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BUDGET REACTION: FRANK Bainimarama's former INTERIM Minister of Finance, Public Enterprise and Sugar Reforms Mahendra Chaudhry says there is "NO BENEFIT FOR ORDINARY WORKER" in Khaiyum's Budget

30/6/2017

21 Comments

 

“What we see here is an election budget with a lot of money being thrown around to impress the voters – increasing allowances for the poor, catering for the handicapped, increasing the tax threshold etc. But, in fact, the Budget is absolutely silent on any real long term measures to tackle the roots of poverty through increasing employment particularly for our youth, raising wage rates for the ordinary worker, bringing down the cost of food and other living costs.” - FLP

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THE MONEY MAN: Chaudhry striding with Bainimarama into Parliament to deliver post 2006 coup BUDGET
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No benefit for ordinary worker in Khaiyum's Budget 2017-18

The ordinary worker gets no benefits from Budget 2017-18, says Labour Leader Mahendra Chaudhry.

“It is a show Budget which flaunts the allocation of big moneys to different sectors but we will have to wait and see how much of this funding actually trickles down. We know from past experience that moneys allocated are not actually released to ministries and departments,” said Labour Leader Mahendra Chaudhry.

The poor will be disappointed to see that the 9% VAT on basic food items imposed by Economy Minister Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum in Budget 2016 remains despite strong protests from the public.

The National Minimum Wage of $2.68 an hour announced by the Minister is an insult to workers. It is grossly inadequate to meet the basic needs of the ordinary worker.

The ordinary worker will also not benefit from the increase in the #tax #threshold to $30,000. It is acknowledged that at least 65% of our workers earn below poverty line wages. The minister should have raised the minimum wage to help them out of the poverty pit.

“What we see here is an #electionbudget with a lot of money being thrown around to impress the voters – increasing allowances for the poor, catering for the handicapped, increasing the tax threshold etc. But, in fact, the Budget is absolutely silent on any real long term measures to tackle the roots of poverty through increasing employment particularly for our youth, raising wage rates for the ordinary worker, bringing down the cost of food and other living costs,” Mr Chaudhry said.

On #Public #Service pay increases, Mr Chaudhry said: “It is unacceptable that civil servants are being forced to convert to yearly contracts in return for pay increases promised in the Budget. Those who decline have been told that they will not qualify for the increases.

“This is sheer blackmail and in contravention of the provisions of the Employment Relations Act. Public service unions must fight hard against this draconian measure. It is a question of security of employment of their members,” said Mr Chaudhry.

On #housing, the $60m allocated for affordable housing through the Reserve Bank of Fiji, will not assist people on lower incomes. The truth is that most of our low income workers, those really in need of assistance, will not qualify for it. They will not be able to meet the bank’s lending criteria.

The other objectionable feature of the scheme Mr Khaiyum outlined for the construction of a multi-unit housing project by FNPF at Matavolivoli, Nadi is the fostering of class differences. It will also create social problems.

On the #sugarindustry, it is not clear whether the subsidies on fertilisers and weedicides are a one-off concession for the 2018 elections or whether they were designed to stay in place.

The Budget makes no mention of $100 a tonne guaranteed minimum price demanded by the farmers. Nor does it make any provision for the construction of a new mill for the Ra cane growers.

#Mounting #Debt levels remain a major worry contrary to claims by the Minister that it is being reduced. Debt repayment cost in the 2017-18 Budget has gone up by $65m, from $153m in the last Budget to $217m.

This underscores the fact that we are increasing our reliance on borrowed money. The Budget deficit at 4.5% of the GDP is on the higher side.

“The increase of $700m in revenue seems to be a book balancing exercise to match a similar increase in expenditure. This is improper practice and distorts the real picture.

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United States ambassador Larry Dinger to Washington

BUDGETS have always provided high drama in the annals of Fiji politics. The following Opinion column in the Fiji Sun (2006) by VICTOR LAL is a case in point. It was not long afterwards Frank Bainimarama and his shadowy conspirators overthrew the Laisenia Qarase led SDL-FLP multi-party government. As revealed by Dinger, Chaudhry agreed to accept Coupist Bainimarama's offer to become the interim regime's Minister of Economy, Public Enterprises and Sugar Reforms

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The FLP Cabinet ministers should have free vote on Budget

Why Chaudhry voted with SVT rebels on 1994 Budget?

BY VICTOR LAL

1994 Budget!
Do we recall the political drama when it was put to a vote?
Do we recall the role the leader of the Fiji Labour Party Mahendra Pal Chaudhry played that fateful day? If not, here is what happened in November 1993. Six members of the former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka’s SVT government, led by the dissident Josevata Kamikamica, and one from the General Voters, David Pickering, crossed the floor to vote the Budget down with the help of the Opposition. And what was Mr Chaudhry’s reaction? Instead of chiding his political opponents for betraying SVT party solidarity, he immediately wrote to the late President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara asking him to have Mr Rabuka tender his resignation as Prime Minister of Fiji.

Twelve years later, he is singing to a different tune, reminding his nine FLP Cabinet ministers to stand by the party’s opposition to the increase in VAT, and to vote against the 2007 Budget because it is against the poor. Of course, he would characteristically reply that it was not his business to discourage the SVT dissidents from voting against the 1994 Budget. Politics is about naked opportunism, and he merely seized the occasion, he would claim, on that fateful November 1993.

Fair game. Politics is, after all, the art of the possible. In retrospect, however, one may ask whether Mr Chaudhry and his supporters are not so much opposed to VAT in the Budget as consumed by their determination to finish off their own political opponents, most notably Krishna Datt and a few others. The Budget has provided them the perfect opportunity to seize their moment, which they have miserably failed to do so far despite their slow but dogged pursuit of the so-called ‘Gang of Five’, especially Mr Datt.

Meanwhile, Mr Datt has revealed that Mr Chaudhry had declined to enter the Multi-Party Cabinet. Why? Was it because Mr Datt was also to serve alongside him? Now, Mr Chaudhry says that he has not turned down the offer by Mr Qarase to become a Deputy Prime Minister. According to him, the sticking point is VAT, as he told Mr Qarase: ‘I said you made it very difficult for me to accept it (DPM) by imposing VAT on the poor people. So we have this big difference in economic and social policy.’

According to Mr Chaudhry, the Qarase government has a record of penalising the poor and pampering the rich. ‘Now how can then I serve as the deputy prime minister in such a government until such time as we sort out these major differences. Are we there to serve ourselves or are we there to serve the people,’ said Mr Chaudhry. Mr Chaudhry added that he was not going to be trapped in a situation like that of Minister for Labour Datt.

‘The point is when I go in I want certain things clearly understood. I will only go on that basis. I will not go in just for the sake of being the deputy prime minister.’ Fair enough. And yet, one has grave reservations about Mr Chaudhry’s explanations, given Mr Datt’s tone and speech on the 2007 Budget, where he also lambasted Mr Chaudhry and his directives on voting pattern. It seems that Mr Chaudhry feels that the two giant FLP political crocodiles cannot co-exist in a multi-party cabinet pool at the same time, given that they have not spoken to each other since moves began to discipline, and if necessary, to expel Mr Datt and others for challenging Mr Chaudhry’s leadership.

During the 1994 Budget debate, the former Opposition leader Jai Ram Reddy claimed that ‘There is a yawning gap between what this government says and what it does, raising serious questions both about its competency and ability to manage the nation’s economy’. Mr Reddy offered to help revise the budget but Mr Rabuka was advised it was not necessary, his senior people encouraged by what they saw as rather mild criticism of the proposal.

The taste of the political pudding is in its eating. If Mr Chaudhry’s only reservations are VAT and the absence of ground rules for the multi-party cabinet, why he did not bluntly tell Mr Qarase that he would enter Cabinet as DPM provided he was allowed to help revise the budget, especially the contentious VAT, for Mr Qarase had reportedly told him, ‘to come and fix it’. On entering Cabinet, the two could have issued a joint public statement on the subject of VAT, and a slightly revised budget could have been presented at the second reading. There is no evidence that Mr Chaudhry nor Mr Qarase entertained the above propositions.

