Let us not forget Fiji's own terrorists who attacked the Fijian Parliament

23/3/2017

26 Comments

TERROR attack on Westminster Parliament: 30 years ago a group of native Fijian jihadists, led by their extreme racist "mullahs" - Rabuka and Kubuabola - launched their attack on Fiji Paliament in 1987; today, one of them, Rabuka, is delegated by Sodelpa, to lead them into Parliament; another future coupist who was guarding those locked up in the Suva Police Station cells for opposing the Rabuka coup was a young naval officer by the name of Frank Bainimarama

26 Comments

Maropito

23/3/2017 06:05:32 pm

Will Banimarama and khaiyum condem the British national muslim terrorist Khalid Masood for killing the innocents.

Rajend Naidu

23/3/2017 07:46:52 pm

Crime - of the coup kind - pays in Fiji. Do a coup and become prime minister. Rabuka did it. Then Bainimarama went on to do it. And their lieutenants all get catapulted into respectable high positions as ministers, ambassadors, chief of police and military etc with the opportunity to amass considerable wealth.
Rabuka knows that. That's why he's made a political comeback after being shot into political oblivion for a while. He wants to once again belong to that " privileged caste " of rulers and their cronies which have come to characterise a post coup banana republic.
The one thing that we get from Rabuka's story is that once one gets a taste of power there is no question of going back to being a villager, an ordinary soldier or an ordinary citizen.
Power has that corrupting influence in our context. Just ask the current mob in power!

Gulong

24/3/2017 08:08:25 am

U must be dreaming if u continue to believe that Rabuka's and Bainimarama's coups were from within. The Bavadra Govt were going to ban nuclear powered warships (ie the US and Britain) from entering Fiji waters. Therefore, the Bavadradra Govt was removed by the military with the full pre knowledge of Britain who created the Fiji military in the first place. In the same vein, the Qarase govt's qoliqoli bill threatened western commercial interests with huge investments in Fiji tourism. The decision to effect a coup against Qarase was made at Dick Smith's resort at Makololailai by Smith, Bainimarama and Nailatikau according to a Time Magazine.story published soon after the Bainimarama coup. Rabuka's and Bainimarama were and still remain puppets of western mainly British interests. Race and religion were and will always be used as an excuse. The British used it effectively such as in the sepoy rebellion to rule India and in other parts of its empire. Victor is doing s first class job promoting the bogey of race on behalf of his British sponsors

Victor Lal

24/3/2017 08:55:02 am

Gulong

You need a lesson in Fijian history and go and read my book on the 1987 coup which has two chapters on external dimension to the coup

And stop deluding yourself about race and politics in Fiji

Walker

29/3/2017 02:50:51 am

You seem defensive Victor...please we need an open mind for these pages to continue to be the number one source for discussions on our political life here in Fiji. The use of the non-nuclear position to defend the 1987 Coup is heresay. The Coup happened after Rabuka asked a certain high chief now long gone as to what was happening to the Fijian i taukei as a race and the reply was that "You should take this Constitution (1970) and throw it out the window - Can you do it?" and the reply was history. As to the Malololailai meeting the talk was that Bai got the money from there for the Coup. Figures banded ranged from 2 million to 10 million over the hotels fear of the Qliqoli Bill. Look how fast it took to have the Surfing Decree and its controversial provisions which if tested against the 2013 Constitution could be thrown out after the ropes at Tavarua were cut? But the main fear for Bai at the Camp is the fact that the Police are closing in and Naboro was looming closer everyday. I praise Professor Narsey for keeping the flame alive,

Chiku

24/3/2017 09:18:10 am

Gulong, are you absolving the local actors in our coups from any personal responsibility for their part in the rape of democracy?
The Rabuka coup happened 17 years after the British had left and the locals had become the rulers of the country's destiny.
The Bainimarama coup happened 36 years after the end of British colonialism.
NZ PM Lange had said no to nuclear warships coming to NZ and stood steadfast on that stance.
The NZ military did not plot to overthrow the government.
If the native military generals in Fiji allowed themselves to be manipulated by foreign powers that must say something about their treasoness character.
They must be held responsible and accountable for what they did. Full stop!

splashViti

24/3/2017 10:53:56 am

I can't for the life of me understand why Rabuka and Chaudhry are still desperately clinging on to the helm of leadership when they both have "unclean hands". It's clear that they lack the humility to step down and take on an advisory role instead - somewhere in background. Fiji does not need either of them to have a change in government in the coming elections and voters have yet another chance of a lifetime, to get things moving in the right direction by consigning treasonists and abettors in the dustbin of his-tory.

