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Professor Wadan Narsey on RABUKA and BAINIMARAMA: 'Regardless of who is the “Devil” and who is the “Deep Blue Sea” (or the “snakes”) their impact on Fiji has been similar, with only a few minor differences'

3/5/2017

25 Comments

 
"The only glimmer of hope is that Fiji voters in the 2018 Elections have the opportunity, if they are principled and brave enough (don’t hold your breath), to vote for alternative parties like National Federation Party (NFP), Fiji Labour Party (FLP), People’s Democratic Party (PDP); and Hope. Unfortunately the leaders of FLP and PDP also have skeletons rattling in their cupboards. Unfortunately, the once great Fiji Labour Party is today a shadow of its former self.  Once journalist and now Co-editor of FijiLeaks (Victor Lal) revealed that the FLP Leader (Mahendra Chaudhry) had stashed away in an Australian account, millions of dollars which he alleged had been given by the poor of India to help him resettle in Australia. He has not resettled in Australia.  But as the first Minister of Finance for Bainimarama, he declared a tax amnesty from which he personally benefited. When booted out by Bainimarama, he readily paid a million dollar fine for not declaring the income from these funds; his FLP has never released audited accounts of the millions donated by Indo-Fijians abroad to help resettle cane farmers whose leases had expired. Having demonized Rabuka in the 1999 Elections (while inviting the VLV Christian fundamentalists into his 1999 Government), Chaudhry now wishes to go into Coalition with Rabuka and SODELPA. Voters can draw their own conclusions."

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"Rabuka has now reappeared as Leader of SODELPA, probably because the ethno-nationalists are impotent in the face of the Bainimarama and Khaiyum juggernaut, and hope that the smiling charismatic Rabuka will be able to intimidate his former army junior, Bainimarama. Fiji voters can note from my table that given Rabuka’s track record, there is virtually no policy area that he can criticize Bainimarama on, while having much baggage that ensures that many voters will never vote for him.  So all he has to offer is the old ethno-nationalist line, and making Fiji a “Christian State”. Which is pretty well all that the current leadership of SODELPA (and their shadowy advisers) can offer Fiji voters. I suspect that they will be rejected by 100% of the Indo-Fijian voters, and more than 50% of indigenous Fijian voters, especially the younger voters...Fact: Bainimarama was ­not the savior of Indo-Fijians in the 2000 coup, as he has often alleged and been believed by most Indo-Fijians. Bainimarama was told six months before the 2000 coup took place, about secret meetings between some of his senior military officers and civilians, but did nothing to stop them. Why didn’t he? Was he already hoping to be another Rabuka?"

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By Professor Wadan Narsey

IF Bainimarama (FFP) and Rabuka (SODELPA) were the only alternative political leaders for the Fiji 2018 Elections, Fiji voters would undoubtedly be “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea”. But they are not.


(Retired Brigadier General) Sitiveni Rabuka  started the coup culture in 1987.  His SVT government from 1987 to 1999, his role in the NBF disaster, and his shadowy role during the 2000  coup and mutiny, have left many skeletons in his cupboard.

(Retired Rear Admiral) Voreqe Bainimarama is the 2006 coup leader who ran the country for eight years before holding elections which he allegedly won.  His shadowy role in the 2000 coup, what he did after the 2000 mutiny, and eight years as a totally unaccountable prime minister, also have left many skeletons in his cupboard.

Regardless of who is the “Devil” and who is the “Deep Blue Sea” (or the “snakes”) their impact on Fiji has been similar, with only a few minor differences (see the table below).

The only glimmer of hope is that Fiji voters in the 2018 Elections have the opportunity, if they are principled and brave enough (don’t hold your breath), to vote for alternative parties like National Federation Party (NFP), Fiji Labour Party (FLP), People’s Democratic Party (PDP); and Hope. Unfortunately the leaders of FLP and PDP also have skeletons rattling in their cupboards.

The Scorecard for the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

I do not have Chaudhry (FLP) in this table as a military coup stopped their government after only one year, and then Bainimarama not only refused to restore them, but appointed an ethno-nationalist interim government of Qarase.

Sitiveni Rabuka

There is no need to tell the reader about the racist violence of Rabuka’s 1987 coup against the lawfully elected government led by Bavadra, Jai Ram Reddy and Mahendra Chaudhry. Or about his imposed racist 1990 Constitution, rigged against Indo-Fijians.

