“Fark you fat stupid uneducated palagi lard and kiss my ass”:
It beggars belief that the Samoan Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, would have as his media advisor someone like Tupuola Terry Tavita, who contributes such gems to Grubsheet. What an adornment to Samoa this world class wordsmith surely is! What an adornment to the English language! Such an amazing grasp of punctuation! Such brilliant mastery of the mother tongue of Shakespeare!
Grubsheet warned Terry Tavita this morning that if he persisted with his willful and unlawful contempt of the current trial of deposed Fijian prime minister, Laisenia Qarase, he would not grace these columns again. As Neville Chamberlain famously put it: “I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received”. On the contrary, rather than heed our pleas not to jeopardise Qarase’s trial, Terry responded in far more strident terms, likening the Fijian court hearing the case to a hopping Australian marsupial. You get the drift. As a journalist, Terry knows this is a blatant legal provocation but I guess when you’ve already got a breakfast skin-full in some Apian dive, what the heck. The Fijian judiciary doesn’t reach that far and wouldn’t want to.
Terry’s constant racism is one thing. Thakur Ranjit Singh – the former editor of the Fiji Post – is a “little Indian”. “Chand” – one of our regular contributors – is a “stupid Indian”. And Grubsheet is “fat, stupid Palagi lard”, Palagi being the colloquial Samoan term for a white man. Now, Terry Tavita himself hardly subscribes to the adage that “you can never be too rich or too thin”. He seems to have ample enough means judging from the testimony of Suva’s good-time girls but his own girth is such that Grubsheet, for one, would never want him in a dominant physical position. But it’s not jibes about size that we get upset about but skin colour. It’s just not acceptable to talk like this in polite international society anymore even if it’s par for the course in Samoa.
Yet even overt racism wasn’t enough to get Terry banned from these columns. Our patience has finally worn out on legitimate legal grounds, for defying our successive pleas not to make public statements that are in contempt of Qarase’s proceedings. It’s not just Terry’s action in exposing Grubsheet to potential legal consequences but the appalling hypocrisy attached to his juvenile and reckless behaviour. While he rails about the need for democracy in Fiji, he willfully tries to subvert the country’s legal processes and bring the judiciary into disrepute.
So for the second time in the brief history of Grubsheet, a contributor has been silenced. We recently banished one Wilson (Ilisoni) Tamanikaira for compounding his own racist rantings with an exhortation to Fijians everywhere to bash Grubsheet on sight. Now the media advisor to the Samoan prime minister joins him in the extremities of cyberspace, where they can loiter menacingly out of sight. We’ve pressed the “Spam” button on any future comments – somewhat appropriately for a Samoan – although we looked in vain for one labelled “Bully Beef”, which in Terry’s case would have been even better.
It’s very strange that someone like Terry from a tiny country like Samoa makes such a big noise. He seems to think that being famous for fire dancers, illegal firearms and fa’afafine– the local transvestites – somehow entitles his country to hold itself up as a shining beacon to the region. Yet there’s no way that his counterpart in Fiji would ever behave in the same boorish manner. Sharon Smith Johns may be occasionally feisty but she’s colour blind and passionately believes in racial equality. Terry Tavita – on the other hand – sanctimoniously goes on about “democracy” while displaying the most disgraceful chauvinism and prejudice.
Anyway bye-bye, Terry, or Tofa Soifua as your blighted countrymen might say. I’d like to say it was nice knowing you but despite once sharing a friendly beer, my exposure to your “charm” has left me decidedly underwhelmed. You’re actually everything that is wrong with your government – under-performing, loud-mouthed and smug. But you’re also a racist lout who’s an embarrassment in contemporary Pacific society. Now, bugger off and go and harass someone else.
FURTHER READING: Terry Tavita evidently takes a keen interest in Samoa’s transvestite community. Here’s a link to a story he wrote on his boss – the PM – telling fa’afafine that they are special but warning them not to stay out too late at night. Is it linked, perchance, to Terry’s nocturnal perambulations and lurid accounts of “girls” being chased into nightclub toilets? (see previous posting).
Last week I went to Church and a trio of young Samoan siblings with ages ranging from 14 through to 7, got up and sang a beautiful hymn in Samoan which tugged at everyone’s heart.
Believe me, Samoans are a wonderful people, well mannered and cultured. My own Sunday school teacher when I was young in Fiji was a Samoan gentleman who was also a Methodist lay preacher. He taught us many useful life lessons that we continue to use today in our lives.
Tavita is not the best example of a Samoan. His utterances are uncharitable and most of all, unChristian.
For a country like Samoa which boats more Churches per head of population than any other country, and whose people are God fearing Christians with a big heart, I find it hard to accept that people of such poor quality as Tavita can be an important advisor to the Samoan PM.
It is very sad that he resorts to racist labels and shows a lack of respect towards others, espeially Fijians who have done anything wrong to him.
Why does he hate Fiji so much?
Can someone please explain to us all
Graham
Terry can be categorize with those that are known as “empty vessel makes more CONFUSING sound.”.
