It is buried on pages 42 and 43 of Saturday’s Fiji Times but Professor Wadan Narsey is clearly tackling the fundamental intellectual premise of the report into the Great Council of Chiefs carried out by the review panel headed by his fellow Australian-based academic and former RFMF officer, Dr Ratu Jone Baledrokadroka.
Grubsheet’s own analysis earlier in the week was more pointed in raising alarm about the impact on Fiji’s minorities of a report that effectively points the finger at them for the disempowerment of the iTaukei. But I urge every Fijian to read Professor Narsey’s more restrained and nuanced analysis of the basis for the panel’s findings and decide for yourself whether he essentially reaches the same conclusion. (He is promising a separate analysis of specific aspects of the report itself which is eagerly awaited).
It is a tragedy that the GCC report is not getting the attention it deserves in the mainstream political debate in Fiji. What this means is that policies which favour the iTaukei and disadvantage other communities are much more likely to be railroaded through the political system. And will be more likely to be green-lighted by a complacent mainstream media and an opposition in the form of FijiFirst that seems to have abandoned any responsibility for scrutinising policies that have the potential to divide the country and cause a great deal of social and political upheaval.
This is an extremely important article and a Grubsheet “must read” this weekend. Please take the time to consider Wadan Narsey’s line of argument. He has been gradually stepping back from the national debate, evidently disillusioned with the direction the Coalition is taking, but his voice has never been more needed. And he brings an intellectual vigour and historical knowledge of events in Fiji to that debate to which Grubsheet can only aspire.
NOTE: My apologies if in my screen-shots of the Fiji Times article, there is repetition. Some frames are easier to read than others but it is worth sifting through the entirety of the article to understand the points Professor Narsey is making.
Monday’s Fiji Times belatedly comes to the same conclusion as Grubsheet – a “must read”. So why did they bury the article on page 42 without any banner pointing to it? Because the paper supports the GCC, Silly.
An amber light indeed, Noleen Billings of Savusavu. Vinaka.
There is an easy way to fix this problem. Ban the GCC …….again. Problem solved!
To get the iTaukei out of poverty, ban the vulagi religion and especially ban those idiots shouting on TV day in day out pretending to be messengers from a vulagi God.
Ban praying and fasting and tithes.
Those who think the GCC has any solutions to the iTaukei problems should get their heads examined.
What happened to the aftermath of transformative tour of China by a GCC delation last year. The full chow and the first class treatment lasted a week or so and all is now forgotten, except by me that is.
Wadan is also the only prominent critic of the previous government to call out the appalling economic decisions of this government. Wadan has called out the ludicrous tax holiday for the company that trades on the name Fiji and no doubt he is dismayed by the actions of the people involved in selling Fiji and themselves out for a quick buck.
Disgraceful and so strange that the guys who were supposed to be the good ones (NFP) were the ones who pushed the government off the path at the very earliest chance they got.
Who on earth was advising NFP, and why?
How on earth does a developing country give a tax holiday to billionaire water company when it’s own water infrastructure is imploding and citizens are making do without?
How can anyone say the country needs more tax revenue scratch chin pondering difficult question and award tax holiday at the same time?
Come on guys this is madness. Reverse the crazy decision and get the country back on the right path. Don’t listen to idiots. We need the government and democracy to survive. The only way to do this is to make good decisions that benefit the country.
iTaukei are only classified as living in poverty since colonisation and associated yearning for western concepts of wealth and lifestyle. Villagers are increasingly exposed to what westerners have, but from a small economy with limited opportunities that make it increasingly difficult to attain this lifestyle. Of course none of this can be blamed on Indo-Fijians that, by way of their arrival to Fiji, had a strong work ethic ingrained in their culture. The iTaukei have land ownership as their advantage (entitlement), while the Indo-Fijians have a work ethic as theirs (indentured slaves). There are of course exceptions to general trends with hard working individuals of both heritages. But at the end of the day, if someone gets ahead in life because they worked harder than us, we should learn from them and collaborate with them so all win……not rig the political system to cheat and get ahead.
Interesting read GD. From where I’m placed the itaukei are doing well but have to spread their good fortune far and wide amongst the majority.
To be a member of the GCC it is essential that you have a dodgy background and no wisdom whatsoever. Just look at the Qaranivalu, just released from prison for having a murderous streak in the 2000 coup and now seems to be the spokesperson for the GCC. Members of government cannot wait to have their picture taken with him – such a champion that he is.