The public well know about the NBF $200 million disaster which Rabuka began by sending his soldiers to remove the General Manager of NBF and appoint Makrava who did the rest with corrupt NBF managers and crony clients.

The public has never known that there was a “whistle blower” within the NBF who wrote to Prime Minister Rabuka in 1992 detailing all the corrupt goings on in the NBF, and naming all the culprits (see the scan here of page 1 of his letter to Prime Minister Rabuka).  Why did Rabuka take no action?

Rabuka’s Minister of Finance overseeing the NBF disaster was yet another former Commander of the Military, Colonel Paul Manueli and the overseeing Governor of the Reserve Bank was Ratu Jone Kubuabola (now in SODELPA and brother of perennial coup beneficiary Ratu Inoke Kubuabola).

When the NBF dam burst a few years later, Makrava arrogantly told journalists “if I go down, I will take down all the powerful in the country”. Many of those implicated in the NBF financial disaster were part of Rabuka’s Government including Minister and 1987 coup planner Inoke Kubuabola (now part of Bainimarama’s FFP Government) and key functionaries in public enterprises.

Had Rabuka taken action in 1992 Fiji taxpayers would not have suffered the massive losses they did, and the Public Debt would have been lower. The public have also forgotten the Rabuka Government’s phony “Deed of Settlement” with Anthony Stephens, which would also have cost taxpayers tens of millions, had it not been stymied by Justice Kermode.

In 1999, NFP hoped that Rabuka had reformed with his acceptance of the 1997 Constitution (which granted him amnesty) and unsuccessfully fought the 1999 election in partnership with SVT. Unable to cope with going from “hero to zero”, Rabuka popped up at the height of the 2000 coup astonishingly asking President Mara to make him Commander again (Bainimarama will never forget that, will he?).  Rabuka also popped up during the 2000 mutiny with his uniform in his car, until ordered by senior army officers to leave the conflict zone “or else”.

Rabuka has now reappeared as Leader of SODELPA, probably because the ethno-nationalists are impotent in the face of the Bainimarama and Khaiyum juggernaut, and hope that the smiling charismatic Rabuka will be able to intimidate his former army junior, Bainimarama.

Fiji voters can note from my table that given Rabuka’s track record, there is virtually no policy area that he can criticize Bainimarama on, while having much baggage that ensures that many voters will never vote for him.  So all he has to offer is the old ethno-nationalist line, and making Fiji a “Christian State”. Which is pretty well all that the current leadership of SODELPA (and their shadowy advisers) can offer Fiji voters.

I suspect that they will be rejected by 100% of the Indo-Fijian voters, and more than 50% of indigenous Fijian voters, especially the younger voters.

Bainimarama

Fact: Bainimarama was ­not the savior of Indo-Fijians in the 2000 coup, as he has often alleged and been believed by most Indo-Fijians.

Bainimarama was told six months before the 2000 coup took place, about secret meetings between some of his senior military officers and civilians, but did nothing to stop them. Why didn’t he? Was he already hoping to be another Rabuka?

Told about the coup only a week before the coup, this Commander of the RFMF merrily went off to an unimportant meeting in Norway, a repeat performance of another Commander just before the 1987 coup.

When the 2000 coup took place, Bainimarama sat on the fence while allowing arms and food to go to the CRW soldiers in parliament, continuing the CRW salaries,  and lifting the the army cordons put in place around the Parliament by Colonel Seruvakula , thereby allowing Speight to gain more civilian strength during the hostage crisis. Only when George Speight tried to appoint Colonel Vatu as Commander (and the wily Tarakinikini as Chief of Staff), did Bainimarama (or rather his senior military officers) act to put down the coup. The Commissioner of Police (Savua) idly stood by and watched (while Major Savua marched into Parliament with more troops to join George Speight).

When Bainimarama regained control, he tried to become Prime Minister and Head of State but was opposed by his senior military officers who he then could not over-rule (only later did he find out their lack of spine and their guilt complexes because of their support of Rabuka’s treason in 1987). In any case, he refused to return Chaudhry’s lawfully elected Government and appointed ethno-nationalist Qarase as Prime Minister, with an all-Fijian Cabinet.

When the betrayed CRW soldiers failed in their November 2000 mutiny against Bainimarama, some 80 CRW soldiers were arrested and questioned brutally.  Five soldiers were taken by the military from police custody at the Nabua Police Station  to Bainimarama at the Naval Base, then to the army barracks, where, (without the benefit of trial, judge or jury) they were tortured to death in the attempt to find the plotters of the mutiny. Their skeletons are never  going to leave Bainimarama’s cupboard.

