Fiji is already a beggar nation dependent on foreign assistance – especially from Australia – to meet its growing budget shortfall. Yet if the Coalition gets its way, we are also on the path to being a whore nation that can be bought by wealthy foreigners funding our political parties.
Changes planned to the Political Parties Act would lift the current $10,000 limit on donations to parties by individuals to $3-million. Worse, the current ban on donations from overseas would be lifted, allowing wealthy individuals, corporations and nations to buy influence and effectively dictate policy.
It is an astonishing prospect that constitutes a direct assault on grass-roots democracy in Fiji, placing electoral power not in the hands of ordinary people but the highest bidder, whether in Fiji or overseas. And all this from a government which promised to raise standards of governance yet is willing to sacrifice national sovereignty and even national security to get money to finance its re-election.
It is the mother of all scandals on top of the long litany of scandals festering in Coalition ranks – whether it is the source of the Prime Minister’s gold Rolex, the business relationship of one of his ministers with a convicted Chinese gangster, the corruption of the Chief Justice and parts of the criminal justice system, the sex scandals of Lynda Tabuya and the mounting cover-up of the RFMF’s torture and killing of the accused drug lord, Jone Vakarisi.
Imagine this, Fiji. If the government gets its way, anyone anywhere in the world is going to be able to give a political party $F3-million. Would it be the Resnicks of Fiji Water, the California billionaires who have already obtained a seven year corporate tax holiday in Fiji at the same time as the Coalition increased VAT for ordinary people?
Would it be the local Chinese agent of influence and accused drug lord, Fugang Zhao, or the convicted drug and people trafficker, Jason Zhong, who has a farming business with the Coalition’s Minister for iTaukei Affairs, Ifereimi Vasu, in contravention of all political practice the world over?
The Centre for Democracy and Dialogue – the think tank formerly known as Dialogue Fiji – gives the example of Elon Musk – the world’s richest man – in its submission arguing in the strongest terms against the government’s plans. But it may as well be Dr Evil from the Austin Powers movies, such is the scale of the corruption that would surely flow from one of the most appalling proposals to ever flow from a government already wallowing in corruption when it promised Mr Clean.
They are so gormless they don’t even seem to realise that it works both ways. Siromi Turaga and Ropate Green Lomavatu – who have instructed their drafters to formulate these proposed changes – presumably want to tap big bucks from overseas for the People’s Alliance. But what happens if Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum starts tapping the vast wealth of his contacts in the oil-producing Muslim world and all of them start giving One Nation $3-million apiece?
The point is that Khaiyum’s $10,000 limit on individual political donations and ban on corporate contributions or donations from overseas might have meant that some of Fiji’s wealthiest families were able to give FijiFirst multiple donations from all family members short of the cat. But what the Coalition is proposing would open the floodgates to Fijian political parties being for sale to the whole world.
As the Centre for Democacy and Dialogue says in its submission, the legislation proposed is so defective that while it places a $300,000 limit on campaign spending by individual candidates, it doesn’t prevent someone giving each of the 55 candidates $300,000 each. Combined with $3-million for the party, that would mean buying them all off for a total investment of $19.5 million dollars.
The ability to buy off every single candidate for less than $F20-million? The ability to buy Fiji off for less than $F20-million? Roll-up, roll-up world! Whether you’re a foreign government or a drug cartel, that’s all it would cost to be able to tell all 55 MPs in Fiji what to do. And if that’s not a whore nation, what is it?
Grubsheet was already reeling when we heard that the proposed changes include allowing political parties to bus their supporters to polling booths and ply them with food and drink. Why not women and pigs? Because, seriously, that’s where the nation is heading.
But to see the entire country and its elected representatives so blatantly put out for sale really takes the keke and is deeply shocking to anyone who cares about democracy. We won’t even know on election day who has bankrolled the parties or candidates because they don’t need to report the donations until 60 days later.
Yet where is the outcry? There is none except from Nilesh Lal and his colleagues at the CDD and the Labour Party and former prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry (see below). And even that isn’t getting the full attention it deserves.
The mainstream media is so captive to the Coalition – either by ideology or the direct payments most outlets are getting from government – that they have abandoned the national interest. They are, in the main, no longer capable of calling out the government’s repeated excesses, which now include using the defamation laws to shut down legitimate debate.
Once again, Ifereimi Vasu’s shockingly inappropriate business relationship with Jason Zhong – the subject of repeated Grubsheet comment (see below) – has been brought to public attention on Facebook by the former permanent secretary Jone Vakamocea. What has been Vasu’s response? To sue Vakamocea for telling the truth.