Cynics are saying that Mr Qarase is only eager to bring Mr Chaudhry into Cabinet to thwart Commodore Bainimarama executing a coup. Mr Chaudhry, on the other hand, the cynics claim, is using the issue of VAT in the Budget as a pretext to dismiss his political opponents, especially Mr Datt, both from Cabinet and the FLP.

Whichever side one takes, if Mr Chaudhry is serious about the poor and the nation, he should take the opportunity to expedite the process of drafting ground rules for the successful functioning of the multi-party cabinet. It is widely claimed that it was Mr Chaudhry who allegedly deliberately delayed the drafting of the ground rules, until the fate of the Budget has been decided. There are so many problems with the concept of power sharing in the 1997 Constitution. It is ludicrous, for example, that an Opposition MP who becomes a Cabinet minister finds himself or herself in an invidious position, to vote with Government or on party political lines. There are other matters that need urgent attention and clarification.

The Prime Minister says that the FLP members are part of his Government and should, therefore, vote with him. If they are a part of the Government, were they consulted on the appointment of Dr Tupeni Baba, one of their former founding members, to become the new Fiji ambassador to the UN? Were the FLP Cabinet ministers consulted, or approved, the appointment of those with chiefly ranks to be new High Commissioners to Malaysia and the United Kingdom? It is a well-known maxim that for the successful functioning of a Coalition or a Multi-Party government, there has to be consensus management and the avoidance of surprises.

It is time all the political leaders went back to the drawing board, beginning with the drafting of ground rules. As to the 2007 Budget, it would be best if Mr Chaudhry allowed his FLP Cabinet ministers a free vote on the budget, for in the absence of any pre-agreed ground rules they cannot be punished for adhering to Cabinet collective responsibility and against their party’s own stance on VAT.

Unless, as the cynics claim, Mr Chaudhry has embarked on cleansing his political opponents, especially Mr Datt, from the Multi-Party Cabinet, before he himself enters it as Deputy Prime Minister of Fiji. Moreover, any disciplinary action, which might result in expulsion from the Cabinet, is fraught with legal problems. The ruling in Chaudhry v Qarase on 18 July 2003 on collective responsibility favours the FLP Cabinet ministers who are pro-Budget. It states that ‘Ministers who are members of the Cabinet will publicly stand by the decisions of the Cabinet, if unable to do so, will resign’.

If some of the FLP Cabinet ministers vote for the budget, they will be constitutionally voting not as members of the FLP but as Cabinet ministers who have taken the oath of affirmation to act as Government ministers. There is also no guarantee that the President will readily concede to their expulsion at the whim and fancy of Mr Chaudhry, and a reluctant Prime Minister Qarase at a time when the nation dithers on the cusp of upholding the fledgling democracy and possible military dictatorship. Above all, there is no guarantee that some of those might not return to Parliament as independents in any by-elections.

In historical perspective, Mr Chaudhry joined Mr Rabuka’s own six dissidents to vote down the 1994 Budget? Why cannot he now allow his Cabinet ministers a free vote on the 2007 Budget? It is the only sensible way to resolve the Catch 22 situation his nominated Cabinet Ministers find themselves before returning to the constitutional drawing board.

It is frequently said that ‘the economy is stupid’. In our case, ‘the 1997 Constitution is stupid’ in some aspects and needs urgent attention. The FLP Cabinet ministers must not be made the political sacrificial lambs for any hidden political agendas or on the workings of Cabinet collective responsibility. Mr Chaudhry should never have sent them into Cabinet in the first instance without signing any ground rules. It is Mr Chaudhry, who must, accept responsibility for the strife and division on the 2007 Budget. It is he who must explain to the rank and file members of the FLP why he sent them to Cabinet without any checks and balances. He cannot close the political stable after the horse has bolted out of it – on this occasion, the founding father of the FLP, Krishna Datt.

The only alternative for Mahendra Pal Chaudhry is to completely withdraw from the MPC (I mean Multi-Party Cabinet) and re-negotiate a written agreement on power sharing in Fiji. If not, we will never have political stability in the country; forget about the debate on for and against the 2007 Budget. It is hypocritical of him to say that Mr Qarase does not need his nine Cabinet Ministers to pass the Budget and, in the next breath, to threaten the nine with dismissal if they do not vote with him against the Budget. Surely, if Mr Qarase does not need the nine votes, so why does Mr Chaudhry to defeat it.

The FLP Cabinet ministers must have a free vote on the Budget because of Mr Chaudhry’s failure to draw up any ground rules when he put forward their names for Cabinet positions. They are adhering to collective Cabinet responsibility as required by the Constitution of Fiji.

The nation comes before the party. If not, Mr Chaudhry should never be allowed into Cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.

Fijileaks:
On 5 December 2006 Bainimarama overthrew the SDL-FLP government and Chaudhry phoned US ambassador Larry Dinger to inform him that he was accepting coupist and treasonist Frank Bainimarama's offer to become Minister of Finance, Public Enterprises and Sugar Reform.


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http://www.economy.gov.fj/

Fijileaks: There is nothing on the 2017/2018 BUDGET on the above link

21 Comments

ELECTION BUDGET: The former Election Commissioner Professor Vijay Naidu characterizes Khaiyum's Budget as "Election Budget" on NFP's live stream analysis: 'Demagogue. He thinks we have collective amnesia'

29/6/2017

8 Comments

 

Fijileaks: Despite dishing out millions to different Government departments,  Khaiyum presented an incomplete BUDGET, and his FFP government media did not even have the courtesy to upload it on their sites for public consumption - hence we have not produced it. He also provided no ESTIMATES in contravention of s144 of his 2013 Constitution and 99(2) of the Standing Orders of Parliament

"No mention whatsoever on social housing. No mention of housing for the poor. And he labelled that as "ghetto housing." Cant ignore that a large section of our population need social housing." Professor Naidu

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FNPF granted exclusive Casino licence
The Fiji National Provident Fund will be granted an exclusive Casino licence to construct a casino by the new convention centre at Momi Bay which will in turn support members of the Fund. This has been revealed by Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum in his 2017-2018 National Budget address

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Fijileaks: One Hundred Sands was granted exclusive casino licence under Khaiyum's Casino Decree but no dice was rolled out; now he is talking up another casino to be girded by FNFP members money

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http://www.fijileaks.com/home/one-hundred-questions-must-be-answered-as-aiyaz-khaiyum-finally-revokes-one-hundred-sands-ltds-casino-license-what-about-aunty-bano-and-her-accountancy-firm-who-represented-the-company-in-fiji

8 Comments

TEACHING THE TEACHERS A LESSON? If you want a PAY RISE, you must sign 5 YEAR CONTRACT, says letter sent out by Education Ministry

29/6/2017

1 Comment

 
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The letter is signed by Education PS Eroni Loganimoce; recall him from Fijileaks posting of 18 December 2015:

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Meanwhile, read below from FTA to Reddy - re Eroni Loganimoce:

Bula vinaka Mahen!

The Association has just learned the following:

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http://www.fijileaks.com/home/reddygate-fta-to-mahendra-reddy-what-qualification-does-eroni-loganimoce-have-for-you-to-upgrade-his-salary-from-39452-to-44068

1 Comment

RFMF beating around the BUSH about BUSHMASTERS on the streets of Suva, claim some senior military officers and call on AUSTRALIA to explain if military violated any agreements regarding use of Bushmasters

28/6/2017

3 Comments

 

Fijileaks: Why are the BUSHMASTERS not based at the Peacekeeping Camp at Black Rock, if they are for UN training purposes? Why were they being driven around the streets of Suva? To INTIMIDATE the PUBLIC? The BUSHMASTERS are strategic asserts that needs approval from the Minister of Defence to deploy outside the QEB, as were the former CRW soldiers. Who approved for the BUSHMASTERS to be taken into Suva?
On days the RFMF celebrates INFANTRY DAY, its a norm to go out and do charitable work at hospitals, schools, Old Peoples Homes etc. Maybe, the RFMF was taking out patients from St Giles for a ride around Suva in their newly acquired Australian "toys" at taxpayers expense?