Supported initially by the Qarase Government, Bainimarama then ran amok with the army budget  as well as with the Regimental Funds (according to Audit Reports). He slowly pushed out all the senior professional army officers who did not support his coup plans or give him personal loyalty. Those army officers who went along with Bainimarama’s coup plans were promoted, including several who were later appointed as “diplomats”, an apt oxymoron (you can list them, even the outwardly pleasant ones).

In 2006, when he [was] about to be charged by Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes for a number of crimes and replaced as Commander by Qarase, Bainimarama resorted to the 2006 coup. He had the support of an opportunist faction in the judiciary (led by Shameem and Gates), Hindu/Catholic/Muslim religious groups as well as a few shadowy NGO leaders who were dissatisfied with the SDL ethno-nationalism.

Bainimarama obtained the key support of disgruntled Indo-Fijian intellectuals (in Fiji and abroad) and happily let John Samy conduct the national People’s Charter Exercise, which predictably became a charade, with the People’s Assembly never getting together. When the 2009 Appeals Court ruled that the 2006 coup was illegal, Bainimarama abrogated the 1997 Constitution, with the advice of Khaiyum and his cabal of not so secret legal advisers.

With the strategic approval of his wily Finance Minister Chaudhry (who thought he would have a lever), Bainimarama granted himself a massive 30 years of back-pay.  By 2010, as Minister of Finance and Prime Minister,  he was paying massively increased salaries to himself and his fellow ministers, through a private accounting company owned by Khaiyum’s aunt.

He practiced blatant nepotism, spent hundreds of millions of borrowed taxpayers’ funds with little accountability; while refusing to release eight years of Reports of the Auditor General (all with the complicit silence of the Fiji Institute of Accountants stalwarts,  one of whom had happily regularized “salary adjustments” for a few Permanent Secretaries so that the ministerial salaries to be revealed later would not be considered too high).
Key adviser John Samy was ejected (or left) when he (and Archbishop Mataca) pointed out, in a letter, all these unacceptable “irregularities” in Bainimarama’s Government, and advising honest alternatives.

With Aiyaz Khaiyum now in full control of his chariot, Bainimarama then conducted the Yash Ghai Constitution Review exercise with the participation of many prominent citizens,  only to trash it when it was not to his liking (with only the late Penny Moore protesting). Bainimarama and Khaiyum soon imposed their own 2013 Constitution and electoral system on Fiji, also thereby granting themselves amnesty, proving yet again that “all are equal before the law in Fiji, but some are more equal than others” (as Chief Justice Anthony Gates well knows, whatever he preaches occasionally).

With Khaiyum in charge, Bainimarama rigged the 2014 elections with the active support of the their own Supervisor of Elections (Saneem) and with the complicit support of prominent Electoral Commissioners who have forever kept their silence on what was wrong with the electoral system and processes.

Bainimarama bought voters with cash handouts  and a few other goodies, received massive financial support from the business classes,  and warned voters that if they did not want another coup they should vote for Bainimarama (i.e. his coup was going to end all coups, as long as he remained in charge). He then supposedly won the election, but not a single polling booth count was independently verified by the Electoral Commission and oh so conveniently, all the ballot papers were destroyed a year later.

When six years of Auditor General Reports were all released after the 2014 elections with the damning evidence and questions, Bainimarama and Khaiyum refuse to account to the Public Accounts Committee for hundreds of millions of dollars of tax payers funds. Auditor Generals were replaced, while a Permanent Secretary of Finance who probably knew what had been going on, was “promoted” to be a “diplomat” in NZ.  He now is parading as an economist and singing Bainimarama’s praises once more, probably hoping to come back to another sinecure.

The SODELPA members of the Public Accounts Committee are now strangely silent about these massive financial scams by Bainimarama.  Just as with the NBF, expect no public inquiry: note that neither Rabuka or Bainimarama are calling for any public inquiry at all.

Minister of Finance Khaiyum has now taken the fleecing of taxpayers to a new height by allocating massive amounts of taxpayer funds in the annual budget in the direct control of Bainimarama, who now receives astronomically increased per diems and other allowances, to boost his inflated salary to levels of developed country salaries, while he jets around to his heart’s delight and leaves the running of the country to Khaiyum, as it always has been anyway. Former senior army officers, becoming fatter and fatter every day (literally), now hold the fort everywhere (Police, Prisons, key ministries) while the all-important judiciary has Gates in charge with a bevy of Sri Lankan judges and magistrates. Parliament remains under the tight “independent” control of the Chinese sewing machines lady.

