Fijileaks: Malimali's drunken episode in Tuvalu, where she became intoxicated and ended up crashing in the Australian Judge's hotel room (the "old dude" was hearing her client's case) was never raised by the Church during the appointment discussions. Nor that she is banned from Tuvalu. It seems the Methodist Church overlooked the advice of Ephesians 5: 18:
"Do not get drunk on wine, which lead to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit."
 |  Barbara Malimali |
THE nomination of lawyer Tanya Waqanika and former FICAC commissioner Barbara Malimali to a newly-established church committee was questioned by a church member. At a meeting yesterday, church lawyer Simione Valenitabua proposed the appointment of Ms Waqanika and Ms Malimali to the six-member committee tasked with reviewing the church’s constitution every 10 years. Mr Valenitabua suggested both names, along with his and that of Reverend Dr William James Powell, who currently serves at Davuilevu Theological College. Leba Halofaki, a prominent church member, questioned the proposal of Ms Waqanika and Ms Malimali “given that we all clearly know about the case that is before the High Court. They are involved in cases involving the Government and the church does not want to be judged, given that it already knows what’s happening in the Government. It’s nothing personal. It’s for the reputation of the church, to make sure that is not compromised". Mr Valenitabua replied that Ms Waqanika does not have a case before the court, rather she has simply been representing her client in court. He also said Ms Malimali was taking the Government to court, and not the other way around, and that no charges have yet been laid against her. “That case is still before the courts, neither she nor the Government has won yet.” Divisional superintendents, chief stewards, and circuit ministers attending yesterday’s Bose ko Viti ultimately consented to their (Malimali, Waqanika and Valenitabua's appointments.
 Tanya Waqanika |
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 |  "Hindus and Muslims are Pagans who must be converted to Christianity." |
For nearly four decades, I’ve walked past the small plaque on New Inn Hall Street in Oxford, where John Wesley reportedly once preached in July 1783. I often pause there, reflecting on Wesley’s radical message of grace, humility, and justice, a faith rooted in liberation and community, not division, and compare his message with Methodism in Fiji.
And yet, each time, I’m haunted by how grotesquely those teachings have been twisted in Fiji since the 1987 coups. Sitiveni Rabuka, a Methodist lay preacher, tore apart our 1970 Constitution on 14 May 1987, claiming that God had “spoken into his ears” and commanded him to seize power from Dr Timoci Bavadra's Coalition government. Under Rabuka's military rule, Methodism was weaponised to sanctify racist ideology and justify persecution of the Indo-Fijians.
We remember the infamous Sunday Observance Decree when shops shuttered, beaches closed, buses stopped running on Sundays, and life itself paused. All enforced under the banner of “Christian (Methodist) values”. And yet beneath this facade of piety, Fiji descended into terror. Indo-Fijians were beaten, their wives, daughters, mothers, and sisters were savagely gang-raped, humiliated, and driven from their homes. Fear reigned, and the very Methodist Church that should have stood as a sanctuary of compassion became complicit—blessing a coup regime, offering cover to violence, and draping authoritarianism in the robes of faith.
That legacy has never been dismantled. It lingers like an unhealed wound. The Methodist Church remains deeply entwined with political power, and Rabuka’s influence still threads through its hierarchy and agenda.
This past Sunday, 31 August 2025, as I walked past Wesley’s plaque on my way to another church in the city, the Catholic Church, my thoughts turned to the scandal surrounding Barbara Malimali’s appointment to the Methodist Church’s constitutional review committee. Nominated by the Church’s own lawyer, Simione Valenitabua, alongside Tanya Waqanika, Malimali’s selection isn’t just about one individual. It’s about an entire structure of influence that has endured since 1987. It reveals how the same actors, the same alliances, and the same quiet manipulations of faith and law continue to shape Fiji’s destiny.
It is bitterly ironic. John Wesley preached here of grace, dignity, and equality before God. Yet in Fiji, his spiritual heirs turned Methodism into a weapon of exclusion, fear, and privilege. And now, decades later, as the Church places itself at the heart of constitutional debates once again, the risk is that it continues to serve power rather than challenge it.
