RACE FIRST: Timoci Vesikula gives Bainimarama flaming tongue lashing

4/4/2014

27 Comments

The tongue lashing "water & kerosene" talk state controlled
Fiji Media Industry Development Authority didn't want you to see on
FIJI TV One News! However MIDA says Vesikula's speech (regarding Indo-Fijians) is "Hate Speech" under Crime Decree 2009

Ratu Timoci Vesikula tackles Bainimarama at the Tailevu Provincial Council meeting:

MIXING culture and poltiics: Bainimarama sat and listened to Indo-Fijian bashing, instead of standing up and walking out

The above statement from MIDA, which wants to hold FijiTV to account for broadcasting and punishing them with heavy fine and even jail term. However MIDA says Vesikula's speech is "Hate Speech" under Crime Decree 2009

Fiji First! But at the Tailevu Provincial Council meeting he went on the ride with Timoci Vesikula by keeping quite on Indo-Fijian bashing!

THE BROTHERLY ECHO-CHILLING REMINDER FROM 1987
"We are preserving the Indian people from a possible bloodbath by relocating a sense of balance. They can't leave us for dead socially, they can't leave us for dead economically, and then think they can take over the political leadership of this country without Fijians fighting back." Ratu Meli Vesikula, leader of the violent Taukei Movement with Sitiveni Rabuka during the 1987 coups

Meli Vesikula - reformed and repented for his role in the 1987 coups

SCAPE-GOATING INDO-FIJIANS: The spectre of 1987? Ratu Timoci Vesikula from the chiefly clan in Ucunivanua, Verata had become Minister for Fijian Affairs in the post-coup Rabuka Government

JUDAS?: FICAC witness Ratu Timoci Vesikula waiting to be called outside the High Court in Suva in the Qarase trial. He afterwards told the court he did not find any record of a declaration of interest by Qarase in Q10 Invetments, Mavana Investments and Cicia Plantation Co-op. He said he became scared because he discovered that following the arrival of the $20million Fijian families owned about 80 per cent of shares while Fijian institutions like FAB, Ministry of Fijian Affairs and provincial and tikina councils owned about 20 per cent...He said he expected Qarase, as the financial adviser to FAB and the person who advised provincial councils to invest in FHL, to be the protector of the interests of FAB, GCC and other Fijian shareholders. In June, 1992, he claimed he came across a folder containing individual files for about 30 individual companies that were new FHL Class A shareholders. He said the total amount of all the shares was $4million and that he became confused because he thought that in 1984 when provincial councils were asked to pay $50,000 only Tailevu, Namosi and Serua failed to pay.

QARASE: Charged, Convicted, Imprisoned and barred from leading SODELPA into the September election

Our Translation
"The Vanua is your strength. The Vanua was here already and the Church and the Government came later; we the Vanua, in fact carry these two entities on our backs. I shall ask this question, if we are i Taukei, what have you reserved for us? You have offered royalties, but what about our Traditional Fishing grounds or i Qoliqoli? The lands that you are protecting? You have taken the scholarships (referring to the Fijian Affairs Board Scholarships) I'd like to ask you Sir, what have you kept for us? What we Fijians (Taukei) would like to do is to back you. If you think that you'll get support from other communities just because of the Constitution that you have put together, then I can boldly state to you right now, "Forget It". If the people, the Vanua, do not back you, you will certainly not return to office. In my experience, the Vasu (the Indian Community) will sweet talk you and get what they need. They don't want you to lead them. All they want is the Constitution that you have put together, all they want are the changes that you have brought about to government, that you have brought about and the investments. I would like to warn you that these upcoming elections will not be an easy one for you. Because we have lived for a long time with each other. Water cannot mix with kerosene."

Click here to see Fiji TV Vesikula Video

27 Comments

Fiji Police Commissioner

3/4/2014 06:45:41 pm

The taste of the pudding is in its eating!

Let us see if Bainimarama will order and arrest and trial of Ratu Timoci Vesikula for, as MIDA chairman rightly says, "HATE SPEECH"

Or he intends to stand for election from Tailevu and can't risk a political backlash!

Big mouth - lets see - if the BULLY BOY will go after one of his very own from his vanua of Tailevu!

one penny

22/7/2014 09:44:07 am

stop talking about hate speech,racism & all the Bull,why dont you all think of how to elevate the economy & a better fiji for all races,"O and just a friendly reminder to all my Itaukei brothers,"the fiji eonomy is run by Indians not us.We just lazy buggers who fraud tax payers money & convert our own native land to freehold(Qarase & Rabuka),all in the name of fiji for fijians,,Lol

Annon

3/4/2014 07:17:47 pm

This Vesikula is a bloody racist scum.

