"Today it was claimed that ONE News showed tanks on Suva street and images of children eating grass. This never happened and we did no such thing. Look at the footage that disproves Bainimarama's claims." TVNZ

10/6/2016

22 Comments

In terms of the tanks accusation, TVNZ says it cannot find any instance where pictures of tanks from foreign sources have been put into stories on Fiji.

"Prime Minister [John Key], let me also confront head on the issue of media freedom and more particularly, the right of access to Fiji by certain of your journalists. No-one who reports on events in Fiji fairly and in a balanced manner is excluded...But we cannot allow the willful propagation of false information that damages the national interest and undermines our vulnerable economy. And that is what has happened in the case of certain New Zealand journalists... New Zealand television ran footage of tanks in the streets of Suva when our military does not own any tanks. They had been interposed from other sources. A claim was made that Fijian children were starving and were eating grass. These are egregious examples of willful bias and misreporting... And we are saying to the news organisations that employ them: send someone else. Someone who respects the facts and the right of people to know the truth. Not some twisted concoction." -
Frank Bainimarama at the State Banquet for PM John Key

"This is an absolute nonsense. I did a story [in 2008] shortly before I was banned about how times were tough in one of the villages – the children had been told by their teachers to help pull out the grass with their hands as they couldn’t afford fuel for their motor mower. We even showed them putting the grass in the rubbish bin – not their tummies." -
TVNZ, Barbara Deaver

Dreaver said she has previously addressed this matter with the Fiji Government. In May 2014 she wrote an email to its Communications Manager Sharon Smith-Johns and included a copy of her script and background material.

BASICALLY, TVNZ is claiming that Bainimarama LIED in his speech during the banquet welcoming Prime Minister John Key of New Zealand.
WILL BAINIMARAMA be expelled from Parliament and stripped of the Prime Ministership, over the speech that has been widely reported on the social media, YOUTUBE, and has gone viral around the world? After all, he supported the expulsion of Draunidalo in that same speech saying she lied that his Education Minister Mahendra Reddy had called 'natives dumb':
"Prime Minister, no parliament in the world, no government in the world, can tolerate attempts to create ethnic discord, sow ethnic hatred. The sad fact is that one of our MPs did precisely that last week when she falsely stated on the floor of the House that our Education Minister had made a reference to “dumb natives”. It was a concoction, a lie. And it was clearly aimed at smearing an Indo-Fijian minister with an outrageous falsehood - that he had cast aspersions on the intellectual ability of our indigenous people...So a harsh penalty was recommended by our Parliamentary Privileges Committee last week and then endorsed by Parliament. And rightly so.

'Reputational Damage' to Reddy but does that apply to Barbara Dreaver?

"Barbara Dreaver is a highly respected journalist. She’s covered the region for 20 years and I can’t think of a journalist who knows it better. She should be immediately removed from the Fiji Government’s blacklist so she can do her job as our Pacific correspondent." TVNZ's Head of News and Current Affairs, John Gillespie

Click link below to see the whole video and TVNZ story :
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/tvnz-news-boss-demands-end-fiji-ban-barbara-dreaver

Fijileaks: We have not been able to locate any story or photo about tanks on the streets of Fiji. The closest match of the mention of tanks is an ABC news item from 1 December 2006 when the 'raging military bull' was threatening to takeover the Laisenia Qarase multi-party government by 5 December 2006: 'We don't see road blocks, there are not tanks in the street, nor are there hundreds of troops in the streets...I've been to the military headquarters, the Queen Elizabeth Barracks, Government House, and the Parliament, and it's all pretty normal, on the face of it. But everyone is, sort of, quite apprehensive about what's going to happen.'