Expect more cash handouts disguised as grants to SMEs, as the 2018 Elections approach.  Expect again the Bainimarama threat to the Indo-Fijian voters: if you don’t want another coup, vote Bainimarama, and of course they will. Apparently, Indo-Fijian voters are wily enough to accept the message: if you don’t want your house to be robbed again, let the robber remain in control of your house.

In the run-up to the 2018 Elections, expect the Police to harass the Opposition parties and their meetings. Expect the apathetic Fiji public (and all the prolific writers of letters to the editors of the Fiji Times) to keep totally quiet while all these abuses of human rights (including freedom of assembly and intimidation of the media) continue unabated. Will they ultimately deserve what they get?

The coup collaborating snakes

When Rabuka re-entered politics recently, Bainimarama called him a “snake” inviting the comment “it takes  a snake to recognize a snake”.  But there are too many to count. If you placed all of Fiji’s former army commanders and Ministers of Finance in the same room (you can name them all) together with a number of civilian and political collaborators in the coups of 1987, 2000, 2006 and 2009, you will have a veritable massive den of snakes which would could not be housed in the Sydney Zoo. The fact that the ordinary Fijian people do not understand how their leaders have totally gutted their economy and society, is largely due to the cowardly complicit silence of Fiji’s literary writers, intellectuals and social leaders.

Lack of guidance from intelligentsia

In every society, literary artists and intellectuals have at least two sacred duties apart from entertaining the readers. The first is to write fiction which conveys a more truthful understanding of their society than that written by historians who are bogged down by the need to provide evidence (duh). The second sacred duty is to help society scrutinize and hold their leaders to account, if necessary by shouting from the rooftops “the emperor has no clothes”.

In the Fiji of old, the second sacred duty was performed for the vanua by the spiritual bete, who even held the chiefs to account. Similar roles could have been fulfilled today by Fiji’s religious leaders, but virtually all of them have sold their souls for thirty pieces of silver, at one coup or another.

Fiji’s Indo-Fijian literary leaders  went to town on Rabuka and the 1987 coup. But forever craving to feel “that they belong in Fiji” (even if they have emigrated), they have swallowed (or chosen to believe) the Bainimarama line that “we are now all Fijians”, and bugger the rest of what he has done.

Just as one indigenous Fijian professor did in 1987, there have been four prominent Indo-Fijian professors who have collaborated with the 2006 coup leaders, in the activities of MIDA, Electoral Commission, Yash Ghai Constitution Review Commission and the universities- some personally benefiting.

They pointedly refused to comment publicly on the Bainimarama Regime infringements of basic human rights and media freedoms, and thereby implicitly collaborate because they all well know that “evil thrives when good people remain silent”.

One government owned media organization (FBC) and all its journalists, headed by the brother of Khaiyum, wages perpetual propaganda on behalf of the  Bainimarama Government while ignoring the views of the Opposition Parties.  FBC receives massive amounts of taxpayers funds and loan guarantees from Government, while its Board of Directors (headed by prominent businessman Shashi Singh) has yet to release any annual audited accounts or annual reports to Parliament or place any such information on its website.

Another print media company (Fiji Sun owned by CJ Patel) and their journalists, perform the same role as FBC while its owner gets any number of preferential financial advantages.

In NZ, Radio Tarana keeps spouting the Bainimarama propaganda that is believed by most Indo-Fijians abroad, while their NZ cobbers in Fiji  “clean up” in a more profitable version of Bainimarama’s Clean Up campaign.

The Fiji Times struggles on valiantly while its published, editor and journalists face perpetual intimidation through fines and jail sentences for trumped up charges, by key leaders of the Bainimarama Government who simultaenously and shameless have granted themselves immunity for all they themselves did between 2000 and September 2014. Their latest is to threaten anyone with a massive fine and jail sentences if they “undermine the sanctity of parliament”.

Really. Can anyone in the Solicitor General’s Office remind the public what Bainimarama, Khaiyum, Shameem, Gates and all their collaborators did to the sanctity of parliament in the 2006 coup? And Rabuka did in 1987? And the shadowy figures did in 2000?

The alternative parties

When it comes to the major parties, Fiji may be between the “Devil and the Deep Blue Sea”. But there are alternatives.

