There are increasing signs of desperation among the anti-government forces in Fiji as the country moves closer to the introduction of a brand of democracy that they are desperately trying to prevent – a non-racial model of one person, one vote, one value. That sense of desperation has reached fever pitch with the publication of the new Draft Constitution – that specifically stipulates an election in Fiji before the end of September 2014 – and the declaration by Voreqe Bainimarama that he intends to contest the poll. With precious little in the Draft to criticise, the old order in Fiji is in a state of collective meltdown and actively seeking out small targets to kick. How else to explain the accompanying cyber pamphlet currently being circulated on several anti-government blogs that specifically attacks Grubsheet and our connection with the American company, Qorvis Communications?
Qorvis has a contract with the Fijian Government to assist it with the communications component of its program of institutional, electoral and constitutional reform in the lead-up to 2014. Qorvis approached Grubsheet in September 2012 and asked – given our links with Fiji and long-expressed support for the Bainimarama Government’s reform agenda – whether we would be interested in a part-time role in Fiji promoting that agenda. Er, you mean you want to pay us a modest fee to come to Suva and do what we’ve already been doing on Grubsheet for nothing? Sure, why not?
There appears – from this pamphlet – to be a fundamental misunderstanding about Qorvis’s role in Fiji. The company has no influence on policy. Our advice is not given or sought. In the main, we write speeches and news releases at the direction of the leadership team and assist the Ministry of Information in its public information efforts. It is “nuts and bolts” communications work of the kind that any government or company performs as a matter of routine. There is certainly nothing sinister about it, as the accompanying leaflet implies. Grubsheet does not take “the lead role” in Fiji, as this leaflet alleges. The account is run from Washington with input from several members of a Qorvis offshoot – GeoPolitical Solutions – that assists several sovereign clients. Grubsheet is not even on the Qorvis staff so the notion of us taking “a lead role” is fanciful in the extreme. We are just not that important. Our main value to Qorvis is our local knowledge as a Fijian citizen.
The evidence shows that we have not “airbrushed human rights abuses”. Indeed, any instances have been strongly condemned in these columns, though that is not a Qorvis matter either. One of the conditions of accepting our role in Fiji was that Grubsheet, the blog, would continue and that there would be no instruction or direction from either Qorvis or the Fijian Government about either the choices of subjects or the views expressed. Indeed, those views have been remarkably consistent and predate not only our association with Qorvis but Voreqe Bainimarama’s 2006 takeover. We have always said there are three preconditions for our support for the Government. 1/ Its multiracial agenda and a common and equal citizenry in Fiji. 2/ Zero tolerance for corruption. 3/ An election in 2014 on the basis on one person, one vote, one value. This is hardly an agenda to “propagate and legitimise Fiji’s junta”, as this pamphlet alleges, but arguably a blueprint for the first genuine multiracial, “clean” democracy in Fiji’s history. To paraphrase the owner of the Gillette Razor company – “I wouldn’t be doing this commercial if it wasn’t”.
Despite a stream of explanations in the past, this pamphlet continues the deliberate misrepresentation of Grubsheet’s description of ourselves as an “independent journalist”. By independent, we mean that we don’t have a single employer. In other words, we freelance and have multiple income sources. This is the accepted description of any practitioner of the trade not firmly attached to one teat. Indeed, a simple search on LinkedIn – the professional cyber network – will uncover thousands of similar individuals in Grubsheet’s position. It implies no claim of independence of opinion but of professional status.
As mentioned previously, one suspects that this highly personalised attack is part of a final and desperate attempt to cast aspersions on a process leading up to next year’s poll that is clearly working to the disadvantage of the Government’s critics. There is hysteria at almost every turn and not only on traditionally hysterical outlets such as Coup 4.5. The fevered cyber rantings of the likes of Victor Lal and Rajendra Chaudhry point to a fundamental collapse of confidence on the part of the critics that they will eventually prevail. They are not only losing skirmishes and whole battles but are losing the war. The reform process in Fiji is being seen to be in the country’s wider interests and not the interests of certain self-serving individuals. And so we see – in this crude attack on Grubsheet – the cyber equivalent of kicking the cat in rage and frustration.
One of the most self serving individuals of all is the Canadian academic, Dr Marc Edge, who has belatedly embraced the mantle of anti-government campaigner to mask his forced resignation from the University of the South Pacific for misconduct. Dr Edge posted this pamphlet on his widely unread blog site a full day before it was circulated on other anti-government blogs. We actually suspect that he may have been the author, given his uncorrected use of the word “traversty”. This guy is meant to be a journalist educator, or a journalist “scholar” as he so grandly describes himself. Yet clearly spelling is not his strong suit. No, let’s call this attack on Grubsheet what it is – a genuine travesty – much like the antics of the lamentable cast of manipulators and misfits for whom the fiction of gaining the upper hand in Fiji is far better than the truth of abject failure and irrelevance.
Anon@gmail.com? Yes, Marc. Very apt. A pathological nobody. Bye-ee!
Wouldn’t you know it? Within minutes of the publication of this posting, Marc Edge has changed “traversty” to travesty on his own posting. Which proves that he was the original author.
You badly needed a sub, Dr Misconduct, and I’m pleased to have been of assistance. “Journalist scholar”, my arse. More like charlatan and “liar” – as Professor Robie so aptly described you.
Pity you can’t change the version published here, which will stand as a testament to your ignorance.
Good one Graham !!
The mouse has been caught.
Graham,
I am trying to work out why you are upset with this poster. It is factually correct.
“The Fijian tax payer unknowingly pays Qorvis $1m per annum.”
This is true and the Fijian tax payer does not have any knowledge of this as there have never been any Auditor Generals Reports since 2006 and nor is it specified in the budget.
“Via the Military Juntas Illegal take over of the Country’s treasury.”
The Coup in 2006 was illegal as ruled by the Fiji court of appeal. Since 2006 the people of Fiji have had no say on how their money is spent.
“The purpose of which is to propagate and legitimize the Fiji’s Junta to the world.”
In Qorvis’s own words “Qorvis GPS offers a comprehensive menu of sophisticated products and services to inform, influence and transform international audience opinions”
“Airbrush human rights abuses and the trampling of media freedom.”
Your piece “TACKLING A CULTURE OF VIOLENCE” condemned the violence in the first 2 paragraphs and then spent the next 10 saying it was ok because police violence happens all over the world and beating is a form of punishment in the village. I have also never seen Grubsheet defend Media freedom in Fiji.
“Qorvis pay this man from our money to take the lead role in this trave(r)sty”
Qorvis do pay you to work for them in Fiji. You are seen as their lead man in the country because you have become the face of Qorvis in Fiji.
“His name is Graham Davis and he is supposed to be an independent journalist.”
Your name is Graham Davis and in your own words you are an independent journalist.
“Arthur Norris”, first sentence, UNTRUE: The annual allocation to Qorvis is clearly written in the 2013 Budget. It was reported as such by Fiji TV – amongst others – on the day of the budget.
Second sentence: A MATTER OF OPINION BUT MOOT: The Fiji Court of Appeal consisted of a clutch of Sydney barristers. They were certainly not Fijian and – in the written opinion of Fiji’s Chief Justice – the verdict was railroaded through for political reasons that owed more to Australia’s interests than Fiji’s. The 1997 Constitution was subsequently abrogated and Fiji continues to be governed by the rule of law.
Third sentence: OPEN TO THE INTERPRETATION YOU HAVE PROVIDED BUT UNTRUE: What is on the Qorvis website in relation to GPS may or may not reflect the services that it provides to Fiji. As it happens, it does not, as I have already explained. You pay for what you get and Fiji does not pay for – nor does it receive – some of the services provided to bigger clients.
Fourth sentence: UNTRUE: I strongly condemned the instance of torture depicted on the escapee recapture video, so much so that I said it had made people cry and had deprived them of sleep. “There can be no justification”, was the precise term I used. I have never advocated the “trampling of media freedom in Fiji”. In fact the record shows that I have defended it. I will post separately a piece I wrote for the Fiji Times specifically attacking attempts to curb media freedom.
