The FijiFirst Opposition has been missing in action for so long that it seems the only time it makes the news is when its principals are before the courts – something party head Frank Bainimarama will do again today (Thursday) when he and Sitiveni Qiliho appear in the High Court before Acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo.
As we’ve reported before, one of two things is likely to happen. Either Justice Temo will agree to their application to recuse himself from hearing their case on the grounds of bias or he will hear the appeal by the ODPP that the sentences passed on them by Magistrate Seini Puamau are too lenient and will send them to prison. The latter is the more likely and, if so, it is going to be one hell of a few days.
So much is at stake, not least the fact that Frank Bainimarama surely cannot continue to lead the main opposition party if he is sent to Naboro. Yet everyone knows the true power in FijiFirst continues to be Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. He and Frank are out of the parliament but not out of the way. Khaiyum has stood down formally from the position of General Secretary, having handed it to his faithful lackey, Faiyaz Koya. But he is still running the show behind the scenes.
Inia Seruiratu is formally the Opposition leader, the head of FijiFirst in the parliament, but makes only the occasional foray into actually doing the job the public pay him to do of leading the opposition. Ask him why he so rarely raises his head above the parapet and depending on how well you know him, he will tell you that he can barely fart without Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s permission. Which is why that unless Inia gets the clearance to do so, the actual job of the opposition is being done outside the parliament by the Labour Party’s Mahendra Chaudhry and Unity’s Savenaca Narube.
Where is Inia Seruiratu on the big issues of the day and especially the chronic scandals that have beset the Coalition? Nowhere to be seen. And when he does make an appearance – like his recent set-piece interview with the Fiji Times – he doesn’t sound like an opposition leader at all. Fancy telling the media that he really doesn’t want to be Prime Minister but will do it if he has to? Wake up Inia! That’s what Fiji’s dwindling band of taxpayers pay you to do. Oppose and try to wrest the job of PM off Sitiveni Rabuka at the earliest opportunity.
So what is actually going on in FijiFirst? Well, it will be no surprise to anyone that Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is determined to cling on to his power behind the scenes and keep it out of the hands of Inia Seruiratu and the clutch of other former military officers in the parliament – Viliame Naupoto, Ioane Naivalurua and Semi Koroilavisau – who could take over FijiFirst and make it competitive except that Frank Bainimarama is still backing Aiyaz.
Yes, incredibly, Fiji, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum still thinks he can make a political comeback and fulfil his cherished ambition to become prime minister. There may be only two people in the country who think that is possible – Aiyaz and Frank – but while ambition beats in Aiyaz’s chest, he controls the show. And what the rest of us think about that, neither of them give a toss.
They evidently think the Coalition is so good at self-destructing that they just have to stand by and watch the car crash. But will the country ever accept Aiyaz even if he manages to stay out of prison? Who wants to bet the farm on that?
Part of the problem is the same problem that plagued FijiFirst in its final years of government – Aiyaz has lost his political mojo. It isn’t just turning FijiFirst into an empty shell in the parliament by keeping Inia and his troops under a bushel but his occasional forays into the public arena. Last week, he got Dobby the House Elf, Mohammed Saneem, to join him in an ill-fated attempt to intervene in the June Supreme Court hearing into whether John Rabuku can remain as Acting DPP and Alipate Qetaki can remain as a judge when both of them have been found guilty of professional misconduct and the constitution specifically forbids it.
Incredibly, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum told the distinguished panel of expatriate judges that because he formulated the Constitution, he was in a position to advise them how it should be interpreted. Hello? The whole basis of the widespread opposition to the 2013 Constitution among rabid Coalition supporters is that no-one was consulted before Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and Frank Bainimarama imposed it on the nation. What on earth would possess Khaiyum to confirm that suspicion and hand his enemies such a gift? And only to be slapped down by a trio of judges who clearly don’t need his “expert” opinion to decide what the law says?
And now this week, Aiyaz has made another political miscalculation in the courts. It may seem minor but it has underlined the ousted AG’s chronic Achilles heel – his fragile ego. He has objected to ODPP documents in his case missing out the hyphen in his name. It is Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum not Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum. Geddit?
Most people charged with abuse of office and facing jail time might have other things on their mind but not our Aiyaz. He is obsessed with such matters for reasons known only to himself. Why the hyphen anyway? His father is Sayed Khaiyum. Wouldn’t that make him Aiyaz Khaiyum? So why is he Aiyaz Sayed Hyphen Khaiyum? Because it sounds more grand?
It cannot be because hyphenated surnames are a peculiarly British characteristic. Aiyaz is notoriously anti-British, so much so that he tried and failed to change the flag to remove its colonial symbols. When it comes to hyphenated names, the British have some real doozies, some of them parodied by Monty Python in their TV sketch, Upper Class Twit of the year (see below). They include Vivian Smith-Smythe-Smith, Simon Zinc-Trumpet-Harris, Nigel Incubator-Jones, Gervaise Brook-Hampster and Oliver St John-Mollusc. Set against these, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum may not seem so grand. But are there any votes in it? The hyphen, I mean?