Timoci

4/4/2014 01:44:19 am

When Fijians talk about issues that concern them, the Indians claims it to be racial. Rt Vesikula is asking questions that need asnwers. Indians refuse to mix with Fijians, that is fact. They have their own religion, they speak their own language, they have nothing to give that the Fijians would willingly accept in exchange for land. Everything the Indians do, they do for themselves.

Concerned for OUR Fiji

4/4/2014 05:15:48 am

When you as a Fijian or as indegenous go and live outside your own country, you will have to face with a race to survive in the open economy. Then what would you have on you to give for exchange of whatever is important for your security?

Ratu Timoci can speak whatever he wants regarding indegenous Fijians, that is not a problem at all. That is his absolute right as a Chief concerned about the security of his people.

But who gave him mandate to speak about Indians when he questions the PM who gave the PM the mandate to call everyone Fijians, etc?

So what he actually said was racist and not concerns about how he sees his vanua can look after all races in his province.

Why blame or use Indians in his hate when it was RFMF who overthrew the indegenous peoples government? There are hardly any Indians in his minierial line up but still it is all Indian fault.

Playing the racist card

4/4/2014 12:46:21 pm

What is really racist is Indians calling themselves Fijian! Could you imagine a Fijian calling herself/himself indian?

Truth

5/4/2014 11:15:07 am

That's reality! The truth hurts.

Lulu buckshot

8/4/2014 04:19:34 am

What is racism?define it clearly so that we may understand.

Dale Mulligan

9/7/2017 04:33:00 pm

Bullshit yourself Mr Annon. Fiji for Fijians. It's not their fault the colonial governments left them with Indians. Blend in or get out.

MIDAS TOUCH

3/4/2014 08:35:21 pm

SODELPA will not lodge a police complaint against Timoci Vesikula for fear of losing the racist Fijian votes in Tailevu.

So far, they have been highlighting what Vesikula said about Fijian rights only.

Our hope lies on the fearless Ashwin Raj, chairman of the MIDAS!

Go boy, prove your mantle - yes its hate speech under Crime Decree 2009

Timoci

4/4/2014 01:48:36 am

In what way is it hate speech? Can you concentrate of the facts that Rt Timoci is presenting, please. Bainimarama and his team needs to provide some answers.

Aiyaz - What will u do as elections minister?

4/4/2014 02:33:51 am

If media cannot air this speech and is labeled hate speech, then naturally a criminal charge against Ratu Timoci should follow hand in hand.

Without first charging Ratu Timoci how can this be colloborated as hate speech?

joe joe

4/4/2014 06:04:32 am

Tim Vesikula is right in asking questions that affect his people. There is no way his views would have been printed/aired/spoken in any of the media in Fiji because of the tight decrees on freedom (lack) of speech. So what if he sounds racist? it is all about race in Fiji. TV is true in saying that Indians are only interested in their own investments. That is why the big business tycoons are supporting FB making sure that their money is well protected and to ensure they keep making more money.Why do you think the Vinod Patels, Tappoos, Manubhai's,Gokols, Damodars etc etc are giving the support and the 'yes' to FB. Apart from employing only "some" 'Fijians' in their business 95% are Indians. Fijians are only in the front line for show and as hard labour back of house or security. the main controlling staff are in fact expats from India and Sri Lanka the rest are Indians. TV is true that Indians are only concerned about themselves only. TV asked te real questions regardless of what people make of it. Dont forget Indians also when amongst themselves ask similar questions and are mostly racist. Indians when amongst themselves make fools of Fijians in fact to a point where they still regard them as monekys!

I am sure FB's eyes and ears are open now and hope he realises how (only) one Indian is taking him for a ride. The question everybody is asking is why FB cannot get rid of ASK when he has gotten rid of his close comrades like Ului, Driti and many others. Of course people are worried about the Muslim influx into key positions. Concerns were same when Rabuka put all Fijians intokey positions after 1987!

Quiet as a church mouse

4/4/2014 09:35:08 am

Where is our articulate and outspoken Attorney General Aiyaz-Sayed Khaiyum when you need him? Why is he so uncharacteristically quiet all of a sudden?!

Nurse

4/4/2014 02:16:45 pm

Your A-G is busy attending to his second new-born son - a delightful bundle of joy - Indo-Fijian and Fijian mix - the way Fiji should be!