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From Fijileaks Archive, 13 January 2017

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3 Comments

SODELPA youth leader released without charge after staging a lone protest on WORLD TORTURE DAY. Shame that Opposition political party leaders didn't march with him; Chaudhry slams arrest as INTIMIDATION

28/6/2017

12 Comments

 

"Fiji is fast deteriorating into a police state” - FLP leader Chaudhry

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On way to freedom. Jope Koroisavu with his lawyer Aman Ravindra-Singh and political activist Jagath Karunaratne
FIJI'S Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) youth president Jope Koroisavou has been released by Police without any charges being laid against him. Mr Koroisavou was arrested on Monday this week while protesting during International Day in Support of Victims of Torture at Suva's Sukuna Park. In an interview shortly after his release, the youth activist said he was interrogated for 48 hours. Mr Koroisavou said he was thankful to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for handling the matter professionally and also thanked his supporters for their prayers. His lawyer Aman Ravindra-Singh said the allegation that was put to his client was sedition and he was questioned in relation to the allegation made by Police. "The allegation that was put to my client was sedition and as the Police had made it public, there was a breach of the Public Order Act," Mr Ravindra-Singh said. "I absolutely refute that and Jope was simply exercising his right to freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom to peaceful assembly and these rights are enshrined in the Constitution.". Source: The Fiji Times, 28 June 2017

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LONE PROTESTOR: Jope Koroisavou was arrested for marching with this placard through Suva

From Fijileaks Archive, 18 December 2014:

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TALKING POINT: VICTOR LAL

The Death of Sakiusa Rabaka at Black Rock Following Detention by the RFMF


On January 24, 2007, RFMF and police personnel detained four young men, including 19-year old Sakiusa Rabaka, ostensibly for smoking marijuana. They took the men to the Black Rock Military Base, near Nadi, and forced the men to participate in severe exercises, which included multiple beatings.

Among many indignities, the soldiers forced one man to perform oral sex on an unconscious co-detainee. The four were dropped off at a police station the following day, where they confessed to their crimes, and then released. Rabaka died as a result of injuries sustained during the assaults.

The RFMF attempted to frustrate the criminal investigation into this incident. The army refused to allow the police to interview eight RFMF soldiers suspected of involvement. The police then lost the file, necessitating that much of the investigation be redone.

The DPP ultimately charged eight RFMF soldiers and one police officer with murder, at which point the RFMF tried to send them abroad on a UN peacekeeping mission.

The attempt was nearly successful, with only a last minute intervention resulting in the accused being asked to de-board a UN chartered airplane at the airport. Following trial, all nine were convicted of manslaughter and assault occasioning actual bodily harm on March 17, 2009 and sentenced to four years, imprisonment.

The following RFMF soldiers based at the RFMF,s Black Rock Base in Nadi in February 2007 were convicted: (1) Taione Lua; (2) Ulaiasi Radike; (3) Etonia Nadura; (4) Ratunaisa Toutou; (5) Joeli Lesavua; (6) Jona Nareki; (7) Laisa Kurimavua (8) Napolioni Naulia Patrick Nayacalagilagi, a police officer at the Namaka Police Station in February 2007, was also convicted. US Embassy in Fiji to Washington: Wikileaks

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VICTOR LAL: The principal THUG who has turned Fiji into an on-going "Police State" is the Father of Coups and Sodelpa leader Sitiveni Rabuka. We call on SODELPA youth leader Koroisavou to march against Rabuka, and for his removal as SODELPA leader. TORTURE is TORTURE. We must not forget to include SITIVENI RABUKA on the Torture Placard!

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For too long political leaders have exploited others to further their political ambitions, leaving their followers to face the brunt of the law:

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The UN could play a part investigating human rights abuses in Fiji according to UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, human rights campaigners heard during the recent Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Auckland, New Zealand.
  

In fact, the UN had come down hard in 2007 when the murderous Fiji military and then Police Commissioner Esala Teleni had tried to secretly ship out for a United Nations assignment to Iraq eight soldiers and one policeman who were accused of sexual abuse, torture and cold blooded murder of 19-year-old Nadi teenager Sakiusa Rabaka.
 

The Nadi teenager had died in February 2007, a month after he and a group of friends were assaulted at the Black Rock military training base in Votualevu, Nadi. He was hospitalised and underwent surgery for brain injuries in the days prior to his death.

The soldiers Joeli Lesavua, Jona Nareki,  Taione Lua, Napolioni Naulia, Ulaiasi Radike, Etonia Nadura, Ratunaisa Toutou, Ilaisa Kuruimavua and lone policeman Patrick Nayacalagilagi were jointly charged with one count of murder and four counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. They were, however, found guilty of a lesser charge of manslaughter, jailed for four years by regime’s lackey judge Justice Daniel Goundar. However, the killers were released within weeks on compulsory supervision order, prompting the DPP’s office to say that it was unusual for convicted criminals to be released so quickly after being sentenced for major crimes.

Bainimarama and Tikoitoga’s response to murder suspects Iraq tour
When Fiji media broke the story about the murder suspects being prevented from leaving for Iraq on Saturday 27 October 2007 the dictator, who has avoided a murder inquiry into his own conduct following the 2000 mutiny and deaths at Nabua camp, appeared on Fiji TV on 29 October. He denied any interference in the Rabaka murder case, claiming that he was helpless to stop any soldiers from going overseas on peacekeeping duties just because they were suspects in a murder case.
   

His side-kick and military spokesman Lt Col Mosese Tikoitoga said the Director of Public Prosecutions had not furnished them with a list of suspects. The Fiji Peacekeepers Association expressed concern that the soldiers implicated in the murder were not isolated from other soldiers. And Alinieta Rabaka, the mother of the late Rabaka told the press that she believed that the army had tried to send the suspects abroad to thwart the course of justice. Police, on the other hand, claimed that they were trying to establish why policeman and murder suspect Nayacalagilagi was booked on the Iraq flight.

Flight to Freedom Thwarted at Nadi Airport
On Tuesday 30 October the DPP’s Office disclosed that murder and assault charges had been laid against the nine accused on Thursday 25 October and it was forced to obtain a court order to bar the nine from leaving for peacekeeping duties in Iraq. The DPP said it had to intervene after attempts to talk to the military about Rabaka’s death had broken down. The charges were filed in the Magistrate's Court in Nadi on Thursday and the next day court summons were served on all. The DPP's Office said if the suspects had been allowed to leave on the UN-chartered flight on Saturday night it would have deferred the case for an indefinite period. In other words, the killers would have escaped justice.

The DPP issued a stop order to the Immigration Department at the Nadi International airport on Saturday. Immigration Director and military strongman Viliame Naupoto said the soldiers were taken off the flight by the army at the airport. He said the officers names could not have been on the Immigration “Watch List” if the officers made it through immigration. Tikoitoga refused to comment further, referring the press to speak to military arsonist and human rights abuser Lt Col Sitiveni Qiliho, who Tikoitoga said was responsible for the matter as he was in Nadi.

The Great Lie and Cover Up
But the Wikileaks cables from the US Embassy in Suva tell a very different story, exposing the lies and cover up of the murderous Fiji regime which was planning to send the Rabaka murderers to Iraq after the US led coalition had toppled Bainimarama’s dictator cousin Saddam Hussein, later executed for his crimes against the Iraqi people.