There are so many issues that FijiFirst could be pursuing. So why aren’t they? Take for instance the current debate about domestic violence. Arguably one of Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s greatest achievements in government was the 2009 Domestic Violence Decree/Act that requires police to pursue abusers and ended the need for corroboration in assault cases. This was a major step forward for women’s rights. But the FijiFirst Opposition has been almost completely silent on the issue as debate rages about the domestic violence crisis in Fiji and a perpetrator occupies the position of Minister for Education.
It isn’t good enough. The Fijian people don’t give a damn about the internal machinations in FijiFirst or Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s deluded ambition to lead. They certainly don’t care whether he has a hyphen in his name. But they do care a great deal about having an effective opposition when the government is so hopeless across a broad front.
The travesty of the FijiFirst opposition picking up their salaries in the parliament and saying nothing about the burning issues of our time has gone on for long enough. It isn’t good enough for them to leave Mahendra Chaudhry and Savenaca Narube to do the job they should be doing. The nation pays them to oppose – to keep the bastards honest – and to prepare to provide a viable alternative government whenever an election is held. And it is about time they did their job, whatever the legal travails of some of their principals.
POSTSCRIPT: Question. Why does it take the ODPP seven days to change a document? This was another disturbing insight into John Rabuku’s tenure at Gunu House and the sooner Christopher Pryde is cleared and reinstated the better the criminal justice system will be.
A recent burst of activity and then nothing. It isn’t good enough.
Incredibly, he still wants to be PM, not Inia.
Vintage comedy-comedy.
Incidentally, how about Fred Wesley for journalist twit of the year. Boiling in “a cauldron of excitement”. Sheesh.
Well, I guess it’s good the docs are amended now, otherwise there may be a crazy loophole in the law and ASK would not be punished if a judgment is recorded against Aiyaz Sayed No Hyphen Khaiyum, as he would assert that there is no such person, and Mr Nobody would be punished??
I think ASK’s strategy is to give the Coalition enough rope and enjoy the popcorn as they watch the train wreck play out. No need for opposition, which does also meet his political agenda to ensure others don’t get too much airtime in the media to give him competition.
It’s the media. The opposition aren’t given any limelight to get out their message. Then again with the constant berating on social media thanks to pages like yours that have fed the general public with enough shxt to lose any and all respect for those in the opposition.
Oh come on. They are not a charity. They need to earn their place in the sun and be actively agitating on behalf of the nation’s voters. Instead they hang around like ghouls at a road accident.
When AS hyphen K (ASHK) decided that everyone has to be called “FIJIAN”, was I the only one to predict that it was a ploy to Islamise top positions in government institutions, bring in “expert Pakis” and slowly change the demography of the country. The conveniently named “look north policy” was in fact pro China and it’s minion Pakistan. When the Chinese and the Pakis are working together, you know there will be buy offs. The question now is, why the undenying and unquestionable loyalty of Frank towards SAHK, who seems to have him by the balls. Has he been put in the Chinese mouse trap??
In my experience of the last government, ASK was the most wary of the Chinese than anyone. So no banana. Of his many failings, siding with Beijing against the democracies wasn’t one of them.
By the way there were only 2 judges sitting on the intervener application. Not 3.
I agree with one of the earlier comments that by not correcting the hypen they could say that the wrong person has been named.
Frankly going about his hypen takes away from the serious matters you could be writing about. I agree that the FF parliamentary members are quite useless as an opposition. But I think this is a result of the Inia and company who are running the show now.
From what I have heard ASK is no longer interested in being active in FF and in the political landscape. He is only there to support Frank and Qiliho.
Friends of ours told us that he had a long breakfast with the British High Commissioner recently.
There is no doubt that lots of people talk with him because he understands the socio-economic and political dynamics in Fiji. Even business people are now admitting that Biman is useless as an economy minister, who relies on Richard Naidu. Richard of course ultimately dances to the tune of his financial and ego fortunes.
Well, he would say that wouldn’t he? Your intelligence is not the same as mine. And it is self evident that if Inia Seruiratu is telling people that Aiyaz is still calling the shots, then that is more likely to be true. On the issue of the judges, yes, two heard the application by ASK and Saneem to intervene ( I reported this in the earlier report ) but three will hear the Constitutional case.
I don’t know why you would say that mentioning the hyphen issue is at the expense of more serious matters. It is a minor diversion in an overall narrative about the ineffectiveness of the FijiFirst opposition and why it needs to lift its game.
Whatever Aiyarse is trying to do, its not going to work just like what happened last time, the inferiority complex mindset is quite strong on his “pooseyfied” ego wanting a diaper change everyday.