Woo hoo!, as the famous cartoon character, Homer Simpson, is fond of saying. It’s a red letter day when the “citizen journalist” and fashion plate, Charlie Charters, gives Grubsheet a plug on his Facebook page. And that day has come as Charlie praises the excellent article we featured yesterday by our mutual friend, Richard Thomson, on the proposed Saweni waste recycling monstrosity.
The sting in the tail is that Charlie – who a Grubsheet reader has described as “Homer Simpson in a mumu” – has another go at Grubsheet, driving traffic to this site but again opining that I am “so reliably wrong about so many things”. Oh really?
Perhaps Homer is smarting because Grubsheet was the first to reveal the Death Certificate of the murdered Jone Vakarisi, which derailed the RFMF’s attempted cover-up that he had died of a “sudden medical episode” caused by a “pre-existing condition”.
Why have Charlie and the other Three Amigos of Suva – Richard “I have the means” Naidu and Wylie “Coyote” Clarke – been so silent on the torture and killing of Vakarisi? Nothing from Charlie, a link to Maryann Lockington from Richard Naidu on Facebook but no thundering condemnation and no statement from Wylie Clarke as President of the Fiji Law Society when the rule of law has been so blatantly violated.
Or is it that they are squirming with embarrassment that having pilloried Grubsheet for years for having gone to work for the alleged human rights abuser, Frank Bainimarama, the same thing is happening under their hero, Sitiveni Rabuka?
Whatever the reason, the Three Amigos are conducting themselves like the proverbial Three Monkeys (See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Speak no Evil), demonstrably trying to ignore the fact that a man was tortured and killed and the “buturaki culture” continues to thrive under the new order they support.
Homer, sorry Charlie, keeps saying that I get things wrong. I got the Jone Vakarisi murder so wrong I wound up in a front page story of The Australian newspaper. He wouldn’t have liked that.
And then there are the other stories Grubsheet “has got wrong” – like the first to break the news that the Prime Minister is appealing the Tuiqereqere judgment on the Malimali sacking; the first to reveal that Frank Bainimarama is behind the new FijiansFirst Party; Plus a whole lot of stories we have broken in these columns over the years that were way ahead of the mainstream media pack.
They include some that still haven’t seen the light of day in Fiji, like full uncensored coverage of the Ashton-Lewis Commission of Inquiry Report and the letter signed by the Prime Minister that accused Lynda Tabuya of a “sex and illicit drug scandal” and removed her as deputy leader of the People’s Alliance.
D’oh! (as Homer is also fond of saying).
We’re now watching Charlie, Richard and Wylie very closely to see whether they are finally going to have the cojones to call out the culture of extrajudicial killings they once condemned so vociferously under the “old order” but seem to be having trouble condemning under their own. Because despite the efforts of sections of the mainstream media, this is story that isn’t going away.
This is where we’re at as of this morning – “survivor stories” from the Camp that are as bad as anything two decades ago.
In sharp contrast to the Three Amigos, full-throated condemnation from the human rights watchdogs at Amnesty International…
More damning publicity for the RFMF and Fiji as a whole from the foreign media…
Blatant spin from a Coalition government facing an election, having promised better standards of governance yet carrying the same burden of human rights abuses as its predecessor.
But from the normally-voluble Three Amigos – Charlie, Richard and Wylie… silence.
—————————
And with that, I am resuming my medical leave. For the information of those of you kind enough to have left supportive messages here, my shoulder replacement has been delayed because I contracted sinusitis and they won’t do the operation until after I have fully recovered.
In the meantime, I am trying to persuade Richard Thomson to write more articles for Grubsheet, partly because of his ability and lifetime of experience in Fiji and partly to try to attract more positive mentions from Homer.
Woo hoo!
———————————————-
UPDATE:
Finally something from the Fiji Law Society, though as its President, Wylie Clarke breaks with previous practice and leaves his name off the statement. Security in numbers?
An important intervention nonetheless. The conduct of the RFMF and its Commander, Major General Ro Jone Kalouniwai, has been unlawful, scandalous, and totally unacceptable.
Please could we have an article about how a Fiji business can be given a tax holiday? If we could know the process of applying, who to apply to, and how to get one in these challenging times that would be really great.
Step one: point legal work in the direction of Munro Leys. Step two: lobby Richard Naidu to use his position as Chair of the Fiscal Review Committee to lobby the government on your behalf. Presto.
Look up FRCS.org.fj Incentive Packages. Fiji Revenue and Customs Services.
