The thing about Sitiveni Rabuka and those around him is that they are not very bright and assume that everyone else is the same. There is frankly no other way to explain the astonishing contents of the speech the Prime Minister delivered yesterday to the Great Council of Chiefs.
The Fiji Times headlines Sitiveni Rabuka as having told the chiefs that re-instituting the GCC isn’t a step back into the past but a leap forward. Oh really? In almost the same breath he acknowledges that the GCC has nothing to do with democracy but ancient systems of leadership. Is that the future of Fiji and especially the iTaukei? One in which democracy takes a back seat to hereditary privilege?
There were fundamental contradictions all through the Prime Ministers speech, which is reprinted below and which I urge all readers to at least attempt to digest. Because it is a disturbing insight into the mind of the man who currently leads the nation and has no compunction whatsoever comparing himself to Moses. “Two years ago, I promised to reinstate the Great Council of Chiefs. It is now done. I feel like I have reached the mountaintop. And like Moses I have seen the promise (sic) land but I may not cross over to it. But this generation of chiefs must take us there”.
What “weed” is Sitiveni Rabuka smoking? He won government on Christmas Eve 2022 with precisely one vote on the floor of the parliament. Any sane politician in any other democracy would understand that such a wafer-thin victory is not a national mandate to play Moses. But not our Siti.
We don’t know who wrote this speech. Is Matt Wilson still the main speechwriter for the PM? But Sitiveni Rabuka will have poured over it beforehand, as is his wont, and he delivered it with a straight face. And the fact that he could do so shows just how much his actions are governed by blind faith and his own prejudices rather than political reality or normal standards of logic.
Let’s cut to the chase here. There was no national movement – no national imperative on the part of the Fijian people as a whole – to bring back the Great Council of Chiefs. Otherwise Sitiveni Rabuka would have won the last election by a much greater margin than one vote cobbled together from three parties on the floor of the parliament . No, this is Moses coming down from the mountaintop with his tablets taking it upon himself not to reflect the democratic will of the people but enforcing his own will on everyone else. He says the restoration of the GCC “heralds a new era of governance” in Fiji. Prime Minister, who the hell gave you a democratic mandate for that?
Seriously. How can the Great Council of Chiefs – a gathering of mostly men (as the high chief Ro Teimumu Kepa complained yesterday) born to their positions and exclusively made up of one ethnic group in the country “be chiefs for all”? It is unadulterated rubbish. And Sitiveni Rabuka certainly didn’t have a mandate from anyone to give the GCC a veto over any proposal by elected politicians relating to the iTaukei. That’s not democracy but feudalism.
“I am the servant of all communities that call Fiji home”, the Prime Minister also proclaimed with a straight face. Rubbish. Having promised to government for all, he has shamelessly broken that promise.
The workplace ethnic cleansing that has been taking place in the civil service and offices of state in favour of the iTaukei is there for all to see. The racism that scarred the nation under Rabuka Mark 1 is back more than three decades later under Rabuka Mark 2. And the same exodus of the country’s best and brightest that took place after his coup in 1987 is again in full swing.
With “the power of one vote” on the floor of the parliament and appeased and enabled by his partners in the NFP, Sitiveni Rabuka is steadily remaking Fiji in his own image. It isn’t in the best interests of the iTaukei, as they will soon find out when those who underwrite the nation’s prosperity leave. It is the Fiji of an old man with his mind in the past trying desperately to sell his ethnocentric agenda not just as something of value and relevance to the present but of lasting value to the nation’s future.
The Prime Minister at least had the honesty to acknowledge that it has nothing to do with democracy. And in that one admission lies the whole problem with the Rabuka blueprint for Fiji. If the GCC was to be merely an advisory body, fine, though it would be infinitely preferable to make it a Great Council of Citizens by admitting representatives of other ethnic groups. But giving a bunch of men who hold their positions to an accident of birth the power of veto over elected politicians is a giant leap back into the past – a past most democracies long ago abandoned.
With his head in the past, mired in scandal and chronic incompetence and struggling to keep his government together, it is time for Moses to go.
I believe it’s Rabuka’s agenda to undo everything possible that Fiji First has done in the past decade for Fiji…Fiji is at a very critical turning point…people need to speak up.
Gosh, my brain and heart are confused. Being rather old school and married to itaukei naturally I respect the GCC. Reassures me in fact. Don’t ask me why? Traditionally you can’t have anyone other than itaukei in the GCC shock horror. Every royal entity in other countries got lucky in the gene pool so Fiji is entitled to the same. The mass exodus in 1987 was mostly our beloved literati Indian race. Their choosing and one would agree except for a few -Fiji’s loss Nowadays it’s the educated Fijian wanting to leave or have left. They need to be enticed without corruption and handcuffs-to stay to lead Fiji. One wonders as our leaders pass-what’s left. Things will change. The millennials don’t agree with Soli unless they have receipts to see what it was spent on. Their right. But my forecast is long held traditions will be lost. Ahhh Fiji. You are paradise but oh so complex. “Bula” to one and all is not covering crime and poverty anymore. People are desperate for the basics of bread, flour and rice. Good luck with Dalo. The price has gone up. Good luck with good yagona. The price has gone up. The police and politicians are eating “chicken” as Lynda Tabuya stated -because she can afford it. The people of Fiji can not.
God Bless Fiji. (What would I know after 38 of Fiji involvement). Pervading sadness….
What is the role of the GCC?
Is it independent of all decisions?
How will political affiliations be monitored given that almost everyone is sitting here, there, and everywhere.