The vessel called “PIQUE” most of its passengers are Fa’ afafine, getting closer to one of those group you will find Terry among them as their MC.
Jimboto
Hes jealous because he knows that Samoa cannot be like Fiji. Fiji is the hub of the Pacific not primitive Samoa.What has Samoa done towards wold peace, nothing. Fijian soldiers are now in syria as UN observers despite Aust and NZ with samoa behind them trying to lobby the UN to disengage Fiji.
Graham,
How do you know if it is really him – Terry Tavita, and not someone else making out its him?
Oh, it’s him alright. He does it in Google closed forums for the regional media as well, such as Honiara-based Cook Islander Lisa Lahari’s Pacific Freedom Forum. She’s castigated Terry on that site for his racism. And other Palagi – aside from me -have been at the receiving end of his vitriol.
It staggers me that the regional media has tolerated Tavita’s behaviour at successive island gabfests. I have it on the best possible authority that he threatened to kill someone at the last PINA summit in Port Vila. I can’t reveal the source but he is one of the most respected figures in the Pacific media. So Terry’s denials carry a distinctly hollow ring.
The island media tolerates a level of belligerence and self indulgent behaviour that would be unacceptable anywhere else. Part of it is the desire to forge a sense of regional identity and solidarity by keeping everyone inside the “Pacific” tent. But part of it is the usual reticence of nice, reasonable people to create a fuss.
Terry has exploited all of this for far too long. It’s not for me as a Fiji born “Palagi” to challenge him except in these columns. Other people in the wider Pacific media community need to decide collectively that he is a liability because of his crude racism and call his bluff. Otherwise this bully boy farce will just continue.
The fat Terry is a reflection of the type of democracy his boss, Samoan PM Tuilaepa represents, because Samoan democracy allows same PM and party to lead for decades without change of government when even USA is forced to change its President every 8 years at least. As a journalist, Terry should have been a watchdog. But as the spin doctor of Samoan PM, he has merely degenerated into a lapdog, a fat one at that.
@Graham
Hmmm……a drunk moron or a smooth talking sycophant whose only defence for a regime whose hallmarks are corruption, nepotism, bullying, thuggery and economic sabotage is that it is required in order to achieve a truly multicultural society? I’m not a betting man but I can see some people backing the moron every time.
But a good call on the ban – whoever this ‘Terry’ is, no need for that sort of language.
@ Cin Cin
Tch, Tch I’m with you when you describe yourself….for seldom do we come across people who would honestly look in the mirror….or did you just finish your last drink and looking at your empty glass and the reflection on it.
Cin Cin, tch tch…its lonely out there, isn’t it…being sad and pathetic
Thakur Ranjit Singh
We might have flaws, which I accept, but at least people have the choice – unless your Fiji, where some dictator came through with his gun and is beating people up if and when he doesnt agree with them. I prefer to live in a flawed democracy than a dictatorship – by the way I dont know and would not want to know this Tavita chap, if he really is the one and same person
@ Samoan
You don’t have a military but guess who is the head of your police force…ok no guessing required.
You see Samoan and those bleeting buggers who talk of beatings and bashings etc, it is a necessity to carry a stick to keep barking mongrels at bay…simply said to save the country going to the dogs, we need to smack a couple…so be it if the neighbours bark.
I personally would like to live under the “dictatorship” than a sham democracy. A “dictatorship” that instills pride amongst its people and strives against all odds to bring prosperity and happiness to the people…..a oneness that does not exist in Samoa…..Fiji, a country that can stand up to regional bullies and be counted. A nation of peoples that can stand up proud under the current leadership and say “we will nto be bullied and you will not buy us with handouts”.
This is the first country in the Pacific region to fully recognise all the indigenous peoples as having equal rights and not only a few. Beat that Australia and New Zealand and Terry’s Samoa.
Ok we may have gone a bit overboard with Samoa….but please note its Terry and Tui’s Samoa we’re talking about…oh yes Tui’s your “elected” PM…..
Me says if you eat chilli be prepared to have a burning arse
Chand, dear, you’ve lost the plot again mate.
1. Samoa’s indigenous people are Samoan. So I am not quite sure why you are trying to compare Fiji recognising “its indigenous people” with Samoa. Also, that is extremely arrogant and condescending thing to say. Fiji recognises “its indigenous people”??? Fiji IS THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE. It should be Fijians recognising all descendants of immigrants mate. Not the immigrants recognising the first arrivals. You sound like the NZ and Australian govt you so despise.
2. Fiji stand up to regional bullies??? All Fiji has done has shown the pacific that the lunatics run the asylum, and that the military run the show. What kind of sham political system is it when the military runs the govt? It is the political system of the Taleban.
3. If you’re so free in Fiji, how come the military still censor the media?? Nobody can tell Bainimarama and his mates to go take a running jump in the pacific. Everyone must kiss his arse.
Coups solve nothing Chand. You and mates are being taken for a ride by your uncle Baini. It will only end in tears.
@ Samoan
You might not want to know him?…..thats being in denial my friend.
