The best piece of advice my Qorvis boss in Washington gave me when I made the transition from journalist to communications adviser in Fiji was beautifully simple. “When the shit hits the fan and is flying everywhere, stand still. Because if you wave your arms around, you get covered in more shit and spread it even further”. In the Fijian context, this invariably meant trying to persuade the leadership not to respond to criticism and let it pass rather than responding and elevating that criticism and the individual making it.
Time and again, despite my entreaties, the Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, would be goaded by Biman Prasad, Sitiveni Rabuka or any number of other people into a testy response to some criticism or other that guaranteed they were on the front pages and especially of the Fiji Sun, the paper he controls. They had learned the lesson – and the AG hasn’t – that any publicity is good publicity when you’re the opposition trying to cut through. He is placing them in the public eye and making them relevant. So they keep throwing shit and, sure enough, the AG keeps spreading it everywhere. And last week, he again made the mistake, this time with me. Criticising me by name and in the process, handing me the gift of being relevant and driving a huge amount of Internet traffic to these pages.
Knowing the AG’s flaw, Biman Prasad, the NFP leader, specifically told associates that he had named me in the Parliament to get more people to read Grubsheet Feejee. It was a throwaway line in his speech in which he said that a “former friend of the government, Graham Davis, was saying the cabinet was divided”. He also said something I didn’t say – that they weren’t speaking to each other. In Fiji, even the least educated person knows that in the liumuri world of politics, people exchange polite chitchat and smile sweetly at each other even as knives are at the ready.
I would have advised the AG not to say anything. Then I would have passed into irrelevance in the torrent of words uttered in the parliament that day. But as I say, he just can’t help himself. Casting me as a “disgruntled former employee making comments from Australia”, the AG attempted to portray me as someone who had left Fiji angry or dissatisfied (I wasn’t fired, I resigned and with warm thanks from the Prime Minister for my service) and was an outsider speaking from a country where at last count, 96,000 other Fijians live. Not once did he deny a single thing that I had written on the basis of fact.
So what was the point? Immediately, I was news. The AG’s criticism of me was reported by Communications Fiji Limited on its radio network and global “Fiji Village” website and by the AG’s brother’s Fijian Broadcasting Corporation on its local outlets and Facebook page, which gave me the opportunity to respond by again pointing out the glaring conflict of interest of Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum in being CEO of FBC and also a key member of the FijiFirst elections campaign team.
All the world loves a free kick and, boy, did the AG and his brother give me one. Want to know why they nearly lost FijiFirst the last election? Qori, as we say in Fiji. They are just not as smart as they think they are. The same applies to the trolls making personal attacks on me in these columns and elsewhere, and especially on the basis that I am white and not really a Fijian because I lived so long overseas. Remember, these are often Indo-Fijians who are the first to protest about racism in Fiji and have precisely the same justification to citizenship as I do – being Fiji born. But, naturally white people have fewer rights than they do. This is how they evidently think they can damage me and please the AG.
Over the next two weeks, I’ll be presenting hard evidence that gives the lie to the government’s claim that it is united and proves my original claim that cabinet is divided, largely on ethnic lines, in the wake of the debacle of the 2018 election. This Friday (September 11) what the Military Council recommended to the Prime Minister after the government’s near defeat. And the following Friday ( September 18), Frank Bainimarama names his successor.
enlightening indeed.
“They are just not as smart as they think they are”. Finally you said it. There was a reason why it was insisted that everyone be called “FIJIANS”: When key positions were filled by Muslims and the machinery “Islamised”, no one could point a finger at the AG as they were “Fijians”. Oh and the “Indo Fijians” that you mentioned…how about “IndoMuslimFijians”…
Rakesh, the ethnic typecasting is bad enough without compounding it further by introducing a religious element. We are all meant to be Fijians with equal rights. It just that like the pigs in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, some pigs see themselves as being more equal than others.
As well they should! Oink oink.
This is not ethnic typecasting but a fact that a lot of people do not want to acknowledge or just don’t have the courage to do so. I have friends of all religious and ethnic backgrounds of “Fijian” descents and all acknowledge these religious bias in appointments. If we need to talk about the real problems with AG, this is it. Let’s not be politically too correct about all this. “Ethnic typecasting..??” Didn’t you just call out the “Indo Fijians”?
“…. the following Friday ( September 18), Frank Bainimarama names his successor.”
I would hazard a guess the Military Council would rather it were not ASK – current minister of everything?
How can a Prime Minister dictate who will replace him? Where is Frank going anyway?
Of course the AG was nowhere near smart that he just gave you even more publicity. He’s a grown man whining like a child and is now “covered up in horse manure” and not always known for having thick skin.
At least Frankie wasn’t so bad in terms of your resigning on good terms, but can’t say much about the trolls that love massaging Khaiyum’s tiny little ego.
By the way, facts never cared about “Aiyarse’s” feelings. Even the Opposition seldom criticizes or attacks the media.
They can deny all they want like the delusional simpletons they are, looking forward to seeing you put eggs on their faces with that upcoming article.
