The Australian newspaper – the nation’s most influential – has updated its front page print story on the killing of Jone Vakarisi (see previous article) with an Internet version that is even more pungent and is a PR disaster for the RFMF and Fiji’s image as a whole.
The timing couldn’t be worse, as public attention in Australia is drawn to the closer ties between Canberra and Suva – the upgrading of the Vuvale Partnership to a Vuvale Union – and the integration of RFMF personnel into the Australian Defence Force. And as Fiji is now only months away from a general election in which an issue is bound to be that the Rabuka Coalition promised to curb the excesses of the Bainimarama era and has delivered the same or worse.
Certainly the gross human rights violation of Jone Vakarisi being beaten to death in military custody and the RFMF Commander attempting to cover it up will haunt the Coalition all the way to election day. And as the following demonstrates, it is already a public relations nightmare for the Prime Minister, his hapless Information Minister, Lynda Tabuya, and her kai vata, Ro Jone Kalouniwai.
The notion that Ro Jone can survive and that it is business as usual at the Camp is a fantasy. Much of the nation is in a state of shock and so are our neighbours. And the government has two choices:
1/ Staunch the flow of negative publicity with a proper demonstration of accountability or 2/ Suffer a collapse of confidence on the part of a significant proportion of the population, Fiji’s development partners and would-be visitors to Fiji. And all at a time of economic challenge when the nation simply cannot afford a scandal of this magnitude.
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The embedded links above to other stories by The Australian. Because of its paywall, we’re republishing them here in full, some of them amended for length.
Of course it is now a matter of public record that since these stories were written, George Speight has been freed from prison and Ben Naliva was removed from the Australian Defence Force and is now back in a senior capacity with the RFMF.
Here he is on the left in a group photo taken at State House in December at a reception for returning UN peacekeepers. Second from right is another former Bainimarama loyalist who survived Kalouniwai’s arrival as Commander, Aseri “Rocky” Rokoura.
What role, if any, has Ben Naliva played in recent events at the Camp? That remains to be seen.
But he has already paid a heavy price for his involvement in human rights abuses under the Bainimarama regime.
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Finally, you can access a great many Grubsheet articles on the same theme by tapping any of the relevant names into our search engine on the right.
Happy hunting.
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