If one does not have the wherewithal in which direction to look for the various investment incentives ( and the thresholds/ criteria for eligibility) offered by the Fijian Govt to attract investment into Fiji ( new and ongoing) then perhaps the potential entrepreneur may not be in the right field. Or pay for the services of a subject matter practitioner – as already suggested.
Or such may be freely available from FRCS, Investment Fiji or Ministry of Trade and Economy or whatever their name is currently.
Davo is likely asking in jest, just as GD’s response might suggest.
It also known as sarcasm. Lighten up people. It was supposed to funny.
Speaking of which, GD’s entire piece in this ‘Homer’ themed jibe at Charlie banana is simply the most hilarious one thus far. “By far,” to borrow from the Orange lunatic.
That’s saying something considering Graham Davis has come up with several other gems in his previous posts.
Good one GD! This one is ROTFLMAO stuff. A word of caution tho. The three Amigos (that one is a beauty too!) not only have the means but have lots of time on their hands to research libel law! Haha!
Glad you liked “Homer” and thanks for your concern. The NSW defamation laws (where they would have to sue) make it much harder for people in public life to do so (“I have the means” because of the Fiscal Review Committee and “Wylie Coyote” because of the Fiji Law Society) and the relatively new qualified privilege defence, on top of the truth defence, also helps journalists who might have got something wrong but genuinely believed it was true.
Then there is the expense of launching proceedings stretching into tens of thousands of dollars at first (Aussie dollars), then hundreds of thousands, then potentially millions. Even “I have the means” doesn’t really have the means and in any event, if he is mad enough to proceed, I have to have the means for him to secure an order for damages to make it remotely worthwhile or he is left bearing the entire cost of the action.
Then there are lawyers with spine like Devanesh Sharma who have offered to help me plus a Sydney barrister who wishes to remain anonymous. So it is a mountain to climb that these jokers are highly unlikely to attempt. Because they have more means than me and when litigation these days is essentially a lottery, I might just win and ruin them.
There is a wonderful thing called disclosure that forces all parties to produce every single letter, email and text message relating to a particular action. And as we’re seeing from the Epstein files in the US, an obscure email is enough to blow even the biggest fish out of the water. Worth keeping all this in mind if there is any further chest-beating from the Three Amigos. They might have pull in the courts of Fiji but not in Oz. And they certainly don’t scare me.
Update on Common Man if he is able to find time to pen his thoughts. Please.
Yes, I too would love to hear from CommonMan on this issue. Unfortunately the destruction of much of his farm in the recent storms and flooding is taking precedence over his writing but let’s hope he can return to it as soon as possible.
Biman’s economic mismanagement strategy has placed Fiji in dire strait now with closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Biman didn’t leave much room for Fiji to manage external global oil shocks. Despite raising taxes, the debt level continued to soar. He was so vocal to rationalize the tax hikes as being needed to reduce debt level. Instead, he raised taxes (and used new revenue in unproductive areas) and escalated new borrowings that has now placed the economy at precarious situation where any new borrowing would lead to unsustainable debt level since the policy space to raise taxes further has diminished.
Within this or next next year, the economy will be constrained with further with new set of forced tax hikes (such as VAT going up) to recover lost revenue due to oil shock. Now, Fiji has no money to deal with external shocks. During COVID times, the previous Government’s borrowing saved the Fiji economy as such borrowings were done to address fiscal support to citizens – and these borrowing were done without raising taxes. Biman came and tried to play smart and raised taxes to reduce debts but instead of doing that, he increased the size of Government as he didnt spoke against it in his Budget deliveries. Well IMF’s Article 4 Mission did point that out. Biman’s haphazard changes to tax system has now raised income inequality such as raising VAT from 9%, raising corporate tax to 25% for all but according tax incentives to super rich such as Fiji Water tax holiday, removing social responsibility tax.
Overall, Biman wasn’t smart as he and the propaganda media projected himself to be. Whilst being excessive “short termism”, he was fooling and diverting the nation with a questionable national development plan, which is gathering dust at the Ministry of Finance office. His track record is simply raising taxes but not reducing debt as he was preaching. Instead, he made it worse now as Fiji has less room to borrow, raise short term taxes and to remove fuel tax to address current and impending disaster that will destroy the economy with exorbitant fuel hikes.
Only if baimaan still had the karia motar with lal batti, he’d fix the the dire strait situation by directing all ships through Labasa. Trumping Trump.