That little plaque in Oxford always reminds me how far many iTaukei Methodists have strayed from Wesley’s vision. And how urgently Fiji needs to confront its unfinished reckoning with 1987. Until we do, we will remain trapped in its shadow, governed not by justice or compassion, but by the same old ghosts wearing new robes.
FROM THE PULPIT TO THE PEW
The Methodist Church has approved Barbara Malimali’s appointment to its Constitutional Review Committee, a body tasked with reshaping the church’s governing document every decade. But critics are asking: “What does this say about the church’s moral compass?”
Meanwhile, the Tuvalu drunken episode is no longer a secret, a night of misconduct that embarrassed colleagues and tarnished professional reputations. Yet, the church hierarchy never raised it, never questioned it, and never explained it.
SUING THE STATE, SHAPING THE CHURCH
Malimali is also currently suing the Fiji Government via a judicial review over her dismissal as FICAC Commissioner. Her lawyer is none other than Tanya Waqanika. How does someone like Malimali, entangled in a High Court battle, get handed the keys to rewriting the Methodist Church’s constitution? Answer, through Church and PAP lawyer Simione Valenitabua.
Every Sunday, the Methodist Church preaches sobriety, integrity, and moral leadership. But when it comes to its own appointments, it seems those rules don’t apply at the top. By appointing Barbara Malimali, the Methodist Church has chosen influence over integrity and silence over scrutiny, undermining its authority to speak on morality and youth leadership.
And perhaps, before their next sermon, the Bose ko Viti delegates might want to re-read this verse: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”: Ephesians 5:18.
Because right now, Fiji’s largest church looks like it’s being led by spirits of another kind.
And yet, each time, I’m haunted by how grotesquely those teachings have been twisted in Fiji since the 1987 coups. Sitiveni Rabuka, a Methodist lay preacher, tore apart our 1970 Constitution on 14 May 1987, claiming that God had “spoken into his ears” and commanded him to seize power from Dr Timoci Bavadra's Coalition government. Under Rabuka's military rule, Methodism was weaponised to sanctify racist ideology and justify persecution of the Indo-Fijians.
We remember the infamous Sunday Observance Decree when shops shuttered, beaches closed, buses stopped running on Sundays, and life itself paused. All enforced under the banner of “Christian (Methodist) values”. And yet beneath this facade of piety, Fiji descended into terror. Indo-Fijians were beaten, their wives, daughters, mothers, and sisters were savagely gang-raped, humiliated, and driven from their homes. Fear reigned, and the very Methodist Church that should have stood as a sanctuary of compassion became complicit—blessing a coup regime, offering cover to violence, and draping authoritarianism in the robes of faith.
That legacy has never been dismantled. It lingers like an unhealed wound. The Methodist Church remains deeply entwined with political power, and Rabuka’s influence still threads through its hierarchy and agenda.
This past Sunday, 31 August 2025, as I walked past Wesley’s plaque on my way to another church in the city, the Catholic Church, my thoughts turned to the scandal surrounding Barbara Malimali’s appointment to the Methodist Church’s constitutional review committee. Nominated by the Church’s own lawyer, Simione Valenitabua, alongside Tanya Waqanika, Malimali’s selection isn’t just about one individual. It’s about an entire structure of influence that has endured since 1987. It reveals how the same actors, the same alliances, and the same quiet manipulations of faith and law continue to shape Fiji’s destiny.
It is bitterly ironic. John Wesley preached here of grace, dignity, and equality before God. Yet in Fiji, his spiritual heirs turned Methodism into a weapon of exclusion, fear, and privilege. And now, decades later, as the Church places itself at the heart of constitutional debates once again, the risk is that it continues to serve power rather than challenge it.
That little plaque in Oxford always reminds me how far many iTaukei Methodists have strayed from Wesley’s vision. And how urgently Fiji needs to confront its unfinished reckoning with 1987. Until we do, we will remain trapped in its shadow, governed not by justice or compassion, but by the same old ghosts wearing new robes.
FROM THE PULPIT TO THE PEW
The Methodist Church has approved Barbara Malimali’s appointment to its Constitutional Review Committee, a body tasked with reshaping the church’s governing document every decade. But critics are asking: “What does this say about the church’s moral compass?”