In one of a series of cables Larry Dinger, the then US ambassador to Fiji wrote to Washington on 25 October 2007, the day DPP had laid the charges. Under the heading “RFMF deploying murder suspects to Iraq”, Dinger wrote: “We have received information that o/a Oct. 27 the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) will deploy to UNAMI in Iraq ten soldiers who allegedly participated in the beating deaths of two civilians early this year, the only confirmed killings related to the military “clean up” campaign after last December's coup.  Ever since the beatings, the RFMF, the Fiji Police, and the Public Prosecutor Office have supposedly been investigating who did what, and consulting on what charges might be laid in what venue.  It has appeared pretty obvious that the culprits were identified very early on.  The endless to-ing and fro-ing since has brought repeated pleas from the families of the victims, the media, and human-rights activists for appropriate criminal trials and convictions.”
 

As usual, Dinger gave a background under the heading “The beating deaths: what happened”: “The military reportedly picked up Sakiusa Rabaka in the Nadi area on marijuana-related suspicions in early February.  He returned home the following morning badly beaten, described his ordeal, and complained of a severe headache.  Subsequent medical efforts to save his life failed.  He died on Feb. 24.”

And contrary to the liar Tikoitoga that the Director of Public Prosecutions had not furnished them with a list of suspects, the US Embassy had the names of the murderers for a week, as Dinger disclosed to Washington under the heading “The alleged culprits”: “This week we obtained the names of the one RFMF suspect in the death of...9 RFMF suspects in the beating of Rabaka: Taione Lua (NCO); Patrick Nayacalagilagi (Private); Ulaiasi Radika (Private); Etonia Nadura (Private); Ratunaisa Toutou (Private); Joeli Lesavua (Private); Jona Nareki (Private); Ilaisa Kurimavua (Private); and Napolioni Naulia (Private). All ten reportedly are to depart for Iraq Oct. 27, and we are told the RFMF moved up the departure date, which was initially scheduled for a few weeks from now.”

Dinger commented in the cable: “...Rabaka's first-hand account before his death made RFMF involvement clear in his case.  One Fiji Police officer was implicated, too.  Commodore Bainimarama has stated publicly that the RFMF and the interim government (IG) would not obstruct justice in the cases; however, the military's actions have certainly impeded the process.  There have been rumors for months that the RFMF had sent some or all of the perpetrators off to peacekeeping duties in MFO Sinai or Iraq to hinder investigations.  The planned deployment of the ten soldiers this weekend, if it takes place, would clarify rumor into reality.”

Leahy Amendment sanctions and RFMF murderers
Dinger asked for guidance: “Since the deployments are to UNAMI (United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq), we flag the matter to USUN for possible referral to UNPKO.  We are also including the ten names on Embassy Suva's list for Leahy Amendment sanctions.  Please advise if further Embassy Suva action is advisable.”  

UN Key Role in stopping murderers’ flight to Iraq
On 29 October, the night the dictator appeared on Fiji TV and claimed that he was helpless to stop soldiers from going overseas on peacekeeping duties, Dinger told Washington under the headline, “UN letter halts RFMF plan to deploy murder suspects”:

“According to a well-placed embassy source in Fiji
Immigration, a UN intervention is what kept the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) headquarters from deploying 7 soldiers and one policeman, all charged with murder (see reftels), to UNAMI last Saturday.  Reportedly a letter from the UN reached the RFMF leadership on Saturday p.m. stating that the 8 personnel were unacceptable to the UN.  All 8 had been processed through Immigration and their baggage was on board the aircraft when the RFMF “move-con” officer pulled them back.  A source noted to us that RFMF plans to send the 8 had moved ahead, despite a court summons (ref A) that was intended to halt the deployment.  Then the UN letter arrived and brought activity to a halt.  Departure of the aircraft was delayed by two hours as events unfolded.  Earlier information indicated a total of 9 personnel were deploying. It is not yet clear what happened with the 9th, Private Etonia Nadura.”

Continued Dinger: “We have heard from the UNDP ResRep in Suva that he provided UNDPA a heads-up last week, “based on the rumblings in Fiji,” that allowed rapid consultations once the issue hit the media.  The ResRep said he has since been out of the loop, as DPKO and UNDSS took over, apparently conversing with the Fiji mission in New York.”
  

Teleni complicit in badly behaved Patrick Nayacalagilagi flight plan 
Under another heading “Senior Police complicity”, Dinger informed Washington: “An interesting aspect is that the one policeman implicated in the murder case was to be included in the deployment.  Reportedly, when Commodore Teleni moved from RFMF Deputy Commander to Police Commissioner last summer, he made arrangements for police to join RFMF PKO deployments, particularly to MFO Sinai.  The particular policeman, Patrick Nayacalagilagi, reportedly had a bad disciplinary record, even before being charged with murder.  Given the history, his inclusion in the deployment had to have been approved at a very senior level, presumably by Teleni personally.”

RFMF says “not fair;” Teleni seeks praise  
Dinger continued: “The RFMF spokesman, Lt Col. Tikoitoga, defended the decision to send the personnel on a PKO assignment abroad, proposing that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) had given no indication the men would be charged.  Tikoitoga said, “It is not fair” to bar departure at the final hour.  Police Commissioner Teleni indicated to the media that the Police had “acted in the name of justice” by refusing to allow suspects in the murder case to depart on PKO duties. Teleni said he knew nothing of the one policeman alleged to be deploying.”

Three Murderers also Rugby Sevens Ambassadors
But Dinger remained unconvinced, commenting: “Our knowledgeable sources are amazed by the gall of Tikoitoga to claim the RFMF was unaware the 8 were under investigation for murder.  The suspects have been known ever since the beating in February, and the ODPP has been trying for weeks to convey the news that charges were ready to be filed, with the RFMF constantly evading a meeting. Similarly, for Teleni to attempt to claim high moral ground is breathtaking.  While details remain to be sorted out, it now appears that a UN intervention blocked the deployment. The ODPP did what it could as well.  The RFMF and Fiji Police senior leaderships failed miserably to uphold proper standards of conduct. An interesting side note is that three of the RFMF suspects have been members of the Fiji “rugby sevens” team, the highest calling for any Fiji sportsman.”
  

The three national rugby playing murder suspects were Etonia Nadura, Jona Nareki and Napolioni Naulia. If the United Nations had not intervened, it is quite likely that not only the three would have escaped justice but dictator Bainimarama and his family, and Fiji Rugby Union chairman Tikoitoga, would have been cheering them on at future Hong Kong Sevens, and other venues around the world, at Fiji taxpayers’ expense.

Black Rock turned into Death Rock
Ironically, in August 2006, when the US House of Representatives Committee chairman Henry Hyde had visited Fiji, the dictator told him in Nadi, as the US Embassy reported to Washington, of his plans for Black Rock: “Bainimarama’s staff briefed on the history of the RFMF, focusing on its long and stellar history in peacekeeping.  Commander Bainimarama noted that Fiji is likely to expand its operations in support of the United Nations in Iraq.  He also reviewed Fiji’ plans to build a peacekeeping training center in Western Fiji at Black Rock, noting that forces from throughout the Pacific would be able to train there.”
 

Six months later, however, after the treasonous coup the dictator and his military goons turned Black Rock into Death Rock by murdering Sakiusa Rabaka, one of many beaten, tortured and murdered by the Bainimarama-Khaiyum illegal regime.

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Rabuka’s 1987 terror regime: a warning for Fiji

By VICTOR LAL
29 December 2006


“Every time we shrug when we hear of another midnight raid, the cries of terrorized women and children, then somewhere in Fiji another potential [Klaus] Barbie [The Nazi Butcher of Lyon in France] is getting a start in life,” said the former Methodist communications secretary in 1987, the Reverend Akuila Yabaki, now head of the Citizens Constitutional Forum. He was speaking out against the reign of terror and torture practised mostly against the Indo-Fijian community by Sitiveni Rabuka, his military henchmen, prominent chiefs, and the dreaded and racist Fijian taukei foot soldiers following the 1987 coups.

Now, nearly twenty years later, we are beginning to hear the first ripples of ‘torture tactics’ by the military against the pro-democracy supporters. But let us hope and pray that Commodore Frank Bainimarama’s military will not go down the road that Mr Rabuka took his troops, chiefs, and taukeists like Apisai Tora to achieve his objective of ‘Fiji for the taukei Fijians’.