Fifth sentence: UNTRUE: I am not the lead Qorvis person in Fiji, even if it suits you to cast me as the “face of Qorvis” in Fiji. I work for Qorvis part time and am officially designated as a consultant. In fact I am writing this from Sydney, so my face certainly ain’t in Fiji this week at all, athough the Qorvis lead person happens to be present.
Sixth sentence: A MATTER OF INTERPRETATION BUT UNTRUE IN THE CONTEXT DEPICTED: I say I am independent because I am a freelance. This specifically questions my independence from the point of view of my stated support for Bainimarama’s agenda.
ERGO: Far from your contention that the content of this cyber pamphlet is “factually correct”, each sentence is either completely untrue or open to contrary opinion or interpretation. This does not constitute established fact.
Arthur Norris, just one retort to your claim that you have never seen me defend media freedom in Fiji. This from the Fiji Times five years ago:
Wrong man for wrong job
Graham Davis
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
There’s a new joke doing the rounds about the man at the centre of the storm over his report on the state of the Fiji media.
“You know, Shaista’s right, James Anthony is balanced”, the gag goes. “He’s got a chip on both shoulders!”
As they say, many a true word spoken in jest.
Because anyone who reads the report James Anthony has done for the Fiji Human Rights Commission can see the chips on both shoulders glaring from far too many pages for comfort.
One is an obsession with race, notably his evident distaste for the “white man” who he blames for many of the Fiji media’s shortcomings.
The other is his perverse desire to throttle whatever independence the nation’s media still has and give the present interim government even more control over the information ordinary people get from their radio, television and newspapers.
How odd that a man who presumably defends the principle of academic freedom should be so opposed to media freedom.
And how scandalous that such a document should emerge from the one public body specifically charged with the defence of the rights of all Fiji citizens.
For its passivity in the face of repeated human rights abuses, many people already regard the Fiji Human Rights Commission as an oxymoronic, Orwellian joke.
Now it’s compounded the offence by officially endorsing a report that reeks of racism and would, if implemented by the regime, see journalists charged with sedition for defending the public’s right to know.
For that endorsement a day after the shameful deportation, in defiance of a court order, of Fiji Sun publisher Russell Hunter, the Commission’s director, Shaista Shameem, deserves the strongest condemnation. She claimed the two events were purely coincidental.
But the fact remains that Dr Shameem showed an appalling lack of judgement when she appointed James Anthony to conduct his inquiry in the first place.
Never mind his glaring lack of media experience, which would have disqualified him from conducting such a sensitive exercise anywhere else.
Even a cursory review of Anthony’s career should have sounded alarm bells about his appropriateness for the task.
This is a man with a long history of injudicious behaviour and even more injudicious pronouncements, as those who’ve witnessed his colourful invective on Fiji Times blogs can easily attest.
As a youthful trade union activist, he was a prime instigator, with Apisai Tora, of an oil workers strike that boiled over into riots in Suva in December, 1959.
The anger was directed at Europeans, with passing cars stoned and businesses like Burns Philp, Morris Hedstrom’s and Carpenters attacked and looted.
Those riots were the most violent incidents in Suva’s history until the anti Indian violence and street rioting that accompanied the coups of 1987 and 2000.
In 1987, when the deposed Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra held a news conference in Washington, it was reportedly hijacked by James Anthony.
To the embarrassment of Dr Bavadra, Anthony made an extraordinary claim that the American Central Intelligence Agency was behind the 1987 coup.
He even claimed that Americans were with Sitiveni Rabuka when he stormed the parliamentary chamber, a huge surprise to Rabuka himself let alone the many others present on that fateful May day.
He also claimed the Taukei Movement had been given $US 200,000 by an official in the US embassy in Suva, Bill Paupe, for its campaign of agitation against the Bavadra Government.
Anthony’s old comrade, Apisai Tora, described this as an “outrageous lie” but it didn’t stop James Anthony from branding the respected Paupe a “barefoot Ollie North” after the bagman in the Iran contra scandal of the 1980s.
It emerged later that Anthony was biting the hand he’d once hoped would feed him.
The late Sir Len Usher, in his book Letters from Fiji, details how Bill Paupe had turned down Anthony’s application for an American Development Aid grant.
Now, surely if you’re going to do an official report into the media financed by the long suffering taxpayer, a history of getting the facts right yourself ought to be the minimum requirement.
Isn’t this one of the repeated failings of local journalists the good doctor rails against in his report?
Unfortunately, practicing what he preaches doesn’t seem to be James Anthony’s strongest point.
But his real crime is far more serious and goes to the heart of his suitability for conducting a supposedly “independent” inquiry of any kind in Fiji.
This is his blatant obsession with race.
It’s an issue that’s always just below the surface in Fiji but one that Dr Anthony and Shameem have jointly summoned from the murky depths, cloaked in the respectability their positions give them.
Make no mistake.
Whatever the many other failings of this report, the un-attributed claims and allegations, its basic ignorance or misunderstanding of normal media practice, its James Anthony’s racial bias that’s most notable and disturbing.
The existing Media Council is a “white man’s club”, eight or nine “white men” control Fiji’s media, distort media coverage to suit their business and political agendas and thwart the ambitions of local journalists.
The Fiji media, Anthony concludes, is no place for white men and their work permits should be cancelled.
Anthony is particularly harsh on the Media Council’s chairman, Daryl Tarte, whose lifetime of service to the industry and the country is trashed.
But as well as his pejorative references to the “white man”, Anthony vents his disdain for anyone or anything associated with foreign business interests.
Never mind the interdependence of the global economy and the fact that foreign investment is vital to Fiji’s success.
No, for James Anthony, white men are invariably exploiters who essentially belong elsewhere and should be tolerated in the Pacific only under the most stringent conditions.
Surely a strange view for a non-indigenous Pacific islander to hold.
The anti-capitalist part of the tirade can be expected from someone with a lifetime of trade union activism behind him and the cosy sinecure of academia to help him pay his bills.
But where did James Anthony learn to hate the white man so much?
With his background as a part Indo- Fijian, you might think he’d be more understanding of a minority position.
But Anthony seems to share a strong anti European streak with many leftist, trade union aligned Indo-Fijians currently enjoying the indulgence of the interim government.
Understandably, some of this can be traced back to the independence struggle against the British in India, the spirit of which took root in those agitating for Fiji independence in the 1950s and 60s.
One of these, of course, was James Anthony.
Yet having got what he wanted, he continues, nearly 40 years on, to blame the country’s problems on neo-colonialism and the white man.
We’ve all seen the furore that erupts when Fijian nationalist extremists say Indo-Fijians really belong back in India.
Yet in a monumental case of double standards, Fiji Europeans are seemingly regarded as fair game.
Suddenly, many Fiji Europeans are feeling uncomfortable, even threatened.
In his formal response to the Anthony report, William Parkinson, the head of Communications Fiji Limited, summed up a general view when he accused James Anthony of displaying “naked, racist hatred”.
“As a member of a minority community in Fiji, I am very concerned at the manner in which the European community has been referred to in this report and the way in which senior members of our community have been maligned in a racist and vicious manner. I find it incredible that the FHRC would put their name to a document that exhibits this racist tone particularly at a time when the FHRC and the interim government is vigorously promoting multiculturalism and an end to racial division in public life”.
Driving such sentiment is an uncomfortable suspicion.
In 21st century Fiji, is it now to be a case of Fiji for the Taukei, the Indians, the Chinese, the Kailoma, the Rotumans, the Banabans and the Kaisolomoni, but not the Kaivalagi? That’s the implication, at least, of the Human Rights Commission’s official endorsement of such a racially charged document.
James Anthony’s attitudes are all the more puzzling considering his own European background.
He’s a direct descendent of one of the pillars of British colonial rule, the lawyer, Legislative Councillor and former mayor of Suva, Sir Henry Scott.
Anthony owes his lineage to a “liaison” between Sir Henry Scott and James Anthony’s grandmother, an Indian domestic staff member named Minnie employed in the rambling Scott mansion at Flagstaff.
The product of that relationship, while yet to be confirmed by DNA testing, was Anthony’s mother, Angelina.