I find it nothing short of a tragedy when people continue to make decisions for vested interest. Case in point is Bainimarama's rise to power via his appointment as commander-in-chief, over more deserving military officers. As I understand, Bainimarama had been highly recommended to the helm by his predecessor Rt Epeli Ganilau (pictured far right on the blog header above), in order to ensure that the regimental fund and various other funds of the RFMF, were kept well away from the scrutiny of the government auditor - this is even after the Courts had ruled that the Auditor must be granted full access to the books.

All that litigation in the High Court, the Court of Appeal and even to the Supreme Court came to nought as the two military commanders bluntly refused to follow Court Orders and ultimately, be held accountable to the taxpayers who foot their bills.

People will need to think very, very carefully about their collective future esp. the kind of future they envisage for their children in this country by choosing wisely and for the right reasons. Have some dignity and a healthy self-respect that our Creator has endowed you with from birth and which bullies, terrorists or guns can never take away.

Tomasi Tabanidalo

24/3/2017 11:25:14 am

If Rabuka and all his mfucking supporters were given death sentences in 87, 2000 and 2006 won't have taken place. The wicked is rearing its ugly head again. Let's make sure that coup daddy's and sons doesn't taste success in 2018. Let vote for NFP or Hope and say "NO" to coups in Fiji.

Welcome Home

24/3/2017 04:18:42 pm

In 2000 and 2001 the anger that suffused and overwhelmed one was pervasive. So much so, that letters were penned to the then A-G asking for the death penalty to be utilised on a specific small list of known perpetrators. However, the difficulty is that apart from ignorance at that time of the illegality in International and EU Law of application of the Death Penalty, it has since become more than apparent that accountability is to be applied in a wider and increasingly coherent manner. Viz the London and now UK-wide investigation. Hourly its scope deepens and embraces a chronological ambit scarcely dreamed of yesterday. The range of culpability is far wider than that comprehended yesterday. Fiji is no different. Unexceptional in this regard. Keep Carrying On!

Rajend Naidu

24/3/2017 06:59:28 pm

Editor,
Political Leadership of the Wrong Kind
In response to the London terror attack One Nation Party leader Pauline Hanson called for a ban on Islamist immigrants to Australia saying " Islam is a disease we need to vaccinate ourselves against" (daily mail. co. uk 24/3 ).
What we need to " vaccinate " against is intellectually bankrupt, racist political leaders like Hanson pandering to her redneck supporters in Australia.
In Hanson we see the spectre of racism once again raising its ugly head in modern day, multiracial and democratic Australia.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was right to promptly condemn her perverse comment which came just a few days after the PM's own speech on the beauty of Australian multiculturalism and democracy which was the envy of the rest of the world.
When leaders like Hanson appear on the political landscape it is for clear thinking people to reject them and not give them any foothold on power.
That unfortunately did not happen in America in the last election. Now both American cultural diversity and democracy are under threat from its own leadership.
We must draw our lesson from that.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Gulong

24/3/2017 07:52:37 pm

The short answer to yr statement Chiku is the evidence for a wider geopolitical causality to unlawful regime change in Fiji lies in the Times Magazine article published soon after Bainimarama's coup that relates to the Malololailai Resort meeting between Nalatikau, Bainimarama and Resort owner, Dick Smith. it is simplistic to beat the drum ad infinitude as Victor Lal continues to do that the 1987 coup occured because the coupists were rabid racists just as it is simplistic to argue the Bainimarama line that his coup was all about ending corruption. There were other motives, race was used as an excuse

splashViti

24/3/2017 11:00:05 pm

Can we please aspire to the greater things in life, for once in our sorry lives? The death penalty for treason was rightly commuted to life imprisonment long time ago - thank goodness for human rights. It's never our call to take someone's life no matter how heinous the crime.
Even if the proud unrepentant does not want to live with the shame by opting to die quickly through whatever means, we absolutely cannot let this happen. He will just have to eat his humble pie and mull over his stupid decisions, alive in prison.