Tavita presents as a foul mouthed Samoan bully with a racist outlook to boot. Is that a good example of what being a Samoan is?
You defend him by claiming you live in a democracy – well its is because of precisely that (overt racism and thuggish behaviour against ethnic minorities here in Fiji) that the military in Fiji stepped in to clean out the thugs in charge who had their snout deep in the trough.
Come to Fiji and find out yourself.
Stop being like that tub of lard, Tuilaepa, who throws barbs against Fiji from afar, yet remains an ignoramus.
Tofa soifua
Samoan
Refer posting below by a Samoan on another website:
The Constitution of Samoa is the supreme law of Samoa yet it is ignored shamelessly by the misnamed govering party- The Human Rights Protection Party.
The following laws are unconstitutional and are rendered void by the Constitution of Samoa:
– The Police Powers Act 2007 authorises the PM and HOS to invite foreign military into Samoa for any public purpose as decided by them. These visiting specialists have the right to bring weapons of any description into Samoa and they are ABOVE THE LAW because the Act specifically says that they are immune from Samoan civil or criminal law. Any Samoan who interferes with the actions of these foreign warriors becomes a criminal. Tuilaepa has his own private army.
– The Land Titles Registration Act 2008 has never fulfilled the requirements to become a law as the Constitution specifically requires a referendum before the land ownership system of Samoa can be changed. Two thirds of all voters must agree to any change before it can occur. The worst thing about this illegitimate unconstitutional law is that it passes ownership of all land registered to the State of Samoa and gives back to the person in whose name the land is registered a right to cast out all his relatives even if the land belonged to the whole aiga. The land becomes subject to taxation as well. It eliminates the land rights of most Samoans in Samoa or overseas to their family land.
– The Water Resources Management Act 2008 steals all the water of Samoa from traditional owners and enables the State to sell Samoas water to an overseas buyer. Permits are required to use water even if you live in the village.
Samoa is a dictatorship not a democracy.
All political candidates must be approved by the HRPP to contest any general election in Samoa.
Samoans understand that only those who bow to the dictator prosper in Samoa. All others are starved of resources even though they belong to the people of Samoa.
Villages like Satapuala and LauliI must ask themselves whether Samoans are born free or born to serve the dictator because if he wants your land you must be prepared to give it up or fight for it.
Maua Faleauto
You’ve been reading Faleauto Simi Taua’s idiotic rantings again. That guy was disbarred from the New Zealand law society for stealing his client’s money.
Best you avoid reading his propaganda show.
But, hey, at least he is allowed to air his idiotic and strongly anti-HRPP opinions in Samoa’s independent news media. Unlike your news media which lost its spine in 2006. Your news media is a sham.
Sharon Smith Johns may be occasionally feisty but she’s colour blind and passionately believes in racial equality
You are so right. She does not discriminate when she lies: black or white, Indian or Fijian, Kai Valagi or Kai Viti. It is all the same to her.
In fact she is so happy lying she will go on Radio Australia to lie on short wave, to lie on FM, to lie ion the internet
She is on the record telling lies.
Tell me what would happen if the PS for the Ministry of Information in Australia was caught out lying in an interview? Would you hold them up as a shining example?
@ Sharon tell lies
No need to worry about the PS for Information in Australian telling lies. It is all par for the course.
After all the Aussie PM herself (Julia) blatantly lied to the Australian public about the carbon tax. Sam too with John Howard when he differentiated between ‘core’ and ‘non core’ promises.
Telling porkies are all part of the arsenal of modern day politicians.
@ Sharon…….
We cannot change your block head thinking as we cannot stop a mongrel from barking or change the stripes of a zebra or for that matter get the truth out from your mentor Mark Edge.
Nor can we do anything about Warty Manning ‘The- runaway soldier”, from not running away from battles as we cannot change your block head thinking as we…..
Nor can we flatten the world for you and tell the difference between what’s coming from your head and your arse as we cannot change your block head thinking as we…..
Nor can we give you a history lesson of world politics as we cannot change your block head thinking as we…..
This guy does not like palagis, but most of his people are in palagi land in New Zealand.
This grub, Tupuola Tavita, is such a moron, he may not even realise its the largely Palagi taxpayers of NZ who keep his country afloat by all the aid they give.
I wonder if his views are the official views of the Western Samoan Government??
It really reflects on the type of background he comes from. He must be suffering from the Oedipus complex….lol!
And they rely on aid from palagis in Australia and NZ just to keep their head above the effluent in Samoa….Hah…hah…hah…..
What a joke this Tavita and his boss are
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/01/1083224643894.html
If you want to know why Jeffery Reed did not want the democratically elected government of Bavadra in 1987 and organised roadblocks in Tavua to start protest of election results which fianally ended in Rabuka coup- READ THIS ARTICLE!
Did u see 60 minutes last night about a Austrlian ripping off indeginous people of Sth America ( of course claiming he was there to help).
Pls see this 60 minutes segment to understand why people of FIJI MUST investigat thrJeff REED organised roadblocks in Tavus in 1987
@ Chand and Komai,
You are completely missing the point.