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2006/s1802077.htm

“At the end of the day, I will stick by my men, by the police officers or anyone else that might be named in this investigation. We cannot discard them just because they’ve done their duty in looking after the security of this nation and making sure we sleep peacefully at night.” - Frank Bainimarama reacting to the video which captured the sexual assault and brutal beating of Iowane Benedito in 2012

22 Comments

Sam

10/6/2016 09:31:05 am

For the lying Prime Minister: who made you lie publicly and in front of a foreign leader and an international media? What are you going to do about this? if you are not taking any firm action, then you are not fit to hold the PM's Office. It will confirm that the real PM is someone else, and you do whatever he tells you to do. (Is he blackmailing you?)

jml

10/6/2016 10:29:19 pm

What are you going to do about this??? Yes. Veejay from Legend FM, Editor in Chief should have the balls, that is if he has any, to ask Voreqe this?

Rajend Naidu

10/6/2016 09:34:03 am

Editor,
Dangerous to be Right!
Voltaire, The Age of Loius XIV : " It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong".
Many have had first hand experience of that in post coup Fiji .
But people committed to the truth, to what is right carry one regardless.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Tomasi

10/6/2016 10:38:46 am

Very sad, so embarrassing for the nation, but we are not surprised at all. Voreqe is a foolish, desperate and political stooge. What a shame for Fiji to have this kind of person to be the PM. He is not qualified, and lacks the moral, intellectual and leadership qualities.

But we all know how he became the PM. Now, we all know how he performs ( acts or pretends) as PM. The question is: What are we going to do about it?

King Rat

11/6/2016 08:09:25 pm

What are we going to do about it?

Yes, indeed.

Go ahead Tomasi and organise a counter-revolution.

Otherwise stop barking from overseas.

Bainimarama assaults on media

10/6/2016 12:21:57 pm

How does Bainimarama excuse his physical assault on the foreign female news reporter during the elections? Wasn't she from NZ?

How does Bainimarama explain the lack of publication of independent OAG reports, including on FRA and Fiji Airways ... as he says this has improved since 2006?

Thinker

10/6/2016 03:19:53 pm

Frank is a traditional liar and he is surrounded by a well trained liar group. While we keep on pointing at Frank, we have no idea why he has to lie - maybe to cover another lie? Actually I do agree with Sam.

Franky is not very Frank about happenings at Ministry of Finance

Aaraam Se link

10/6/2016 09:24:13 pm

Fiji has its own brand of democracy where Journalists are intimidated,harassed,prosecuted.Foreign Journalists are targeted with blacklist and being banned.Our journalists(both local and foreign) have highlighted so many wrong doings of FFP Govt for instance the stealing of another party's name,exposed Kaam Sutra Reddy,Dr.Neil,Ganesh Chand,Midlife Investment,Shirley Park fiasco,Aunty Nur Bano and her millions,the Casino, Ministerial pay,The Rewa Dairy,hidden AOG Report and the list goes on The FFP Government knows these are adequate firepower for the media to bring them down come 2018,thus gag them....The PM and his master strategist the AG still think that they can rule for another 10 years.That is by controlling /intimidating the media.But the cat is out......they can not sustain anymore pressure,thus these comments made in a banquet dinner.Sign of frustration folks...Indeed they were walking two years back,now they are running as told by their Minister of Education the Kaamsutra fellow.

10/6/2016 11:47:19 pm

Aaraam se: You are generally correct in what you write, except that you still havent got the plot about Dr. Ganesh. With him, I am convinced that journalists bought the bait thrown by Khaiyum to malign him. Dr. Ganesh is a very strong willed and forthright person. He wont have bowed to the dictates of Khaiyum. We know him from FLP days when in meetings, he used to be the one always logical and never flowed with the tide for the sake of it. I am convinced that Khaiyum and Reddy, unable to control Dr. Ganesh and knowing that he will not bow to curbing academic freedom, began to malign him They began to control how others viewed this man - they wanted others to view him negatively so that he wont get any support when they attacked him. Falsehoods and deliberate attempts to throw mud at his good character and record were all part of the plot. I have written previously - if anyone can show any evidence of fraud or any illegal gain Dr. Ganesh made, I will not only stop defending him, but will myself report it to FICAC and police. So far, only allegations have come. I am convinced he is not part of the Khaiyum-Reddy-Bala gang. He just couldnt be if he is the same Dr. Ganesh that we know him from old days. Dr. Ganesh is not the bad guy here. So let us keep the arrow focused at the bad guys.

