A Man of Substance

In amongst the blur of craziness currently enveloping our beloved country, we must never lose sight of the fact that we do have some amazing citizens in our beloved country. And who give us hope.

These letters are from some of these remarkable people about Rt Joni Madraiwiwi - a phenomenal Statesman of our time. (Letters to the Editor - Fiji Times ... end Feb 2009)

A man of substance

We refer to the criticism against Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi in your Letters to the Editor Column FT 26/2.

We do not comment on the specifics of the letter, suffice it to say that the letter says more about the writer than the person against whom it is directed.

Restraint is needed in such matters, especially during these troubled times.

A measured response would seem more appropriate for an institution charged with the promotion and protection of human rights, to allow for a genuine national discussion and debate about racism to take place in this polarised society.

We who have known former Human Rights Commissioner, Judge of the High Court of Fiji and Vice-President, Turaga Roko Tui Bau, Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, for decades, as friends, as colleagues, as former and current Human Rights Commissioners, know him to be a true humanitarian, a man of substance.

He is a person who is deeply concerned about racism and human rights, and who ponders long into the night about challenges of building bridges between the races in this country.

His writings reflect that deep consideration and genuine love of all things in Fiji.

He is friend to both indigenous Fijians and Indian Fijians, one of the few true leaders of this country, capable of forging deep and meaningful personal friendships in the Indian Fijian community, as well as his own. We bear witness to this.

He is, to put it plainly, without a racist bone in his body.

We hope this letter offers solace to those of the wider community who know and respect Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi.

We write this letter in our personal, private capacities.

SHAMIMA ALI
IMRANA JALAL
Suva

A simpler view

The letter of Dr Shameem of the Human Rights Commission (FT 26/2), assures Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi (a former Human Rights Commissioner) that Commodore Teleni's outburst against Indian police officers is not discrimination on the grounds of race.

She offers guidance on racial and class structure and their collaborative effect on the anti-human rights agenda (it is a bit difficult to follow but I think she also advises that the media is one of the collaborators). Not having a doctorate in sociology or anything like that I am not, of course, in any position to pit my meagre qualifications against Dr Shameem's, so I need to look at things more simply.

I am quite sure that if I summoned the Indian staff of our law firm into a room and bawled them out for disloyalty using phraseology perhaps more commonly heard in the navy than elsewhere, there would be a letter on my desk from the Human Rights Commission in about 15 minutes.

Richard Naidu
Suva

The Professor explains

One sunny afternoon, Common-er's Teletubby and Bainirama approached Professer Wadani at his house.

“Ei Prof, that liu-muri lasulasu Salulukaan was gonna explain to us but he's maraqe to my Jesus - but you know what is this coup-culture ? Can you explain it to us, or we will have to launch an investigation”

Professor Wadani replied, “OK I don’t have any time to explain it at my office, but if you come over to my house on Saturday and help me with my weekend project, I’ll be happy to explain it to you.”

At the agreed-upon time, the two showed up at the professor’s house. The professor stated that the weekend project involved his backyard lily-pond.

The two Common-ers both waddled over to the pond, and the professor handed them 2 buckets. Demonstrating with his own bucket, Prof Wadani said, “First, go over to the deep end, and fill your bucket with as much water as you can.”

Teletubby said " O sobo rui katakata na siga ... you shure you doing the right thing bekos thiz the wrong time you know". "Ahh Sharrup", barked Bainirama.

Prf Wadani continued, “Follow me over to the shallow end, and then dump all the water from your bucket into it.” The 2 men were naturally confused, but did as they were bidden with some reluctance.

The professor then explained they were going to do this many more times, and began walking back to the deep end of the pond.

Common-er Teletubby again “Excuse me, but why are we doing this? Its the wrong time to be doing this the wrong thing, and I am watching you. ”

Prof Wadani matter-of-factly stated that he was trying to make the shallow end much deeper.

Teletubby's brow creased over with confusion but when he saw the professor was serious, he figured that he would find out the real story soon enough - after all he had the power to sack the professor and hire another 200 just like him tomorrow.

However, after the 6th trip between the shallow end and the deep end, the 2 Common-ers began to become worried that the good Prof. was making fun of them.

So Bainirama finally burst out, “O karaiki - who started this ? We haven't moved forward. You are wasting valuable time and effort on this unproductive pursuits."

"Anyway whats this got to do with the price of salala ? Even worse, when this bullshit is all over, everything will be at the same level it was before, so all we really accomplishing here ish the destroying of what could have been really truly productive progress!”

Prof Wadani put down his bucket and replied with a smile, “Congratulations. I think you now understand the effects of the coup culture.”

RIP victima

My heart has been tugged this way and that, this week with the tragedy that is of the fire victims this week in Victoria, Australia.

Some of the people that perished this week were some of the first to give to our flood victims when we hit the news overseas. I for one will never forget that they gave so freely only to die in an inferno a month after they poured their sympathies out for us.

What do you say? There are no words for needless tragedies such as this.

In the same breath I have been following with interest the court case of Rabaka's killers.