Unfortunately, the once great Fiji Labour Party is today a shadow of its former self.  Once journalist and now Co-editor of FijiLeaks (Victor Lal) revealed that the FLP Leader (Mahendra Chaudhry) had stashed away in an Australian account, millions of dollars which he alleged had been given by the poor of India to help him resettle in Australia. He has not resettled in Australia.  But as the first Minister of Finance for Bainimarama, he declared a tax amnesty from which he personally benefited. When booted out by Bainimarama, he readily paid a million dollar fine for not declaring the income from these funds; his FLP has never released audited accounts of the millions donated by Indo-Fijians abroad to help resettle cane farmers whose leases had expired. Having demonized Rabuka in the 1999 Elections (while inviting the VLV Christian fundamentalists into his 1999 Government), Chaudhry now wishes to go into Coalition with Rabuka and SODELPA. Voters can draw their own conclusions.

The National Federation Party led by Professor Biman Prasad is now the most credible Opposition voice in Parliament, continuously raising all the issues that need to be raised for taxpayers, and in a principled manner.
Then there is the People’s Democratic Party which disappeared from public view after the 2014 Elections and you can expect their leaders to appear again, close to the 2018 Elections.

One of its Leaders has never revealed to the public what went on at FNPF’s Natadola investments which resulted in massive losses for FNPF before and while he was Chairman of the relevant FNPF Committee, while another reappearing leader wishes to go into Coalition with SODELPA and Rabuka. Then there is the new party HOPE which can hope for the future. There will always be the belligerent high profile Independents, who have no hope of getting the 5% of votes necessary to get into parliament.

Just as large parties can wither away, small parties can suddenly also become large. The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea are not the only alternatives for voters who have the courage of their convictions.

They also need the brave support of those who collaborated with the coups of 1987, 2000, 2006 and 2009, but who now sadly realize that the “good things” for which they supported the coups were propaganda and that they are far outweighed by the negative effects on all Fiji people of all ethnicities, for the foreseeable future.

If only these good people who took the wrong turn, have the honesty, humility and courage to admit their mistakes as did John Samy and Archbishop Mataca in 2011, and try to rectify them.

Author’s note:  
I represented the NFP in the Fiji Parliament during 1996 to 1999. I did not take part in politics prior to that, or after that period.

https://narseyonfiji.wordpress.com/2017/05/03/fiji-not-between-the-devil-and-the-deep-blue-sea-3-may-2017/

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25 Comments
Chiku
3/5/2017 09:20:33 pm

Let me be short and succinct. Rabuka and Bainimarama are birds of a similar feather ( the military dictator variety ). They once flocked together after Rabuka's military coup. Now Bainimarama, the junior military man under Rabuka, has conducted his own military coup and is ENJOYING the spoils of his unlawful takeover and rogue rule.
The only reason Rabuka is returning to politics is to once again enjoy the privilege of power.

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Chiku
3/5/2017 10:39:18 pm

Wadan has succinctly captured how rogue leaders in Fiji have been doing the dirty on the people of Fiji since the first racist-fascist Rabuka coup of 1987. That has not only continued but has been taken to an unprecedented high by Bainimarama and Khaiyum since the 2006 coup " to end all coups ".
The evil doings of the rogue leaders have thrived only because many good men either did nothing or actively threw their support behind the rogue leaders' Machievallian schemes.
The shame of taking the country down the toilet belong to all of them - the coupists, their cronies, their collaborators and coward citizens ( including ex- citizens living in comfort abroad and singing the praise of the current coupists).

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Dekho
4/5/2017 01:47:41 am

Scoreboard check:
Skeletons in the cupboard: wasn't Bainimarama a Rabuka henchman in the 1987 coup, persecuting law-abiding citizens? If we had a Nurumberg standard trial wouldn't Bainimarama be hauled before the court to answer charges of human rights atrocities?

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Tomasi Tabanidalo
4/5/2017 02:08:48 am

All coupists and their supporters are evil. There is no coup which is good. Taukei praised and supported the 87 and 2000 coup claiming it gods will. Indo-Fijians has joined the bandwagon after the 2006 coup claiming bainimarama is a saviour and god. End of the day, rabuka, speight and bainimarama's actions have brought just misery to the human race

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Kumar
4/5/2017 02:27:07 am

It seems the professor is upset that the people in Fiji are not in the streets protesting about the injustices. Well this is Fiji things are done differently here. People are more interested in bread and butter issues. They are getting free education ,water ,subsided electricity and cash handout for cyclone damage and small business.This govt is not racist. The people think whoever is govt. will steal anyway. But the main thing we are getting more out of this govt. The professor likes a govt. he can advise but this one doesn't need anybodys advice and that is probably the reason he's not here in Fiji .This govt. has made a mess of something's so we let the people decide in the next election. I think ffp and nfp will have to form a coalition to be the next govt.