Meanwhile, the Tuvalu drunken episode is no longer a secret, a night of misconduct that embarrassed colleagues and tarnished professional reputations. Yet, the church hierarchy never raised it, never questioned it, and never explained it.
SUING THE STATE, SHAPING THE CHURCH
Malimali is also currently suing the Fiji Government via a judicial review over her dismissal as FICAC Commissioner. Her lawyer is none other than Tanya Waqanika. How does someone like Malimali, entangled in a High Court battle, get handed the keys to rewriting the Methodist Church’s constitution? Answer, through Church and PAP lawyer Simione Valenitabua.
Every Sunday, the Methodist Church preaches sobriety, integrity, and moral leadership. But when it comes to its own appointments, it seems those rules don’t apply at the top. By appointing Barbara Malimali, the Methodist Church has chosen influence over integrity and silence over scrutiny, undermining its authority to speak on morality and youth leadership.
And perhaps, before their next sermon, the Bose ko Viti delegates might want to re-read this verse: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”: Ephesians 5:18.
Because right now, Fiji’s largest church looks like it’s being led by spirits of another kind.
 | MYSTERY SOLVED: Legal World Shook Its Head In Disbelief as PAP Lawyer Simione Valenitabua Quoted King Solomon's Tale of Two Wives and Child before Supreme Court. |
Back on 21 August 2025, I drafted a detailed critique of PAP lawyer Simione Valenitabua’s submissions to the Fiji Supreme Court. I never published it on Fijileaks, for other explosive stories demanded priority. But today, after Valenitabua’s biblical theatre in court, my draft reads like prophecy.
Because there he was, solemnly invoking King Solomon’s parable from 1 Kings 3:16–28, likening the battle over Fiji’s 2013 Constitution v the 1997 Constitution to two wives fighting over a child. The legal fraternity collectively shook its head. This wasn’t constitutional argument. This was Sunday school dressed up as Supreme Court advocacy.
As I wrote in my unpublished draft, this is not a case about divine wisdom. It’s religious theatre masquerading as law, a carefully calculated ploy to manipulate iTaukei religious sentiment by cloaking PAP’s political agenda in biblical imagery.
And now, of course, the missing piece of the riddle is solved: Valenitabua isn’t just PAP’s lawyer. He’s also the lawyer for the Methodist Church.
Suddenly, it all makes sense.
This isn’t about the rule of law. It’s about fusing politics and religion to secure an outcome through emotional manipulation rather than constitutional principle. The courtroom was never meant to be a pulpit but PAP’s legal team seemed intent on turning it into one.
The Bible is not Fiji’s Constitution.
And no amount of Solomonic parables should rewrite it.
ANNEX: My Unpublished Critique of 21 August 2025: KING Solomon’s Sword Cannot Cut the Law: PAP’s Religious Theatre Won’t Rewrite Fiji’s Constitution
Because there he was, solemnly invoking King Solomon’s parable from 1 Kings 3:16–28, likening the battle over Fiji’s 2013 Constitution v the 1997 Constitution to two wives fighting over a child. The legal fraternity collectively shook its head. This wasn’t constitutional argument. This was Sunday school dressed up as Supreme Court advocacy.
As I wrote in my unpublished draft, this is not a case about divine wisdom. It’s religious theatre masquerading as law, a carefully calculated ploy to manipulate iTaukei religious sentiment by cloaking PAP’s political agenda in biblical imagery.
And now, of course, the missing piece of the riddle is solved: Valenitabua isn’t just PAP’s lawyer. He’s also the lawyer for the Methodist Church.
Suddenly, it all makes sense.
This isn’t about the rule of law. It’s about fusing politics and religion to secure an outcome through emotional manipulation rather than constitutional principle. The courtroom was never meant to be a pulpit but PAP’s legal team seemed intent on turning it into one.
The Bible is not Fiji’s Constitution.
And no amount of Solomonic parables should rewrite it.
ANNEX: My Unpublished Critique of 21 August 2025: KING Solomon’s Sword Cannot Cut the Law: PAP’s Religious Theatre Won’t Rewrite Fiji’s Constitution
*One ISIKELI MATAITOGA is now judge on the Fiji Court of Appeal.