So as things stand, Sir Henry Scott was James Anthony’s grandfather, making him also closely related to all the other Scotts who’ve been prominent in Fiji’s national life.
They include Sir Henry’s equally famous son, Sir Maurice Scott, plus the next generation, the murdered Fiji Red Cross director John Scott and his bother, Owen, the New Zealand resident author who’s recorded the family’s colourful history in his book Deep Beyond the Reef.
The pity is that whatever bugs him, he should never have been given an official platform by Shaista Shameem to vent his prejudices when so much is at stake for Fiji.
And the tragedy is that his flawed recommendations should now be before a military government more eager than ever to shoot the messenger rather than address its own shortcomings.
Yes, the Fiji media could unquestionably be improved and local journalists be given better training.
But forget about the tevoro unmasked with great fanfare in the Anthony Report, the ” white men” who allegedly control what we all see and read in Fiji.
The real threat to freedom of information comes from the ideas of James Anthony contained in his report and endorsed by Shaista Shameem.
– Graham Davis is a Fiji born journalist who’s a principal in the Australian company Grubstreet Media.
Dear Arthur Norris come lately,
Fijian governments of all persuasion have been engaging PR companies for vast sums of monies without being forthcoming about how much taxpayer funds they were expanding. The public only got wind of it when the opposition raised it in parliament, or through the auditor general’s report. We do not have an active parliament or auditor general, but the point is, government’s splashing on PR companies is not a new thing. It diesn’t just happen in Fiji. It woud be interesting to know who used to right Qarase’s eloquent speeches about ‘race is a fact of life’, and ‘corruption is a fact of life’ for example.
Graham,
I suspect that what it really comes down to is a lack of anything of interest with substance that has an anti government theme to write about.
Next we will be seeing ‘Potholes’ as the subject in their never ending desperation to produce new propoganda.
Sorry Davis…you sound like a rotten liar here. If they pay you any form of remuneration for any work you do for them, whichever form, then you are on their payroll and its obvious to the world, we serve the Masters that pay us.
Thus, all the rubbish you print, is what it is. Rubbish and propaganda you have received payment to say. If you truly understood this Government, then you would know the many lies it professes. The many leading civil servants it sacks without explanation just because some military officer’s wife or a man in uniform hates the person, or envies the person. You’ve lost all credibility and this confession of sorts you’ve given by way of explanation to disengage yourself from the ‘truth’ of the leaflets, is in fact weaving your own true story. You are a spin-doctor paid to do exactly that, spin bullshit stories for the world to read. Sorry mate, we are not that illiterate here! You’ve got caught out. Check mate!!
Oh “Melissa”. So pure of “virtue” and yet so tainted by blind prejudice. If you don’t like my opinions, go elsewhere. There are plenty of other places for you to expend your bile.
Graham,
Where is your article when media censorship came into force?
Where is your article when the Media Decree was gazzetted?
Where is your article on journalists being taken up to the camp?
Where is your article on Fiji TV only being given 6 month Licenses?
Where is your article on self censorship of the media in Fiji?
Where is your article on the Government giving FBC 90% of its TV budget?
Where is your article on the Government giving the Fiji Sun 100% of its press budget?
“Arthur”, I can understand you being piqued by my comprehensive rebuttal of your assertions against me but, please, try not to be so absurd. It isn’t incumbent on me to give a rolling commentary on every twist and turn when it comes to the media in Fiji. I have not styled myself as a commentator on the Fiji media. I prefer not to be excessively uncharitable but, frankly, general standards of journalistic performance leave much to be desired.
You made the point that I have never defended media freedom in Fiji. I have. Contrary to your assertion here, I have also written about a range of media matters, including the last PINA summit and the phenomenon of self censorship.
As to your gratuitous comments about the Chief Justice, they are, again, merely your assertions, not established fact. I happen to believe that the CJ has acted with integrity and principle to keep the wheels of justice turning during an extremely challenging time in the life of the nation. You don’t. But that doesn’t make you right and me wrong.
Graham
I had to laugh when you wrote this “in the written opinion of Fiji’s Chief Justice”
Do you really think his word his worth the paper it is written on.
In one of his rulings in 2001 he wrote: “The Constitution’s very indestructibility is part of its strength. It is not possible for any man to tear up the Constitution. He has no authority to do so. The Constitution remains in place until amended by Parliament, a body of elected members who collectively represent all of the voters and inhabitants of Fiji.”
And yet after the abrogation of the constitution in 2009 he becomes the Chief Justice. Do you see the hypocrisy?
Gates was also found by the Fiji court of appeal to have lied under oath in court.
And you think we should listen to his word.
He had to disagree with the Fiji Court of appeal over the 2006 coup because had he agreed with their ruling he would not have had a job as chief justice.
To quote Gates again: “A judge’s strength and value lies in continuing to hold office and to carry out his or her duties with integrity, even-handedness, boldness and courage. If the judiciary is deserving of any respect, it must at least aim for these precepts.”
Sorry Gates has failed on all count and is nothing more than a verdict for hire.
“Arthur”, one can clearly be obliged by circumstances – even as a high minded lawyer – to accept that the doctrine of necessity sometimes demands a modification of previously held positions and statements. The notion of access to justice – especially in extremis – is generally held to be a noble one. This is the absurd attitude taken by people like yourself – a kind of legal nihilism that would have members of the profession take their bats and balls home when the rules change rather than fulfill their ultimate obligation to defend and protect. Piffle.
Melissa given your argument on paragraph one, what you saying is all the civil servants in Fiji are pro-military junta because they are being paid by them?
I know a lot of my ex-Uni mates who are on the current govt’s payroll but do not concur with what’s happenning hence are not in anyway serving their masters.
Secondly, please prove that you are not a “spin doctor” yourself sitting on the opposite corner from GD by qualifying your allegations about civil servants being sacked because some military officers and their wife do not like them. This sounds like coconut wireless “bullcrap” to me.
OK…………..from all the comments above…………….
I believe Graham Davis and I think he’s right.
Period.
Thanks Graham …………….. keep on writing mate for you are an independent and fair person.
We believe you.
I believe you too Graham.
And thank you for being a light in times such as this.
God bless you.
For those of you who may not be in the habit of visiting Coup 4.5, here’s a charming extract this afternoon from these high-minded champions of democracy. The “Mark M” is the Sydney psychiatric nurse and long time SDL supporter, Mark Manning. Who is Eparama Gotegote? Presumably one of his patients, judging from this bizarre comment that Coup 4.5 has passed as a legitimate contribution to its current debate.
As I said, the sense of desperation in the face of defeat is palpable. 4.5 is even accusing the Fijian people of being victims of the Stockholm Syndrome, in which the enslaved start siding with their oppressors. What a joke! No, the average Fijian can pick as psychopath as well as anyone. And 4.5 is becoming a haven for them. Read on and then tell me Eparama is normal. Boy oh boy. I’m still shaking my head at this one.
Eparama Gotegote IP148 said…
Mark M, I was the one who allegedly “sexually violated” Graham D but dispute his version of “rape”.
First of all,I admit to sodomise him…but I was not the first..his passage was already clear..like the grand canyon…excuse me readers but I am trying to word this without too much graphics.
Secondly,I was drunk in Traps Bar and Davis threw himself on me like a little slut..he said he cannot get enough of the dark sucuwalu…don’t laugh..I am hetero…!!!
I must admit he gave me $10,000 for pocket money after..said his mate Bai had a 200% FBT refund for inner circle (excuse language) perks.
Now he writes emails to me saying he wants his money back and boasting he is getting free black sucuwalu’s from Voreqe’s boys and there is no law and order to prosecute them.I am not a male escort..I was drunk!!
He says he does not really support Voreqe but has to write propaganda to get his black sucuwalu fix..he said it is like an addictive drug and he is hooked.
I ask him if he and Bai ever had a…u know what..!! He said all the time if Bai ever want to publish a personal message to the public..GD always tell Bai..”well u know I am a journo..just plug it in to my dicktaphone and start talking”
GD hates Fijians but his dilemma is he is hooked on the black sucuwalu.
Is there any psychological cure for that???