FBI

13/4/2014 07:10:57 am

If it became compulsory or even by choice that there is racial intergration than the i taukai will be assimilated and become of indian blood in short time cos there are only some 5-6 hundred thousand i taukai but there are more than 1 billion indians in this world.
everybody should start thinking rationaly so ther is no opportunity for the race cards to be played.
THE INDIANS ARE HERE TO STAY especially me cos i was born and bred in BA .I am a FIJIAN
A G got married to win your favour ,go give it to him.
AS FOR TV'S SPEECH ,HE HAS EVERY RIGHT TO ASK THE QUESTIONS BUT IT CAN BE ASKED IN THE PROPER MANNER WITH THE CHOICE OF THE RIGHT WORDS,OTHERWISE IT IS ONLY CAUSING INSECURITY FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE INCLUDING THE ITAUKAI.
NO ONE SEEMS TO BRING UP THE SUBJECT OF ILLEGAL FISHING OF OUR SEAS BY THE FOREIGNERS MAINLY CHINEASE FISHING VESSALS.
Minimise the Army and increase the NAVY to patrol our vast EEZ and sea where DRUGS,HUMAN AND FISH smuggling is going on.

Keep The Faith link

4/4/2014 11:32:06 am

As confronting as this episode has become on both sides of the racial fence, what Vesikula said is symptomatic of what many indigenous Fijians are thinking and feeling having been relegated to spectator status under the illegal and treasonous Bainimarama.

Bainimarama knew full well what he was getting himself into but he was perhaps unprepared for what lay in wait.This is Vanua politics at play here and it is offensive to the itaukei to suggest that it is racist. It is also racism when the other side of the fence labels it as such due to ignorance. Admittedly both sides of the fence need to invest more effort into understanding each other better.

I empathise however with indian voters because it is deeply unsettling to hear this but to suppress these sentiments after 7-8 years of tyranny under the illegal & treasonous Bainimarama via MIDA does not do the regime any favours. In fact it simply shows up the tokenistic policy charade of the regime on social engineering as the farce that it really is.

A bigger conversation about race relations needs to be had but now is not the time. What is necessary now is a concerted effort to remove the regime from power and then the prioritisation of a process for national reconciliation as Prof Wadan Narsey has long advocated for.

Garah Davis Junior

4/4/2014 02:08:51 pm

There we go - it just reinforces my argument and plea to Wadan and Victor - cut your loses, change your tune and support the right election horse in Fiji - Frank Bainimarama - otherwise your history in this emerald island will be completely wiped off by the likes and like-minded Vesikulas of Fiji

Revolutionary

4/4/2014 02:12:22 pm

I think the Indo-Fijians should face their Fijian counterparts head-on, even if it means bloodshed in this tortured islands of Fiji. Let Fijians have their islands but in a tsunami-inflicted style! Its the cowardice of Indo-Fijians which has bred the likes of Vesikula. It is plain as daylight that whichever native Fijian leader wants to give Indo-Fijians equality, there will be a hardcore of Fijians who will object. Why live like second-class citizens in the land of your birth on this Fiji islands

temper temper!

4/4/2014 04:20:12 pm

"Under conditions of tyranny, it is far easier to act than to think"
~ Hannah Arendt

Revolutionary Two

4/4/2014 04:41:25 pm

No, Temper, Temper

Timoci Vesikula's speech was well thought out in advance, and Fiji TV was invited to record and transmit it later on in the evening.

Such perverse racist thoughts is widespread even among the Sodelpa lot

Why fight elections and accept to remain second-class citizens

Why not bring a bill and evict all Indo-Fijians from Fiji, like in Uganda. And then rue the day, like Ugandans did - Africans had no Indians to blame anymore - and the country descended into savagery and worst dictatorship

temper temper!

4/4/2014 06:41:56 pm

@ RT

Oh, stop feeling sorry for yourself dear dramatic one, 'the sky ain't falling' ... and er, 'no one can make you feel inferior unless you allow them to' - something I've learnt the last 7 years.

But it seems the speech by Ratu Vesikula has effectively made you feel insecure, inferior and afraid - mostly because I think you're not using your God-given brains to think... and I mean really think. I mean how long have you been living in this country? How many coups has this country had? One too many, hmm?

But even if you did think hard (to be fair to you), I still doubt if you really understood in depth where he's coming from or at least recognize or appreciate (read empathise) the prevailing context and circumstances in which he is speaking in, and on behalf of his province.

"You have not converted a man because you have silenced him"
~ Lord Morley, British Liberal politician and writer, 'On Compromise'(1874).

One thing that does not fail to amaze and amuse me is the comical! misunderstandings occurring when the (un-free) media provides literal translations of words, phrases and sentiments expressed in the indigenous Fijian language, into English.

