SODELPA TO THE RADRODROS: 'Shailendra Raju calling Sainiana Radrodro a BITCH has nothing to do with the party. He is not even a party member and his campaign for Rabuka does not have party's approval'

SODELPA hierarchy are also worried that relentless attack on Khaiyum purely on grounds that he is Indo-Fijian MUSLIM could backfire at poll, especially with SITIVENI RABUKA as SODELPA party leader
The Indo-Fijians have a very, very, very long memory in Fiji Since 1879 they have existed in Fiji like hospital patients on a VENTILATOR - not knowing when the native Fijian nationalists and their shadowy chiefs will invoke their SUNSET CLAUSE and switch off the machine - and kick all of them out of their lands, property, and even hospital beds and deport them from Fiji
Long before Brij Lal and his wife Padma were exiled from their land of birth in 2009, many others had been meted similar or worse fate by SITIVENI RABUKA (but not a murmur from NFP whose then leader Jai Ram Reddy was willing to become Rabuka's deputy if SVT-NFP had won 1999 election). There was no discussion between the political leaders on the fate of those who had involuntarily lost their Fiji passports at the hands of Sitiveni Rabuka.  Even Brij Lal, one of the architects of the 1997 Constitution, seems not to have raised the matter in any deliberations during the drafting of the Constitution. What right a third-ranking army officer and a RACIST have to seize  A FIJIAN PASSPORT and send INDO-FIJIANS into Exile on the grounds that Fiji belongs to native Fijians?
WHAT right did this racist coupist have to issue a FATWA to KILL his opponents?
In choosing RABUKA as leader, SODELPA deliberately brought the executioner to have his finger on the VENTILATOR MACHINE - to whip up native Fijian voters.
But like survivors of the holocaust, it is our moral duty to stand up to RABUKA and those inside SODLEPA who want to bring back their SUNSET CLAUSE. To paraphrase Martin Luther King, 'We may all have come in a different ship - a drua from Africa or a coolie ship from India, but we're in the same boat now. Fiji belongs to all who were born in Fiji. We are all indigenous to the country. Its not the colour of your skin but the content of your character that makes you a Fijian.
I had, all my life, set my eyes on the promised land. I may not get there with you because of my EXILE but we as a people will get to the promised land, despite all the obstacles put in our way by pseudo and corrupt nationalists since 1879.'

“The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.”
V.S. Naipaul,
The Indo-Trinidadnian writer and Nobel laureate, in
A Bend in the River

The following poem by Nikhat Shameem, published in 1995, captures the plight of the Indo-Fijians in
Sitiveni Rabuka's Fiji:

ANOME

I leave this land where I was born
this sunny warm May morning
History has been unkind
to take no note of this bond
between me
and this land of mine

Misted porthole
I look out, I leave my soul
I cry my farewell
to home and friends and a life well-known
For what? I think with fear

Yes, I am scared and angry too
How can I start afresh?
In a country not seen before
what little choice I have

Your home is not your home, they said
Repatriate them! they called

Ten more minutes to touch down
Is that you my heart that pounds?

I wait at the airport, clutching my suitcase
and struggle with tears
No job, no work permit, what do I do?
Where will I go?
No home
No place to hide
How do I heal my wounds?

Head high I remember
the Syria
Through my veins flows
girmitiya blood
If they could do it
so will I
Do your damnedest

I will survive
in this new land
New Zealand

Fijileaks has extracted Nikhat Shameem's poem from the above book

"The Syria" in the poem refers to this girmitiya ship Syria which wrecked in Fiji in 1884; many survivors were saved by Nasilai villagers

Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama is maintaining his commanding lead as the preferred PM in the latest public opinion poll.

The poll, conducted by Razor for the Fiji Sun, has Mr Bainimarama leading with 66 per cent preferring him as Prime Minister.

People were asked who would they like to see elected as PM in the 2018 General Election.

The emphatic result confirms that Mr Bainimarama’s popularity has not waned since his election in the 2014 General Election, contrary to beliefs held by his political opponents that he has been losing ground.

In fact, Mr Bainimarama’s performance on the domestic front is complemented by his popularity on the international stage.

In the current COP23 summit in Bonn, he has introduced the Fijian way of dialogue called the talanoa session which engages a broad spectrum of leaders, representing a diversity of interests. It’s the first time it has happened in such a big international gathering.

His leadership at the United Nations Ocean Conference that Fiji co-hosted with Sweden in New York in June and at COP23 as its president, has been widely praised.

At home, the poll result comes as no surprise. It mirrors his impressive performance. He is generally regarded as “a man of the people.”

The opinion poll shows Opposition Leader Ro Teimumu Kepa also maintaining her position in second place on 14%, ahead of SODELPA Leader Sitiveni Rabuka on 10%. Others are on 5%,  National Federation Party  leader Biman Prasad on 3% and Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry on 2%.

People were also asked who they would like to see as deputy PM: The result: Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum 51%; Pio Tikoduadua, Niko Nawaikula 7%; Aseri Radrodro 3%; Others 3%; Unsure 28%.

89% of those polled said they had registered and would vote.

63% picked FijiFirst as the favourite to win the election.

SODELPA came second at 21%. NFP and FLP scored 3%. Unity Fiji failed to win a vote. 1% said they would not pick any of the existing parties and 9% said they were unsure.

The poll was conducted in the Central, Northern and Western divisions. The survey involved 600 people in face to face interviews. The Fiji Sun, 11 November 2017

VICTOR LAL: 'Those of us who were fellow travellers with Aiyaz Khaiyum and Others in 1987 in our fight to bring down the curtain on the RABUKA HORROR SHOW, whether peacefully or violently, understand where Khaiyum is coming from, and where he wants to take Fiji, but he has to be accommodating and curb his ego and dictatorial manners.'

COMRADES AGAINST DICTATORSHIP: Mohammed Rafiq Kahan and Victor Lal in London, 1988. Kahan escaped extradition to Fiji after shipping 40 tons of weapons into the country to overthrow Rabuka