March 26, 2013 at 2:10 PM
No doubt you will see Eparama in his best shirt and sulu in church on Sunday, reading from the bible and heartily singing Christian hymns. Fiji’s tragedy is that we have too many Eparama’s in the country.
Graham,
I have to admit that I am in the habit of visiting both C 4.5 and Fiji Today sites purely for the amusement factor when tired or bored.
Today I read the above posts you refer to and had a chuckle at the content and irrevalance with anything to do with either anti government or pro democracy crusades.
As someone said the other day these sites are actually a great asset to the present government in that anyone visiting them to get a measure of any anti goverment feeling in Fiji are met with a content of approximately 98% that is on par with your above example. In other words, nobody with any sense whether inside or outside of Fiji will take any notice of it.
There are of course a few contributors, clearly anti goverment, whose contributions are sensible, polite and well constructed and have to be respected but unfortunately these few are buried under the junk and unlikely to ever be listened to by those that should hear them.
It’s a pity the idiots are doing these few guys such an injustice but in reality the idiots will always be around whatever the cause.
This is a sick and evil person. With this sort of posting we can see why so many of our children are being raped.
Graham,
You wrote “As to your gratuitous comments about the Chief Justice, they are, again, merely your assertions, not established fact”
I am not sure what is not established fact.
Every Quote I have is directly from Gates’ own Rulings which are available on line.
He did take up the position of Chief Justice after the abrogation of the Constitution.
If he had agreed with the Ruling by the Court of appeal over their finding the regime illegal, he most certainly would not be Chief Justice.
He was found by the court of appeal to have lied under oath and as a result the Qaranivalu was released for a time. Can you give me another example of a Chief Justice anywhere in the world who still has his job after lying to the Court of appeal under oath?
The only thing not an established fact is that Gates is a verdict for hire. However, there are enough allegations out there by ex members of the Fiji judiciary to perhaps not make it an established fact but more of an educated Guess.
Hey Arthur Norris, I can give you an example of a Chief Justice who lied under oath and still kept her job; Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of Canada in the infamous “Surrey Three Books” case.
And by the way an educated guess is exactly that “an educated guess” based on past information, experience and rough estimation. Although it may carry weight given the experience of whoever is making the educated guess (and even if there are hundreds of them), it is still not (in your own word) established fact.
Graham
Here is the truth. You found Qorvis for the Fiji government and as a reward you were hired?
Yeah, sure. Just keep taking the tablets.
The Qaranivalu episode was a set up wasn’t it? Between the Q, and his friend Brodie, with the approval of the hostile Court of Appeal which wanted to stick the boot into the CJ for accepting a post meant for Justice Wards? So we realized during Law 101.
Graham, you should write a good article on the women’s groups in Fiji, complaining about the government in the media but refusing to work with it, and refusing to acknowledge the good done for women since 2006.
Graham, your first sentence summed it all up. These people are so damned desperate that they would resort to such shameful actions to justify their cause. We have seen it all in the past and prominent people from abroad based here in Fiji are aware of the campaign of lies that continue to stagnate Fijis intergration into the international community. Take for example Rajend Chauldhry’s childish accusations on facebook, Tevita Korodrau’s pictures from a burned down house and events of 1987 to justify his calling for a peace protest in the US latter this month. These are signs that they are really desperate, they should come to Fiji and see on the ground what is really happening. Or are they afraid that something may happend to them???? Your lies have caught up with you and now you are afraid to come to your own country. Nothing will happend to you, your masters that are feeding you with the lies from your own country are the ones that are intimidating you, the Government doesnt give a rats ass whether you come to Fiji or not but rather is determined to ensure that your masters are removed once and for all from their deceitful dealings with the people of Fiji. Graham i wish we had the money to pay you, your services have been very helpful t our cause and we are very mindful of the hardship you and your family may be subjected to because of what you believe is right. You will always have a special place for us Fijians here at home. Keep up the good fight.
Bula Vinaka Noda. These self-professed freedom fighters who reside overseas seems to be all “cut from the same piece of cloth”. Even though you don’t want to touch on people’s personal life, but you can’t help yourself when they “throw the first lot of mud” on the wall. Here in NZ the so called pro-democracy champions organised simultaneous protest in Auckland and Wellington. Guess how many attended? 40 in Auckland and 20 in Wellington. But the more interesting thing was there were more Kiwis than Fijians themselves. In Wellington the NZ Trade Unions, MPs etc outnumbered the 6 fijians that were there. Whilst they have every right to protest, they need to stop speaking on behalf of all Fijians who live abroad. The use of “all fijians support this protest but are frightened to come forward because their relatives in Fiji could suffer”, is wearing thin. In line, with GD’s article, the song, ” Desparado” rings loud and clear.
Kalougata tiko.
Hear hear Noda.
Vinaka vakalevu Noda kei Fijian at Heart
Here in the US it is the same.overstayers like conman tevita korodrau are into this democracy BS. Era mai lasutaki cei tiko.
no wonder the fulla has been so vocal mate. Probably pushing forth his so called democratic principles as means of justifying his assylum VISA application ayyy……..hahahaha. That reminds me of something, thats right, our self serving politicians now behind movement against current Government, very reason they were removed. Fruit doesnt fall far from the tree i guess….. LUTU GA I VUNA.
GO FIJI GO…….. Bring home the Japan Sevens Title.
Hello Dr Marc Edge, just to let you know that USP journalism is a better place now that you have gone. No more having to put up with your childish tantrums and sound of shouting and banging from your office, there is no more tension among the staff, Dr Ian Weber is doing far better than you as head of journalism, and we are learning and very happy now. we hope we never see your sorry face again, thank you.
I have decided conclusively that Marc Edge is quite mad. He was forced to resign from the USP for misconduct after repeated formal complaints from his students and fellow academics. And yet he continues to blame his departure from Fiji on Grubsheet. On his pathetically narrowly focused website, he refers to:
“the Davis-led smear campaign designed to rid Fiji of my media criticism and advocacy for press freedom.”
FACT: Marc Edge was not a media critic or public advocate for press freedom when he was in Fiji. It is a mantle he has donned since he left to mask the true reasons for his termination from USP.
FACT: Grubsheet did not lead a “smear campaign” against Dr Edge. It reported the repeated complaints of his students and fellow academics about his high handed and unscrupulous behaviour, which resulted in him being branded a “liar” by the most senior media academic in the region – Professor David Robie of the Auckland University of Technology.
Dr Edge is not only a proven liar but a fraud who brought himself and the USP into disrepute until he was forced to resign or be sacked. These are the FACTS and no amount of spin from Mad Marc – the Walter Mitty of the Pacific media – can alter these facts.
This lunatic has taken to running an image of Grubsheet on his website with a Hitler moustache that he proudly proclaims as a “Marc Edge illustration”. He clearly isn’t aware of Godwin’s law, which has it that the first person to call the other a Nazi automatically loses the argument. Or maybe it’s an insight into the turmoil in his own mind about the true circumstances of his departure from Fiji. Imagine the scene in his Vancouver bunker as he rails against those who he imagines brought about his sorry demise.
Far from leaving as a “hero” – which is how he now casts himself – Dr Edge was obliged to slink out of Fiji carrying the farewell present that he’d publicly refused but then reclaimed after he’d made a loathsome attempt to embarrass his superior and patron, Professor Sudesh Mishra.
His attempts to rewrite history are doomed to fail because far too many people – including the region’s most respected academics – know the real story. Dr Edge is unemployable and seeks solace in the company of anonymous anti-government bloggers, such as the “Fijian woman” who calls herself Discombobulated Bubu. These misfits – in their confused state – deserve each other. But does Bubu know the real story of why Marc Edge had to leave USP? She would do well to find out before she allows him to boast so publicly about their new “friendship”.
The days of certain anonymous characters here taking advantage of Grubsheet’s no censorship policy and taking repeated free kicks at us of a personal nature are over.
In future, I reserve the right to immediately delete any comment that, in my judgement, constitutes a personal attack. Put your real name to it and I will consider exceptions. But the curtain is finally coming down on the cowards.