Wouldn’t any organisation worth its salt ban him from membership? But, I know, this is is Fiji, we do things in a special way here! We are “special people”.
They made the coup champion Rabuka their Chairman after his coups, such a bunch of racist champions.
I am sure when Speight is released, they will roll out the red carpet for him.
They want a bunch of racist, wisdomless bigots to help the iTaukei improve their lot. How can that ever work? Has it worked even an iota since their establishment 100 years ago? The PM is a well known idiot and so are the people of Fiji, that is why they “elected” him.
In developed countries, people with disabilities are referred to as ‘special people’. Perhaps that is an appropropriate term to use for members of the GCC and most of the population of the country because they do seem to suffer from mental challenges.
The Baledrokadroka/Leung GCC Report gets wrong the only statistic it uses where it claims 75% of taukei are poor. The Bureau of Statistics HIES Report on the contrary says that of the poor in Fiji, 75 per cent are itaukei. That’s a significant difference in meaning.
So the committee’s whole “closing-the-gap” reasoning is based on false statistics. What does that tell you about the report?
Brilliant spotting Lorraine! However don’t let accuracy come in the way of a particular agenda attempting to justify policy to reward those who want to have without putting the work into getting the rewards.
The flawed reasoning in using that statistic may have been an oversight or may have been a deliberate misuse of numbers to put forward this agenda of making others pay for what one does not want to work for. Either way it reveals the academic quality of the writers.
Wadan was only good at criticizing the last government. Not a peep out of his otherwise big mouth regarding this government. I guess he doesn’t want to jeopardize the FNPF payout that he has been desperately chasing by criticizing this government. If you read Ganesh Chand’s post the hefty payment Wadan one other elite academic is chasing is quite immoral because the 25% interest unsustainable interest rate was approved by a well-placed corrupt cabal that stood to gain personally. Wadan and Co. want to take advantage as well. Good on the finance minister for standing his ground. You just can’t trust anyone in Fiji. The worst ones are those that hide behind the facade of serving the public interest.
Well, let’s see if Wadan Narsey fanboy Graham Davis publishes this.
The GCC will definitely make the Itaukei rich. The chiefs with thier PHDs in economics with the help of the good professor from nfp will turn the soil under thier feet into gold.
All they need to do is sit at large meetings and cry how poor they are.
As for Fiji Indians, like Indians everywhere else in the world, they are mosly in the highest earning capita or weath compared to all around them. Its not because they sit and cry in meetings about thier poverty but they work hard to maximize any limited opportunity they get.
The itaukei have full right to place thier faith into the GCC and they must bear the full consequences when it fails again. Or they could just whine and cry how the Indians are wealthy and they are poor.
I just have one thing to say to whoever may understand this.
“The sheep will spend their entire life fearing the wolf only to be eaten by the shepherd in the end”
The GCC is declaring themselves the shepherd of the itukei while pointing to Fiji indians as the wolf.
The moment I saw the writers on that committee I knew straight away how this will pen out. Racist thugs including that Massey Uni lecturer. And the other one that sits with his hat on in University of Canterbury. Both are Mr Know It All Racists. And I say this as an i-taueki person.
These writers have no proper exposure to anything. Some live in their cosy western ideologies and write about gaps for i-taukei as if they really have experiences in analyzing deep analytics or data. Glad Narsey pointed that out to Fiji.
I-taukei must learn to celebrate their advancements today. Don’t fall victim of negative sympathy. It’s a western world socialist movement write up. Instead, celebrate success. And if we are still not happy then blame our own i-taukei led governments.
This is causing further division and rift in the country. A straight example of why GCC was not entertained.
One thing is clear, there are no good professors in Fiji. Atleast none who can confidently say that they are ethical and truthful.
I would really encourage no professors in Fiji to open their mouths. It really shows the calibre of academic doctors in Fiji and when they choose to speak. We already have stupid Biman to deal with.
Pretty much why I’m unimpressed by the GCC in terms of how they’re going to start anew, especially when there’s always that minor restriction from the Council itself on iTaukei potential IMO.
GCC SHOULD SETUP A BUYING POWER SYSTEMS TO HELP ITAUKEI NATIVES HOW TO BUY AND SELL TO MAKE NATIVES RICH……………OTHER RACES ONLY FEW RICH ….NOT ALL SAME RACES SHARE THE MILLION PROFITS ON SMALL FAMILY BCOZ OF BUYING POWER IS SHIFTING TO THEM ……………..VINAKA VAKALEVU WADERN NARSEY