Not content with being a lickspittle of the Attorney General and the worst propaganda rag in the region, the Fiji Sun has unleashed its mangy dogs of war on Grubsheet.
The main letter at the top of today’s letters column is clearly from one of the Fiji’s Sun’s more erudite correspondents – a certain Tukai Lagonilakeba from Nadi, entitled “You stink, Graham Davis”. And it goes on:
“This man is a nobody in Australia until he was given an opportunity to work in Fiji where he made a name for himself and all of a sudden he thought he was a big boy but could not act like one. This country gave him a life where he was employed and we treated him well until loopholes were found together with his arrogant personality.
He now bad mouths our government and PM where he makes false and baseless accusations depicting a loser and a very lonely person, but very sad indeed as he has not spared our Fijian media as well with his many false and wild witch hunting accusations.
This rogue Australian individual Graham Davis stinks and should never be allowed to set foot ever again on this land, Fiji is a sovereign state where we run our own affairs the Fijian way and no matter how big his non-relevant criticism may be, it has no validity and holds no ground, bearing and influence in our Fijian democracy and politics.
I feel this bloke should keep his nonsense in Aussie Land because he carries no weight and is not relevant to our country’s progress and moving forward and Davis is not needed here now and into the future“.
There’s more in the same vein in the online comment section, including “we are not racists like you Australians” and “Suck your thumb, Sir, worry about Australia” – all the result of the AG’s manservant, Nemani Delaibatiki, dishonestly casting me as an Australian when he has always known that I am a Fijian, born in Fiji. Seriously. If the white-haired Sage of Rewa – a New Zealand citizen – is prepared to bend the facts on that, is there anything he writes that can be trusted?
None of it is remotely surprising but, really, is this the best the Fiji Sun can do? Barely literate rantings and disinformation that it has originally peddled, recycled by the intellectual giants who read the paper?
“A good newspaper is a nation talking to itself”, the Fiji Sun proclaims in the banner over its Letters to the Editor. You mean a cheap and nasty rag exchanging the jabberings of the ignorant, who are kept that way because they get their information from the Fiji Sun? Time was when ignorance was something to be ashamed of in Fiji. Now it gets celebrated in the pages of Beijing’s local newspaper of record.
Do the Fiji Sun publisher, Peter Lomas, and his stable of grovelling front-line stars really think this does me any damage where it might remotely hurt? Once again, the paper has scored an own goal. Because its main letter today is hardly a testament to a readership that is educated and well informed. It is little better than crude scribblings on a public toilet wall and would never be published by anyone running a credible newspaper anywhere else in the world.
Along with its constant stream of pro-government propaganda, the Fiji Sun is clearly in the business of peddling ignorance to keep ordinary Fijians stupid. And seems determined to drive as many of its remaining intelligent readers as possible to my own columns. Today’s effort says a great deal about the values of the Fiji Sun and of its owners, the CJ Patel group, who must be very proud of its pro-Chinese Communist Party, corrupt purveyor of lies and character assassination.
A friend of mine who gets five free copies of the Fiji Sun delivered to his business every day has told his staff to keep one and take the other four home to wrap the rubbish in. So not only is there ample evidence that the Fiji Sun hands out a large number of free copies but in some instances, it can’t even give the paper away.
Sad for them. More free publicity for Grubsheet. The sweetest stink of all.
Graham
I think it’s pointless to go back and forth with Fiji Sun as you are in a no win situation with a rudderless, fake, phony, illiterate band of useless journalist who bow down to those in power instead of speaking truth to power.
You keep on doing what you are doing in exposing these people and call them out on all their lies and corrupt ways and hopefully truth will prevail and the people of Fiji will wake up and press the reset button in 2022 elections.
Only think I will still disagree with you on is your view that Frank is still the best leader , in my humble opinion he may been been good ( and some things he has done really well like promoting one fiji and multiracialism) but I think he has been in power too long and is now an ineffective leader as he has not cleaned up his house and has not addressed all the failures of his AG which you have already eluded too in all your past writing.
Keep up the good work
Thanks, Rajiv. I do love a scrap and give as good as I get, though this lot are so dumb it is far too easy.
Yes, desperation has set in. “You stink!” is what we used to yell at each other when we got into a scrap at Drasa Avenue Primary School in Lautoka in the 1960s. Isn’t it amazing how far Fiji has come? 😉
Its working Graham. Keep piling it on. Fijians have been missing first hand information of whats happening on the ground over the years. Funny that fiji sun would publish garbage from Tukai, they are desperate.
Malo Graham. Keep it coming.
I thoroughly enjoy reading your columns Mr Davis. Interestingly, I came across your name by the very news agency I dislike with a passion, Fiji Sun😂. And honestly I haven’t regretted my decision subscribing.
Fiji Sun is a lost cause honestly. The amount of ignorance and hypocrisy being spewed by this newspaper is beyond astronomical. So far I haven’t come across anything you’ve said that I disagree with (coz i’ve just read a few of your writing lol) but if I did, I’d be sure to raise it up with you.
Keep up the writings🙌🏽.
I remember Tukai Lagoilakeba was a keen supporter of the flag change. Interesting.
How can people always be on the government (Khaiyum) side on every possible topic? Only if they’ve sold their soul to the tevoro!