Certain people have clearly set up multiple gmail accounts to conduct their cyber propaganda campaigns. All I can say is that they have way too much time on the hands, like “Bored Stif” ( bored234@gmail plus lots of variations on the same theme}. A bored, unemployed Canadian perchance?
I know some people with too much spare time. Please folks let’s keep to the topic and make constructive comments here.
GD I read with interest Frank will send anyone not accepting the new constitution to jail. Under law is he saying this? I find it hard to understand this as the draft hasn’t been accepted yet he is already sending people to jail. Does this mean everyone in Fiji has to personally sign and accept the constitution or go to jail? Or was Frank just saying this scare people into accepting it? Love to hear your thoughts on this one.
Happy Easter everyone!
Any chance you can enlighten us as to under which law Frank can send someone for not following his DRAFT Constitution?
Graham, you do realise explicate is an academic word and must be used in its proper context,I wonder if elucidate is also an academic word, I don’t know what to make of the word morosoph.
Maybe the latter can be explained by you.
But we all know the meaning of the word pompous.
US$40,000 per month to Qorvis – there’s only 2 of them here in Fiji. So that’s US$20,000 per month or FJ$35,689 each to the two qorvis staff – Graham Davis and Seth. That is FJ$8900 per week to Graham Davis or $FJ 463,957 per year to Graham Davis. Hard up in Australia Graham? mai rawataki blarry kanaloto!!
“Tabu Soro”, you are both ignorant and impertinent.There are currently three Qorvis personnel in Suva and I’m not one of them. I am a part-time consultant, as I keep stressing, and am in Australia doing other things. The Seth you mention hasn’t been in Fiji since last August. That’s in the ignorant category. The rest is NYGB – none of your Goddam business.
tabu soro
Hey dude where did you get your info, bati ni tanoa, suva market or public convenience.
@ Tabu Soro. I doubt very much we can trust your figures. I also know you are very wrong about the Qorvis work advising the government.
There was a report in the Fiji Sun that Qorvis is advising the Government on public diplomacy and international public relations.
It said one of the Qorvis people in Suva this week helping Fiji is Mr Greg Lagana. It said Mr Lagana has had a very distinguished American foreign service and private sector career and worked in a senior position in the White House. Mr Lagana is what they call a Washington insider,
Qorvis people like Mr Lagana surely bring expertise and access which is of huge value to Fiji not just in the US but also internationally.
Well, if we have all these experts, why we need Graham Davis also to advise Qorvis
Tabu soro.
Are you ok?
Yes, I am but you guys are not – this Graham Davis is being paid as a reward for what the illegal regime thinks is his propaganda against pro-democracy bloggers
Tabu Soro
What is wrong if Graham Davies is paid by the government. Government around the world all the time engage consultants and advisors.
What I like about Mr Davies is that he admits this is not a perfect government, but what are the alternatives? This goes long way to calm people and give hope that there are better things to come. I think Mr Davies is able to relate to common folks which is a positive thing.
The illegal regime is on its last legs and soon your favourite lap dog Grraham Davis will be fleeing Fiji, for the sake of his own safety!
Poor deluded fool. You may use the nom de plume “never surrender” and that’s your prerogative. But take a tip from me. You need to get out more and see the reality in your own country. The regime “on its last legs”? Davis fleeing? Only in your dreams. Thanks to the rest of you for your vote of confidence. Much appreciated.
Tabu soro
It seems that you have lost in this debate so go back to c4.5 and talk trash with your kind.
@ Tabu Soro
Graham Davis is a famous son of Fiji. He has won many international awards as a journalist. He is now contributing his expertise to the islands in which he was born and helping the building of a better Fiji. We should be thankful that very successful true sons of Fiji like Mr Davis, Mr Peter Thomson and Mr Mark Johnson are coming back to Fiji and giving all the help they can to the PM’s efforts.
One should never have to brag or announce constantly what award he or she has received in order to qualify their comments. What award or qualification does Frank have to become PM? One gets voted by the party to lead and party is voted into power by the public. We need to allow public discussion on Constitution and allow for parties to form so election can proceed that will bring back democracy to our country. I’m afraid to say this but it will take many many years for things to get back to normality.
Graham, Anon and others – there are equally qualified and award winning Fijians who are totally opposed to the events that are unfolding in Fiji. Graham, pack your suitcase – its all going to happen by next month.
I too sense that change is near. However it ain’t going to be easy. Too many award winning journalist that will slow this process….
People have been sensing the change is near for last 6 years. In fact people been removing Bainimarama for last 13 years.
Graham, your Qorvis created ad manages 6 blogs on behalf of Fiji government – which ones?
“Award Giver”, you have the gall to tell me to “pack my suitcase” and then demand that I give you information? Listen up. I’ll still be around after next month and so will the Bainimarama Government. And you will still be faceless, bitter, and impotent – all bluster and idle threats.
GD how can Award Giver be impotent? How do you know? Please no name calling from you.
im·po·tent
/ˈimpətnt/
Adjective
Unable to take effective action; helpless or powerless.
(of a man) Unable to achieve a sexual erection.
“Award Giver” is impotent as per the first dictionary definition of the word. He claims events are going to transpire next month that will result in me “packing my suitcase”. This is the usual drivel from the anti-government forces, that a revolution is just around the corner. So I wasn’t name calling. I was calling it as it is.
Best He Rug this Graham Davis response bordering on abuse against us explains why Frank is such a low down scoundrel – if Graham Davis is adivisng him, it just explains the low down mentality of both men
@Tabusoro- Mate please stand in-front of the mirror and read your comment out aloud.
You’re priceless!!
Interesting choice of word when he could have used powerless – weak – feeble – helpless – infirm. I assume sexually oriented word is too show what is on his mind. Wonder how long my comments will remain before he deletes it.
‘Accept GCC is finished’
March 30, 2013 on the Fiji Sun website
Tui Macuata calls for chiefs to unite for 2014 polls
By MAIKA BOLATIKI
Macuata paramount chief, Turaga Tui Macuata Ratu Aisea Katonivere, has called on all iTaukei chiefs to accept the dissolution of the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) by the Prime Minister and unite for the 2014 General Election.
The Tui Macuata said some chiefs had a different interpretation of the dissolution of the GCC.
He admitted that this may be the reason some chiefs were not on good terms with the Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama-led Government, including other personal reasons.
He said the dissolution of the GCC was because it had been highly politicised by past government leaders.
Chiefs, he said, should accept the decision especially when it had no impact on their chiefly status.
Ratu Aisea admitted that after the leadership takeover in 2006 until today some chiefs were still split about support for the new leadership.
As paramount chief of the province of Macuata, Ratu Aisea said he had to lead by example in giving his total support to the Government.
“My people followed suit,” the Tui Macuata said.
“I have made the right decision and it is a good step in the right direction, especially when it is the beginning of a new era.”
He said chiefs should appreciate the new leadership the nation was now experiencing.
His advice to chiefs; “Heed the senior religious leaders’ Easter messages where they usually preached a message of peace and forgiveness”. Easter, he said, was a time to remind people of the victory of love over hate.
The Tui Macuata told the Fiji Sun that iTaukei chiefs should at all times be reminded by the wise words of a Catholic Archbishop who said: “Good leadership is about building people.
“A good leader goes much further than just making people follow and do what he wants.
“Good leadership does not dominate but promotes others. It does not stifle but enables others. It is not oppressive to succeed, it’s supportive.”
Ratu Aisea said Fiji now had a Government that really cared for the people which was what the nation needed after the 2014 elections.
The Tui Macuata said the unity of provincial chiefs and their support for the current leadership would surely lead the people to the new and united Fiji the Bainimarama-led Government has been building since it came into power.
Looks like the failed and disgraced head of USP journalism Marc Edge has fallen in with the c4.5 crowd. Same crowd is wantonly defaming people’s character and calling for bloodshed. How shameful for a journalism academic to be associated with a blog like c4.5. Judging by the high levels of profanities and obscenities on the blog, there is no editing. How does a journalism academic reconcile his links with c4.5 and the teaching media ethics? What a rotton example for the students. USP did well to get rid of him before any further damage to the institution’s credibility.
@Alby, so like Mr. Graham Davis you both occasionally wade through the slimes and spews in C.4.5?
