The announcement that long-time career policeman Rusiate Tudravu is back as Commissioner of the Fiji Police is welcome news amid a tsunami of negative developments in the criminal justice system, which has been trashed by the Coalition government and the rogue head of the Judicial Services Commission, Acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo.
Tudravu is a professional police officer with a reputation for integrity who was outrageously cast aside by Frank Bainimarama in favour of his “surrogate son”, Sitiveni Qiliho, who was from the military and lacked integrity to the extent that he is now behind bars.
Rusiate Tudravu filled in as acting commissioner when Qiliho spent a year in Britain burnishing his military credentials at the Royal College of Defence Studies rather than learning how to be a better cop. And when Qiliho returned, Tudravu chose to resign as a matter of principle when Frank Bainimarama intervened to block a police drugs investigation into his son, Meli Bainimarama, who is now also in jail in Australia.
Well now Tudravu is back saying that he is determined to restore public confidence in the police. And in a move that is already a big step in that direction, Tudravu will be joined at the top of the force by an external mentor – a former New Zealand police commissioner, Mike Bush. Both men will work closely together to start the process of turning the police around. And with Juki Fong Chew retained as Deputy Commissioner, this trio has the best possible chance of fixing the current mess in the force.
Tudravu, Bush and Chew can be expected to have zero tolerance for corruption in police ranks and will be working especially hard to crack down on elements close to the drug trade, which has arguably become the nation’s biggest menace. (Aside from Barbara Malimali)
Has the Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, finally realised that the current loss of public confidence in the institutions of state simply cannot continue not only in the national interest but his own if he hopes to win the 2026 election? Let’s hope so. This is a good start and especially the partial acknowledgement that putting locals, read iTaukei, in the top jobs and keeping foreigners out has been an abject failure in terms of maintaining standards.
The legal rumour mill in Suva is buzzing with speculation that the suspended DPP, Christopher Pryde, could be about to be reinstated when the Tribunal hearing the allegations of misbehaviour against him reports to the President next week. Given the current upheaval in the ODPP and the recent drunken antics of Nancy Tikoisuva and John Rabuku, many people would welcome the sight of Christopher Pryde striding back into Gunu House carrying his “Keep calm and carry on” sign.
In striking contrast to his poor relationship with Sitiveni Qiliho, Christopher Pryde forged a strong relationship with Rusiate Tudravu based on mutual respect. And with his fellow Kiwi, Mike Bush, at Tudravu’s side and Juki Fong Chew as Tudravu’s understudy, this could be the best and quickest way to reverse the rot in the criminal justice system. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. The great news is that we finally have a seasoned professional and someone who is respected for his integrity at the top of the Police Force and with a distinguished Kiwi police officer appointed to assist him.
It is also very gratifying to see another outsider – Justice David Ashton Lewis, the head of the Barbara-gate Commission of Inquiry – flexing his muscles by castigating Barbara Malimali for assuming that media reporting on her case would influence him in his deliberations. The judge’s slap-down is long overdue. Because the FICAC Commissioner has no idea how to conduct herself. And there is no way that she can continue in office when people like the Opposition leader, Inia Seruiratu, are calling for her suspension.
Rather than being the uncontroversial head of an independent corruption watchdog, Barbara Malimali is a one woman walking disaster zone. And let’s hope David Ashton Lewis publicly cutting her down to size is the prelude to her finally being removed.
The current “rot” in the criminal justice system can only be fixed if the Prime Minister has the political will to make the changes that are needed. And he should do so if only for his own political survival. Because the Fijian people have had enough.
David Ashton-Lewis castigates Barbara Malimali with a none-too-subtle suggestion that she shuts that big mouth of hers.
Siromi Turaga is another one who can’t keep his mouth shut and has no idea of the legitimate role of the media.
It earns Turaga his own big slap-down from Naisa Koroi in today’s Fiji Sun editorial.
The caning of Barbara Malimali on social media continues…
Who is Mike Bush? Here’s part of his Wikipedia entry:
And can there be any doubt who is really running the ODPP? Look at the body language and tell us: Is it Nancy Tikoisuva or Bad-arse Stallion John Rabuka? Another total farce.
Will Christopher Pryde be back to wipe the grins off their faces? We shall see.
UPDATE FRIDAY AM:
A generally positive reaction to Rusiate Tudravu’s appointment in the mainstream media, as opposed to a great deal of scepticism in our comments section below.
