He dragged out Fiji Airways CEO Andre Viljoen to "Budget Consultation” in the western division. But both failed to inform us that Fiji Airways is teetering on bankruptcy by the end of the year. Poor Viljoen is FORCED by Khaiyum to peddle a story about the elusive bubble that no-one believes. $200 off the airfare from Sydney? It isn’t about money, KHAIYUM, it’s about risk. And if the two think the mums and dads of Aussies and Kiwis will choose Fiji because of a $200 discount on their airfare, they are living in a bubble all of their own. The only passengers who might jump on the cheap flights will be former Fijian citizens wanting to catch up with relatives. He should ask his brother Riyaz Khaiyum, the FBC CEO, to send for confirmation with his favourite 'James Bond' SPY CAMERA PEN
 CHEWING OUT FALSE HOPES ABOUT BULA BUBBLE |  |
THE ECONOMIST, ASIA Edition, 27 June
Pen and stink
A malfunctioning spy camera causes a scandal in Fiji. The state broadcaster recruited an undercover operative to snoop on the opposition.
“WE DON’T REALLY go in for that any more,” says a British spook witheringly of gadgets disguised as pens in “Skyfall”, a James Bond film. In Fiji, though, such devices have become a national fascination. A man called Ferrel Farizal Khan told the head of the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, that he was an undercover agent of sorts, running “Fiji Exposed”, an anonymous blog which features stories about the extramarital affairs of prominent politicians and businessmen.
Mr Khan also claimed that he was being paid by the two main opposition parties to publish anti-government stories and to hack into the national elections database to seek evidence of government ballot-rigging. So Mr Sayed-Khaiyum, who is the brother of the omnipresent attorney-general, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, equipped him with a camera disguised as a pen to record opposition figures misbehaving.
Mr Khan returned empty-handed, saying that the spy-pen had failed to work. By then, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum was becoming suspicious of the supposed double-agent, whom he reported to the police. They are duly investigating Mr Khan. But they also took his allegations seriously enough to raid the offices of the National Federation Party, one of the two opposition outfits, hunting for evidence of links to “Fiji Exposed”—to no avail.
Pen and stink
A malfunctioning spy camera causes a scandal in Fiji. The state broadcaster recruited an undercover operative to snoop on the opposition.
“WE DON’T REALLY go in for that any more,” says a British spook witheringly of gadgets disguised as pens in “Skyfall”, a James Bond film. In Fiji, though, such devices have become a national fascination. A man called Ferrel Farizal Khan told the head of the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, that he was an undercover agent of sorts, running “Fiji Exposed”, an anonymous blog which features stories about the extramarital affairs of prominent politicians and businessmen.
Mr Khan also claimed that he was being paid by the two main opposition parties to publish anti-government stories and to hack into the national elections database to seek evidence of government ballot-rigging. So Mr Sayed-Khaiyum, who is the brother of the omnipresent attorney-general, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, equipped him with a camera disguised as a pen to record opposition figures misbehaving.
Mr Khan returned empty-handed, saying that the spy-pen had failed to work. By then, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum was becoming suspicious of the supposed double-agent, whom he reported to the police. They are duly investigating Mr Khan. But they also took his allegations seriously enough to raid the offices of the National Federation Party, one of the two opposition outfits, hunting for evidence of links to “Fiji Exposed”—to no avail.