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Chiku
5/5/2017 12:53:42 am

A good government - any good government - takes advice from talented citizens and experts . It's part and parcel of the democratic process of governance. Only a dictatorship has the arrogance not to seek and heed advice. We all know just what kind of governance we have under Bainimarama and Khaiyum. As a citizen Professor Narsey had the right to offer advice to government and to point out any wrong doing on the part of government. It's this latter that " this govt" has found unpalatable because it's really a dictatorship in disguise. And used its henchmen to hound the professor, a good citizen. That's why the professor is not there any longer. It's his home country's loss, never mind what some Kumar idiot says.

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Str
4/5/2017 03:43:25 am

Victor

Can Prof own up and say that he was a nfp candidate but lost the 1999 general elections.

I also think he lost a by election in the early 1990s.

And here he is preaching about honesty.

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Samjoe
4/5/2017 07:42:35 am

One thing is missing from Narsey's otherwise extensive scoreboard. The number of key inner circle coup actors who after all the strutting have gone to meet their maker or gone out of favour.

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Choices
4/5/2017 08:10:56 am

Coupist Bai with Kai - no good.
Coupist Rabuka with Coupist, Daaku Chaudhary -even worse.
Coupist Pio with Professor Boring, Biman – Nah, simply too boring.

So... it’s ‘Bai/Kai’ -because Corruption and Chori ,though bad, is still better than the Racists.

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Daaku Must Go !
4/5/2017 08:18:28 am

It is so sad to see the Party ideologically aliened to the banner ‘workers of the world unite’ being led by a Leader, with a salient motto of “me and my family “.

It time for a change in the Leadership of FLP. It is time this chor daaku Chaudhary is dumped. If Chaudhary wants a walk with racist, coupist, Rabuka, like he did with dictator Bainimarama, then Chaudhary can do so- but without the Party. The FLP has its ideals firmly rooted in ‘democratic socialism’ and it cannot be led by a leader with anti-democracy, coupist connections. FLP is a Party belonging to the workers of Fiji.

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Shannon
4/5/2017 09:27:33 am

Surprising how Wadan has thrown mud on the other political parties and their leaders but conveniently forgotten all about the skeletons rattling in NFPs closet.

While I can't profess to support any of the parties at present in Fiji, it is apparent neither SODELPA, FFP, FLP or NFP should be allowed to run the country. Each of these parties are perversely guilty of cronyism and bedding with their opponents for their own political greed.

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Dr Rohit Kishore
4/5/2017 11:47:05 am

Hello Waden

I am writing this after a long thought. We all know Waden well, he writes well, perhaps the best we have, but meaningless. Reason, his writing is typically academic, which has yet to have an effect. What he writes may be only academics understand, that is if they read. Practically his hard earned writing does NOTHING to improve Fiji. And now he is in Australia, come back Waden and fight, don't shoot from comfort zone, which you always criticized the likes of John Samy and others. You doing the same now. Seriously I have had enough of ineffective writers like you. You are a bark without a bite!

You are good man and I like you ,but what you want for Fiji, I don't know. Don't be mistaken, I have read almost every piece you wrote, and still searching what you want for Fiji.

Dr Kishore



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Chiku
4/5/2017 09:56:02 pm

This fala is Dr. Doctor of What? He is not very intelligent, is he?

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Motta Uday
5/5/2017 12:02:05 am

Hey Kishore, forget Wadan (get the spelling right first) but what you think of the "Daaku Must Go"? Right Baath Bole. Sala Rabuka ke goli chooSe.