Thinker

11/6/2016 08:23:17 pm

Aj, you can write hundreds of pages on Dr Ganeshwar Chand about what he used to be BUT my friend the Ganesh Chand FNU staff came to know is totally different. I am not sure how much you know about Ravana from Ramayana.
Ganesh changed the way Ravana changed. Ravana was a very knowledgeable man but once he became powerful, he became cruel, greepy as well as characterless.
Dr Ganesh Chand reminds us of Ravana. Dr Ganesh Chand was acting as if he was God.
What happened to Ravana, is well known to Hindus.

14/6/2016 08:01:16 am

Change can be good. I would like to believe that Dr. Ganesh changed for the good. He established FNU which gave thousands of young people a chance to be educated at a University. Obviously, as the Vice Chancellor, he would be the boss. The point is not this. I want to know what did Dr. Ganesh do which riles your thinking mind so much, thinker? Was it establishing the University? Was it putting in policies and rules which everyone had to follow? Was it in raising the standards of FIT, FSM, teacher colleges and TPAF? I want not 100 pages; just a few lines on what bothers you in the change he brought about.

Tin Tin

11/6/2016 12:18:53 am

The PM has now made a fool of himself yet again in front of the whole world to see, all orchestrated by Khaiyum. And Bainimarama the fool continues to talk and act like he has not done anything wrong. Imagine the next day, would his private secretary or anyone in his office inform him about the untruth contained in his comments at the banquet? It is a simple case of NOT UNDERSTANDING WHAT HE READS IN HIS PREPARED SPEECHES. The man is a complete idiot.The biggest indication is how he has contradicted himself so many times and his failure to commit and deliver on promises. You meet him the next day, after he had made what looks like a blunder, and you will be surprised to see how seems to act so normal.He is just a complete FOOL.
God help Fiji.

Tomasi

11/6/2016 05:29:46 am

Thank you again folks for blessing us with your wisdom. The comments about Dr Ganesh Chand are very convincing and reassuring for me because I also knew Dr Ganesh as a very sincere and honest person. He has worked hard, a talented person and full of the kind of positive potential our nation needs. But like many other local talents, he has been tainted with the negative brush. However, the truth will always triumph eventually.

The same cannot be said of PM Voreqe. It is no longer a surprise and a wonder to hear him speak blatant lies and an icon of profound contradictions. As Sam, Tintin and others have said, this man is a stupid idiot and consummate fool. He does not seem to realise that each time he reads the prepared scripts, he contradicts himself, embarrasses the nation, and insults the intelligence and the morals of the general public.

It is therefore a wonder that he continues to remain cocooned in his well-feathered nest. For how long must we tolerate such a terrible cancerous blight in our national landscape?

Rustam

11/6/2016 09:32:50 am

Bainimarama has well and truly earned the tag of a “Puppet”.

A pathetically bloated Puppet of Khaiyum burbling, without thinking, what is fed to him - all this stupid grandiose messages of embarking on a revolution and creating year zero (what a joke!) and then the grand finale of tanks in Suva Streets and starving little children eating grass (phew!) .

And whilst this Puppet can lie through his teeth (to international dignitaries) and get away with it – Hon. Draunidalo is suspended from our Parliament for aptly calling ‘Minister Topper’ a fool –during a debate about concessions for student fees in this dire and trying times. The gross injustice of it all is the "true" democracy that the Puppet burbled about.

