The moustache that has been Sitiveni Rabuka‘s trademark ever since he soared to national prominence with his first coup on May 14, 1987, has suddenly gone, as if by shaving the Prime Minister can somehow reinvent himself and get the nation to think about anything else than the horror he inflicted 37 years ago today.
The Coalition’s PR machine has been doing everything possible to deflect attention away from the anniversary, flooding the media with images of the Girmit commemorations when what Rabuka did to Indo-Fijians in 1987 was as damaging as anything the British ever did to their ancestors by taking them out of poverty in India and giving them new lives in Fiji.
Grubsheet is still reeling from the audacity of the Prime Minister’s Girmit Day appeal for descendants of the Girmit on whom he inflicted untold suffering in 1987 to return to the country almost four decades later. ( see previous article).
Why on earth having fled Fiji in their tens of thousands because of Sitiveni Rabuka would they be stupid enough to come back now when he is completing his original mission to entrench indigenous supremacy? They won’t and neither will a great number of iTaukei who have joined them in proper multi-ethnic democracies where their rights are respected and they aren’t treated like “vulagi” – visitors.
As I said about the miserable Aseri Radrodro, who the Prime Minister insists on keeping in the cabinet despite the fact that the Minister for Education almost killed his daughter: You can put lipstick on a pig but he is still a pig.
The same applies to the man who upended democracy in Fiji 37 years ago today and triggered not only the coup cycle but the mass exodus from the country of our best and brightest that is being repeated under his blighted rule again today. Shaving off his moustache doesn’t erase the memories of what happened on May 14 1987 – truly a day that will live in infamy in Fijian history and that will be Sitiveni Rabuka’s most prominent place in that history.
He had hoped to write a chapter of redemption by making his comeback at the 2022 election. But his actions since have merely written another chapter of infamy – a second wave of his fellow citizens driven from the country in disillusionment and Fiji further down the Zimbabwe road of a shrinking population, degraded institutions, crumbling infrastructure and shattered hopes and dreams.
Happy anniversary.
POSTSCRIPT: By means of background, here’s what I wrote on the 26th anniversary of the coup back in 2013, which received 90 comments.
Worth reading not least for how much has changed since then. For the worse.
The new look. Clean-shaven but a Snake that hasn’t shed his skin.
The old heartthrob trying to reinvent himself. If you like that sort of thing.
Any difference is only ever cosmetic. (See comment below)
NOTE: “Mo” and “Stache” are interchangeable in this part of the world as abbreviations for moustache.
A hopeless leader who has been tricked by everyone around him turning the government into absolute international laughing stock by puttIng VAT up and give billionaires a big holiday. Only a clown could make this decision. Big time wasters.
Fijians will rue this era when they chose to firstly elect a government that brought so much division into our beloved country and secondly be too helpless to just sit and watch this monster destroy everything that Fiji is about.
I have friends who i never knew were racist until this man became PM. People i went to school with, people whom i shared my lunch with. Time will never forgive Rabuka. May he burn in hell for eternity.
All we can do is sit back and watch as this cloud of horror shrouds our country. Are there no honorable men left in Fiji or this government to stand up and fight?
When have men become so weak and self centered that they have forgotten to be honest or to have any integrity left in them.
No celebration can hide the atrocities and the hardships brought by Rabuka and his thugs 37 years ago, and which is being repeated today.
The first coup caused a mass exodus of Indians from Fiji, this coalition is causing a mass exodus of all races.
Maybe the immigration department should release the ethnicity data on the current mass migration. I know there are some champions of ethnicity data in the current coalition. People like Lenora, Biman, miss Bonking, and few others. How about we release the migration ethnicity data.
But naah, they too scared or the cats got their tongue this time. Bloody useless bunch of clowns.
When all the brain has drained from Fiji, then the racist thugs will realize they can’t survive on their own.
Born will be a banana Republic whose currency will be worth less than the leaves of some trees.
I urge the common Fijian to fight this destruction rather than occupying the front seat and clapping to the destruction of your children’s future.