This also gives the lost creature ample time to truly repent and save his tormented soul from the clutches of Old Scratch who is impatiently waiting with open arms in the shades of Hade. Old Scratch needs to understand that we up here in the enlighten world, also play for keeps...

splashViti

27/3/2017 12:48:59 pm

Should've read "enlightened", my bad.

Self-aggrandisment

25/3/2017 02:04:05 am

Victor you sonalevu. Fijileaks is all about you and you ego and desperate need to be relevant you bloody attention seeker. You still stuck in a time warp 1987. Totally out of touch in London. Fiji has moved on from 1987 coup you boci. You still nurturing hurt ego and trying to get revenge. Stop poking you nose in Fiji. Just enjoy your life in London. We not interested in your flawed and outdated analysis. You have not been in country for too long. You have no idea.

Just regurgitating your old articles to stroke your ego and using pictures of you young days you bloody qase old man want to appear young.

I know you're a coward but you might surprise me. Let's see if you have the balls to publish this. And don't use that excuse about fake emails because you have published a lot of my comments on fake email.

Bulls

29/3/2017 08:13:24 pm

Since you cowardly have been posting comments using fake email addresses, you represent nothing but a Whooper. .

Pandey

26/3/2017 06:06:31 am

I think Fiji leak leaders should abandon Rabuka coup etc. That's history and Rabuka has apologised many times there done. Focus on getting rid of kattu baikum

splashViti

26/3/2017 08:58:42 am

Hello there.........

An interesting article on Gambia's new BFF below. Kinda reminds me when one pulls off a neat little trick for their little ones who then jump up and down with joy shouting, "Do it again, do it again!"

HE HELPED UNSEAT THE GAMBIAN DICTATOR — WHO'S NEXT?http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/he-helped-unseat-the-gambian-dictator-whos-next/75821

Hope that Gambia somehow recovers the stolen millions from the nation's treasury that loser Jammeh had taken with when he fled the country.

Selesele

27/3/2017 12:57:32 pm

@Self-ass scratcher, if you don't like what Victor is publishing on this site, take your self to where you get satisfaction. Why the fuck you want to follow this site and comment? Victor didn't beg you to read what he put up so get your ugly ass off this blog and go blow rabukas trumpet if that is what gives you satisfaction. There is no place for coup sympathisers in this blog. Fock off skunk.

Chiku

27/3/2017 10:30:49 pm

Gulong, I agree with you. There were indeed " other motives" for the Bainimarama coup ( and the other coups before it ) and " race was used as an excuse ". But whatever the excuse the coupists used they must be held accountable and in the course of that accountability all others complicit in plotting the coup must face justice. That's my point.

Welcome Home

28/3/2017 11:31:07 am

Pay patient attention to a 97yr old Harvard Law School-trained lawyer in a BBC Hardtalk Interview conducted by Zeinab Badawi. Ben Ferencz was in the US military at Omaha Beach. He was later in Germany at the end of WW2 aged only 27 years old as a Prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal. He had entered Buchenwald Concentration Camp and visited others and he explicitly describes what he saw. Not one of us living today should close our ears or our minds to what he says concerning the capacity for evil through collusion in war crimes leading to mass murder. We all have the potential for such evil-doing in a climate of war and oppression through fear. He lists the main grounds of such fear: Race/poor and limited education/the threat of withdrawal of benefit or preferment or perceived entitlement. He describes how those who were to be prosecuted were selected and how they met their end in the necessity to provide the Allies and the millions of dead with a measure of Justice and remedy against future atrocities. Would he do this again? He undoubtedly would. Executions were sought and deployed. But not in the case of many. Another tale for another day.

Welcome Home

28/3/2017 02:51:37 pm

"Dead under Threat" reads headline in FT about erosion of cemetery at Lomolomo, nr Sabeto. Many cemeteries are now threatened it must be supposed in this way. But in 2000 and 2006 cemeteries were under threat because access was impeded. At Tavakubu , Lautoka there was no safe access for months on end. Surely, access to grave sites is a basic Human Right? There should be legislation ensuring safe and secure access to a family gravesite during daylight hours. Impeding access should be a criminal and prosecutable Offence. Desecration of a grave similarly is a distressing and serious undermining of the human rights of surviving family members. Sites have been pillaged in past coups d'état without redress or assurance that this will end. Whether environmental or by human or animal agency, the degradation of graves in Fiji must be prevented.

splashViti

28/3/2017 11:06:51 pm

Totally agree with you Welcome Home. The disrespect for the dead by blocking access to surviving family members and worse, stealing from burial sites is simply outrageous. I know the previous Penal Code contained a specific offence of trespassing on burial places but I can't seem to find anything specific relating to this in the Crimes Decree 2009, although there could very well be a general provision which such weird behaviour could be prosecuted under.