First, the majority of contributors; pro and anti Rear Admiral, and a few moderate commentators are notorious for ducking under the “shari” and “sulu i ra” in anonymity!…phew!…worse of all a few wanna be “under cover Christians’ with their sometime warped slimy dungeon theology! To top the grand cowardice game are the Editors of the C.4.5….uh…well one or two subeditor of that blog who may enjoying waking up brushing their teeth with stinking slimy tooth paste and taken a profane pill before sleeping at night.
Your guys may wish to wise up a bit about the number of visit to edges of that hell pit. Yours truly very rarely visit nowadays. Just that more than 6 emails in the last 18 months to the faceless cowards “undercover editor” of C.4.5 to censor away profanity on my family name has fallen on death ears. I still pray; God bless them !!
We still afford some benefit of the doubt to the original creators of C4.5 that they may still have left in them a bit of decency, humanity and morality.
What can we say if a few sub editors in C.4.5 and faceless cowards like “ V….meo” “ Eparama Gotegote”, V…bainimara”, “v….sanaila” at the end of a blog day read all they respectively contribute in cyber sphere to their loved ones around the family dinners table!
……“no country was ever rebuild by profanity, evil slimy slurs of faceless and nameless cowards who fearfully lurk around the back streets of cyberville.
Oh..and my compatriot “Na Turaga Tui Macuata” may be a worthy candidate for any political party in the up coming election! Just that the continuity of contributions and leadership from itaukei Leaders of his Chiefly office are around to somewhat affirm stability within the chiefly and comers itaukei ranks.
Given that a GCC type entity will be missing in action pre election but may be rebirth post elections!
True, true @Failed and disgraced.
No one at USP is missing Marc Edge. No one is commenting on his blog. Everyone is just so happy to see him gone and thankful to Graham for highlighting the problems Dr Edge was causing.
Escaped remand prisoner Isei Korodrau has finally been recaptured, five days after he ran away from the Suva cell block.
Police Spokesperson, Atunaisa Sokomuri said Korodrau was arrested at midday today.
Korodrau was arrested at the cemetery at Reservoir road.
Some people have also been questioned for allegedly harboring Korodrau. Most of the people interviewed were dead silent!
So wondering if anyone captured this on video? Another beating soon to be released!
@Best He Rug-Ni bula vinaka. So what’s your point? Is it to praise the cop for catching another thug or is it to ‘watch the space’ for another excellent opportunity to have a go at the military regime via beatings etc. Either way, I do not condone violence against anyone BUT to wait for such an occurrence to occur so you could have the opportunity to point a finger at the military government is wrong. You are certainly proving GD’s statement here that you are all desperate and any scraps that falls your way gets taken “line, hook and sinker”. Prisoners/Anyone been apprehended by cops do sometimes get meted with harsh treatments and should be looked at in isolation and treated as such because it does occur around the world and to name a few, South Africa, Australia, U.S, England and even in our own backyard in Tonga recently where a NZ Police on holiday lost his life as a result of the beating he got from the Tongan Police. Treat incidences like those separately and eradicate them accordingly but do not use it as a vehicle to push your political agendas.
Beatings of prisoners was always present in Fiji pre-Bainimarama days (and other parts of the world) and to blame the current military regime for its introduction and existence in Fiji is wrong. (E tautauvata saraga kei na veibeitaki vakailasu-wrongly accusing someone or a regime in this case).
Before you start accusing me with being a pro-regime and someone who advocates violent, let me state here that I don’t condone violence (in any way or form) and the way in which the current government usurped to power was illegal. In saying that, I am also educated enough to see that sometimes realism on the ground takes precedence over trying to change what has already occurred. Well balanced views based on facts goes a long way you know.
Have a blessed Easter weekend noqu weka.
Tabu Soro should read the Fiji Sun website.
The following was in the Coconut Wireless column on the website last week. It shows the very valuable help the government is getting from Qorvis.
WELCOME TO
MR LAGANA
A warm welcome to the visiting Greg Lagana, a partner in the respected American and international communications company Qorvis.
The Government is amongst a wide range of Qorvis clients, as diverse as the Smithsonian Institute, Pratt and Whitney and the Mexican tourism industry. Qorvis is advising our Government on issues like public diplomacy and public relations.
Mr Lagana has had a distinguished American foreign service career, held top private sector positions, and served four years in a senior communication role in the White House.
The Tragic Rajendra Chaudhery
The Face book evidence of the deteriorating mind of Rajendra Chaudhary, son of Mahendra Chaudhary, is evidence of the effect of post traumatic stress disorder as a result of sexual and physical assault in custody, and of frustrated political ambition, on an otherwise hopeful future. A spoilt first child, and a much feted child of a famous father, Rajendra had everything going for him. He had the promise that many in Fiji did not – a good education, security, and parental love. His father, famously unfaithful to his mother, was still his role model, although in his mind that loyalty owed by a son to his father and mother must have been sorely tested when the evidence of that unfaithfulness was revealed by the Fiji Times in 1999. Confused, spoilt and probably hostile to all women because of unconscious blame on the mistress (rather than Daddy) he became his father’s Private Secretary when his father became Prime Minister in 1999. His appointment was controversial. Unlike all other civil service posts, the job was never advertised leading to allegations of nepotism. He was also then facing appeal from his sentence for driving a motor vehicle while being disqualified from driving. He had been disqualified for drunk driving. Usually the sentence for driving while disqualified is imprisonment, but the courts let him off with a fine.
He made himself unpopular for other reasons, he was arrogant, dishonest and violent, getting into a violent altercation with a taxi driver after a night out in town (the driver was “persuaded” later to withdraw his complaint) and having a reputation for treating women with disrespect. His marriage was and is volatile and unhappy. He was then made a hostage during the Speight coup. It is said that as a hostage he was physically and sexually assaulted by the guards. He was never counselled for the assaults.
On his release, he went to study law, possibly believing that this was a way to deal with the sodomy and force on him, of the past. It might have worked if he had come back, lain low and got on with the job of being a lawyer. He chose instead a life of politics, abusing the judiciary at every opportunity and showing nothing but resentment and disrespect for his fellow practitioners. Vindictive, resentful and arrogant, he had a special flair for manipulating young women who were largely unattractive but smitten by the superficial charm he switched on to convince them that he found them sexually attractive. He then used them, to get information about his enemies, and to attack those who he thought were a threat. He is able to manipulate his mother and sister, but he cannot manipulate the woman he hates the most in the world – Asha Lakhan. In his eyes, Asha is the face of all women, manipulative, evil, and promiscuous.
His disrespectful conduct in court had an immediate result. He was struck off the Roll of Legal Practitioners and cannot practise. When he was under investigation, he did the most foolish thing he could have done – abused and insulted the judge who referred him for discipline, Judge Goundar.. When he was struck off, he abused the Commissioner Judge Madigan, making homosexual slurs which give away the fact that he never got over the sodomy in Parliament in 2000. His hatred for women is shown when he abuses Justice Wati (calling her a prostitute and slut) and Nazhat Shameem (also a slut). Actually his hatred is for all women, and his hatred for the judges who discipline him, is actually hatred for the men who sexually abused him in Parliament. All of this is now coming out on his Face book account. A tragic, insane man and a manifestation of frustrated evil and impotent ambition. Now, how will he ever get back?
I did not know Speight and his crowd were gay.
Put this question to Rajendra Chaudhary I think he is the best person to answer you.
One wonders if Asha Lakhan authored this?
Aunty Asha Lakhan, stop putting up press releases on the FLP website calling for transparency accountability from the regime, and describing Frank as dictator and high command. It’s like the pot calling the kettle black. Was in not mahen who helped Frank consolidate power? Did he not fapprove franks $150k backpay? where was transparency and accountability then, aunty asha?
We all how how corrupt and nepotistic the FLP is under dictator and high command, Mahen. If you want transparency, first publish full audited account of monies collected overseas in the name of the poor, and how these were disbursed. Also publish details about mahen’s $2m bank account in Australia; the facts are still murky and sound sinister, and there is talk there much more to it.