Sharon did not just tell a lie. She went on air with the sole purpose of trying to discredit a story on Coup 4.5 and the only way she could do so was by lying.
She is the head of the Ministry of Information. Her job is to inform the people of Fiji and the rest of the world about Government plans, policies and successes. It is not to arrange an interview with Bruce Hill of Pacific Beat and then consistently lie on air to all the people of the Pacific.
As we all know the story about Fiji TV being threatened by Khaiyum is absolutely true. Coup 4.5 ran the story which proves the regime is controlling the media in Fiji. This is very damaging to the Bainimarama and Khaiyum and must be giving Yash Ghai and his team second thoughts about the trust worthiness of the evil duo.
So Sharon goes on air and lies to protect her bosses. The upshot is Coup 4.5 credibility is increased but any self respecting journalist will now question what Sharon says very closely. No right thinking journalist will ever again take her word on any subject.
Lying is the order of the day for the Ministry of Information. The minister of Information, Bainimarama lied to Davis in February of this year.
It is clear to all who read Grubsheet Bainimarama looked Davis in the eye and lied.
In article 57 BAINIMARAMA DENIES COUP ATTEMPTS Davis quotes Bainimarama extensively denying any involvement in planning coups prior to 2006. This was filmed as part of your interview which was broadcast in Australia and the rest of the Pacific.
On Feb 29 in the comments section, Otto Limputt, who you say is closely associated with Ratu Mara, commented giving you a link to Mara’s website which a number of documents which proved the Victor Lal and Russell Hunter’s story that Bainimarama planned to hold a coup in 2004. These are signed documents written by senior officers and civil servants which confirm Bainimarama’s intentions to take over the government before 2006.
Then in your broadcast version of the interview there was nothing about Bainimarama’s planning an earlier coup and his denials. Suddenly, something that you felt was so important it warranted its own special article, you decide is unimportant and should not be shown to the public.
The only reason for such a decision can be that you knew he lied and you did not want to expose the 2 of you.
Not only is your mate Bainimarama prepared to lie to your face. But he is also prepared to lie in an interview which will be shown around the whole Pacific region.
What does that say about the character of the dictator you support so strongly?
What does that say about your character that you know Bainimarama lies to you and yet you still unquestioningly give him your 100% support?
What confidence does that give the people of Fiji that we can trust one word Bainimarama utters or one word you write?
Oh dear, not this old hoary chestnut again! Gimme a break, As soon as I see some of you buggers off you re-appear under a different email address with a different pseudonym peddling the same tired old line. I’ve dealt with this canard before and I’m not going to bother spinning the same line again. Get over it.
Can I also ask you why you appear to be using Sharon SJ’s government email address in some of your postings? Have you hacked into it or something? You better be careful because I’d imagine they’re monitoring everything and you won’t be hard to find.
Oh dear indeed.
Same old broken record being played again…and again…and again….ad nauseum
This guy is like a dog not wanting to part with his bone!
Let him play with his bone.
I too, cant be bothered responding
@ Sharon……
Ok lets see who cares about who said what and when…..umm ok Petelo…ah scratch scratch…itch itch..ok who else
umm…CIN CIN..tch tch still looking at his empty glass and looking for a better description of himself…ok who else
Sharon Tell Lies….full of envy…got lots of points and wants to share them around..expecting someone to deliver her/him a flat world and a mongrell.
Ah yes, the chicken soup 4.5 guys…..yea the faceless blogger buggers…aahuh…yes they care….umm yes yes the saviours, the chosen ones to save Fiji…but I wonder from whom…themselves???? A good question, to ask or not to ask.
Psst Sharon…..tell it to that Manning guy…..he is on the run now but will appear when its safe……just like our friend “Revelation” Wilson.
Who else would care…? Lets see how about the mongrells at Vatuwaqa and around Grantham Street and while you are there you might want to check USP out.
Me and Komai….nah..really we dont.
“Oh dear, not this old hoary chestnut again!”
You have never dealt with this “canard” before.
But in the spirit of your dealings with Marc Edge let me ask you some questions? And we know you will give full answers because you are no hypocrite.
1- Were you aware Bainimarama was lying to you when he denied ever planning a coup before 2006?
2- If not when did you realize that Bainimarama had lied to you.
3- When did you decide to edit out Bainimarama’s lies from the broadcast version of the interview?
4- When did you decide it was better to hide the truth from the people of Fiji?
5- Why didn’t you let the people of Fiji know Bainimarama lied to you and he had planned a coup in 2004?
You may think this does not matter but at the end of the day both the Minister and the Permanent Secretary of Information of Fiji think nothing of answering direct questions with a lie. It goes to their credibility. You say you have faith in Bainimarama to do the right thing but here we have a clear example he planned to do the wrong thing and then lied to his faithful follower afterwards.
But the more worrying thing is that you wished to hide from the people of Fiji the fact that Bainimarama wanted to overthrow Qarase in 2004. For the simple reason his job as Commader RFMF was under threat.