*He had argued (Victoria University Law Review Journal, 1991) that there was no need to hold referendum on the imposed 1990 Constitution of Fiji.
*In the above legal paper, Mataitoga dismissed criticisms of the racist and feudalistic 1990 Constitution’s lack of a referendum as “ill-informed.” He argued that Provincial Councils and Tikina meetings sufficed to represent Fijian (iTaukei) opinion.
*Indo-Fijians, he implied, couldn’t express independent views anyway because political and religious leaders supposedly thought for them.
*Fast-forward to 2025, and the same Mataitoga was now publicly stressing the “importance of the public voice” in constitutional matters.
*The Court lowered the constitutional amendment threshold. From 75% of Parliament and 75% of all registered voters, it now requires:
*Two-thirds of Parliament, and A simple majority of voters who actually turn up at a referendum.
*In the end, PAP's lawyer Simione Valenitabua sought to resurrect a past covenant but delivered a present coronation:
*King Khaiyum’s 2013 Constitution reigns, while King Solomon’s 1997 gospel fades into myth.
The Irony of Invoking Faith Over Law
*PAP’s submissions through lawyer Valenitabua leaned heavily on biblical imagery, morality tales, and appeals to “restorative justice” and yet offered little in the way of legal substance.
*He invoked King Solomon, as if Fiji’s judiciary were an altar awaiting divine intervention. He painted the 1997 Constitution as a lost covenant, a sacred scroll awaiting resurrection. He ignored the political reality that three general elections and over a decade of governance have entrenched the 2013 framework into the fabric of Fiji’s laws.
*In doing so, he gifted the Court an open pathway: uphold the legally functional Constitution while dismissing nostalgic appeals to theocratic morality. PAP's case became a sermon dressed up as a Church Service, and the Supreme Court wasn't there for Sunday school.
King Solomon's RING: As the parable of King Solomon's RING reminds us, "This too shall pass.".
*The advisory Supreme Court opinion does more than uphold the 2013 Constitution. It fortifies its legitimacy by making amendments easier, not harder.
Fijileaks: GCC and Methodist Church Now Hold the Keys
*With amendment thresholds lowered, the Great Council of Chiefs and Methodist Church, both enjoying wide influence over iTaukei majority electorate, now possess real political leverage over constitutional change. Sitiveni Rabuka's 1987 Coup Aims Will Come Full Circle, Soon.
The Role of Justice Isikeli Mataitoga: Historical Context and Judicial Impartiality
Mataitoga’s Position During the 1987 Coup
*At the time of the 1987 military takeover led by Sitiveni Rabuka, Isikeli Mataitoga was closely involved in advising senior state figures.
*Mataitoga, alongside Sir John Falvey, counselled Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, then the Governor-General, that he was no longer recognised as Governor-General but was instead acting merely as a high chief of Cakaudrove Province.
*This advice effectively aligned with the military regime’s position that constitutional government and lawful executive authority had been suspended. Later, Mataitoga was sworn in as a captain in the army and appeared in public in military uniform with a pistol at his side—a strong indication of his acceptance of, and participation in, the Rabuka-led coup and the dismantling of democratic governance in Fiji.
Divergence from the Judiciary and Constitutionalists
Fiji’s high court judges, led by Chief Justice Sir Timoci Tuivaga and supported by magistrate Howard Morrison and other senior judges had sent a letter to the Governor-General declaring: The purported suspension of the Constitution was “illegal and invalid"
*The Constitution remained in force unchanged. The judiciary reaffirmed its loyalty to the rule of law and constitutional government.
*Mataitoga, however, chose a different path by accepting the coup as a fait accompli and participating in the Rabuka military-led administration.
*The recent Supreme Court ruling on IMMUNITY protects Isikeli Mataitoga and the Chief Justice Salesi Temo, who joined the Bainimarama administration after the abrogation of the 1997 Constitution as the new Chief Magistrate of Fiji.
*In June 2009 he was appointed to the High Court of Fiji as an acting Puisne judge by the Bainimarama military regime. In September 2011, he criticised the New Zealand government for refusing to cooperate with Fiji's military regime or extradite people wanted for political offences by the Bainimarama dictatorship.
Cry Our Beloved Country, Fiji
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