In the meantimes, I hope the gravesite thieves/disrespectful idiots are haunted by ghosts as that would serve them right.

splashViti

28/3/2017 10:28:35 pm

Sharing this excellent interview of an inspirational, much-loved and trail-blazing daughter of Fiji. Here, she reflects upon the challenges of her work in one of the most difficult intersections of gender, law and property rights/access:

https://www.icj.org/womens-profiles-imrana-jalal/

Welcome Home

29/3/2017 12:34:57 pm

splashViti:
Your concern and understanding on the situation around grave sites and the apparent failure to incorporate legal provision for unfailing access and security from threats of stealing or attacks upon those who mourn the dead in the 2009 Crimes Decree should now receive immediate official response. Imagine if you will, the many years of grief, anxiety and anger - yes, anger - experienced by those who having paid civil servants (Corrections formerly known as Prisons) for particular resting places for deceased family members still have no certainty of unharassed access? No civil servant nor minister of any Fijian Government or transitional set-up, no politician, no human rights advocate nor NGO, no responsible journalist nor seasoned academic has addressed the perceived injustice here? Yet it affects Fijians and Rotumans from every area of society. Are we to believe that there is an 'elite' divorced from the 'rest' of us who may conceivably Rest In Peace in sequestered, secure spots? Whose entitlement to freedom from fear and anguish is more deserving? As the late John Scott was being interred on a hill in the Suva Cemetery in July 2001 in the presence and plain sight of so many 'who should have known better', one pondered the months of terror he had explicitly described at Gordon House on HM The Queen's Official Birthday: the many afternoon visitations and threats from an emissary of his feigned mourners. 'VITI' is the middle name of my late mother-in-law. She lies only a few hundred yards or so from John and others who are related or connected. 'Salus Populi Suprema est Lex'. The oft exiled Roman Statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero opined. "Let the welfare of the people be the ultimate law". But he also said the following: "As for me, I cease not to advocate peace. It may be on unjust terms, but even so, it is more expedient than the justest of civil wars".

splashViti

30/3/2017 04:22:01 am

I only just realised the omission in the Crimes Decree 2009 when I quickly looked it up having read your earlier post. However, upon a closer look, the relevant provisions of the old Penal Code were specific to conduct intended to insult religion, of which 'trespass to burial sites' was an offence. I'm not sure why there's no similar provision in the present Crimes Decree - only the junta and their advisors would know given the manner in which these laws came into effect following the coup.

It's not clear to me though why access was being specifically restricted during the 2000/2006 coup as you've suggested. I wonder if it could it be due to the curfew being placed on free movement during the unfolding crisis, do you think? However, if people are still currently being restricted from visiting loved ones' graves in order to clean up, put flowers, pray for their loved ones and all that, then I think the authorities should provide good reason for the restriction.

I am totally hopeless at these charitable acts though, as I prefer to pray for the repose of souls when I attend mass in church. I recall in my early teenage years at a catholic boarding school when on a few occasions I had to go clean up at the cemetery for our deceased old nuns - which was a form of punishment if you happen to do something that annoyed the living nuns. The first 5mins would be spent lying sprawled atop one of the neat white concrete graves looking up at the clear blue sky, singing my favourite Madonna hit in those days: 'Like a virgin' while swinging the sasa broom wishing it was a cigarette instead. 'Oh how scandalous'' those perfect deceased souls would have thought, 'this naughty one is definitely not for the convent!'.

Welcome Home

30/3/2017 02:40:02 pm

Ha! So the convent figured greatly in both our respective pasts. At Tavakubu as in Suva, the dead were relegated to plots reserved by the authorities for specific religions and subsets of religion. Catholics were in the swamp but Methodists on the hill. There was a military checkpoint in 2000 unofficially named The Igloo not far from Natabua turn-off but landowners were still allowed the questionable liberty of blockading access to Tavakubu cemetery and no one chose to stand in their way. A minor consideration in the overall scheme of events. Odd how such details come back to haunt us seventeen years on?

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Let us not forget Fiji's own terrorists who attacked the Fijian Parliament

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