You portray Bainimarama as a man of honor and his word. However we know we cannot trust his word and it is certainly not honorable to overthrow a government because they might sack you.
Get real Davis the dictator in who you have faith is stringing you along with everybody else.
In your case he lied to your face and then you tried to hide the fact by editing out of your interview.
By the way the email address I used was: sharon@fijilies.gov.fj if you think that is her real one then more fool you.
Oh, dear, dear, Komai is right – give a dog a bone. OK (sigh)…
1/ I was not aware that Bainimarama was lying to me when he denied ever planning a coup before 2006. I had never heard the story before so why would I think he was lying? My recollection is that I put to him the allegations made in the Victor Lal/ Russell Hunter story in the NZ Herald and he denied them. I then wrote up that denial and sent it to the NZ Herald because it related specifically to a story they’d carried at length. They welcomed my contribution.
2/ I still don’t know whether Bainimarama was lying. Was he planning a coup in 2004 or was he canvassing his options with his fellow leaders for the coup that eventually happened when his patience finally ran out with Qarase? In other words, was it the same coup and not a previous one? Frankly, it really doesn’t matter. Hitler finally invaded Poland and triggered World War Two after years of planning and false starts. These things don’t involve someone like Bainimarama suddenly waking up one morning and saying ” oh, nice day for a coup”. They’re planned days, weeks, months and even years in advance. Qarase was giving him the needle for a long time before he finally struck. Again, what does it matter except as a side issue and a bone you won’t let go of.
3/ I did not decide to edit anything out the broadcast. I don’t edit anything. Someone else in my company – a producer with many years of experience – handles the television production side. And he made the decision, quite rightly in my view, that having sent the Bainimarama denial of the Lal/Hunter story to the NZ Herald some days before, it was no longer “news” – in that it was already in the public domain – and other parts of the interview were more interesting, judged from the perspective of a viewer of Sky News. Lots of things get left out of prerecorded interviews because you have to sandwich the whole lot into 27 minutes – a Sky half hour. Furthermore, the denial of any allegation simply doesn’t have the news impact of the original charge. The story was that Bainimarama had tried to mount a coup two years before 2006. I put it to him, he denied it. Now if this coup was being planned much earlier than 2004, the disclosure would have been more interesting. But I’ve never been as excited as you about this.
The real proof that yours is a bone that no-one else especially wants to chew is this: As far as I can see, The Lal/Hunter story wasn’t picked up by any other news outlet in Australia or New Zealand. And certainly none of the major ones. They simply didn’t regard it as a big deal so I’m hardly alone. OK, why didn’t they run this breathless disclosure? Are they Bainimarama protectors too? No, it’s because only you seem remotely interested in it and harp on about it ad infinitum. It’s an extremely minor point in the overall narrative in Fiji – a footnote. Otherwise every media outlet in the region would have been all over it. I certainly didn’t get a call from the Managing Director of Sky News saying “where’s the Bainimarama denial of the Lal/Hunter allegation in the New Herald?” No-one cared. Except you. And them.
4/ Answered or irrelevant politicking.
5/ Ditto
Now, be a good dog and go and bury that bone of yours. You’ve chewed on it more than enough.
I’ve sent you an email about the use of Sharon SJ’s address. You or someone with the same name “Sharon lies” have used it because it’s there behind the firewall on WordPress. Maybe it’s another dog with the same bone.
Ah, “Sharon Lies”, pretty weird sending your emails to Grubsheet from false addresses with Fiji Government domain names – .gov.fj. Not surprised to get a bounceback on that one but it seems that in a previous posting, you did use the address for Sharon SJ that’s still on certain government websites and documents. Only it’s not her address anymore.
What’s the matter, mate. Too scared of your own shadow to get a normal email address – even with a pseudonym – like everyone else? Or just sowing a little mischief here and there. How’s life in Tonga? Or is it Townsville? Mmm.
Please forgive me for using other people’s name in this column. I am really ashamed for this stupidity.
Graham,
Your answers seem rather confused.
1- You say in your first point “I had never heard the story before so why would I think he was lying?” and then in the following sentence you say “My recollection is that I put to him the allegations made in the Victor Lal/ Russell Hunter story in the NZ Herald and he denied them.” So you must have heard the story in order to put to him the allegations.
2- You say “Why does it matter when he first planned on taking over the Government?” Well all the bullshit reasons he gave in December 2006 were not applicable if he wanted to take over in 2004. The only reason he had in 2004 was to keep his job. You may think that is a valid reason to hold a coup but no right thinking person would. If you looked at the evidence the senior officers refused and they all resigned or were removed from military within months of their commander’s failed plan.
You have faith in a man who wanted to hold a coup to protect his job. Do you really believe such a man is going to deliver to Fiji true democracy?
3- This is where I feel you are being very economical with the truth. As the lead interviewer in your company you would have a big say in how the final broadcast version looked and what was in and what was out. Additionally in between your initial story covering the denial and the broadcast version you were shown where to find the evidence to show the Victor Lal and Russell Hunter was correct and Bainimarama’s denial was pure lies. By the way did you bother to look at the evidence or did you just ignore it because it was showing up your beloved dictator?