Posting it here in case you missed it:
Grubby, you are just so very bitter that you missed out a few things. You suffer from what I call white man syndrome, where being a white man you think you know better than most around you. You have had problems with those who are intellectually superior. Let me give you a few examples. You wanted Nazhat Shameem removed because she was not taking orders from you. You openly told Director Environment Sandeep Singh that you will get her fired when you all were in New York because she was not bending over backwards to cater to your every whim. You were told off by Yogesh Karan and Sharvada Sharma because they refused to take on board your petty gossips. You feel that if the AG is removed you will be back in the PM’s good books. You were accustomed to living the high life in Suva, everyone knew good ol’ Graham, he received all the cocktail invites from the diplomatic circles where he was the big wheeler and dealer, name dropping the PM. Must be lonely back in Sydney where no one knows you from the next white man. You want the good life back, all that was funded by the Fijian taxpayer, you want to live in GPH writing your speeches, sipping champagnes with the Ambassadors. Your use-by date has expired in Fiji. Stop pretending to be a Fijian. You were raised in Aust, lived in Aust, worked in Aust and have gone into the oblivion in Aust. You are trying to remain relevant.
Here’s what white man syndrome means “White Man Syndrome (WMS) affects almost all white men. A man with WMS is “always right,” and will argue with you to the bitter end even if he doesn’t have all the facts or is completely proven wrong. He will also find the need to criticize EVERYONE, whether they are close friends or strangers. (https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=White%20Man%20Syndrome)
This fits ASK profile..lol
You’re a racist bastard & i suspect you’re an Indian trying to be an I-Taukei.Show us your face and stop hiding behind that keyboard.Mr Davis is fighting and telling the world how corrupt AG & his kind are ruining our beloved Fiji for us real Fijians.Stop supporting corruption. You have no idea how the I-Taukeis are feeling right now,but when shit hits the fence the real Fijians are gonna come out hunting for AG & his ball greasers!!!!
I’ve never thought that Graham considers himself a “white” man.
Yes Grubby, you got one thing right, no one should have reacted to you. But you were once a close friend. You were a close confidante of the AG, a close friend, you were like family, weren’t you? Your stab marks will remain etched in his memory for long. He was only human to lash out because you could not honour your journalistic ethics nor your role as a mate. But like I rightly pointed out, it must have been hard to go back to being a no body in Sydney. Your palate has taken a liking to the expensive booze which flowed so freely and you need to find a way to get all that back. You will get no where near milking the Fijian people while the AG is around so the White Savior will do what it takes to remove the obstacle which stands between him and his life of luxury and ostentatious show.
What a stupid idiot you are ‘Grubby got replaced’ and ‘Grubby’ – the one and same person obviously. You learnt zilch from this posting by Graham. You are dumb to the core. Talk about stirring a hornets nest. You are doing more harm than good to the AG. You are his worst enemy right now – a major liability. If I were the AG, I would sack you on the spot. Dumb-ass trolls like you will esacalate the AG’s downfall. Let it blow over, stupid. Do not pour kerosene on the fire. But you are so empty-headed you won’t get it all. You will continue to damage the AG and this government. Hopefully they realise what a liability you are and show you thr door . It cannot happen fast enough for this government.
Obviously the same person, but you must be a Johnny Come Lately on the social media scene not to recognise what Grubby is in reference to. I am not here to do any favours to anyone, the AG can fight his battles himself, he has done so for many years now and doesn’t need a minder, least of all, not me. I am calling out this hypocrite for what he is and exposing his vendetta against the person who he views as the reason why he is no longer on the gravy train. And everyone here defending him and his Damascus moment were the same people who ridiculed him and loathed his self-serving attitude. Why has Grubby not denied his dislike for all those who are clearly intellectually superior than him? Why has he not denied threatening hard working locals with termination? When he could not get his way, he would go and sulk to those who took time to entertain him. This is the biggest problem with us iTaukei, we think sun shines out of the rear of those with white skin. The AG obviously didn’t think so. Graham Davis wants to come back and live the life of luxury in Fiji. He cannot afford to do so on his own dime, therefore his vendetta against the man whose supposed replacement may have promised GD the option of being the chief spin master.
He cannot fire someone not employed by him.
You’re a racist bastard & i suspect you’re an Indian trying to be an I-Taukei.Show us your face and stop hiding behind that keyboard.Mr Davis is fighting and telling the world how corrupt AG & his kind are ruining our beloved Fiji for us real Fijians.Stop supporting corruption. You have no idea how the I-Taukeis are feeling right now,but when shit hits the fence the real Fijians are gonna come out hunting for AG & his ball greasers!!!!
I hope someone shuts the borders in advance!
So who are the pigs in Fiji who ” see themselves as more equal than others” ?
No Graham nobody cares about your lies and you have gained no traction despite being in the news. You are a joke.
“…. nobody cares about your lies….”