Richard ‘I have the means’ Naidu is a nasty hypocritical bitch who was a freedom fighter and champion of democracy now reduced to licking Rabuka’s butt and looking the other way when it comes to human rights abuses.
Let’s never forget that NFP lackey Ritchie Richard and the NFP leader Baiman masterminded the VAT increase to 15% to fund the Fiji Water tax Holiday for seven years and the exorbitant MPs pay increase.
Not only did these two bastards target and exploit Fiji’s poor, they deprived iTaukei resource owners of much-needed revenue and the country as a whole lost out on tax earnings.
It’s not for nothing that Baiman is known as the worst finance minister in Fiji’s history. And he only became deputy PM because of the 3 party-coalition with Fiji ending up in the ridiculous position of 3 deputy PMs. And a clown like him ends up winning the deputy PM lottery. It was a cruel joke on the nation.
Baiman’s resignation from cabinet is a blessing for the nation and he should never be allowed to return in any form or shape or he will further destroy the nation.
The last thing we need is an elitist party like NFP or elitist ball lickers like Baiman and Richard in influential positions as they will sell out interests.
Top 10 Fiji Government Achievements
1. Scandal after scandal such as ODPP preventing Pryde return, Corrections Commissioner fist fight, FCCC full on with EFL Tariffs
2. Exorbitant Pay rise for Ministers
3. Increased size of Government with all Govt MPs made ministers/asst ministers
4. Rise in Corruption re:COI Report/Baiman Kamica2 FICAC charges
5. Rule of Law overshadowed by likely Temo interference re:COI Report/ Puamau’s decision overturn by Temo
6. Rise in Taxes
7. Rise in Govt Debt
8. PM always deliberately “unaware”
9. Malimali Big Coffee Mug appointment saga.
10. Too much overseas trips
Bonus Ones below:
1. Incompetence of Chimoni and Leung as AG with both removed
2. Kalou-RFMF Killing fields Vakarisi.
3. Fiji pornhub promotion by Leenda Minista for bushy, weedy, bonking, misinformation, Lautoka Rubbish project
4. CWM leaking
5. LTA excessive fines
Tukana of SOLE states that only “Christian God” should be in constitution. He failed to realize that “Christian God” along with God of other faith is already contained enshrined in the current constitution. Tukana should explain how God’s of other faith restrict his ability to pray to his Christian God, which is already in the current constitution. It is clear that his hatred towards other faith is the main reason for his views. Grow up, Tukana. God loves. Preach love – not hate.
The difference between your faith thinking and this ethno-nationalist itaukei is likely manifold. Let’s for now focus on some primary, sole differences:
+ the C is an itaukei entho-nationalist.
+ is closely knit if not cut from the same tapa of his eastern cabal mafia brethren.
+ who think themselves superior to the Fijians, particularly the manumanu maniki and kaicolo, if you will
+ he crowd-pocketed, er.., crowd funded online, collectted an hitherto undeclared amount of public donations claimed to repay $3m debt to Fiji Airways for kissing the ass of warmonger Nuttingyahoo.
+ Meanwhile, FJ Airways is still left holding the hat and owed 3m and not counting interests and legal costs.
+ he was a passenger in that particular ass-kissing flight to see how the Isreali jews treat Christians in Israell.
+ This ethno-nationalist and his ilk wouldn’t know the deeper difference between a secular state and a religious-based government-imposed preferred religion.
+ Even if secularism hit in the face or kicked his broke ass.
+ he does not know a secular state, but he does not mean being anti-religion.
+ he has not read the sole supreme law of the land.
+ his ignorance is not only wilful but ingrained.
+ This sole C has publicly stated that all government IT contracts must be warded solely to his “companies” because–are you ready–he is an itaukei ethno-nationalist
+ without submitting tenders like the rest of the world.
+ likes ingratiating himself with Indo business people for relevance and possible business ‘deals’
+ and drum roll……he is positioning himself to contest the general elections!
As one of the famed/infamous Three Amigos might say: and there you have it.
“Sole fintech and a team of trustees have put their hands up to help the Pacific Voyage repay its debt to Fiji Airways on the Charter Flight to Tel Aviv in October 2023.
Tukana says they will set up a crowdfunding to help repay the debt to Fiji Airways.
Tukana adds that once this is set up this Sunday, they will announce the Trustees and the processes that they will follow in the collections and the weekly arrangements of paying Fiji Airways.”
Any update on this Tukana?