The first casualty was the media when Mr Rabuka launched his coup on 14 May 1987. In an editorial on 15 May, the old Fiji Sun asked: “What right has a third-ranking officer to attack the scared institutions of Parliament? To presume he knows how best this country shall be governed for the good of all? The answer is: NONE. The people must decide their own future: not self-promoting dictators and not a Council appointed by and presided over by Lieutenant-Colonel Rabuka. But was he encouraged by others to act? And if so, who were they?”

We now know who they were, and many of those are still around, in positions of influence and authority. Most of them were prominent paramount chiefs, civil servants, church leaders, lawyers, magistrates, judges, and fallen politicians. They were indigenous Fijians, some of whom, and their offspring, are today hiding from the military in a great game of hide and seek following the 5 December coup. The former governor-general and Mr Rabuka’s paramount chief Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, made it easier for Mr Rabuka to crush civil disobedience by warning that the civilian-cum military regime would not hesitate to use emergency powers it had under martial law.

On 15 May 1987, shortly after the Fiji Sun editorial, the Ministry of Information directed the Fiji Times and Fiji Sun to cease publication. The RFMF occupied Radio Fiji. The same day armed soldiers’ ejected staff of both the two newspapers from their offices, and foreign journalists were questioned by the RFMF. In a sickening spectacle, the raid on the Times office was led by one of its own reporters and army reservist E.T. Volavola in full combat gear carrying a rifle and backed up by a squad of troops.

Mr Rabuka announced a Council of Ministers (COM), which was dominated by ex-Alliance Party Ministers (including Ratu Mara who had lost the election to Dr Timoci Bavadra). Mr Rabuka said his military regime was in full control and the people had accepted the coup, and called on the international community to recognize his regime. He said he had abrogated the Constitution and the regime would govern Fiji by decree. He brushed aside the demands of the Council of Churches “in the name of Christianity” to release the MPs he had kidnapped and was holding as hostages, and “surrender to the sovereign authority of the land”, and restore “our duly elected government”.

He instead moved into deposed Prime Minister Dr Bavadra’s office. But when the Fiji Sun questioned Mr Rabuka’s right to occupy high office, he threw the general manager and one of the directors, who was also President of the Fiji Law Society, in the same prison cell as that occupied by Dr Bavadra. The Sun was singled out for severe maltreatment. Sadly, most of the harassment and intimidation was carried out against the Indo-Fijian journalists, for after all, Mr Rabuka had executed the coup to give Fijians the control of Fiji.

Some Fijian journalists, therefore, switched sides, and became Mr Rabuka’s propagandists, reporting on their Indo-Fijian colleagues and their families. In the end, the Fiji Times agreed to operate under partial military censorship, while the old Fiji Sun was forced to cease operations in the country after it published allegations that Mr Rabuka had bought a house in Suva favoured by wealthy Indo-Fijians and expatriates, on a 100% mortgage from a prominent Alliance politician. In the end, some of Fiji’s best Indo-Fijian journalists were forced to emigrate or seek political asylum abroad. Some of us were not only on Mr Rabuka’s hit list but even had our passports confiscated, ending up overnight from being citizens to wandering international refugees.

The next group that Mr Rabuka and his cronies targeted were his political opponents. Shortly before the coup the taukeists firebombed the law offices of Jai Ram Reddy, now an International Criminal Court judge. The late Sir Vijay Singh was detained and his passport seized, prompting him to ask: “What kind of normalcy is [Ganilau] thinking about when things like this happen.”

Dr Bavadra’s spokesman and current Suva lawyer Richard Naidu was arrested and detained on different occasions. He was chased and beaten up by Taukeists, and finally had his Fiji nationality revoked, and ordered to leave the country for New Zealand. Another legal adviser of Dr Bavadra, John Cameron, had his work permit withdrawn after he filed civil suit against dissolution of Parliament, and had also filed claim with the Supreme Court on behalf of a client harassed by the RFMF, seeking a declaration that State of Emergency and 1987 Emergency Regulations were unconstitutional.

Among judges arrested included Justices Kishore Govind and Rooney, including Chief Magistrate Howard Morrison. Even the Police Commissioner, an Indo-Fijian Pramesh Raman, whose job Mr Rabuka had applied a week before the coup, was taken into custody. Several Indo-Fijian lawyers and academics were also taken into custody, mostly on legal advice of some Fijian lawyers.

Although the vast majority of victims were Indo-Fijians, some prominent Fijians like Amelia Rokotuivanua and Dr Steven Ratuva came in for rough treatment. The two were “lectured” by Lieutenant Pio Wong on how to be “true Fijians” and Dr Ratuva had spells in detention, and at one point the military allegedly tried to poison him with the prepared food it had brought to his house. In 1986 he had claimed in a paper that the RFMF’s only function lay in internal repression or as a conduit for chiefly advancement. He had also suggested that “intermarriages between the sons and daughters of chiefs (including the chiefly officers in the army) helps to consolidate the chiefly comprador clique which ensures the perpetuation of nepotism and inequality in Fijian society”.

On 25 September Mr Rabuka carried out his second coup. Violence and intimidation was encouraged, and a group of escaped prisoners were escorted by the military to march to the Government House to demand pardons. When the GCC refused to recognise Mr Rabuka as president, he declared Fiji a republic, declared himself the head of state and no longer recognised the GCC as such. However, on 5 December he agreed to hand over power to the new President Ratu Penaia and the Prime Minister Ratu Mara. Mr Rabuka took charge of Home Affairs, the CJ returned to the bench, Sailosi Kepa was recalled as High Commissioner from London to take over as Minister for Justice and A-G, and Berenado Vunibobo became Minister of Trade and Commerce. Dr Bavadra retorted: “It is a military government in a civilian cloak.”

The international community resumed trade and diplomatic links with Fiji. Australia conferred Mr Rabuka legitimacy by announcing that it was recognizing Fiji as a state rather than the government of Fiji. Ratu Penaia granted Mr Rabuka and his close circle of oppressors, questionable amnesty, and the Fijians introduced apartheid against the Indo-Fijians. Ratu Penaia also formally signed new Internal Security Decree, giving army power to shoot to kill anyone found with illegal arms that resisted arrests.

As Minister for Internal Security, Mr Rabuka had extraordinary range of powers, which violated international standards of human rights, including the detention of any person for two years; order restriction of movement, freedom of expression, employment, residence or activity; prohibit the printing, publication, sale, issue, circulation or possession of any written material, and prohibit its communication through worth of mouth etc.

And yet Mr Rabuka was free to publish his book “No Other Way”. But no criticism of his book was permitted, and one USP Indo-Fijian lecturer who dared to criticise it, was detained and severely beaten up. My own critical counter-book Fiji: Coups in Paradise was banished from the bookshelves of Fiji. As Mr Rabuka plunged the economy into a decline, he was offered $50,000 from an Australian publishing company as a retainer for his book and a TV documentary. The RFMF, commenting on brief detentions and harassment said, “Due to the current conditions everyone is suspect until proven innocent”. Mr Rabuka went on to become the Prime Minister and chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs on the bandwagon of nationalist and racist ideology, an ideology which Commodore Bainimarama claims he wants to stamp out once and for all.

If that is so, let us hope that he will not follow in the footsteps of Mr Rabuka, for many of my own family members still bear the scars of Mr Rabuka’s storm troopers on their chests, and so do many other citizens from the 1987 and 2000 coups.

The Indo-Fijians, in 1987, were beaten, forced to stand in sewage pools, and subjected to other forms of humiliating punishments. The vast majority of Fijians remained silent to the oppression and racism in their midst. In fact, many joined in its continuation for the next ten years. But freedom, as former military strongman Mr Rabuka found out only very recently (after he was successfully defended by the President of the Fiji Law Society, Mr Sharma, on inciting mutiny), is a cherished and inviolable right.