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Gulong
4/5/2017 02:53:59 pm

There are several institutions in Fiji but two are head and shoulders above all others in terms of the threat they pose to the peace and good order of our society. The first has been singled out by Professor Narsey. Chiku, Refugee and numerous others on this site, I refer here to the Fiji Miltary who as Professor Narsey has correctly pointed out since the first coup of 1987 has been responsible for billions of dollars in losses to the Fiji economy,
The second is the zUniverdity of the South Pacific, which by an unfortunate stroke of coincidence has seen its first generation of lectures, mainly indo Fijians, who have been influenced by left leaning dogma and doctrines. This has resulted in an insidious radicalism in society where it is fashionable to destroy the work and legitimacy of the previous colonial order and western civilisation in general. Rabuka and Bainimarama were only reacting to what was created by the USP. As a young primary school student growing up in a rural part of Fiji I was puzzled to hear Ratu Mara, the Gounder of the independent nation if Fiji, state in an interview after the 1987 military coup that his biggest mistake in his life was to allow the setting up of a regional university in Fiji as it had radicalised society far too quickly. I now know what he meant. Professor Narsey, that Profesdor of everything Vijay Naidu, the Shameen sisters Victor Lal, Refugee, Khaiyum, Dr Reddy, Ashwin Raj are all tarred with the same USP brush. None of these ISP products ever speak or write about the virtues and benefits of western civilisation and how Cristian values had civilised the world starting with the Council of Florence in the 15th Century that was responsible for the renaissance and the scientific revolution and also had brought Fiji up from an island group of cannibals to a fledgling modern nation state at independence in 1970. After an Indian summer of peace and prosperity under Ratu Mara and his Alliance Party Fiji took a turn backwards and we are continue to fall into the abyss. The Military and the USP must share equal responsibility.

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Refugee
4/5/2017 11:51:12 pm

USP (like any institute for higher learning) is a product of the same Western civilization you speak of and we are grateful for it. So are you, as you and I, can communicate in a language rooted in the Western civilization. Churches I respect but I am too proud a pagan and NO I don’t wish my soul to be saved – thank you very much – try elsewhere!

Late Ratu Mara was Oxford educated and none of the inherited structures of the Colonial rulers and or their Churches or schools were destroyed by the Independent government of Mara or any other government which followed. Indeed, Fiji built upon its education and Fiji successfully ‘pioneered’ the regional university project under PM Ratu Mara’s leadership – and our whole South Pacific region has been richer for it.

What caused Late Ratu Mara to so badly criticise USP (his passionate project) probably lies in the economic realities of the time (mid-eighties) when PM Mara’s government faced great difficulties in finding jobs for the USP graduates. At that time, unlike now, graduates without jobs were unheard of. The USP students (via their Union) went on a ‘hunger strike’ which triggered nation-wide sympathy for them and put Mara’s government under a lot of stress. Simultaneously rising unemployment, inflation and a Mara government imposed ‘wage freeze’ on civil servants brought about the formation of FLP under the charismatic Leadership of Dr. Bavadra.

For the first time (except that glitch in 1977) in 17 years, Mara’s government faced a formidable opposition in elections and lost. Your mentioned, Mara’s utterances about USP then is quite understandable but what I fail to understand is your highly opinionated and very misconceived views about the USP academics being radicals. They are anything but.

Education is ultimately about enlightenment and not ‘radicalization’. With enlightenment we also learn to respect each other and humanity and appreciate differences in our cultures, languages, religions and our racial and class differences. We respect also our environment and earnestly wish the children of tomorrow better and more fulfilling lives than ours.

I am flattered you count me amongst the USP academics. I wish I was. I was poor and didn’t make the scholarship. Streets is where I learned, made friends and peddled dope to the tourists for a living and would appreciate you keeping your uppity attitude to yourself –Gulong.

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Chiku
6/5/2017 10:21:12 pm

It's true what you say about education being "about enlightenment and not radicalisation. With enlightenment we also learn to respect each other and humanity and appreciate differences in our cultures, languages, religions and our racial and class differences..."
But as the Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire has pointed out education is not politically or ideological neutral.
In the first coup of 1987 this was on display.
Very educated people ( USP and overseas university educated people ) were on opposite sides. Some were defenders of democracy and multiracialism and opposed to the coup and some were far right racists and political opportunists who backed the coup.
Education is meant to bring about enlightenment. It does not always succeed in doing that.

Rajend Naidu
5/5/2017 11:38:32 pm

I have no regrets for my education at the USP. In fact I am very proud and I thank the lecturers who impressed on me the need to put critical thinking at the centre of all intellectual enterprise. It helped me see through the the misinformation, deliberate distortions, falsehoods and propaganda of all the coups in Fiji, including the last one. Something which even some so called international experts and state parties failed to do.
My education at that higher institution of learning helped anchor me to my steadfast commitment as a defender of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights - at home and abroad.
I am immensely grateful that I had the opportunity to obtain my education at the USP.
It's what you make of your education. Some see it simply as a passport for a successful life of material affluence. This " I'm Ok, Jack" view of what's education for is a rather narrow and wasted view of the true meaning and purpose of education.
There are many casualties of that kind of education in our midst.