If you see an interview as an opportunity to get to the truth of a matter then it is your duty to correct the lies in your initial story. But it appears as if you view an interview as an opportunity for a dictator to say whatever he likes. To take your Hitler example a little further it as if you asked Hitler about the holocaust and he denied it. A few days later you were led to Dachau and saw the evidence for yourself. Instead of saying Hitler was a liar you went bugger it who cares about the truth the main thing is he denied the accusation.
At the end of the day you are a propagandist for a dictator; nothing more and nothing less. You are not a journalist looking for the truth you are only interested in making Bainimarama and his cronies look good.
I cannot answer for anyone else but I use fake emails and aliases on your blog whenever I post. The reason is that I am concerned, as a quisling sympathizer, you might shop me to the authorities. You may think it weird but I have been taken up to the camp. I have been abused physically and verbally by soldiers under the command of your beloved dictator Bainimarama. My company has been targeted for all sorts of spurious reasons. My wife has been threatened, my phone has been tapped and I have at times been stopped from leaving Fiji. Not for any criminal activity, but because in the early days of this coup I was open in my opposition to Bainimarama. In my book a military coup is plain wrong and I said so.
Following on from my victimization I am very careful to protect my identity but at the same time I like to have a bit of fun and hence sharon@fijilies.gov.fj.
It makes not matter whether I am from Tonga, Townsville or Timbuktu. The truth is what really matters in life because at the end of the day we will be judged on the truth.
Surprisingly as a journalist the truth does not seem to matter to you. Perhaps that is why you get on so well with Bainimarama and Sharon.
Oh, really, this is too much – a dog with an old bone that keeps barking when you throw him a new one with real meat on it. Mate, you are totally obsessed.
I’d never heard the “previous coup” story before the Lal/Hunter account of it. I put it to Bainimarama, he denied it and I sent it to the NZ Herald, which ran it because it had made such a big deal about the original allegation.
No-one else picked up the NZ Herald story in the first place. They didn’t think it was important enough to go with. No-one! The story didn’t have “legs”, as they say in the business. So what grand conspiracy of mine are you talking about?
It was certainly old news even in NZ by the time the Sky interview went to air and a decision was made that of all of the material in a long interview, it was an angle that could be dropped. Bainimarama denies something that no other media organisation in the region carried? Any independent producer would junk it. I DID NOT order its excision. Do you honestly think that’s how the Australian media works? That an interviewer like me orders another journalist to take out something to suit his own political agenda? I co-wrote the journalists Code of Ethics in this country. Now wouldn’t that be a juicy scandal.
Why don’t you ask yourself why this really happened. That on an issue that you think is so important – that you’re still harping on about months later – NO mainstream media organisation except the NZ Herald thought it important enough to even report, let alone carry the denial? Go on, after all your interrogation of me, ANSWER THAT.
There’s no conspiracy, OK. And this is just another cheap shot at me to make a political point that it utterly pointless.
Another thing: Your email address – the one you posted here this morning – either doesn’t exist or doesn’t work. I know because I sent you one and it immediately bounced back. Now you have yet another one with a Fiji Government domain name. So you are evidently a fraud and your argument is on the same quicksand. I’ve been extremely patient with you but correspondence on this matter is now closed. Now, bugger off and take your old bone of contention somewhere else.
Respect for truth and the public’s right to information is the opening line of the Code of ethics.
I suggest you reacquaint yourself with the code of ethics you wrote. It seems you have forgotten that as you write your propaganda for Bainimarama.
Sigh! I am writing opinion, not news. And within the bounds of decency and the law, I’ll say what I bloody well like. You just don’t like my opinions. Tough.
A bit more to your code of ethics
1. Do not suppress relevant available facts, or give distorting emphasis.
Something tells me you won’t be winning any awards for your groundbreaking propaganda on Fiji
I see you haven’t answered my question. Can’t? So many other journalists can’t be wrong. The yarn had no legs and neither do you.
@ Sharon…
The beauty of this blogsite is that everyone gets a chance unless a certain boundry is crossed…
The mongrell and the zebras had their days and so did “Revelation Wilson” amongst others.
Oh blimey…Terry had his day as well…oh how we enjoyed him……you may ask why.
He had a name Sharon….He had an identity and we knew who he was. He often crossed the line and called me “stupid Indian”…no offence personally…because it came from Terry…..the so called editor of the Samoan Govt newspaper and maybe a speech writer for Tui though with limited knowledge and English.
But you Sharon….most of your arguement relates to what was said and what not during interviews but you clearly chose to target Sharon and of course a false email address also using Sharon…..and you said that was for fun…and you want people to take you seriously.
Ok let me get this straight: no real name, ficticous business owner and taken to the barracks and abused…..wife threatened….phone tapped….wah re wah..and bullshit email addresses…and you think you haven’t provided enough material to track you down…only if thats true and you want us to believe you.