If you can’t do that then you too are better off migrating.
Grubsheet, to make an statement such as ” The Britishers did our ancestors a favor by getting them out of poverty and giving them a new lease of lives in Fiji” is an embrasement.
You should go and read and watch Mr. Shashi Tharoor’s statements and videos about the ” great British loot”.
Britishers, had looted India/ Bharat of wealth with an estimated value of 45 trillion dollars in today’s monetary value. Hack, they even looted the word “loot” out of indian vocabulary.
To make such an statement is an embrasement, especially for someone with your intellectuality.
Where did I use the word “favour”? You have just made it up and attributed it to me. The indentured labourers from the former British India came voluntarily to Fiji and most of them stayed. Why? Because they had better lives here than in India. Historical fact.
There were many who duped and misled into believing that the trip would be short. The word “harkati” for the recruiters captures this quiet well. Then returning after 5 years was thwarted through ingenious means. After 10 years, India had receded too far in the psychology of the Girmitiya even though some 40% did return.
Subhash, the point is that raking over the coals of what happened 150 years ago isn’t as important as dealing with injustice in the present. The “Indian” leadership in Fiji is allowing Rabuka to complete the agenda he began in 1987 to assert indigenous supremacy and that is a clear and present danger to the descendants of the Girmit and other minorities.
Here we have Biman Prasad saying a great deal about what happened in the Girmit era and remaining silent about the Coalition government’s excesses. He could have clearly used his five seats to hold the line on a whole range of issues but hasn’t. And those who voted for the NFP have been betrayed.
Agreed, but I was trying to straighten the narrative around Girmit. That was my concern.
Trying to shed the Hitler comparison to no avail.
Obviously people like Baimaan, Sashi Kiran, Agni Deo Singh and Charan Jeath Singh and those dumbos in the FTU and many self-serving Indians will sell their souls and believe that an idiot like Rabuka, who raped the country, will change his genes. These people are oblivious that they are being used. But they have no problems being used as long as they get paid well. Stuff the rest of the Indians. They are all stupid anyway. And they are right. Indians in Fiji are grog doped idiots. I mean what else would you be when you voted for this despot. And there are thousands of proud Indian idiots who voted for him .
Indians in Fiji know that to progress from here, there is a need to compromise. They not grog doped and stupid as you infer. That might be what the pakehas and gorowas think of you, an idiot brownie in their land.
If you’ve dashed from Fiji with tails between your legs, then chupkaro. Leave us be and we will work with the kaivitis. At least here, we have significant representation in Parliament, I’m sure you can’t say the same wherever you are.
Pundit Govind seems to be one proud Indian who voted for Rabuka, the man who raped the country as well as all the Indians in the country. He did that just so that he could get rid of some Muslim influence. He is proud of course and he has every right to be. Everyone has a right to be stupid of they so choose and I will be the first to defend that right. The problem starts when they are proudly stupid. That is not ok. Just tell us if you are a grog dopey so that we can understand where you coming from. Because that is where most other Indians in Fiji are coming from too. It is obvious.
Re parliamentary representatives where the diaspora have settled:
Quite happy with my parliamentary representatives – they don’t have to be of the same ethnicity as myself. They need to be a competent representative of the constituents.
Yes there are people who think race based representation is needed and is the over riding qualification. These folk generally are one eyed and frankly wear an extra large parachute or have powerful reverse thrusters when it comes to progress.
Hello Baimaan
I think it is time for Felix Anthony to shave his ‘stache as well. He does look silly in all the pics. He should reinvent himself too after decades in the job for life!.
In lands far from their native shore,
They toiled, their spirits sore,
Bound by chains of cruel decree,
In the grip of Girmit’s misery.
From distant lands, they were torn,
Their hopes shattered, their dreams worn,
Forced into labor, day and night,
In the shadow of oppression’s blight.
Coolumbars and whites, with hearts so cold,
Exploited them, their stories untold,
But within their souls, a flame still burned,
For justice and freedom, they yearned.