So now we have government ministers issuing defamation writs knowing that no court is ever going to pay them damages or restore their reputations. It is merely to shut down legitimate public debate about their conduct – to silence their critics – in advance of the coming election.
All the responsibility for this rests at the feet of Rolex Rambo himself – the Prime Minister. Sitiveni Rabuka should never have allowed Ifereimi Vasu to be in a business relationship with a convicted Chinese drug and people trafficker in the first place. But having turned a blind eye to an outrageous breach of proper conduct – “oh he’s from SODELPA, not the PAP” – he must tell Vasu to drop his defamation action or be sacked.
It is yet another assault on democracy, free expression and the public’s right to know. And like the outrageous changes to the laws on political donations, it is unacceptable and a fundamental betrayal of the trust the nation placed in Rabuka to govern with integrity.
(Yes, I know. That trust was the most stupid thing of all).
The Fiji Sun on the Vasu outrage, combined with a defamation action by the Pacific Polytech against the Opposition’s Alvick Maharaj. (another story in itself ).
The full CDD statement on its submission on political donations. A MUST read to appreciate the scale of what is proposed.
Grubsheet stories on Ifereimi Vasu and Jason Zhong:
Bula GD,
“Yet where is the outcry? There is none except from Nilesh Lal and his colleagues at the CDD. “
MPC/FLP have also called out this concerning proposal.
https://fijilive.com/flp-wants-10000-cap-on-political-donations-to-stay/
Thank you. I hadn’t seen this. Will alter and include accordingly.
Which of the Coalition’s combined three brain cells came up with this great idea?
If that’s the case, I’m happy to put a few 100K into PAP to ensure it wins.
It’s no big secret that Rabuka’s government operates on the premise of corruption. Documented evidence clearly shows people like Tabuya and Rabuka will “bend over and spread em” for money.
With promises of lucrative roles in government, guaranteed tender bids, shares in drug profits, who wouldn’t be happy throwing a few hundred in their direction? I think Fiji Water has clearly demonstrated the success of this methodology.
Tax holidays will be the main holiday everyone will be taking in Fiji.
Bad governance precedent was set very early on.
Wow… just wow!
Former senior civil servant Pita Wise has returned to public office, nearly two years after resigning from the Office of the Prime Minister.
Mr Wise has been appointed permanent secretary for the Ministry of Public Enterprise.
Public Service Commission chairperson Luke Rokovada.
Maybe he has dried out and learned to keep his hands off the staff. But unimaginative doesn’t even begin to describe the appointment.
Politicians better be careful before they do themselves out of a job .
One compelling article I read this weeks said ‘robber barons’ built themselves monopolies to have influence in their industries but ‘robber billionaires’ are building themselves private governments where I can only conclude the end-game being we have the veneer of having something that resembles government but in fact is not .
Donations and lobbying are the slippery slope to further eroding governments .
Global politics is often consumed by labels—democracy versus socialism, capitalism versus authoritarianism—as if the system itself is the goal. But social anthropology teaches a simpler truth: the primary purpose of any government is to ensure the survival and flourishing of its people. When a political system prioritizes the needs of its citizenry, it unlocks economic, social, and cultural success.
This is not a political preference but a sociological imperative. From the earliest human bands to modern nation-states, a leader’s legitimacy has always depended on their ability to provide for the tribe. A government that meets its people’s material and dignitary needs creates a healthy, educated, and secure populace—one that is productive, innovative, and invested in its communities. When citizens are free from the anxiety of medical debt or homelessness, economies thrive.
Socially, prioritizing citizens fosters trust and legitimacy. People who feel seen by their institutions participate more, divide less, and hold their societies together during crises. Culturally, stability enables expression—art, philosophy, and innovation flourish not from desperation but from security.
This raises a critical point for international relations. If a socialist nation successfully shelters its people from the ravages of unchecked capitalism, that choice must be respected. The West’s insistence that democracy is the only legitimate path amounts to cultural imperialism. Demanding that a country adopt a specific ideology at the expense of its people’s welfare is not diplomacy—it is sabotage. This can be said of people of western philosophy which fails to understand the nuances of Eastern cultural , social or economic etiquette.
The only metric that truly matters is the well-being of human beings within a border. Whether a system is democratic, socialist, or hybrid, if it serves its people, it is a valid and sovereign expression of human social organization. Respect for the people requires respect for the system that nurtures them. People, not labels, must come first.
Therefore there is no global model to aspire to. No global one shoe fits all hymn book to sing from. We can already see how the globalized model is coming unstuck as it only seeks to serve the players behind the smokescreen.