They will believe you at chicken soup4.5 but not here…nah..but jokers are welcome.
You are behaving as if the real Sharon has had you for lunch and whatever comes from the other side of the world a couple of hours later.
Let chicken soup4.5 sample that…..ok if you get on my nerves I will give you a name..later
@ Chand
Bula brother. Strange when you consider that the only guys who wre taken up to QEB to do their rugby training were young activists in a number of NGO’s eg Virisila Budromo etc. These people wer in the main young taukei. I cant recall any Indo-Fijian or European or even kai loma businessman been taken up to QEB.
Except of course ,for Kenneth Zinck, another loudmouth Samoan in Fiji, who in a very drunken state at his usual haunt at the bar at the United Improvement (UI) Club in Suva, was publicly bad-mouthing the government ans swearing uncontrollably.
Zinck was taken up to QEB and put through his paces doing star jumps, pull ups on a horizontal bar, and push ups etc – you could say he was given the good cardio-pulmonary workout that he desperately needed.
Now Zinck, you will recall, was the Minister for Labour under the Qarase Government. As Minister, Zinck was the guy who looked after those guys who were recruited for service in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East by such con men as Lolohea. Zinck’s role as Minister was to ensure that the exploitation of Fijian men and women by these unscrupulous recruiters, ceased…or that their conditions of employment met the basic standards of employemnt etc.
As Minister, Kenneth Zinck went on a government paid ‘familiarisation’ trip to Dubai etc to see for himself the conditions they worked under. Well, that trip was an eye opener for him. He saw that there was money to be made, big time, as a recruiter of labour.
So what did he do? After Qarase was turfed out in 2006, Zinck set up his own labour recruitment company!!! He recruited people from Fiji for the exploitive labour trade in places like Dubai and post-war Iraq etc. Zinck made heaps of $$$.
When Frank cracked down on their exploiters of human labour, Zinck folded. But then a few years later, broke and unemployable, he does a runner for Australia on a tourist visa. When he gets to Australia, he claims harrasment by the Fiji Police and government etc to back his asylum cliams.
The Aussies gave it to him,. He now lives in a three bedroom house in Brisbane for which he pays no rent, and draws a handsome $1,200 pension refugee allowance per fortnight etc. All courtesy of the Aussie taxpaters.
Whats all this got to do with the posting above of ‘Sharon Tell Lies’ ?
Simple; it pays to tell lies and cover it with a false identity claiming you will be tracked down and beaten up by Fiji government law enforcement people.
In Australia you can get away with very handsomely. Thats is why “Sharon tell lies” is doing what he does best – tell lies.
Maybe he will use it to back his claim for asylum in Australia in the same way Zinck was able to hoodwink his way through the Aussie system?
What a bunch of opportunists these guys are
@ Komai,
Bula brother,
I know Kenneth from Samabula brother….a bank worker…oh yea I know him and the hangers on around him..and there were manny. These guys could feed on dead bodies mate…that’s how low they are.
But I’m glad that they will never ever put their feet on the Fijian soil again….these so called LOHOS….
And these guys think they will get royalty treatment forever by their host governments abroad..
You know brother Komai, I don’t loose any sleep over Sharon…and the likes and in fact I’m sort of happy that they are exposing themselves by their ignorance…..and like you said they can hold on to the bones…
Your comments have been, once again very informative….keep on mate and thanks
Wow you are going to give me a name?
WTF
@ Sharon….no not WTF..that is reserved for people with surprises….you’re full of idiocracy
Maybe FTW (F… the wart)…an irritant that won’t go away
What about LOHO (living on hand out)…oh what the heck…….its an after lunch mess man…
@Graham
“NO mainstream media organisation except the NZ Herald thought it important enough to even report, let alone carry the denial? Go on, after all your interrogation of me, ANSWER THAT.”
Why would any mainstream media feel it was important to run a story written by a sycophantic interviewer that was a pack of lies?
Some journalists have standards and want to impart the truth to their readers. Others are content to unquestioningly regurgitate lies.
THAT’S YOUR ANSWER
@ “sharon and Bainimarama tell lies ”
I see your name has got longer !!
People are calling you names, are they?
Hehehehe
God help me, I need stronger medication. Listen up kiddies. The original story of an earlier coup attempt was written by Victor Lal and Russell Hunter, not me. THAT’s the story that the NZ Herald ran and that no-one else picked up.
All you “Sharon lies” liumuris – the hydra-headed monsters fulminating about my lack of ethics on this – need to get your stories straight. It’s not a question of anyone not carrying the denial of the story that I got from the PM as a “sycophantic interviewer”. THEY DID NOT RUN THE ORIGINAL STORY.
When will you realise that a denial of a story that hasn’t been run in the first place isn’t a story EXCEPT in the media outlet where it might have been run in the first place. I know it sounds complicated but think about it. I sent it to the NZ Herald so I was hardly trying to deny it, as you’ve alleged. In fact, the denial produced another run for the story in the NZ Herald. It gave it MORE legs. Everyone else just rolled over and went to sleep. And believe me, I’m sleeping like a baby over the alleged ethical breaches over this because they DIDN’T HAPPEN. Are we finished?