For instance, when Rt.Vesikula uttered the word "rere" during the Qarase trial, the English translation "scared" was reported when all Fijians indigenous to this country understood him to mean something much, much more deeper than being "scared". Qarase had committed a grave No, No and we all understood that...

As for your valid concern of feeling like a second-class citizen in the country of your birth - that has to be unpacked and explored further... as well as the unfortunate analogy of 'kerosene and water' analogy by Rt. Vesikula - the prevailing climate hardly being an appropriate time for a long overdue and an ongoing continuous dialogue between the two major ethnic groups who have so much more in common than they both realise.

Evolution, not pretend-revolution just to fill some people's pockets. Sa!

Joe Joe

5/4/2014 03:56:14 am

this coup was nothing to do with Fijians and Indians. The coup was for saving FB himself. Once done ASK joins in (suspect he was with FB from beginning) and finds himself in a commanding position given FB's (lack of) intellect. ASK then imposes his thesis and goes onto breaking the entire Fijian System, Institution etc.

FB and neither ASK never ever had a problem with the 1997 constitution, the GCC, NLTB et etc. Only after the court declared the coup illegal then it became a bad constitution for Fiji. Did FB or ASK ever write against the constitution prior to Dec 2006!

Why is it that when a Fijian tries to run a business and make some money and improves his life/standard other Fijians and some Indians the others quickly say that he did it thorough corruption. No one says that about Indians, some have become millionaires. At least Fijian Holdings Ltd was ne that came up and became a 400m company and a pride for Fijians. It became so big and successful that even Indians began to buy into it perhaps to avoid 'missing the boat'. Indians own the biggest properties and complexes and business apart from some multinationals but this is no problem to FB. As Timoci said FB will go at any length to protect them and give them tax cuts and other privileges etc but not to Fijians but will go at length to cut them out. What has FB done to Fijians apart from gifts such as brush cutters, water tanks, power, water etc. it is not miracle by FB. these essentials is the responsibility of any government.

Anyway the Fijians have got only ONE chance to get their country back on track and this is on 17th Sept. Imagine what FB and ASK will do if they win the election? If they are so bold in doing all the illegal things and against Fijians so openly and daringly then after election win they will do anything they like legally since the constitution is so well designed for them and the PM and AG has all the powers to do so.

grease lightening

5/4/2014 04:35:08 pm

"Boldness be my friend! Arm me, audacity."
~ Cymbeline act 1, sc.6

a tangled web

5/4/2014 05:25:41 pm

@ Joejoe

The primary purpose of the BK constitution is to give the treasonous their desperately sought after-IMMUNITY. Period.

Everything else is simply window-dressing provisions that could have easily been added in Fiji's 1997 Constitution through laid out procedures that amply allows for amendments - simply because a Constitution is also a LIVING DOCUMENT (its provisions are not set in stone although it's never to be changed very easily either and for very good reason).

But more importantly, a Constitution is made BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE - which unfortunately the BK constitution is not and can never be, since it is made by an un-elected and therefore, an un-mandated regime, supposedly for the people who don't need it nor want it esp. without their unfettered input.

On your bit about some indians becoming millionaires overnight, many may have gotten away with questionable dealings because Fiji did not have a water-tight legal regime regulating business affairs at the time - mainly due to a lack of political will since it didn't serve powerful interests.

Perhaps too, the greasy wily web of the unscrupulous had ensnared and entangled those holding key public offices who opted to stay "on the take" rather than do the right thing by the people whom they were answerable to. 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!'

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive" - now on full display.

Kai Tailevu

6/4/2014 05:23:28 am

Probable is that a lot of Indians see Bai as a hero no wanting to accept the fact that he is a traitor and that the anti kai viti changes should not have been done without the consent of the kai viti.
Changes need to be made via dialogue but that's not part of baikaiyum governance hence this will not end here.

one penny

21/7/2014 11:55:45 am

Rabuka & Qarase used the racial trump card just to line their pockets with corporate fraud.They all stood up in the name of "Fighting for Indigenous fijians"but their sticky fingers were deep in the government coffers swinderlin tax payers money," O and not forgeting the conversion of Itaukei land on Denarau to free hold land(residential area) by Rabuka and Itaukei land at Momi to free hold land by Qarase.Iam an Itaukei & this day and age i dont see any signicants to been associated to my vanua as its only a money making body which is broke every year becoz of the obligation to contribute evey year financialy.Something that God has blessed fiji with is Frank Bainimarama putting a stop to all the Garb that was on going through all the other Itaukei leaders who have ran fiji to the ground economocally.God Bless Fiji First.

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