Few people with access to the Internet can have failed to be shocked and distressed at the extraordinary video that emerged this week of two recaptured Fijian prison escapees being ill-treated by their captors. The clip that has appeared on local television is a sanitised version of the original, which at the time of writing has been viewed almost … [Read more...] about # TACKLING A CULTURE OF VIOLENCE
# CRAVING THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE
The aural island idyll of gentle breezes wafting through swaying palms and waves softly breaking onto pristine shores is taking a real battering in Fiji. You can’t go anywhere without being assailed by rock music played at the highest decibels and Grubsheet, for one, has had enough. We want paradise restored - to not only be able to smell the … [Read more...] about # CRAVING THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE
#TESTING TIMES
Scandalising the judicial system has come at a heavy price for the venerable Fiji Times, its former publisher, Brian O’Flaherty, and the current publisher and editor, Fred Wesley. Sentence was passed on the paper today after it was found guilty of contempt for republishing comments about Fiji’s judiciary made to the New Zealand media by Tai … [Read more...] about #TESTING TIMES
# GETTING OUR HOUSE IN ORDER
What is the appropriate size for Fiji’s new parliament? How many MPs can the country sustain? How many do we need to adequately represent us and provide the nucleus for an effective government? All these questions are currently being considered as the Government’s legal officers put the finishing touches to the new Draft Constitution that will be … [Read more...] about # GETTING OUR HOUSE IN ORDER
# CREATING A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
Any political party that aspires to contest the 2014 election should have one imperative in mind above all others – the need to provide Fiji’s young people with jobs and viable, sustainable futures. There are disturbing signs – not least in the escalating suicide rate – that many young people have lost hope that they can ever “make it” in the way … [Read more...] about # CREATING A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
# AT LAST, A DOLLOP OF SENSE
The mainstream Australian media has been woefully blind to the real situation in Fiji, dazzled, as it is, by the constant bleat of the Bainimarama Government's opponents. Pitifully few Australian journalists ever visit Fiji, even from media organisations such as the ABC which broadcasts its message of doom into Fijian homes on a 24/7 basis. All of … [Read more...] about # AT LAST, A DOLLOP OF SENSE