It’s about time you walk the talk uncle mahen and aunty asha. Who do you think you fooling? Your gullible voters perhaps, but even they are beginning see through mahen’s hypocrisy.
Mahen used to acuse rival politicians of ‘hoodwinking the people’, feathering their nest, and ‘lining their pockets’. When it come to hoowinking people, feathering nest and lining pocket, no one does it better than mahenwa. He has $2m in aussie dollars to show for it.
Haha, mahen is indeed the ‘saviour of the poor’ anf Fiji’s robin hood – mostly in asha lakhan’s adoring eyes, given the propaganda she keeps churning out
And to add to this, as an epilogue.
The Fiji Labour Party rents a three bedroom-double storied property on Albert Lee Place off Nailuva Rd. This is a white property that site at the roundabout, and is bordered on one side by none other than the property of Aslam Khan and Nazhat Shameem.
Now why are we talking about this property? Well, this FLP-rented premises has a fulltime line-in staff. And it’s none other than the evergreen character in the FLP play – Ms Asha Lakhan. So anyone thinking Chaudhry had a fling with this lady in the past and it’s all dead and buried needs to think again. Why is this lady, with no official capacity in the FLP now still being supported by the party? Or, is she being supported on FLP funds or that of Papa Mahen? Now the latter is another interesting story as we all know. However, according to Beta Rajen on his facebook site (when asked about it), the funds did not have a named beneficiary.
Well well…..
Hahaha! This is transparency and accountability Mahen Chaudhry and FLP style, with a bit kama sutra thrown in. Aunty Asha is the one churning out Mahenwa’s propoganda from the FLP office. It sounds like sanctimonious rubbish coming from Mahen ‘Fiji ke Robin Hood’. Asha should post on the FLP website fully-audited accounts of all funds collected by FLP and how they were dispersed, or forever shut up. Also disclose whether FLP is paying for the three bedroom-double storied property on Albert Lee Place off Nailuva Rd.
Then come back to us and preach to us about and transparency and accountability.
There you go, it is perfectly Ok for Graham Davis to provide space for his supporters to make wild unsubstantiated allegations against Rajendra Chaudhry
“Censor”, I wondered whether to allow this posting but have decided to let it stand after visiting Rajen Chaudhry’s Facebook page. It is a complete disgrace – and not because of its anti-government sentiments. Chaudhry is entitled to his opinions. But his latest postings on the alleged “Muslimisation” of Fiji – including the foulest allegation against the estimable Nazhat Shameem – have persuaded me that if he can dish it out in such a manner, he can expect to have it dished in return. I too have strong doubts about Chaudhry’s mental state reading some of his postings. The level of vituperation just isn’t natural. Very sad that someone who is so obviously talented and clever is filed with such hatred and venom.
I was not aware that Rajendra Chaudhary was a saint…..He abused women on his website – these were the same Judges before whom he used to bow down.
Rajendra chaudhary has proved through his FB profile that Vir Mati never taught him to respect woman.
What a politically suicidal thing to do for the Labour party! Attack the Muslims. The Muslims should boycott Chaudhery, father and son, and take their votes somewhere else. I had heard the Labour party was anti- Muslim during the 2006 election but now there is proof of it.
Mahendra Pal Chaudhary should forget about contesting any election. The same man who failed to teach manners to his children is contesting to take care of our country?
BIG QUESTION MARK?
Anti – Muslim party, and all those muslims who will support this man will go in hell
Graham
I agree but that does not mean you should stoop to his level and allow such comments – unless you are telling us you are fighting back on behalf of those maligned by this nutter of a man
I think you are setting a very unfortunate precedent here: this Insane posting contains allegations against Chaudhry (which you seem surprisingly comfortable to allow to be republished) but it also contains pretty foul accusations against other parties as well.
Where are you headed with this? Have you graphed out where all of the shifting sands of all this moral equivalency is going to take you?
I have no sympathy for the politics here. Chaudhry Snr was twice the victim of coups (three times if you include the Deuba Accord which was undone by the September 87 coup). The extent to which Chaudhry pere et fils were perhaps the critical enablers for the events of December 2006 and were then happy to be deployed globally as apologists-in-chief for a regime they now castigate is one of the bitterest ironies of the piece.
Bula Vinaka Charlie. I certainly agree with your last para, especially second sentence. What baffles me is how people can change stance all of a sudden and preach from the pulpit about democracy, ethics, morals etc. No wonder most of our Fijian brothers and sisters are confused.
It’s not only an irony but I think it speaks volumes of the real character of such individuals and where their real interest lies and yet use the vehicle of so called democracy to champion themselves as genuine leaders.
Charlie, let’s hear from you and Rajen Chaudhry which parts of this posting are untrue. There is certainly enough established fact in it to take it beyond the usual attempt at character assassination.
My view is that someone like Chaudhry who publishes defamatory material about others has forfeited the right to be treated with kid gloves. He is a public figure waging a political campaign and is entitled to have his behaviour scrutinised more intently than any ordinary person.
I think you have not read Chaudhary Jnr’s comments on his Facebook and Coup 4.5.
He doe not qualify for any sympathy.
Isn’t all of this a matter of public knowledge and already aired by the Fiji Times? As for gay Speigters, a lot of nasty things were going on in Parliament, MSM (men who have sex with men) rape, black magic and witchcraft. And these are the people who have now ganged up with the hostages to destroy the present government. They should all be exposed.
@ Alu paratha
…add marijuana smoking to the list. And Mere Samisoni of Hot bread Kitchen was dutifully supplying bread (and presumably butter also) to make sure the commune was well fed and keep energy levels robust.
What ?
Only bread and butter ???
No Jam ???
Isa, why was she being so stingy ????
Whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad.
Chaudhry was never sodomised. No one was sodomised in 2000 in Parliament. Graham Davis is a sick man who needs to see a mentalist.
I didn’t say he was sodomised, so why am I sick? What, for running the suggestion in the first place? Believe me, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it had happened. I was sodomised in Fiji when I was five on a Methodist Church compound. So the idea of it happening to someone else being held against their will is a notion I tend to accept without too much question. In fact, I have republished a comment above made on Coup 4.5 by an anonymous coward threatening sodomy against me as a political act. Doesn’t that tend to support the notion that such things take place? These are the truly sick people, mate, not me.
So GD I’m surprised if you we’re sodomised then why use words like impotent etc.
Sigh. Impotent as in ineffectual rather than not being able to get it up. Check the dictionary meaning and you’ll find that I was spot on.
I know what you tried to say and what you are saying now. We are not as dumb as you make us out to be.
Date for submissions to the Draft Constitution had been extended.
I wonder what SDL and FLP have in common that they can offer to make Fiji a better place for all.
Can they really work together given their past differences?
The SDL wants Fiji a Christian State and iTaukei rights preceding all others.
FLP certainly wouldn’t want the above.
All ‘anti Govt’ comments doesn’t seem to be offering a better alternative than what the current Govt has offered.
Well that’s just me – perhaps someone can please enlighten me.
Perhaps this can help:
http://crosbiew.blogspot.com/2013/04/what-do-they-mean-by-democratic-fiji.html
Or simply put VB’s Govt’s offer is the best so far for Fiji. The Draft Constitution will perhaps be amended and take into consideration the good points and then ‘Fiji – the way we should have been!’
FLP is not ok with Muslims, how can FLP be ok with iTaukei. Come on don’t get fooled by coconut party this time.
One must read what Sir Vijay R Singh wrote about Mahendra Chaudhary and his attitude in his book “Speaking Out”
Chaudharys are selfish and self centered people. They want people to dance at their own tune.
Why, was Arthur there? Was he with Chaudhary every second of the day?
Rajendra Chaudhary and other lawyers such as Apted, Imrana Saki Jalal and self proclaimed Women’s advocate Shamima Ali should be tried before these same judges they are writing about.
These are greedy, Frustrated and disgusting people.
I don’t see anything positive the Chaudhrys has to offer – but alot of hot air and changing stances.
Perhaps they’re trying to confuse people more especially those in the cane belts.
Latest is that Chaudhary Jnr asked in his reply in his FB” who said the money given by India was for poor people of Fiji”
This means they very strongly believes that the money was for Chaudhary clan.