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WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING PASTOR JAILED FOR 20 YEARS FOR RAPING DEVOTEES: Jezreel Lion of Judah Ministry founder Jone Cokanauto claimed his SPERM had GODLY power to purify 'SINNERS'

28/6/2017

7 Comments

 
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Justice Temo: “In the i-taukei community in Fiji, the dominant religion is Christianity and it’s teaching is worshipped in the i-taukei community on most weekends and Sundays year in and year out. Central to this is the messages and teachings of the Bible. Moral values and standards are gained and followed as a result of the teachings from the Bible.

The story about the woman from Samaria is about a woman with no faith in Jesus to have faith in Jesus and she becomes an evangelist. However, you as the head of the ministry had done the unthinkable.

You have twisted the living water Jesus offered to mean your sperm. You have reclassified the woman of Samaria not as an evangelist but as a prostitute. You then taught that to be purified as the temple of God, you need to have sex with them.

By your web of deceit, you have committed various sexual offences against your own followers and you have taught and practised in exactly the opposite way that Saint John said in Chapter 4 verses 1 to 42.

You really are a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ and you must not complain when your liberty is taken away.


Your ministry had been in existence for 17 years and looking at your offendings in their totality, you have carefully planned your offendings throughout the years. You first entice young women into your prayer group, then you start to molest them sexually when they are fully committed to your ministry and then you keep a tight reign on them by threatening them that they will die if they inform on you.

You have violated their trust in you and you have cunningly used the Bible to further your evil deeds.”

http://www.paclii.org/fj/cases/FJHC/2017/445.html

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"In the i-taukei community in Fiji, the dominant religion is Christianity. Christianity and it’s teaching is worshipped in the i-taukei community on most weekdays and Sundays year in and year out. Central to this is the messages and teachings of the Bible. Moral values and standards are gained and followed as a result of the teachings from the Bible. You have cunningly used the Bible to further your evil deeds.” - Justice Temo to Cokanauto

THIRTY YEARS ago, on 14 May 1987, another Methodist
lay preacher distorted the teachings of the BIBLE
"Love Thy Neighbour" and
Disenfranchised the entire Indo-Fijians in Fiji
when he RAPED DEMOCRACY

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"The Hindus and Muslims are pagans who must be converted to Christianity. It will be a big challenge for us to convert all Indians. Those who do not choose to become Christians can continue to live here but they will probably find that is a difficult place to live in. We are trying to make this place perfect for the Fijian people, and if it is not perfect for others then that is too bad. They will have to go."
The ardent Methodist fundamentalist
Sitiveni Rabuka shortly after the 1987 coups

PASTOR RAPIST Cokanauto must serve 19 years of his prison sentence before he is eligible for any parole; the POLITICAL RAPIST Rabuka (and others) are hiding behind IMMUNITY for treason, and Rabuka wants to be the next Prime Minister. GOD help Fiji!

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THE VICE FIST rained on peaceful protestors by Rabuka and his coupists is still alive and kicking thirty years on - with the arrest and questioning of SODELPA Youth leader JOPE KOROISAVU - KICK RABUKA OUT!!!!!

27/6/2017

2 Comments

 
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SODELPA YOUTH leader Jope Koroisavu is still being questioned at the CID HQ by officers. A few prominent figures have dropped by, including the Commissioner of Police, Human Rights Commission Director Ashwin Raj, lawyer Aman Ravindra Singh and Party Leader Sitiveni Rabuka

 Sadly, those of us who burned all our energy (making enemies along the way) in promoting SODELPA under the leadership of Ro Teimumu Kepa, now feel that the party under Rabuka's leadership has no moral right to lecture the FFP government. With Koroisavu's arrest, history is repeating itself.
SA RAUTA MADA 
SODELPA youth should kick Rabuka out of the party, if they want to claim the moral high ground against the FFP government. Let us not forget that Rabuka and the present lot are all protected by IMMUNITY

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Among those whom Rabuka had thrown into the Central Police Station cells for peacefully protesting against his 1990 racist Constitution was the young Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum; Rabuka later got all of them charged under his draconian Public Order Act; one was kept locked for the next six months, and the beatings he endured is still troubling him in 2017. The worst victim of Rabuka's violence was Dr Anirudh Singh of USP:

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SODELPA youth leader Jone Koroisavu's lawyer Aman Ravindra-Singh on Sitiveni Rabuka:

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2 Comments

HIDING IN THE BUSH? As BUSHMASTERS are taken out for a 'spin' on the streets of Suva and Rabuka is increasingly becoming a person of interest to be monitored by military, where is army chief NAUPOTO?

27/6/2017

2 Comments

 

Why is Kalouniwai speaking out and not Naupoto? Has he been dumped? Or is RFMF's Chief of Staff vying for the Commander's post?

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RFMF Commander VILIAME NAUPOTO. SHUT OUT from making comments on matters of public interest?
From Fijivillage News, 27 June 2017:

RFMF concerned with Rabuka’s close involvement with Fiji ex‑Peacekeepers And Action Trustee Association


The RFMF is concerned with SODELPA Leader Sitiveni Rabuka’s close involvement with the Fiji ex‑Peacekeepers And Action Trustee Association and the military will also closely monitor the Association’s call for ex-peacekeepers to gather at the Suva court house this Thursday.


RFMF’s Chief of Staff Colonel Jone Kalouniwai says they are aware of a meeting held between Rabuka and the Association’s seven Executive members at Hotel 2000 in Lautoka yesterday.

Colonel Kalouniwai says the RFMF is aware of the fresh application of grievances the Association will be lodging this Thursday for mention in the Suva High Court in anticipation of the strike‑out application filed by the defendants, Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Finance and the Attorney General against the Association.

Colonel Kalouniwai says these grievances which include a $250 million compensation for participation in UN Peacekeeping Missions from 1978 to 2002 with an upfront installment of $150 million is the perfect opportunity for Rabuka to piggyback on and use as a bandwagon of grievances to sway and manipulate the former Peacekeepers Association for his political gains.

The RFMF Chief of Staff says the involvement of the SODELPA Leader now is a mockery for all RFMF peacekeepers because of his non‑action to increase the RFMF Peacekeepers Middle East location allowances during his capacity as Commander RFMF and Prime Minister of the country from 1987 to 1999.

Colonel Kalouniwai says during those periods, all peacekeepers were receiving a meager $15 a day as location allowances for a whole year in Lebanon.

The current location allowances have gradually increased over the years since then to $130 a day for all RFMF Peacekeepers.

The RFMF is warning the Association to be very cautious and must attempt to fully comprehend the real intentions and ulterior motives of Rabuka’s involvement and his genuine assurances within their Association.

Colonel Kalouniwai says there should be no encouraging of ex-peacekeepers to go in numbers to the courthouse on Thursday.

When questioned by Fijivillage on whether he supports the Association calling ex-peacekeepers to go in numbers to the courthouse, Sitiveni Rabuka said that it would be a waste of money if they do that.

Rabuka also confirms that he is not supporting the compensation payment case as the peacekeepers were paid by the Fijian government, and the peacekeeping deal was between the Fijian government and the United Nations, not between individual soldiers and the UN.

The RFMF will be closely monitoring the situation and strongly urges the Association to reconsider their intentions in encouraging all its members around Viti Levu to attend the mentioning of the Association’s fresh application of grievances lodged against the defendants before the Suva High Court this Thursday.

Meanwhile, the boot boys are taken care off, in case needed for COUP!

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INTERNATIONAL TORTURE DAY should be a reminder to SODELPA that their BIBLE bashing torturer and political leader SITIVENI RABUKA is hiding behind IMMUNITY - immunity has denied justice to his VICTIMS

26/6/2017

12 Comments

 

AND the IMMUNITY he granted himself in the 1990 Constitution, carried forward in 1997 and 2013 Constitutions, is shielding him from charges of TREASON

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He is not alone on that list. We have Apisai Tora, Taniela Veitata, Ratu Meli Vesikula, Savenaca Dranidalo, to name but just a few. We may recall that I had stated earlier in a separate instalment that it was at Reverend Tomasi Raikivi’s place that Rabuka had met his other coup co-conspirators.
  