Timoci – Sir, with all due respect; even though I would not necessarily agree with, or even believe everything GD writes, I would tend to give some credence to one who has had many years of experience working as an international award winning (Walkley and Logie Awards) investigative reporter – working with many renowned indepedent news media organisations: BBC World Service News, ABC and ABC’s Foreign Correspondent, Nine Network Australia, SBS, Macquarie Radio Network, and our local Fiji Times…. Oh yes, and even one not-so-independent local newspaper (take a wild guess!)
Must be the VATIS crew trying to earn their keep
I think you analysis is spot on, minus the fact that you purposefully are trying to make Prof. Biman Prasad look like his plotting to provoke the AG at all cost. How DARE you? After aiding and abetting a government born out of a MILITARY COUP, regardless of the “affection” between you and the PM that you so often taut, how dare you insinuate that a person of the Professor’s standing and moral compass would try to leverage political points off of the soon to be irrelevant Aiyaz Khaiyum, in his blatant disregard for basic tenets of democracy and disdain for genuine dialogue?
In a way, I think you wrote this piece to actually try to soften the blow that FijiFirst and your dictator PM and AG (and let’s not forget this – that you yourself initially helped in the ascension of) got from the TRUTH exposed in Parliament last week, and especially by PBP.
I am not an NFP associate in any capacity right now, but you are partly to blame for the mess Fiji is in right now – the lack of rule of law and principled governance in how our people are treated, and the struggles they continue to face while you try your best to get your coup-maker PM to be re-elected – which if it were to happen, would undoubtedly permanently castigate all our independent institutions for a very very long time. Because the simple fact of the matter is, Frank Bainimarama has never been more irrelevant. He chose to have ASK feed off of his egocentric and megalomaniac mind, just to see ASK now wield seemingly unlimited power up to a point that he is perhaps the most dangerous person in this country ever.
NFP’s standing has always been, and continues to be transparency, accountability, progressive values and genuine dialogue. PBP’s mention of you specifically was in response to the AG and PM both derailing once again to attack NFP for apparently not helping them in the aftermath of the 2006 coup led by your saviour, and their inability to see why bipartisanship is important in a country where the government only got 50% of the votes cast. And you have indeed decried that indeed the FFP caucus is divided. In context, if you didn’t watch the video – PBP obviously seemed to mean ‘talking’ as in consulting – that the FFP caucus and esp the cabinet does not consult among each other and you’ve stated that there indeed are ethnic divisions and rifts forming in FFP itself.
And while we are on this matter, who wrote that now infamous speech for the PM which he read out in response to the letter by NFP for an offer to assist in the COVID response budget. Whatever little respect I had for that coupist, I lost that day.
So while, yes i do agree with the gist of what you say, the insinuation that PBP and NFP are just trying to gain political leverage through their debates, and through the examples that they might use – in a bid to get ASK to DERAIL once more – that’s not true. These are questions we as the public want to know, and our representatives are doing a pretty darn good job of making these leeches squirm under their own conscience, as little of it as there might be left.
Crikey, Ben Trader. You need to pause for a moment and examine the facts.
Fact: Biman Prasad – whose integrity is not in question – quoted me in the parliament as having said the FijiFirst cabinet was so divided people weren’t talking to each other. If you go back and read what I say, I did not say they were not talking to each other. Of course they are. The divisions are below the surface. If he had stuck to what I actually said, I wouldn’t have a problem. But no-one likes being misquoted and especially when that is used to make a political point.
Fact: I heard from a third party that Biman mentioned me in the parliament at least partly to draw attention to Grubsheet.
Fact: I left the Qorvis domestic account in June 2018, 27 months ago. So I cannot have written the PM’s speech on Covid or anything else.
Fact: My conscience is clear. I am campaigning for reform of the FijiFirst government to make it more competitive so that it can win the 2022 election. A great many people feel that this cannot happen with Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum as the lightening rod for dissatisfaction with the government. So I am not an island in arguing that he should step aside.
You are clearly a good writer but on the evidence of this intemperate criticism of me, your skills of analysis need attention. I am not attacking the NFP in any shape or form. I have the greatest respect for Biman Prasad, Pio Tikoduadua and Lenora Qereqeretabua. All three are people of admirable integrity and in many ways, the NFP is the conscience of the current parliament. But it’s an indisputable fact that the party failed to win any more seats at the 2018 election than it did in 2014. And for that reason, it needs to work on its performance, as, of course, we all do.
Mark Manning wants to know ” How can a Prime Minister dictate who should replace him?” In the ” true democracy ” that Graham Davis helped to create in Bainimarama and Khaiyum’s ” new Fiji ” the Prime Minister can dictate whatever he fancies.
Just ask anyone in the democratic opposition in Fiji and they will confirm that.
At a press briefing President Trump demanded Jeff Mason, White House correspondent for Reuters, remove his face mask in the middle of a question regarding Trump’s derogatory comments about fallen US soldiers but the journalist refused ( HuffPost 8/9 ).
That’s a journalist with spine.
Ben Trader will agree with me not all journalist have that.