Rajend Naidu

11/6/2016 10:40:53 am

Editor,
Raise Your Voice
William Faulkner tells us " Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the ver the world would do this, it would change the earth".
Indeed it would . And, we see some sign of this - raising of voice against injustice and lying and greed - in the Panama Papers leak, Wikileak's, Fijileaks,
And then we have this to guide us from Harry Truman, " Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear" ( Special Message to the Congress on the Internal Security of the United States, August8,1950).
What a profound message for our time and our country.
All good men and women must raised their voice to ensure we don't become the country Truman warns us about - the country where citizens live in fear.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Rajend Naidu

11/6/2016 01:01:09 pm

Editor,
Intellectual debate
In his polite letter of rebuttal (Fiji Times 12/6 ) my friend Jone Dakuvula disputes Dr Mahendra Reddy's narrow idea of intellectual ( FT 5/6 ) and his allegation of the lack of critical analysis of government policies at our universities.
Jone says Dr Reddy should consider " the political environment his government has created".
Let me help Dr Reddy with that.
His government has created a political environment of anti-intellectualism and political intimidation which is clearly not conducive for any critical commentary by university academics, as Professor Wadan Narsey and Professor Brij Lal will attest through their experience.
This is why, in the prevailing political environment, university academics choose not to be engaged in public debate. There is as Jone notes a very real danger of losing ones job if you rub the mob in power the wrong way.
In light of this there is but one conclusion to be drawn regarding Dr Reddy's take on on what constitutes intellectualism in contemporary Fiji : it is a self- serving conceptualisation to suit his current status as a government minister in Frank Bainimarama's Fiji First Party government.
Dr Reddy's conceptualisation is reductionistic and suffers from obscurantism.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

11/6/2016 01:12:04 pm

Memory. Times move on. Yesterday we were kids, today adults, tomorrow old people and following day, only memory for others. Coups in 87, then 2000, then 2006. And now dictatorship. Memories bound generations. How will people remember the Bainimarama clan - the whole clan. For violence ("I stand by my men who tortured and killed"? For instilling fear in people? For fraud? For corruption? For lying in public and to the PM of NZ? For destroying the fabric of this nation? How will they remember Aiyaz Khaiyum and his whole clan (his father, his mother, his ancestory, this children)? Make no mistake: Historians will write books; poets will write verses; musicians will sing; parents will tell their toddlers bed time stories "Once there was a man called Bainimarama/khaiyum..." stories. The choice is these two people's. That is the only contribution they will make to Fiji. What they leave behind. What I see at this point in time is Darkness. Evil. Shame. Benchmark for what not to be.

Samjha

11/6/2016 03:05:25 pm

Barbara Dreaver is a highly respected journalist. How does anyone become " highly respected " anything?
By showing competence, professionalism and integrity in his or her chosen field of work. It's an earned description. Many in Fiji carry titles that they have NOT earned.

Chiku

11/6/2016 03:13:48 pm

"...At the start, everyone was respectful towards him, listening carefully to his soporific explanations. But he soon became a joke to most of us,because not only was he pedantic and patronising, he was also frightened of what he'd started and disliked suggestions for fear they implied that he was going wrong" ( Hanif Kureishi The Buddha Of Suburbia 1990, p.146).
Does that remind you of someone in the Fiji politics context?

Welcome Home

11/6/2016 07:28:31 pm

The role of organised crime in Fiji with regard to alleged inexplicable murders should be fully and professionally examined. Mr Gyan Chand is quite right to call for a thorough investigation and the unresolved Seeto case also comes to mind. Organised crime has tentacles all over Fiji and beyond. It has been encouraged by great gaps in preparedness of those institutions responsible to take charge of their obligation to 'Salus Populi suprema est lex'. The Welfare of the People is the Highest Law. A quote from Cicero and the proud former motto of the Royal Fiji Police Force. For more than two thousand years this defined the Duty to Protect.

Yep...

11/6/2016 09:34:43 pm

The duty to protect applies only to one Fiji citizen - Aunty Nur Bano!

TeKupu

14/6/2016 03:43:43 pm

Tank footage form memory was integrated into a TVNZ News item. The tank scene was tracked to Indonesia. I think it was a story run during the first or second coup hence the 'memory' has faded in TVNZ about doctoring news items. On one other occasion TVNZ showed an anti-US protest in Libya - but turned out to be opening entertainment at a national football match; we only found out because a NZer happened to ahve been at that game!

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