Tudravu is a regime man and he will dance to Rabuka’s tune. He won’t bite the hand that feeds him. He now completes the jigsaw puzzle. ITaukei supremacy.
@ Opresso Libre
If you dont like the idea of a well-qualified i’taukei leading an organisation then there is an option open for you – migrate to another country.
Put simply – bugger off
well qualified? there were more qualified and better experienced applicants for the role.
Tell that to Mike Bush who chaired the selection committee and who will be Tudravu’s mentor.
When a 60 year old has to be mentored, it is delusional, the process and everyone involved, a complete circus.
Anonymous
Well qualified my ass. He’s being recycled you moron. That’s what Fiji is today, a big recycling plant.
@Opresso. Its wrong to say Fiji is a recycling plant.
More accurately, Fiji is a sewer recycling plant peopled by natives like wacol inmate.
Natives as wacol he give others a bad name, for there are many natives with real intelligence.
The wacol idiots of this world are the ball and chain around our neck thya is preventing Fiji from fully realizing its true potential.
Let’s not jump the gun here too quickly. We all thought that Graham Leung would come in and make honest men of these leeches. Instead, he went bottoms up and joined the fray, and now ignores the various constitutional breaches just like the rest of that disgusting lot.
What these appointees say before they get into power and what they do once they’re in power are usually two different things. I personally don’t believe anything will change and confidence in the police force by the public will remain low.
If anything, Tudravu won’t be doing anything to hold ministers to account and investigate things fairly because they’re the ones paying his salary.
The chances of that happening are surely reduced by having a distinguished Kiwi cop looking over his shoulder.
Two years of this lot has completely altered public perceptions. And with the iceberg of the next election hoving into view, only complete fools would maintain the present course.
Er, yes. On second thoughts, I take your point.
This is Fiji. I don’t expect anything to change.
Let us not forget the loudest drum is always the emptiest one.
We have a long list of people who promised to do better but who have betrayed the people for personal gain.
How else can we explains the tax holiday for Fiji’s most successful foreign company?
Mike Bush? White man savior complex! What can he teach Tudravu about policing in Fiji? What does he know about the Pacific let Fiji? This is the former NZ COMPOL that could not even attend the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police meetings as he didn’t see the Pacific as a priority. Now he’s even part of the selection panel for Fiji’s top cop job! He would only send representatives to these high level meetings to lobby for support for his nomination into INTERPOL. An opportunist that will no doubt be paid by the AFP to retire in luxury in the Fiji islands! The circus that keeps on giving! Sickening!
The typical knee-jerk chauvinistic anti-white reaction. Seriously. That’s what is sickening – that you ignore Mike Bush’s vastly superior experience running a first-world police force and the role he can play in helping Tudravu to clean up a complete mess in the Fiji Police.
The truth is that we need what you call “white-man saviours”. Because people like you think you can do it on your own but you can’t. And everyone else suffers because of your prejudice against obtaining the expertise of the best people possible to protect the country as a whole.
If Fijians are so good at doing these jobs, why is there such a crisis in the police force and the criminal justice system? Wake up!
Oi….pull your head out of your arse….police brutality and corruption in Fiji is a big problem that needs fixing. Public distrust of the Police is widespread.
Fiji needs all the help it can get…black, white, yellow…colour does not matter.
Now put your head back up your clacker…where it has always been.
Everyone is tuned into WII FM (What’s In It for Me?), but the person behind this blog is not.
Thank you, sir, for your insightful contributions this year and for offering something different. While most are focused on their own self-interest, you’re creating content that challenges that mindset, urging people to think beyond their immediate concerns and embrace a broader perspective. Your fresh insights don’t cater to individual desires but instead encourage readers to reconsider their assumptions and look past the surface.
Your blog is a space for intellectual growth, sparking curiosity and inviting deeper thought.
Thank you, sir, for dedicating your valuable time and attention to your home country, and for the impact you’ve made in encouraging meaningful reflection.
GD, with due respect, in reality sources are rarely impartial or independent.
This not to critique nor to cast aspersions one way or the other.
To be clear, the information and avenue your blog provides is invaluable to many thinking Fijians who’d otherwise be far less informed about the many truths reported to us expertly and without fear. Readers here remain loyal and ever grateful to you for this.