In his book, Rabuka: No Other Way, by two journalists, Stan Ritova and Eddie Dean, Rabuka claims that it was at Rakivi’s home that he first learnt of the Taueki group’s plan for massive ‘demonstrations and the possibility of widespread arson and possibly murder’. 
  
According to Ritova and Dean Rabuka (his words in italics) went to, ‘…what he understood was an ordinary ‘grog’ party at the Rev. Rakivi’s home, in suburban Suva. It was early evening, and he just walked in, as he normally would, throwing his ‘sevusevu’ [gift] of yagona towards the bowl where the ‘grog’ was being mixed. ‘I saw all these people sitting down, and realised it was some kind of a meeting. Some of the people greeted me, although I could not see everyone clearly, because it was fairly dark in the lounge room. Nobody asked me to leave.’ 

When his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he discovered the gathering was ‘quite a formidable group’. He says it included Ratu Finau Mara, the son of Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara; Ratu George Kadavulevu, son of the Paramount of Chief of Fiji, Ratu George Cakobau; Ratu Inoke Kubuabola; Ratu Keni Viuyasawa, the brother of Brigadier Nailatikau; Mr Filipe Bole, formerly a Minister in the Mara government; Ratu Jo Ritova, of Labasa; Ratu Jale Ratu; ‘Big Dan’ Veitata and the host Tomasi Rakivi…Another leading light at this meeting was Apisai Tora.’
 
Taniela Veitata

We may recall that when Sitiveni Rabuka and a group of 10 masked soldiers, cowardly hiding behind balaclavas and gas masks, took over Parliament and captured Dr Timoci Bavadra and his Government team on the morning of 14 May 1987, it was Veitata who was making his maiden speech as Opposition MP: ‘Peace is quite distinct, Mr Speaker, from the political philosophy of Mao Zedong where he said that political power comes out of the barrel of a gun. In Fiji, there is no gun…’

  
What he did not inform the House, the country, and the world was that he, Kubuabola, Bole and others had been plotting that coup moment in secrecy, waiting for Rabuka and his team to finish the job.

During that secret meeting at Raikivi’s house in Suva, according to Ritova and Dean, those allegedly God-fearing men, some of chiefly rank, exchanged opinions, and turned to God for help: ‘The link with God and Christianity surfaced here, too. At the end of the meeting, which was full of fire and brimstone talk about what to do with the Coalition and the ‘flawed’ [1970] Constitution, which had allowed the election of an Indian-dominated Government, they joined hands and prayed to God. Their prayer, in summary, was simple: ‘Save us, and save our land. You saved the Israelites when their land was taken away from them by foreigners. Dear God, please answer our prayer and do the same for us.’

  
There is no evidence that they also prayed to God to open up the National Bank of Fiji to them but it was not long afterwards that their ‘God’s Messenger on Earth’, in the form of Sitiveni Rabuka, decreed that the NBF grant “soft loans” to the “downtrodden” taukei population. 
  
Among them who made a run to the NBF was none other than Taniela Veitata, for he is listed among the doubtful debtors, to the tune of $25,323.

It seems Reverend Raikivi had forgotten, or chose not to read out to him Psalms 37: 21:

‘The wicked borroweth and payeth not’. 

 
Apisai Tora

As soon as Bavadra and his government were sworn in, the Taukei Movement, led by Tora and prominent Alliance personalities sprang up. Tora said the group had been formed to mobilize the Fijian people and give them a more unified voice on national affairs in their own country. He then announced a campaign of civil disobedience, and called for the 1970 Constitution to be changed so far to guarantee Fijian chiefly leadership in government permanently. 

  
At meetings and demonstrations he charged that the Bavadra government was a front for Indo-Fijian interests and that their immediate objective was to rob Fijians of ownership and control of their land. Such words suggest that he was a revolutionary Fijian hero, but Tora was simply a turncoat. Since he crossed to Ratu Mara’s Alliance Party before the 1982 general election, he had acquired Ratu Mara’s respect and confidence and had finally become a Cabinet Minister. Previously, however, he was with the National Federation Party; in 1968 he had provided the prefix ‘National; to the Federation Party to form the NFP. 
  
As we know, Tora went on to play a major role in the downfall of the Bavadra government. Equally, when the NBF fell into the deep financial hole, Tora was listed, along with Veitata and others, to have defaulted his loan to the tune of $194,393.
 
Ratu Meli Vesikula

He was one of the foremost Taukei leaders. Vesikula who, as a former NCO in the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment in the British Army, had seen action in Northern Ireland, Cyprus and Malaysia, said that in the light of his experience Rabuka’s military solution was the only option in then ethnic crisis.

  
But when Rabuka appointed Ratu Penaia Ganilau as President and Ratu Mara as Prime Minister after the second coup in September 1987, Vesikula led a breakaway Taukei faction, saying: ‘It’s more and more the Alliance team back in place. This is the old system being rammed down our throats again in a roundabout way – the backdoor. I would like the indigenous Fijian people to stand united and say, No, enough is enough’.

He went on to claim: ‘I see no chance at all of my two ratus here changing their outlook and their life and the running of the country in general…The Great Council of Chiefs had clearly stated that it will nominate the President, and the Prime Minister would be elected by secret ballot after the general elections. I’m sorry to say this but I feel Rabuka handed power back to a dictator on five December.’

  
In 1988, a group of army officers, in collusion with the splinter Taukei Movement entertained the possibility of seizing power from Mara and Ganilau, with Vesikula remarking: ‘Now that power has been given to the Tovata group, what is there to stop chiefs from other areas to go to the military camp and order their people to lay down their arms and join them.’
  
To Vesikula’s credit, he publicly admitted his mistakes when he came into spiritual contact with the international Moral Re-Armament Group (Initiative for Change). He confessed he was responsible for many acts of violence perpetrated against the Indo-Fijians after the 1987 coups: ‘But in 1988, the truth began to dawn on me that the coups were just part of a political power play by people who had lost their power at the ballot box in 1987.

In 1990 he publicly apologised to the Indo-Fijians at an MRA conference in Suva. 

  
However, in 1996, he was revealed, along with other 1987 coupists of owing to the NBF $8,000 loans that had been set aside to help ‘poor Fijians’.
 
Savenaca Draunidalo

He was Rabuka’s second-in-command on that fateful day on 14 May 1987 when Dr Timoci Bavadra was overthrown as Prime Minister of the FLP-NFP coalition government. Worse, he was the ex-husband of Adi Kuini Teimumu Vuikaba Bavadra, who herself had fought for reform of the chiefly system by insisting on standards of accountability for all chiefs. 

  
Like others in the Rabuka camp, Draunidalo was also listed on the NBF’s Debtors List in 1996; he was shown as owing to the bank $156,605.
 
Sotia Ponijiasi

He was the army captain who, along with five members of the RFMF, had abducted and tortured Dr Anirudh Singh, a lecturer in physics at the University of South Pacific in Fiji. Singh was abducted from his home on 24 October 1990, bundled into a car and driven off to secluded woodland outside Suva. He had bandages taped over his eyes and a hood tied down tight over his head. He was repeatedly beaten and interrogated about his fellow protestors, and about his contacts in Australia and London. 


They also retrieved a list of names and phone numbers that he always kept with him for ready reference (incidentally on that list of contacts was my own name, and soon afterwards I myself began to receive credible death threats for my opposition to the Rabuka coups).

At one point Singh’s hands were smashed against a root with a metal pipe and they also forcibly cut his hair and burnt him with cigarettes. But before they left him for dead, one of his captors lit a match and began burning the already-cut hair at the tips, some kind of pagan ceremony of humiliation. The whole ordeal lasted for eleven hours. Singh was finally set free, and had lived to tell his tale in his book Silent Warriors.
  