Through the darkness, they found their voice,
In unity, they made their choice,
Their resilience, a beacon bright,
Guiding them through the darkest night.
Though scars remain, and wounds run deep,
Their spirit’s strength, they’ll always keep,
For in their struggle, they found their might,
In the face of Girmit’s darkest blight.
In the shadow of a different sun,
A new era, but the pain’s not done,
Under the guise of progress and might,
Indians suffer, in the new Girmit’s plight.
No chains bind them, but still they’re ensnared,
In webs of corruption, where justice is spared,
Exploited by power, their voices suppressed,
In the clutches of oppression, they find no rest.
Their labor is stolen, their rights denied,
As greed and injustice continue to ride,
On the backs of the vulnerable, they prey,
In the name of progress, they lead astray.
But like their forebears, they refuse to yield,
Their spirit unbroken, their courage revealed,
In the face of adversity, they stand tall,
For justice and freedom, they still call.
Though the struggle is different, the pain still real,
Their determination, a forged steel,
For in their hearts, the flame still burns bright,
In the fight against Girmit’s relentless might.
70,000 to 80,000 people have left Fiji in the past 18 months. The Minister for Finance and National Planning has been telling the nation everything is fine. I suppose it would be fine for someone who have his wife $250k of government money without anyone being held to account. Biman is both a Baiman and gaddar (treacherous, disloyal, a traitor).
The RBF estimated that ~50% of emigrants may come from the semi-skilled workforce while the balance are skilled people. In terms of ethnicity, the largest chunk of the emigrants are Indians, who no longer feel safe in the country of their birth and know they no longer have any opportunities to grow, simply because of their ethnicity.
So, Rabuka’s coup was about liberating the Fijians? 37 years later, I, along with countless other Fijians are keen to see the fruits of this liberation. Last time I checked, most of us are still planting our own vegetables just to get a decent meal onto our plates and save a few dollars to keep a roof over our heads.
If you destroy a country at gunpoint and then get exalted and rewarded by being appointed (well by default) Prime Minister, then of course you will always stay your course – i.e. protect certain self-serving indigenous rights AT ANY COST. You asked for forgiveness from many you destroyed then proceeded to continue to destroy the ‘now’ minority groups.
You will never rebuild Fiji
You will never be trusted
You need to step aside and allow honest citizens to administer the country (oh WAIT !!! none left – all the decent ones saw the light – and are no longer there.
Isa our beloved Fiji Islands 🙁
Talk about sucking up and kissing assess. The f@#kwit wants us to believe that this miserable creature in the form of a human has changed. He wants us to believe that he genuinely wants us back in Fiji after torturing, raping, beating, shaming, humiliating, and chasing us out of our homeland in 1987.
Even if he offers to lick our asses most of us wouldn’t agree. The exception being Baimaan, Shashi Kantain Kiran, and Charan Jhoota Singh and their stooges – who are sucking the Snake’s ass but most likely licking it too.
God can perform miracles, and many of us can’t wait for the day when these ass lickers are given the most severest of punishments in the form of a long painful terminal illness where they wither away and die a slow, excruciating and horrible death for selling out the indo-Fijians for a seat in Parliament. As for the Snake, Frank and his boys will take care of him in due course, only if God doesn’t get to him first. F@#k Rabuka. F@#k Baimaan.
I laugh every time NFP post pops up on Facebook. Today Biman finds his nuts to attack Rinesh Sharma.
Calling him a liar, actually shouting at him to be a liar. Lol, the NFP PR machine is full on churning anything to deflect the public embarrassment caused by Sashi’s apology mandli in Ba.
Hey NFP, can you call out to Lynda as a liar with the same enthusiasm. She had an orgy with tax payers money. How about Aseri or Siromi.
How about call out your master the Snake that has you under his spell for playing dumb at issues of national interest. Call out Richard Naidu.
Call out Charan for the 100 dollar a tonne sugar cane he promised or call out ur own conscience for being superior class liars to the public.