Good to see the Fijians tax dollars at work because every time the people of Fiji see Rabuka these days, he seems to have a new flashy suit – something beyond him when he was collecting plastic bottles at the Nasese seawall.
For a government which is hellbent on ethnic cleansing throughout the civil service and judiciary, it’s clear this government isn’t for everyone. After all, they have formally recognized anyone who is not a Fijian as a vulagi so how can Rabuka claim he is there for everyone?
The fall of this government in the next elections is imminent as their lies are being carefully noted by the opponents who will capitalize and maximize all of this to return to power.
Mr Honourable PM Rabuka
I hereby request that you please remove Lynda Tabuya from her position effective immediately and all benefits discontinued.
The only way to bring Fiji out of ruin is to raise the integrity and rule of law in govt and the nation.
Thank you
When a government isn’t for everyone, it steadily spirals downhill until it is for no one. No media spin will change that.
And with a snap election in June, the margin will be tenfold and Siti can then retire and say job well done! FFP and SODELPA will be reduced to rubbles as they should be. And the new Fiji can then be charted. Cross your fingers and toes.
Now that GCC has been restored we all hope that GCC will bring millions of dollars in revenue and that will ease the burden of tax payers. Also now the unemployment among the unemployed youths will be addressed as the chiefs through TLTB will focus on utilizing all the agricultural expired leased lands which has been taken back from Indian farmers.
In your dreams. If it was going to happen, it would have happened long before now.
I voted for this government. I voted for Biman. I convinced my family to do the same.
This government, this PM and Biman are disgusting. Who is PM fooling. One of his first actions was to normalize calling people who have lived here in Fiji for 150 years vulagi.
You are disgusting people Mr PM and Biman. You have no honour in your actions or your words. You have lied to the people who trusted you.
Ahh, if Sitiveni Rabuka thinks he is anything like Moses, then I can consider myself to be the Queen of Jhansi!
Laughable, right!
It’s good, the actions of this government is opening the minds of those who blindly followed a racist, coup/ treason leader in 1987. The lesson wasn’t learnt but with that one vote making him into a PM of the country again, who were we kidding when we thought things would change for the better?
People need to ask themselves, what is the government doing that is making my life better right now, for my children son that their future is safeguarded, look around yourselves, think and hold these politicians to account.
From what I see, it’s only the Ministers, their known family, friends and associates and Fiji Water making millions.
The rest of you are struggling to manage the bills and keep your family healthy!
#notmyPM #notmygovernment
You’re right Grubsheet. You cannot fool the people all of the time. There are two theories of leadership. One is leaders are born, not made. They have certain inborn traits and innate characteristics that qualify them for their role. This is the theory Rabuka extolled at the GCC.
The other theory is leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through experience and hard work. Those who’ve been through the school of hard knocks swear by this theory.
This is the theory that used to apply in the Fiji Military Forces when it was said, “if you’re a Ratu hang that title outside the main gate before u enter .”
Nowadays use of chiefly titles have crept inside the main gate and are mentioned alongside, or in place of Military rank, something that would of been unheard of in the old days.
So we are a nation of double standards.
Chiefs in Fiji are either born or “created. This was discussed by the late Dr Alumita Durutalo in her Masters’ thesis at USP.
The famous, or should I say infamous Vola Ni Kawa Bula (VKB) is nortorious for manipulation. Hundreds of children from commoner parents are being registered with Ratu and Adi prefixes to their names. Some are registering their children under chiefly names that they are not entitled to. This is why despite constant reminders by the Ministry of Itaukei Affairs 60% of titles in the VKB remain unfilled.
Why? The people, as you say, can’t be fooled. They know who is the true chief and who is the “created chief.” That is why there is so many disputes over chiefly titles.
Funnily enough, while Rabuka was singing the virtues of the “born-to-rule theory of leadership yesterday, the late Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna used to harangue chiefs at the GCC to work hard, adopt sober habits and strive to serve the people well because if they didn’t, he warned, they would lose respect. As an old soldier he knew the importance of chiefs earning their stripes.
Mr PM, can the GCC actually do anything to pull iTaukei aut of poverty rather that just teaching them to whine about it all the time?
Can the GCC teach the ITaukei to work hard rather than blame other races for their failure and poverty?
Can the GCC actually be an empowering institution for young ITaukei to take their future in their own hands or will it continue to preach hatred and division that’s hurting everyone?
Does the GCC have the audacity to look after anyone else’s interests other than the elites and the chiefs?
The ball is well and firmly in the GCCs court and at least by choosing the right chair, it has taken its first step in the right direction.
Vinaka, Tau. For a fair idea of the challenges facing the future of iTaukei youth, one just has to listen to the elaborate, sensible and occasionally sarcastic public announcements made between 8.00 and 8.30am on school days at Suva Bus Stand. And as he is not stale like the others but is super fresh, it will be helpful for the new GCC Chair to be at the Bus Stand and hear it for himself.
Tabuya awaits disciplinary committee verdicts:
https://fijionenews.com.fj/tabuya-awaits-outcome-of-the-peoples-alliance-disciplinary-committee/
Just wait for him to part the sea between Viti levi and vanua levu and he let the others go ahead without him. Love quoting the bible yet heads the most racist Govt Fiji ever had.
The GCC won’t do shit. Most Taukei dont even know what’s the role of the GCC. The meeting itself is a money pit. Lots of useless talk and all go home happy with their allowances. Even the ladies of the night in Suva are happy.