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Welcome Home
4/5/2017 04:03:34 pm

President Michelle Bachelet of Chile became the first Head of UN Women in 2013. Now in her second term as elected President of Chile she undoubtedly is a person who knows through the loss of her father in the military coup against President Salvador Allende by General Augusto Pinochet the reality and brutality of a seizure of power by force. In July 2012 a small delegation from UN Women came into Fiji to consult after three disastrous floods hit the Western Division: 465mm of rainfall recorded in 24 hrs at Vaturu Dam. The exchange was of immense assistance due to the expertise and focus of the women chosen.
Perhaps UN Women may be able to establish ongoing and close co-operation given the particular needs of young women especially and the elderly? For instance, medication and surgical/hygiene necessities were at times in 2012 very difficult to access. These were deliberately catered for in post Cyclone Winston emergency packs it was noted. Nursing mothers/menopausal women/sexually assaulted and rape victims all require very specific and timely treatment. There have been instances since May 2000 where had it not been for the International Red Cross and the efforts of the late John Scott and his assistants where women would have been left doubly vulnerable without respect and consideration for their dignity. UN Women know this. Women Police Officers posted to Sexual Offence Teams know this. Women's Rights are Human Rights. This is just the starting point!

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Rajend Naidu
4/5/2017 10:17:04 pm

Editor,
Retiring From Public Duties
Buckingham Palace has announced Prince Philip's retirement from public and royal duties ( Stuff.co.nz).
As the Nobel Literature Prize commonwealth writer VS Naipaul would put it the old Royal fart has decided he is "finished with the arseness" associated with royal duties.
People of Fiji would wish some of the mob who rose to power after the 2006 " clean up " coup would also " finish with the arseness " and retire and give them a respite from repression and bad rule.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Reply
Dekho
5/5/2017 02:47:02 am

Now I understand why some Hindus worship Bainimarama and Rabuka before that. Because they are Snakes. Hindus worship snake God . So these military coupist are like Snake Gods for some stupid Hindus.

Reply
Samu
5/5/2017 08:28:30 am

Dr Kama sutra Rohit Kishore.
Editor please re-run photos of FLP 2014 candidate in compromising Kamasutra positions which was run before the elections.
Kishore has a history of taking advantage of female students at USP.
Dr Narsey is a well respected academic and pro democracy activist.
Dr Kishore you can learn a lot by reading from Dr Narsey's writings.

Reply
Rajend Naidu
5/5/2017 08:58:57 am

Editor,
Expressing Political Distaste
We learn from ' Marine Le Pen Egged During French Presidential Election Campaign Appearance '( HuffPost,UK, 4/5) that the French National Front ( FN) party candidate was surrounded by her bodyguards and was talking to a man in the crowd when eggs began to pour down on her and her entourage. She was hurriedly escorted indoors.
I hope eggs don't pour down on any of our politicians in the next election although there are some who,no doubt, deserve a good egg pelting!
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Reply
Rajend Naidu
6/5/2017 11:58:27 pm

Editor,
Military Macho Mentality
In a speech he gave to an audience of students and just weeks before he is scheduled to meet with US president Donald Trump, Pope Francis said,"I was ashamed when I heard the name. A mother gives life and this one gives death, and we call this device a mother. What's happening?"( Pope criticises US military for using word ' Mother ' to describe MOAB bomb. Independent 6/5/17).
What's happening is a display of the Neanderthal chest beating macho mentality inherent in the US military.
That mentality is of course not an exclusively American one although theirs is perhaps the most pronounced manifestation of it.
In Fiji we witnessed a good bit of that in Rabuka's first military coup of 1987 and again in Bainimarama's military coup of 2006.
Many intellectually and philosophically shallow civilians also get carried away by that macho militaristic mentality and hero worship the military mob and their phalic paraphranalia.
I agree with the Pope's criticism and share his shame.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Reply
Welcome Home
7/5/2017 05:43:51 am

Pope Francis has criticised the naming of the bomb dropped upon Nangahar Province in Afghanistan last month: MOAB 'mother of all bombs'. His Holiness has said that 'Mothers give life. Bombs give death'. He described the name as "shameful". The Fijian Parliamentarians behind the Bill which is to be considered for legislation concerning what might demean the 'sanctity (sic)' of Parliament might care to consider First and Foremost the 'Sanctity of Motherhood'. May God Bless and Protect Pope Francis as he prepares to meet President Donald Trump of the USA later in May.

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