka may have to explain this.

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Fijileaks: In May 2015, Anwar Khan phoned our Founding Editor-in-Chief out of the blue and claimed that big oil companies in Fiji bribed Police and the DPP to charge him

Listen to the 'Russian speaking business tycoon' ANWAR KHAN

PULLING WOOL OVER OUR EYES

YO HO HO AND A BOTTLE OF JOHNNY WHISKEY: The PSC was also forced to consider Biman Prasad's nominee for High Commissioner to India

While the FFP government had granted 50 year lease to pastor Ok Joo Shin, now serving prison sentence in South Korea, the then Opposition leader Ro Kepa and her clan were also in organic rice farming partnership with the Grace Road Church.

LETS CELEBRATE THE LIGHT SIDE OF THE MOON ROVER LANDING

"I don’t know who wrote it (Meda Dau Doka, does anyone?) but it seems to me to have been someone who was not a native speaker. Incidentally, who if anyone has been getting the royalties?"Dr Paul Geraghty, USP, Letters to Editor,​The Fiji Times, 26 August 2023

The filthy and run down Global Girmit Institute - Worse than PIG STY.We repeat: Biman Prasad, wife and Ganesh Chand must be arrested and questioned over the $200,000 Girmit Fund Scam. In the annals of girmit we don't find our girmitiyas as BAIMAANS. Shame on the TRIO.

CRY BELOVED GIRMITIYAS – THE NEGLECTED AND RUN-DOWN FIJI GIRMIT CENTER -A SHAME TO THE MEMORIES OF THE GIRMITIYAS

editor@fijileaks.com

YO HO HO AND A BOTTLE OF JOHNNY WHISKEY:
The PSC was also forced to consider Biman Prasad's nominee for High Commissioner to India

"I don’t know who wrote it (Meda Dau Doka, does anyone?) but it seems to me to have been someone who was not a native speaker. Incidentally, who if anyone has been getting the royalties?"

Dr Paul Geraghty, USP, Letters to Editor,
The Fiji Times, 26 August 2023

The filthy and run down Global Girmit Institute - Worse than PIG STY.
We repeat: Biman Prasad, wife and Ganesh Chand must be arrested and questioned over the $200,000 Girmit Fund Scam. In the annals of girmit we don't find our girmitiyas as BAIMAANS. Shame on the TRIO.