The announcement that officers of the Australian Federal Police are going to be embedded in the Fiji Police Force and that the AFP will mentor the new police commissioner will be welcomed by all Fijians except the “bad apples” that Pio Tikoduadua says are undermining local law enforcement.
Thank God the Home Affairs Minister – and presumably the Prime Minister and his fellow cabinet ministers – have finally come to the realisation that the “locals only” policy of the ousted Attorney General, Siromi Turaga, has been a disaster for Fiji. The scale of the assault on the rule of law by criminals – whether small-time thugs harassing the populace or the gangsters running organised rackets like the drug trade and people trafficking – is now out of control. It is beyond the brain power and resources of the Fiji Police to deal with this evil. We need the best minds and firepower to be brought to bear against them. And bringing in the Aussies is the first step in getting a grip on the crisis.
It is good news for the vast majority of Fijians labouring under the current breakdown in law and order – their persons and homes under threat of attack and their children preyed on by drug traffickers. And it is very bad news for the “bad apples” of the Police Force, who will be rooted out and dealt with by law enforcement experts from outside who can spot a bad apple when they see one. It is also bad news for the gangsters running large-scale criminal enterprises. The full resources of the Australian Federal Police and their global intelligence network is going to come crashing down on them. And even if they have corrupted senior local police, those officers are at much higher risk of being exposed.
It was Australian Federal Police intelligence that identified Zhao Fugang – the Suva businessman and self acknowledged agent of the Chinese Communist Party – as an alleged major figure in the drugs trade into Australia. Zhao Fugang has publicly protested his innocence to a credulous local media. But whatever he has been doing, he has suddenly lost those people in the Police Force with whom he was close – notably the disgraced and imprisoned outgoing Police Commissioner, Sitiveni Qiliho. Fugang’s access to the top now means also having to deal with seasoned Australian operatives who will not be so sympathetic and have far greater experience and instant access to top-level intelligence.
We still don’t yet know who will be the substantive appointment as Police Commissioner, a decision Pio Tikoduadua says needs to be made urgently. But whether it is Juki Fong Chew or some other local, they will have a senior Australian Federal Police officer by their side. The choice of the word “mentor” rather than advisor is highly significant. It means an experienced Australian officer will be by the new appointment’s side actively showing him or her the ropes and training the new appointment to eventually be able to do the job on their own. And providing them with unparalleled access to the AFP’s resources and expertise.
What is envisaged is even better than appointing a police commissioner from outside Fiji. One person was never going to be able to reverse the entrenched corruption, laziness and incompetence of the local Force. But key Australians embedded in critical positions at various levels working closely with “clean” Fijian officers provides us with the best possible chance of bringing the current nightmare to an end.
No-one is saying so but it effectively also spells the end of Chinese efforts to influence the top levels of the Fiji Police and have Chinese State Security personnel embedded in the Force. With its agreement with the Australian government for the AFP to mentor the new police commissioner and have other officers in key positions, the Rabuka government has sided with Australia and the other democracies, and not the Chinese dictatorship, to protect the integrity of Fiji’s law enforcement. Beijing will be furious but it is the right decision and will be welcomed by the overwhelmingly majority of Fijians.
Sitiveni Rabuka has long expressed a preference for Fiji to be friends with the Chinese but be closer to its larger neighbours. And nothing underlines that more than the deal that has been done with Australia to try to reverse the rot in the Fiji Police. It is to the Prime Minister’s credit that he has taken this path in stark contrast with the strong pro-Chinese sentiments of his predecessor, Frank Bainimarama. The ousted Prime Minister used to regularly drink whisky with Zhao Fugang at the Yue Lai restaurant and reportedly accepted cash “donations” in US dollars, ostensibly for FijiFirst, though there is no evidence that these “donations” were ever declared to the Elections Office. Those days are over.