In the spirit of justice, I say that I ain't holding my breath in this case of the policemen/ soldiers before the courts right now accused of killing Rabaka - after all, corn can't expect justice from a court composed of chickens.

These people are terrorists.

Just like the arsonists that caused the needless deaths of 100's in Australia, both did what they did deliberately.

Both knew what the potential risks were and both caused colossal amounts of physical, emotional, economical and cerebral damage within the community and in the nation's consciousness.

Either way they are both the enemy within.

The Negative Nothing Concept

I was intrigued to read the following exchange in cyber space between 2 very intelligent blog contributors (Island Boy and Colin Bishop) on our Fiji Freedom solidarity site "Solivakasama".

I am no economic wiz but this struck a cord and the extremely sad sinking feeling that this is really happening to our beloved land and our people, many of whom ask only for the right to a simple existence.

The behavior of Fiji's military regime thus far has only worsened our people's plight, and in the light of the plunging world economic recession, will no doubt get worse.

Future Investors take note of what Mr Bishop has to ask in his last comment. This is a fact. The FTIB one-stop shop, the sweet talk, and all the fast tracking of investment proposals in the world won't halt the fact that between FIRCA and the military, any investment in Fiji right now in this hostile regime will be hounded and doomed by these guys.
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Colin Bishop says:

The $7 Billion in lost economic activity from the Coup, and I believe this might be a conservative figure, means that every man, woman and child in Fiji has had $8000 taken away from their lifestyle. Every villager or cane farmer knows he is worse off than before but probably is unable to put a dollar amount to it.

What I think is just as valid a point to consider is that the net effect of the loss, whatever the figure and basis of calculation, will have a much deeper and more detrimental effect on those at lower income levels.

This is not to belittle the effect on the well to do, but for me and the communities I am involved in, the loss of income and the loss of opportunity is not only more detrimental but is longer-lasting and just about destroys any real chance at recovery.

IslandBoy says in reply:
February 2, 2009 at 06:41

@Colin Bishop - The point I am reiterating is that the effects of the loss is much worse on those at or below the poverty line.

Never in the running for MENSA membership, I am unable to get my head around the fact that someone who was barely earning FJ$3,500 p.a. (the lucky ones) has just lost about $8,000 of that.

I don’t know how we arrive at negative nothing, but I can tell you that after the floods, I know what it looks like visually.

And to think, we once were considered the islands of sunshine and song!

Colin Bishop says in reply:

For those below the poverty line it is the loss of “lifestyle advantage” that are in hidden assets like the standard of free medical services, monies available to NGOs for basic assistance and the loss of chances of employment.

Typing this I know it sounds like crap when I am looking at photos sent to me of the village of two of my staff.

It looks similar to what I saw in Vietman as a young soldier. I have happy memories of spending nights and drinking grog in what now looks like a war zone.

I have arranged for alternate accommodation for the two families and have allowed them to charge the materials to rebuild against the Company. The additional loss in this years books will be insignificant.

Does anyone else in Fiji notice FIRCA is now operating like a demented fox terrier and questioning every nitpicking item at nauseum?

The Fijian Army IS the problem

Thoughtless military regime aids social, economic and political catastrophe in Fiji

Excellent Editorial in the Fiji Times Today Tuesday 3rd Feb, 2009

Reality check for interim PM

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

WHEN the military took control of the country on December 5, 2006, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama proclaimed that he was doing so to create a better Fiji for all her people.

Almost immediately the repercussions of his action were felt – not by him or his troops who still had their jobs – but by thousands of people who lost theirs as tourists fled our shores and investors thought twice about putting their money here.

Here we are, almost 26 months later, and what exactly has Bainimarama managed to create for the people of this country?

Indeed the question that Bainimarama needs to answer is how many jobs has he created for the people of this country? And how many more has he destroyed?

Thousands of casual workers in the tourism and sugar industries have lost their jobs in a climate where no new ones are being created, nor will be created any time soon.

The tourism industry continues to struggle to survive, last year slashing prices in an attempt to keep Australians and New Zealanders flocking to our shores.

But the millions that the industry spends marketing Fiji come to nought every time Bainimarama decides to have an outburst.

Then there's the sugar industry – desperate for EU funds which will not be forthcoming because an unelected government is in power.

With lower prices now the new sugar reality, we must reform our sugar industry. But Bainimarama continues to starve it of the funds it really needs to reform properly and survive. So more jobs will be lost in the sugar industry as a result.

Even in the civil service, where Bainimarama does have control, there is a job and salary freeze on. Sometimes it seems that the only department really thriving is the army where backpay, bonuses and job adverts abound.

Now – not content with destroying thousands of private sector jobs earlier, Bainimarama's regime has decided to enforce a further inflationary measure, a major wage increase for the private sector to bear.

Thousands more jobs will be lost as businesses struggle to cope.

Bainimarama cannot and will not be able to create the jobs that are needed to keep Fiji's families afloat.

Bainimarama needs to wake up and see the macroeconomic picture. Wake up and smell the stench of thousands of dead jobs.