Anyway, the flag is still flying, but I suspect that, one day, Khaiyum will decide to fullfill his father’s promise… Failing to do so would be bad omen, something like a curse…
Strangely Tukai Lagonilakeba does not exist in the VKB. Perhaps it’s a Sri Lankan name ?
I do not read that toilet newspaper, because its full of shit.
Chomsky and Herman, who I studied as part of my Masters in Communisation Studies (Journalism) at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) have been proved correct in proclaiming PROPAGANDA MODEL OF MEDIA, which in Fiji Hindi meand media will sell its ass to anybody who is prepared to pay. FIJI SUN fits this bill perfectly.
For the more academic ones and others, here is what PROPAGANDA MODEL OF MEDIA MEANS:
“The propaganda model is a conceptual model in political economy advanced by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky to explain how propaganda and systemic biases function in corporate mass media.
The model seeks to explain how populations are manipulated and how consent for economic, social, and political policies, both foreign and domestic, is “manufactured” in the public mind due to this propaganda.
The theory posits that the way in which corporate media is structured (e.g. through advertising, concentration of media ownership, government sourcing) creates an inherent conflict of interest and therefore acts as propaganda for anti-democratic elements.”
BINGO-ONE WOULD THINK AUTHORS WERE TALKING ABOUT FIJI SUN
Great post. I’m a big fan of Chomsky. Check out Lowkey and Chomsky poem/rap. You being a student of him will love it.
And check out Jean Boudillard…French philosopher who spoke about hyperreality. When there is so much information that the original source and truth gets lost. Propaganda and conspiracy theories these days on FB, Twitter etc. would fit under that.
Gotcha!
Got them right where you wanted them, must’ve hit a nerve with the Propaganda Sun that the offensively misinformed sheeple are just riled up and wasting time attacking you alongside the mediocre journos of that toilet paper.
Fiji Snub running out of ideas just to defame and shame you, you’ll be winning by the amount of “own goals” by the rubbish paper if this was a soccer match.
Speaking of shame, the Snub is exactly like the Communist Party’s mouthpiece “The People’s Daily” and the rag paper by CJ Patel just got nailed by the truth.
Keep it coming GD, you’re doing quite well with all this entertaining “backlash.”
Watching the pathetic attack on Biman Prasad unfold, lays bare all the hallmarks of someone feeling threatened, we’ve seen it all before, and it only occurs on the front page of the Sun, I don’t think it deserves the name Fiji Sun.
This morning I decided to do a quick google search, 1, to define the most simplest form of corruption, then I went further and asked again, 2, what are the types of corruption.
The answers were,
1 – Dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power
2 – Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, influence peddling, graft, and embezzlement
The air we breath in Fiji smells heavily of the above, particularly line two of the types – nepotism, parochialism, patronage & influence peddling.
Thank you Graham for exposing the corruption we are up against in detail, we see it, hear about it and read about it most days.
I recall a great song with the lyrics – ‘the end is near’ to that I answer ‘not soon enough’
Vinaka Graham Davis.
Fiji Sun has less constitution then a used toilet paper by a homeless person with the runs.
Don’t stoop to their level Graham. You have a great reputation.
Fiji Sun journalists have a reputation of only being a cock-holster for the AG and the government.
A national newspaper going after a blogger. I think we all know who is winning this battle Graham!!
“Fiji Sun journalists have a reputation of only being a cock-holster for the AG and the government.”
Amazingly accurate description of not just Fiji Sin journalist but also big business houses and many bureaucrats and the entire police and army…oh forgot ambassadors.
Good job Graham…i guess you’re starting to shake the whole tree now in exposing Khaiyum and his wicked plans,hence his mouthpiece media outlet is attacking you personally. Makes me think of that novel we study in high school “THINGS FALL APART ” by Chinua Achebe….i guess things are starting to fall apart now for Khaiyum…keep on sharing the Truth….THE TRUTH DOES REALLY HURTS fiji sun 😂👌✌
To put the record straight, you are far from a nobody in Australia or Fiji. You did not win Walkley awards for nothing, have a national following via ‘Sunday’ (once one of the leading current affairs programs in Australia), nor have mining companies use video of you questioning someone to educate executives on how cope with questions form the best of the best in the media. You are a Fiji boy through and through and I have no doubt the PM, while he may not agree with you, respects your qualities as a person and prodigious abilities as a writer. Since you left their service, the PM’s messaging has not had the same direct, clear quality and they are suffering as a result. I’m sure you realise that your blog posts have thrown your detractors into a panic and most people see right through their attempt to smear you. But let’s see how CJ Patel react to your exposure of Xinhua’s involvement in FS and reconcile that propagandist with their corporate goals.
You know there’s a Gujarati saying that the hands move to where the fire is warmest, but it could be that even for CJ this association may be too hot for them to handle.
Vinakavakalevu Davis keep on revealing all the corrupt practices of this regime including its supporters like this “BIG LAGO-NI-VITI” who do not have any more indigenous values neither love to the indigenous community of the Fiji Islands! Your revelation of the TRUTH will make Fiji’s Worst Toilet Paper-Fiji Sun owners hurt and the corrupted regime exposed to the roof-top! God Bless you! We MUST-ALL stand together to bring this regime down and make Fiji a government that listens to its people!