There will also be no more rendition flights of Chinese citizens rounded up on the streets of Fiji and frogmarched back to China without any recourse to the normal avenues of appeal. Nor a repeat of the disgraceful police inaction when members of the Chinese Embassy attacked and injured a Taiwanese diplomat at Taiwan’s national day celebration at the GPH in October 2020. That was a story that went unreported until Grubsheet broke it and the news went global.
Pio Tikoduadua emerges as someone of substance and judgment who understands where Fiji’s true interest lies. He has shown the same judgment in choosing Australia to partner with Fiji in its current review of national security and defence. Even before the last election, Tikoduadua was having high-level talks in Canberra in the expectation that the Coalition would win. There is mutual trust on both sides and we can also be grateful that Tikoduadua has a reputation for being moral, high minded, patriotic and even more importantly, incorruptible.
Hopefully the new police commissioner, when he or she is announced, will be the same. And together, with the assistance of our Australian friends, they can weed out the “bad apples” in the Force, take on the organised crime that is making our overall security position so much worse, and get Fiji back on the right path. The Fijian people have a right to sleep soundly in their beds at night and be free of the predations of petty criminals and gangsters alike. And an important step has just been taken in that direction.
Yet amid the optimism, there are ominous signs that Siromi Turaga isn’t going to take his removal as Attorney General lying down. Instead of going quietly, he mounts a defence of his time as AG on the front page of today’s Fiji Sun.
At the same time as this guy says he is “excited” to work with the new order, we can be pretty sure that he will be plotting against it.
Racial and religious fanatics never give up.
Fingers crossed.
Didn’t Pio and recently Gavoka say that Fiji has no problems. Dumbheads. These leaders, and all past and present, are the reason this.country is now begging for help.
The Police, MP, Justice system is all compromised.
If you are rich, like the rich Guji in Fiji then you walk away on bail. If you are i-taukei, you go to prison. Our justice system is totally f**ked.
It will take decades to trust Fiji Police with anything. The army is worse. They shouldn’t exist at all.
Well, hopefully he is not a retired or close to retirement
Weather in Fiji is warm and beaches are good to enjoy retirement, make some money as well and end up in a retirement home in your own country
We need young, energetic and a diligent officer
Maybe they should get rid of the dodgy “locals only” policy in the judiciary urgently.
I saw the 4 part series by Barbara Dreaver in NZ. Her so called investigative journalism piece was so poor. A villager could tell a better story than she did.
The Australian media piece was on point.
I have no idea what NZ is doing with a one person Pacific correspondent who doesn’t know how to report on issues with depth. She needs to be replaced fast.
Don’t get me started on Fiji One News. They might as well close the shop and all go home. Small ipad and talking the same old marijuana. They hold no investigative journalism skills leave alone the ability to read the news well.
Barb is one of the best journalists Pacific has produced
She knows about how to report as she is from Pacific as well
Probably you need a sub title to understand
To understand what? English or investigative journalism? Her journalism is just reporting. Nothing worth of what we can say as investigative. That’s what I am saying.
How much details you would like to know about drugs
A world wide pandemic
Fiji is part of it
Don’t need to know very details of how a joint is rolled or meth is smoked
Alternatively go and watch You tube
There is lots of investigative articles on drugs
Siromi, you uneducated and inexperienced cow. You get paid $200,000 to now tell people it is not an easy job! Did you think you were standing in a village canteen selling grog!
You are a racist and most inexperienced, as well as not legally suitable, to hold that position. The last 16 years was a direct result of what your current PM started. Yes, get rid of the Constitution and this time around remove the immunity safety clause. Let’s see how Rabuka dodges the courts then. Tell your boss that there is always IJCs for a reason.
How much of the rot, unprofessionalism can be attributed to the past 16 years?
Qiliho ran the police force like his own personal mob unit. Aiyaz never acknowledged the infiltration of drugs in the country and suppressed this issue and never admitted that infiltration of drugs into the country was a problem . Remember then FFP voted against a motion by Pio to set up a commission of inquiry into the drug issue.