@ Graham
Yawn…..what a waste of meaningful sleep time these other guys (Sharon Tell Lies etc) are pushing.
Let this guy agonise…. and gnarl contiually over his bone
Woof..woof….hey poppy…heel …
Ragime Regime, Dictator Dictator Dictator Kangarooo court kangaroo court
Terry is right, just stop and just admit the truth
When someone goes about doing a good deed, the jealous party always goes around bad mouthing that person to cover up their own shortcomings. Frankly that is what is happening with our country Fiji and it’s current goverment. No one has actually asked a common person how he \she feels about what is going on here. Everyone seems to listen to the people who feel that they have been abused by the change in goverment. As a 21 year old , I can proudly say that the change has been good.
>the common name change to FIJIAN now gives us security and identity … indo fijian was neither an indian nor a fijian.. where did we belong then?
> education standards and means of it have gone up as well as a change of standard for the better. University level education is now available to every district thanks to fnu… more children now attend primary and secondary schools with the introduction of the fare scheme n such assistance.
>healthcare is now available closer to home and again the standards have gone up.
>the elderly now have more benefits.
>slowly public infrastructure has began to improve
> working conditions, wage n ohs has also improved.
i would like to apologise if this is out of context here. to all those against our current goverment , think about all the changes that have come about since the change of power. if such results are shown living under a “illegal” goverment or dictatorship then i guess there are many of us in my age group that would prefer to live like this.. Also the coup four and a half stories are like what authors Tolkien , Enid Blyton , Meyers and Rowling have done ….. create a whole new world full of fantasy and imagination.
Komai what an eye opener for this so called democracy fighter Kenneth Zinc! He now rubbishes ArchBishop Patero Mataca for taking up the role when Frank came into power but forgot his role from the greed that corrupted him after his Dubai visit! What a jerk trying to make out he is an innocent Parliamentarian now we know different! As grandad use to say ‘a sega ma mai liu” there wasn’t anything there from the beginning.
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ABC Radio news interviews Sophie Budvietas who says press freedom in Samoa is under threat. Budvietas was victim of theft and threats when her laptop was stolen from her car and a note stating “Observer bitch” was left in its place.
This is the democratic utopia Samoa government lapdog Terry Tavita had been boasting about.
His own backyard stinks yet he preaches to Fiji.
Sophie said government employs petty, vindictive and nasty methods to control media, like banning from public meetings, national football team functions, all ministries require emailed interview questions and no open-door policy .
What does Samoa prime minister’s poodle Terry Tavita have to say?
Hypocritical Samoan PM is a despot and heads a despotic government, and yet the samoan PM has the gall to criticise Fiji – pot calling kettle black.
SAMOA: PM scoffs at Opposition Leader’s Fiji media freedom link
Samoa Observer: Friday, July 19, 2013
APIA: (Pacific Media Watch / Samoa Observer): Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa?ilele Malielegaoi has responded angrily to the leader of the Opposition, Palusalue Fa?apo II?s comparison of the media environment in Samoa to that of Fiji.
It was best if you kept quiet and just zipped it,? Tuilaepa said.? But you chose to open your lips. Now the whole world knows how uninformed you are.?
It was in response to a press conference called by Palusalue and the Tautua Samoa Party to highlight their concerns about the government putting pressure on the media to set up a media council.
Palusalue was highly critical of the government. “We always talk about Bainimarama and the exclusion of freedom of speech in Fiji. Samoa is getting closer to what?s happening in Fiji.’
The Prime Minister said Fiji is a dictatorship.
Palusalue advised Prime Minister Tuilaepa to stop meddling with the affairs of the media.
Last week, however, Attorney-General Aumua Ming Leung Wai said he had been ?instructed? by the government to draft the legislation to set up the media.
5 January 2015 http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/263036/samoa-newspaper-editor-faces-attempted-rape-charge
Funny righteous editor
“The editor of Samoa’s government-owned Savali Newspaper, Tupuola Terry Tavita, is facing a charge of attempted rape.
A young woman made a complaint to the Samoa Victim Support Group, which was then referred on to the police.
The alleged incident took place during the week leading up to Christmas.
The police spokesperson and assistant commissioner, Fauono Talalelei Tapu, says the accused had been in custody, but has since been released on bail.
Tupuola has been required to surrender all travel documents and report to the police three times a week leading up to his court appearance.
Tupuola Terry Tavita was a former senior journalist at the daily Samoa Observer newspaper before he took a job at the government newspaper.
He is scheduled to appear in the Supreme Court on January the 19th.”
The District Court in Samoa has found the suspended editor of the government newspaper, Tupuola Terry Tavita, guilty of five assault charges.
He is found guilty of two indecent assault charges, two of common assault and one of using insulting words.
Tavita was originally charged with attempting to rape a female journalism student at the National University of Samoa last December, but these charges were withdrawn and indecent assault charges substituted.
Tavita has been remanded on bail until he is sentenced on June 26th.