With that sincere caveat, point being, all sources will have skin in the game one way or the other. They add their preferred sauce to information, often to suit his/her agenda.
There is no greater example of this than the local media. Others claiming to be ‘independent’ such as the lice. The Butt snifing lawyers can’t be excluded. The great emeritus baboon with a face to match is another. The NGOs. Weeping woman. Bobble head deokiedick. Gereti. The great snake and the greatest sh¿t stirrer of them all Matt the pr man.
All these and other self-interested goat droppings litter the landscape with their special brand of racist tripe.
Point is (admittedly rather poorly made here) is if the above lot were anyone’s source of information, they would dramatically change the narrative to suit and advance their own iself interests.
While there will always be detractors, GS is the only platform trusted and relied on to speak truth to power by many Fijians, the diaspora around the world, by friends of Fiji who love our beautiful home and wish her the best.
God has not saved us despite our prayers.
This Kiwi ” white savior” is a DEI devotee. ( Diversity, Equity, Inclusion)’
” Empathy” and ” valuing diversity”.
Check out any hour of the day how that is working for the West.
It is bring about their collapse. An unmitigated disaster.
There is push back. To little too late.
What a waste of time.
Some lipstick for the FPF.
Tudravu is just as racist and useless as the current lot running the circus. Experience and qualifications mean jack sh#t as clearly demonstrated by the likes of Leung, Siromi, Temo, Lynda, Biman, and the other jokers.
The only reason Tudravu will be working with Mike is because of a project and agreement between the 2 countries where Fiji stands to gain financially with the hopes that the Police Force improves its professional standards. Let’s not hold our breath. No amount of training and money will change racist thugs and imbeciles who lack the moral and ethical intellect.
Tudravu has been strategically placed to advance the sinister agenda of Rabuka and Co knowing that he has an axe to grind against Bainimarama and the previous govt. He is out for revenge and makes an ideal choice for the post of COMPOL. The man can’t even speak and articulate a sentence properly let alone manage the force. Just see his record when he was Acting COMPOL and the rise in criminal activities under his watch. The man is full of himself, egotistical, and arrogant.
Those of you who think that this guy will change things, you are being taken for a ride – again. This is exactly what you all said about Rabuka being a changed man, Baimaan, Siromi, and Leung.
Get real because the sh#t is about to get real.
Will an old dog learn new tricks? This fella’s only claim to fame was that he was removed from his previous position. Otherwise he’s just another itaukei hired for being just that- itaukei.
A mediocre policeman at best, not known to have achieved anything of note during his long career in the previous tenure. Maybe he will have time to pay more attention to cold murder case files from his time.
More likely, Tudravu will toe the line and join the ranks of the likes of Leung Siromi Temo Malimali Rabuku Nancy Weed queen and the rest of the characters who are despairingly remarkably free of shame.
I wouldn’t trust locals to be able to gather 3 people, find a five seater vehicle to transport them in and meet at a designated location at 12.00 pm on a designated Monday in green attire . Let alone competently operate a judicial or police system or anything else to international first works standards. Why? Because of 3 required only 2 would be available, someones car would have had a breakdown, didn’t see the importance of complying with green outfits requested and they would have got the day and time wrong as well if they did turn up.
This is simplistic but I experience this basic incompetance and carelessness time and time again.
And I thought the appointment of new COMPOL was a just reward after he helped put the former PM away. Isn’t that how things work in Fiji? If anyone thinks that things will change in Fiji anytime soon or even in 20 years time, they need to get their heads checked. My theory is simple, recycling the same old same old over and over again is not the answer.
There was/is a view in the highetst places that confirming a COMPOL will fix fiji’s drug problem. Do not know which planet these people are living in. And the new COMPOL does not have any answers, I promise.
Let’s be real here.
Whatever Tudravu is claiming to have been the cause for his resignation is utter crap. The man resigned and wanted retirement. The man did not front up and say there are issues within the Fiji Police Force. He had a farewell. Not once did he file any police complaints or raise any issues in relation to a supposed push by Bainimarama to either resign or terminate two police officers. Tudravu, like many others is an opportunist. He only filed a complaint when there was a change in Government. He only came forward with his lies when he realised that Qiliho had been suspended by the COC. He wanted the Compol gig from the beginning. He realised that he now had a shot at it because Government had changed. He may have even been promised the job in the lead up to elections! Post elections we’ve seen jobs for the boys all around.
