#UNUSUALLY INDEPENDENT. THE MEDALS LIST

Congratulations are due to the 32 distinguished Fijians who received 50^th anniversary Independence medals at a ceremony at State House in Suva yesterday (Sunday Oct 5). In one way or another, they are all deserving recipients. Yet a striking feature about the list is the obvious fact that the Fiji College of Honour, which devised it, appears to be one of the few institutions of state that have yet to come under the control of the Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. Many of the recipients are people who the AG’s loathes and would definitely not appear on any list that he had a hand in devising. So that while the state may be tottering under the AG’s determined assault on its institutions, we can all be thankful that its foundations appear to be solid, at least when it comes to the selection of honour recipients.

Before turning to the list of recipients, it’s worth highlighting those who chose them – the five members of the Fiji College of Honour that convene under the aegis of H.E the President. The Chairperson is the distinguished academic, Dr Akanisi Kedrayate, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Law and Education at the University of the South Pacific. And the other members are Brigadier-General Apakuki Kurusiga -the head of the RFMF Territorial Force and the man who spearheaded the reforms in the Ministry of iTaukei Affairs (who was also one of the medal recipients); Nesbit Hazelman – a member of the Public Service Commission and former CEO of the Fiji Commerce & Employers Federation; Sabita Gandhi – the President of the Poor Relief Society; and Michael Yee Joy – the prominent accountant and partner at KPMG, who is from one of the Fiji’s oldest Chinese families.

None of the five members of the College of Honour are politically aligned publicly and for that we must thank the President, Major General (retd) Jioji Konrote. Because if Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum had a hand in selecting the 50^th anniversary medal recipients, it would be very different. 

The AG would certainly not have given one to Major-General (Rtd) Ioane Naivalurua, the Secretary of the Military Council and former Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Police Commissioner and head of Corrective Services. As Grubsheet has already reported, the AG scuttled Naivalurua’s hopes of a political career when he refused to even interview him as a FijiFirst candidate for the last election. Since then the Military Council has called for the AG’s removal as part of a comprehensive reform of government that the Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, is still to implement.

Others of the recipients are also on the AG’s “hate list”. They include the former Prime Minister and Labour Party leader, Mahendra Chaudhry, and the businessman and former diplomat, Sir James Ah Koy. And to a lesser extent, the AG would undoubtedly not have supported medals for two former Methodist Church Presidents, the Rev Tevita Nawadra and the Rev Pauliasi Vatanitawake. 

There’s another name on the list that the AG also would have been unlikely to honour, that of Tessa McKenzie, co-designer, with the late Robi Wilcox, of the Fijian flag – our “noble banner blue” that was raised for the first time in Suva’s Albert Park on Independence Day precisely 50 years ago this Saturday. As Grubsheet will reveal later this week, the AG tried unsuccessfully to jettison the flag because of its perceived “colonial symbols” -partly to please his father – until Fiji’s win gold medal in the rugby sevens at the Rio Olympics made it politically impossible. Tessa McKenzie – now in her 80s – is a living national treasure and as well as being a 50^thanniversary medal recipient, it is to be hoped that she enjoys pride of place at the anniversary celebrations on Saturday. 

How can you take my word that the Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum isn’t pleased with the list of recipients? Well all you have to do is pick up today’s edition of the newspaper he controls – the increasingly lamentable Fiji Sun. The Sun highlights, on its front page, just one of the recipients – the renowned disability advocate, Setareki Macanawai. The front page carries a pointer to “read more on the medal ceremony on Page 7” and unsurprisingly on Page 7 of the print version, the main picture is of the Prime Minister with a list of other recipients. But when you turn to page 7 of the online version of the Sun, the story has mysteriously disappeared. There’s the weather forecast, the day’s television listings and an Energy Fiji Limited announcement of planned power shutdowns but that’s it. Further coverage of the 50^th anniversary medal recipients just isn’t there for any reader in the diaspora. 

Surprise, surprise, Page 2 of the Fiji Sun today carries yet another propaganda piece by the AG’s handmaiden at the Sun, Jyoti Pratibha, in support of his attempt to remove the USP Vice Chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia. Never mind the 32 distinguished Fijians deemed to have rendered the nation so much service that they deserved the 50^th anniversary independence medal. They’re patently not so important when the AG doesn’t get to choose them and must be satisfied with being down-paper on Page 7. 

So much for the news priorities of the AG’s own newspaper. All part of a national scandal that has gone on for long enough. 

Below is the list of recipients:

1. Speaker Ratu Epeli Nailatikau

2. Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama

3. Sir James Ah Koy

4. Mahendra Chaudhry

5. Taufa Vakatale

6. Dr Robin Mitchell

7. Ratu Tui Cavuilati

8. Adi Finau Tabakaucoro

9. Dr Eci Kikau Nabalarua

10. Dr Esther Williams

11. Dr Angeela Jokhan

12. Bernadette Rounds Ganilau

13. Joketani Cokanasiga

14. Kanti Lal Punja

15. Brig-Gen Apakuki Kurusiga

16. Ratu Jo Nacola

17. Ratu Ilaitia Tuisese

18. Brother Fergus Garret

19. Major-General (Rtd) Ioane Naivalurua

20. Rev Tevita Nawadra

21. Hafizud Dean Khan

22. Ratu Peni Volavola

23. Tessa McKenzie

24. Setareki Macanawai

25. Daryl Tarte

26. Misau Fatiaki

27. Joji Qaranivalu

28. Sakaraia Ve

29. Rev Pauliasi Vatanitawake

30. Jane Ricketts

31. Sitiveni Raturala

32. Alipate Korovou