Hats off to Pio to trying g to fix this problem and with professional external help
Siromi Turaga should be hired back and sacked again and then hired back and sacked again. This will ridicule him and show him how incompetent he is.
Back in the days there were expats in senior positions showing the ropes to a local understudy. The civil service was more civil back then. The disciplined forces were more disciplined back then. Then the locals took over and Fiji has been up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
Maybe we need to bring those days back as a national reset button. Corruption and ineptness is do deeply entrenched that locals will not be able to lead effectively without being drawn into the corrupt system. The current localization plan proves it.
Having the AFP come in and mentor the next CP is a good start.
I don’t see what’s so hard in being Commissioner of Police that requires a local to be “mentored” by an expatriate police chief.
It smacks of neo colonialism though Australian intentions are noble as it is only responding to a request from Pio Tikoduadua.
But Pio Tikoduadua spends more time in Canberra than in any other capital, sometimes I wonder including even Suva too. He was like that too when he was Secretary in Bainimarama’s PM’s Department..
So one wonders whether he still has his objective glasses on?
We already have a team of NZ police mentoring our local police in areas such as crime detection.
Now Pio brings in the full force of the AFP Calvary.
Establishment of a seperate Drug Enforcement Agency is good enough to deal with the drug problem. I mean it’s been around for years and there is no secrets in Fiji. It doesn’t need too much imagination to arrest the bigger fish in the ring.
To bring in an Ozzie overseer for our local Police Chief is over kill. It will make Fiji a laughing stock of regional police services.
Pio could have just expanded the NZ mentoring team at CPS to ensure they also have a presence in the new drug enforcement agency.
Creating a RAMSI-like approach to our Police force was not necessary.
“Neo-colonialism”? Are you nuts? The crime rate is out of control and the locals can’t fix it. It doesn’t matter who fixes it. It has to be fixed.
Fiji has had more than 50 years to get its shit together and it can’t. So if that means bringing back outsiders to do the job, so be it.
Who cares what other regional police services think? They can’t properly protect their own people either. At some stage, you just have to realise that all the independence in the world means jack shit if your kids are on drugs and you aren’t safe in your own home.
Wake up!
You are obviously in denial, nor ever been the victim of Police inefficiency and corruption. Pull your head out of your Arse and come to Fiji. Fiji Police need help….they are saying so themselves.
It is again time for an Australian Commisioner of Police to sort out the mess. We need an independent Police Force in Fiji who are politically neutral and work for the nation. Hats of to Pio T and Leona Q (both from NFP) for the best performing ministers in the present Rabuka government. It is time for Sayed Khaiyum to retire from Fijian politics altogether and leave it to the young generation of leaders to grow Fiji for everyone. Racist people like Turaga should retire from politics. Fiji is for iTaukeis, Indians, Rotumans, Europeans, and all ethnicities born in Fiji.
I think this is one of their best decisions since in government. And it was much needed, with all drug activities going on right now.
The next best decision would be to bring in an experienced COMPOL from Australia as well. One who has a very good CV, retired but not too old. 2 year contract with option of another year.
Dear Sir/Madam.
On a reciprocal basis, can my family and I get a permanent resident visa to Australia? I am between black and white of the curry variety, love KFC and McDonalds and would definitely blend into the pub culture of the Auzzies, we like the great tasting Victoria Bitter. That’s a promise. We also promise to be the best CLIENT of the Centerlink Services. Hopping to listening from your jolly good self soon.
Try applying for citizenship in the biggest democracy in the world – India!
The only way Fiji can be safe from a lot of problems and even from China, is if Australia takes over Fiji and makes Fiji part of Australia. All Fiji citizens become Australian citizens.