Singh’s crime was that he had led a group of demonstrators who publicly burned the overtly racist 1990 Constitution, which Ganilau and Mara said was needed ‘for the protection and enhancement of Fijian and Rotuman interests’. In reality, as I will be revealing one of these days, it was to enhance the Mara/Ganilau clan’s business interests with the likes of Ponijiasi following in their footsteps. 
  
In the NBF’s Debtors List of 1996, Ponijiasi is listed as owning to the bank $29,763.01.

So much for Rabuka’s much vaunted Holy Grail of affirmative action – to help the poor and economically disadvantaged taukei in Fiji.

Another Ponijiasi – Mere - owed $26,354.36.

In all, Rabuka’s 1987 above coupists  owed a combined total of $415,000 to the collapsed National Bank of Fiji, reward for supporting the 1987 Rabuka coups.


C4/5 Editor’s Note: We will continue to reveal debtors names, which includes those of high chiefs, politicians, Indo-Fijians, business houses, including individual supporters of the present illegal junta in Fiji.


Picture: Dr Anirudh Singh, who was tortured by Sotia Ponijiasi and five members of the RFMF.
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12 Comments

CALM DOWN! RFMF on BUSHMASTER in Suva: "We all know the political hype they (NFP) have and they're just trying to make an issue out of this. We were just celebrating Infantry Day with [Bushmaster]"

26/6/2017

10 Comments

 
From The Fiji Times, 26 June 2017

THE people of Fiji should not fear if they see the Bushmaster — an armoured infantry mobility vehicle — used by the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) on the road.


RFMF chief of staff Colonel Jone Kalouniwai yesterday clarified the three Bushmasters that the military purchased from the Australian Government were not offensive weapons.

Col Kalouniwai's explanation followed comments made by National Federation Party (NFP) leader Professor Biman Prasad that the military should stop intimidating the people by operating the Bushmasters on the streets.

Last Friday, social media went viral, clearly showing a Bushmaster being driven on Victoria Parade in Suva, gathering mixed reactions from members of the public.

Prof Prasad said pictures showed the Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) near the Fiji National Provident Fund Plaza, commonly known as Dolphins and the Suva City Council Library.

He said Defence Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola had told Parliament in a ministerial statement that 10 Bushmasters had been purchased from Australia.

"Seven were to be deployed in Golan Heights for our peacekeepers and three were being retained in Fiji to be used for training by the military personnel," Prof Prasad said.

The NFP leader said any training using the Bushmasters should be confined within military establishments.

"They should be strictly used for training by those selected for peacekeeping duties, not by regular forces and driven through the streets.

"This is precisely what happened last Friday when a Bushmaster with registration number GQ 488 was being operated in the city."

He said the operation raised serious questions on the neutrality of the armed forces.

"We clearly saw the military marching in most parts of the country 48 hours before the September 17, 2014 General Election under the pretext of training.


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"This was during a time when there was a blackout enforced on political parties from making statements or campaigning before the day of the polls.

"We raised our concern with the Electoral Commission but our concerns were not addressed.

"Now the military is indulging in the same tactics at least a year away from the election. This must be condemned in the strongest manner."
He said the military should not overstep its role despite its constitutional responsibility.

"Operating an Armoured Personnel Carrier in civilian areas when there is absolute peace and stability and no emergency is not guaranteeing peace and security but instilling fear and uncertainty in our people.

"It is sending a wrong signal. The military must understand that it is subservient to civilian rule.

"We ask, are the three Bushmasters for training or going to be operated in our towns, cities and densely populated areas to show force and intimidate our people?"

He said Fiji was not a war zone and peacekeeping training does not involve using Bushmasters in the full view of civilians and visitors to our country.

Col Kalouniwai said the soldiers were using the Bushmasters on the streets last Friday as it was Infantry Day.

"There is no law that prohibits Bushmasters using the roads in Fiji. There is nothing wrong with that," he said.

Colonel Kalouniwai said the Bushmaster was a protected mobility vehicle used to carry troops - that's all.

"They're not an offensive weapon. There is nothing for them (public) to fear.

"We all know the political hype they (NFP) have and they're just trying to make an issue out of this.

"We were just celebrating Infantry Day and the guys (soldiers) thought it would be a good thing for them to take it out, that's all."

He said the fact remained that the vehicles were bought to be used for peacekeeping and pivotal training and there are only three of them used for training purposes.

"There is no harm in us putting it out on the streets and just driving it around."

Col Kalouniwai said Prof Prasad had wrong idea and wrong perception and should try and get more facts from his party's president, Pio Tikoduadua, on what the Bushmaster really is.

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SUVA, Fiji, May 20, 1987 — Mobs of several thousand indigenous Fijians attacked ethnic Indians throughout the capital today, wounding scores in the worst outbreak of ethnic violence this Pacific island group has ever seen.

Waves of Fijians ran down the main street of Suva, hurling rocks through windows of passing cars and beating up Indians they encountered. The number of injured was estimated at 150 to 200, including three dozen Indians and two foreign journalists who were hospitalized.

''We haven't ever had scenes like that before in the history of our country,'' said the Agriculture Minister, Jo Nacola.

The rioting appeared to reflect support for the army coup last Thursday, which seems to be falling apart. It also reflects the confused situation in Fiji: perhaps there is no government in control, perhaps there are three governments, but there is certainly not just one.

Fiji, with almost evenly balanced proportions of ethnic Fijians (47 percent) and ethnic Indians (49 percent) among its 715,000 people, has often been acclaimed as a model of racial harmony. Pope John Paul II said on a visit here late last year that the lack of racial animosity made Fiji ''a symbol of hope for the world.''

But indigenous Fijians often speak bitterly of the economic and political power accumulated by Indians, and that bitterness has increased since elections last month that brought an Indian-dominated Government to power.

It was not clear what set off the rioting today. Hundreds of Indians were gathered in the late morning in one park to celebrate the release late Tuesday night of Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra and his Cabinet by coup leaders who had seized them on Thursday. Half a mile away, Fijians were gathering in another park to watch the arrival of their chiefs for a meeting of the Great Council of Chiefs.

Suddenly, the Fijians began to run toward where the Indians were gathered. They knocked a young Indian motorcyclist down and beat him as he lay on the ground. They hurled bricks at passing cars and taxis, most of which are owned by Indians, smashing several dozen cars.

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Indian drivers caught in the riot tried to race through the mob, but some were stopped by bricks flying through their windshields. They were pulled out and punched and kicked. One Indian taxi driver tried too late to pull out of his parking space. Several Fijians yanked him from the car, punched and kicked him and emptied his pockets.

An older Indian man was knocked to the ground, and he curled up in a ball as a succession of Fijians kicked him as they ran past. A boy was hurled to the street and kicked in the head several times until blood ran down his face.

No one was reported critically injured, and it often seemed that the attacks, although brutal, were short of murderous. The mobs usually let their bloodied victims run off, or the attackers themselves ran on after landing a few blows.

A few shops were looted, but most stores were already boarded up because of a general strike to protest the coup. Late tonight, downtown Suva was eerie and deserted.

With three rival claims to executive authority in Fiji, it remained unclear who was in command. Lieut. Col. Sitiveni Rabuka, who led the coup, appears to have received backing from the Great Council of Chiefs, and his soldiers remain on the streets.

He has, however, indicated that he recognizes the executive authority of the Governor General, who says he is in charge. And the elected Government of Prime Minister Bavadra said it should be in power, although Dr. Bavadra acceded today to the Governor General's call for new elections to resolve the crisis.

''We really don't know what direction we're moving in,'' Mr. Nacola, the Agriculture Minister, said in an interview on the first day of his release.

''We're still living at the barrel of a gun.''


30 YEARS AGO, Sitiveni Rabuka unleashed his soldiers on Indo-Fijians; Now SODELPA have deliberately chosen him to resuscitate old RACISM

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