Graham, I’m not here to say that Fiji bringing in aussies or kiwis is a bad thing. But there are far too many people at this time who will sing to this Government’s tune for their 30 seconds of fame. This is what is happening all around us. From speakers coming over to trash our Constitution to nobodies being appointed as consultants for Government Ministeries. Placing Bush on the Independent Panel and then embedding him in the Fiji Police Force in Fiji is wrong. If he was going to be given this gig, his independence on the panel was compromised.
Magistrate Puamau saw through Tudravu’s lies when he broke on the stand while giving evidence. He was cross-examined by defence counsel on his motives and he went on about how he had resigned from the Fiji Police Force because of pressure. Magistrate Puamau analysed his evidence in her Judgement where she had acquitted Bainimarama and Qiliho – she noted that Tudravu clearly came to Court with an axe to grind. These were her words. The State later used this as an appeal ground. Its appeal was not successful on this particular ground, but on other grounds. The State’s conviction and sentence are now on appeal.
The Court’s analysis of Tudravu’s evidence stands to this day.
Tudravu, is this Government’s man. He will do as Rabuka says. One thing to be noted though, the Greens do not look at him with affection, or respect. I’m interested to see how this will play out in the future.
Tudravu’s account of what happened is borne out by the information that I was party to at the time from internal sources in govt and the offices of state. Tudravu may have not gone public about Frank’s attempt to block the drug investigation into Meli but plenty of people were aware of the story behind the scenes. And do you honestly think that he would have got anywhere blowing the whistle publicly while Frank was still in power?
Incidentally, I don’t give any credence to Seini Puamau. The record shows that presumably at the bidding of Siromi Turaga and/or Salesi Temo, she tried to recruit spies in the ODPP to report on Christopher Pryde as part of the attempt to find a reason to replace him with an iTaukei. It led to Christopher Pryde laying a formal complaint against her with the JSC but that complaint went nowhere presumably because at that stage, Puamau and Temo were on the same side.
She has achieved celebrity status since for acquitting Frank and Siti in defiance of the Acting CJ but I wouldn’t trust her to faithfully tell me the time of day. Her conduct at the ODPP marks her out as a snake. And it is certainly unbecoming for anyone holding judicial office.
Thank you for setting him/her straight, Mr Davis. Talk about trying to throw wool over our eyes. This one here brought the bloody blanket.
There were other applicants who qualified. I’m pointing out the fact that Tudravu does have an axe to grind. For this Government, that is all what seems to have mattered. Unaisi Vuniwaqa would have been great. Your inside information is only so much Graham. Those that you speak of know the truth. Tudravu is an opportunist.
You can say what you want to say without impugning my own knowledge. The record shows that my information is pretty good for someone who is 3,200 kilometres away in Sydney and has burnt his bridges with both sides of politics in the interests of trying to inform my readers of what is actually going on.
Stories have been broken here that have taken weeks, months and sometimes never to appear in the local media. And you would do better to explain the facts rather than casting yourself as having superior knowledge. For a start, advocating for a failed candidate for ComPol smacks of sour grapes.
Why do Fijians have this fixation about recycling old crappy donkey for almost every position. Is it in the culture and tradition? Why don’t people just say enough, no more crappy old dogs with previous baggage.
Aren’t there any independent people in Fiji? Basic question no one has asked is why does this guy have to be an iTaukei?
Why is everything based on who knows who and who is going to do what to who.
The whole thing is fcuked…..big time. Such big time that these things have become so normal because no one questions it. It is just the way it is.
He must be a uniquely intelligent individual to be the only police commissioner to be brought back for a second stint in Fiji, if not the world – for want of no one person being more uniquely intelligent.
This recurring cycle arises from the misconception of equating bravado with effective leadership. As a result, leaders often lack the capacity to develop holistic solutions, leading to outcomes that fall short of meaningful progress. Instead, certain individuals attempt to piece together elements from disparate puzzles, disregarding context and the relevance of these elements to the solution being pursued.
To move forward, we need a fresh approach to identifying and cultivating leadership potential. Traits such as energy, innovation, and intelligence are a strong foundation. Evidence consistently shows that these qualities can surpass the value of traditional experience in achieving success.
Wait till the devil in him comes out. He is not what people think he is.