As much as Australia loves the highly skilled workforce that Fiji produces, I doubt it willing to pay for the associated baggage that it would inherit in such a scenario. I’m referring to things like the undemocratic GCC, a skewed land model and most importantly, a class based and tiered system of inequality like the VKB. Its rejection of The Voice particularly confirms the third.
Australia needs people, not their rubbish.
When you have a “locals only’ policy, you get donkeys. They are everywhere in Fiji. Most of them congregate in and around parliament house and all the big buildings in Suva.
Obviously dodgy donkeys are not the answer to Fiji’s problem. They ARE the problem and they have no idea that they are the problem. That is where I come in. It is my job to point it out, again.
You have got have to identify the problem before you can fix it, right?
They can start by getting rid of the top donkey. The A-G thing is no answer to anything. Embedding Aussies in the police force is not the answer. You must get rid of the embedded donkeys in all top places.
Pio Tikoduadua should first remove that Halloween mask.
Remember it was the Australian who was police commissioner, the late Mr Hughes who was on the verge to charge Bainimarama for murders of CRW soldiers
We need another Hughes
Yes, but wit took a kiwi to wreck it, silly Winston Peters (am surprised he’s still in politics), refused to allow Frank to be arrested in NZ, but thought he could do a deal with the snake. Needless, to say the plan failed.
So the lesson here, is the outside geopolitical interest of the sending power and its allies will ultimately decide what happens on the ground.
One probable solution to the “drug” issue is to legalise/decriminalise ganja in Fiji.
I refrain from using the word marijuana as it gives it a criminal connotation and immediatedly involves the police.
In its historical context ganja was brought to Fiji by our Girmitya ancestors.
Among the minimal personal items they carried with them to Fiji from India on the slave ship’s were ganja seeds.
They did so because of its traditional and cultural importance in Hindu religious rituals and festivals.
It was also used for medicinal purposes as well as during social gatherings when after a hard day’s work labouring clearing bush and cutting sugar cane, they would smoke ganja ina chillum, the smoking pipe.
The Fiji Museum has a chillum in its Girmitya section on display.
Ganja has been used for aeons in Hindu religious rituals and festivals in India and since the Girmitya’s arrived in Fiji decades ago.
As such, I contend that ganja ought not to be classified as a DRUG.
It is in fact a ???? HERB.
This is a fact which also ought to be noted by the authorities in their zest to curb the drug’s issue.
I suggest that as a solution to the problem, IndoFijians be allowed to grow five Ganja plants in their own yard.
This is would completely debunk the newspaper headlines about “leaves believed to be marijuana” grown in village “farms” by the iTaukei for trafficking and being apprehended by the police making it a criminal issue.
Many nations around the world, including some American states, Germany, Portugal (which treats it as health issue) have either legalised ganja and/or decriminalised it
Perhaps the new ComPol mentor could look at it from this point of view!!
Fiji needs to follow Thailand
Solve all the problems about weed
Please watch this:
https://youtu.be/cBYryDFLO4Y?si=eDeOP6ZBjBV4zrHw
Weed capital of Pacific and tourism will increase 2 times fold
Locals will have jobs
A commodity that can bring profits within 6 to 12 months and huge
Fiji’s climate is ideal
Weed business exclusive to Locals only
And, we already have a Minister for Bonking and Weed!
Embedding Australians in the police force and narcotics bureau is a great idea.
But it is not going to work all that much unless the already embedded donkeys in the whole government machinery are replaced by more Australians.
That includes the top donkey, all the ministries, the judiciary and everywhere else.
No use doing a small patch up job. A very big overhaul is need. All the dinosaurs and despots need to be removed, because that is the root of all the problems.
As for the people of Fiji – no truer idiots exist anywhere else in the world.
There goes our sovereignty.
And what have you got to show for that sovereignty? A dysfunctional, racial citizenry, a growing pile of debt rivalled only by paragrass that the ancestors of the Vulagi had toiled into fertile agricultural lands, and the iTaukei propensity for anal violations?