Whoever runs that Facebook page of yours, is so dumb that they dont realize how dumb they are. Maybe they were taught by a fake professor.
I’ve seen it alleged that Richard Naidu was paid advisor to Fiji Water for years and then he advised government to give tax break to his client. If this is true is it legal? How does this make NFP look? What does it make coalition government look like? How is this in the national interest?
As Grubsheet understands it, Richard Naidu’s law firm, Munro Leys, has long had Fiji Water as a client. That means Fiji Water pays Munro Leys to represent its interests. That is the conflict of interest that Richard Naidu has yet to explain in wearing the hat of Chair of the government’s Fiscal Review Committee and recommending that Fiji Water get a seven year corporate tax holiday.
As you’ll recall, Richard Naidu sent me a legal letter last November threatening to sue me unless I retracted my reporting of this and other alleged defamatory imputations and made a formal apology. I declined to do so. No proceedings have yet been instituted.
I see Lenora of NFP laying the red carpet for the new Canadian Embassy in Fiji. Its a great thing for Fijians, not Fiji.
Canada has only one purpose behind this. To make Canadian visa more accessible to Fijians. They want our workers. The best ones of course.
Again our politicians milk a situation for cheap milage not understanding the depth of the situation.
Good on Fijians for proving they are worth their weight in gold. With the embassy another country will open its doors for the vulagi and the Itaukei to migrate to.
All while dumb Rabuka invites those that left back to a racist, poor, crime ridden, no water, full of potholes, full of born by accident leaders, police who peddle drugs, declining heath care and hospitals, education system that cracking, civil service that is no longer merit based, land that can’t be owned just rented until the greedy land owners increase rent every year, ministers who are on drugs and have sex with other ministers…..country.
Good to revisit his 1987 interview with India Today. His agenda is unfinished hence, his intensifying pursuit of simultaneous iTaukei supremacy and Vulagi suppression.
https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/interview/story/19871130-all-indian-people-in-fiji-are-fijian-citizens-colonel-sitiveni-rabuka-799588-1987-11-29
The moustache is gone.
Most of us want the rest of him gone too, just disappear, never to be seen again.
He has done so much damage to the country and its people.
The leaders of a nation are the reflection of its people. And the nation deserves the leaders they have. Fiji deserves Rabuka, Biman, Gavoka and Manoa.
In a hurry to make (a much needed change) the nation has succumbed to a bunch of self serving buffoons who will definitely take Fiji to Zimbabwe on a chartered but unpaid flight.
Rabuka, step aside. Please give Manoa or someone else a chance before it is too late. You have become a sad and hated laughing stock. If you had retired on grounds of health when you first started falling over and hitting your head, people would have forgiven you as you would not have had time to show your true colours: a weal leader who is impotent to shuffle cabinet or sack ministers who have sex with each other and use drugs on funded jaunts; a racist bigot; a narcissist who still wants a sporting career; a rambling foolish idiot.
Just retire and concentrate on your weights and your garden, and maybe collect a few bottles to buy sandals for the grand kids. Shame on you for holding on to what you believe is power.
The economic plan for Fiji
1. Shrink GDP by making the best and brightest leave due to racist language
2. Put up VAT to punish poor
3. Listen to dodgy paid advisor to give tax holiday to billionaire
4. Spend taxes on unelected BS colonial institution that just pays members to go on jaunts and get STDs
5. Rely on remittances like never before
Bimaan in a hurry to deflect attention from his party’s fumbles and humiliation during girmit by Sashi kiran jumps the gun with Rinesh Sharma.
Now he has his marbles scattered all over the place. People are pointing out facts to him and as usual he’s hidden behind a wall. I bet the nfp PR will be full swing today just reposting fiji times stories.
Areh…whoever dumbo u are. Give Biman some advice rather than just obeying his stupid commands. Advice him to do his job and stop wasting firstly the peoples resources and the polices time.
I wish i could write it all on NFP s page but they’ll just block me.
I wish you came back to Facebook GD.