How can someone trust the party where he stands as leader???????????
Rajen is true. Money wasn’t meant for poor. People voted his daddy mahen to go around the world like a beggar with begging bowl in hand, to line his pockets and feather the chaudhry khandhan (clan) nest.
Talk about a self-serving, lying politician. mahen chaudhry takes the cake hands down. His son is cut from the same cloth. Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree as they say.
All the ill-begotten wealth hasn’t bought much family happiness – karma is a dog.
Graham, are you suggesting a new model for Fiji’s indentured media: publish anything and everything provided by an anonymous and untested source about the regime’s irritating-public-figure-to-be-demonised-this-week, and then put the responsibility on the reader to find the falsehood?
I thought the whole premise of this particular column was that you were trying to demonstrate the difference between this website and the ‘fevered cyber rantings’ of others.
Charlie, it is not a Grubsheet article but a comment posting. On what grounds would you have me censor it? Racism? Obscenity? Repetition? These are the reasons I have given for previous instances of excision from these columns. I have come down on the side of free speech. Now It may be construed by some as an anonymous personal attack on Mr Chaudhry but it is an attack on someone casting himself as a mainstream political player in Fiji who warrants a high level of public scrutiny and is perfectly capable of answering the allegations himself. It is also an attack on someone with a history of attacking others in much more lurid terms on his Facebook page so he ought to be quite capable of being able to defend himself. I haven’t seen you come to my defence when I am subjected to the same sort of attack and nor would I expect you to. Big boys should be able to look after themselves.
Good response GD. Where is Charters when women are being abused and defamed on 4.5? Yet he leaps to Rajendra’s defence. Thus do we give away our lack of objectivity.
Sallyanne, you obviously misread what I wrote. I did no leaping in Rajendra’s direction whatsoever, in fact I made it clear I think he and his father are the authors of their own current misfortune, and have forfeited the right to any sympathy whatsoever in helping create today’s regime.
What I objected to was that Insane’s anonymous and untested comments also referenced other identifiable parties and indulged in some pretty dubious cod-psychiatry.
You right Charlie boy. Do you agree that in the same vein, Qarase and the SDL are the ‘authors of their own current misfortune, and have forfeited the right to any sympathy whatsoever in helping create today’s regime’. Or do just lump blame on the chaudhry’s?
Blatantly attempting to spring Speight and his cohorts from jail, and legislating one discriminatory policy after another against a large section of the population, Qarase and the SDL were on a roll, under the assumption that were unstoppable; that a Fijian army would not rise against a Fijian government; rather it would assist in the persecution of Indos. Such corkiness. In the end the beast devoured the master. All of Fiji is the poorer for the 2006 coup, thanks to shit leadership, greed and corruption all round, not just on the part of mahen and rajen, charlie boy.
Karma, Fiji has been stuck going nowhere for 35 years because of an addicition that the military has developed into meddling with, controlling and ultimately devastating national and local politics. Some might say, as you seem prepared to do in the case of Qarase’s end, that they did this for the best intentions. I don’t agree – and as you yourself have said the country is definitely the poorer for all of these supposed good intentions.
Yes, I have sympathy for Qarase but there were many aspects of his government I disagreed with, some passionately. I don’t believe – but this is purely hypothetical – that were Qarase out of power in the manner that Chaudhry was in 2005-6 he would have so fulsomely acted in support of an armed coup in order that he might once again regain power. In truth I don’t know, and I can’t prove this.
But it goes to the deeper point about how corruptive the military’s role has become in Fijian civic life: politicians of all stripes (starting in 1987) have sought either all or parts of the army to intervene to disrupt the agenda of democratically elected legitimate governments. And the military has become addicted to playing this role.
Nothing in the constitution seeks to restrain this desperately damaging (and expensive) role … in fact the constitution seems to go to great lengths to amplify the military’s role like some bizarre Victorian ear trumpet. We have to have the military in each and every corner of our lives AT FULL VOLUME because of the ‘national security’ consequences of doing otherwise.
We are where we are today much more because of the ‘enabling’ relationship between Chaudhry and the PM – and that tells its own story much more eloquently than I could.
Charlie,
you are being selective. Qarase strongly criticised the Chaudhry government in strong terms while it was still in captivity. He quickly accepted the interim prime ministership, and regularly scapegoated Indians as part of his election campaign. I cannot believe you are not aware of these well-recorded facts. I am fast losing confidence in you as a rational and independent commentator. I hope you won’t start comparing Qarase to Mandela! To his credit, Qarase did start to act like a leader for everyone, even if the transition was too late, slow and gradual for some. He did try to do the right thing, such as the multiparty government, but was torpedoed largely by mahen. Instead of paying back Qarase, mahen should have stood with him and opposed the coup. But than, mahen is hardly the visionary or statesman. He is an unprincipled, short-sighted, greedy, self-seeking polirican. Unfortunately a large number of Indos are gullible and desperate enough to see him as legitimate leader.
Maybe, Rajendra Chaudhry should file defamation writ in Sydney against Graham Davis to resolve if it is defamation or not?
Yes do whilst GD is in sydney
Bring it on. You think I’m going to be intimated by this?
My suggestion to Chaudhary Jnr is that he should seek refugee status in Australia. He has to be quick on that as currently the Labour government is in power in Australia and who knows what happens in next election over there. Because if he returns to Fiji he will be handed over dozens of Summons on defamation by all judiciary members whom he has disgraced in his FB.
No future for Raju in a country which was on once rudely ruled by his father – the great coconut party leader
GD is the pot calling the kettle black. Anyway thanks for bringing to me and many others RC’s facebook posting. VERY INTERESTING….I’ve got 3400 facebook followers. already posted the link to them. Thanks GD for ONCE LETTING US THE COMMON FOLKS WHO HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO DECIDE WHO GOVERNS US IN FIJI…. so let us decide if the allegations on Rajendra Chaudhry’s facebook hold water…. only time will tell
Graham if you or your lackey cheerleaders are claiming that RC is deranged because he was sodomised in Parliament, then does the same apply to you – that you cant see right from wrong because according to you you were also sodomised – come off, man! You are are regime lackey who is fihting a proxy war – what you are doing is basically this – printing out and running with your comments to Frank to keep your bank balance overflowing from the poor of Fiji!
Yawn.
Raju is going to sue GD for defamation? Are wah. He should save all his energy for the defamation group action coming his way, and the complaint to the NSW Law Society for unprofessional conduct on his face book. Suing others will be the least of his problems.
@ censor
Suing takes money. Has he got any? He is an unemployed unemployable lawyer. Any future employer would take one look at his face book wonders and run a thousand miles away from him. Unless he uses Papa’s millions?
Forget about defamation. There’s plenty of evidence on his Facebook page that Mr Chaudhry could well find himself prosecuted in Australia for breaching the racial and religious vilification laws. His “Muslimisation of Fiji” Facebook posting has reached 28 alleged instances and contains defamatory imputations against a string of Fiji’s most prominent people. They’ll be doing the suing, not him.
Oh my Goodness. Is Chaudhry OK? He is in a serious situation. Perhaps he needs time off and should get help quickly.
Why on earth should someone go to such extent in putting themselves in such trouble?
Perhaps something has blinded him.
Oh dear.
Chaudhary’s time is over and count down has began. He is up with his allegations and pictures on his FB agian today.
RC you need urgent mental attention.
RC should run away to Manila. He can join Imrana Jalal and Saki in their fish n chips business
And daddy has lost all muslim votes. Congrates.
Yawn
One has to admire mahen’s genius and cunning. He even managed to extract millions of dollars from India, where millions do not get enough to eat.
Poeple donate money to India. The low-down chaudhry Khandhan takes donations from India! Not enough to snatch bread from poor in Fiji. Now the chaudhry’s are begging in India, of all places.
@GD
But he is an ally of the Aussies right? So they will ignore the breaches of Australian law?
Rajen Chaudhry claims on his Facebook page that Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum intervened yesterday to prevent Laisenia Qarase from being released from prison. Accuracy factor? Zero. Qarase was released today and has gone home to be with family members.
Good news!!..that former PM Mr. Qarase has been released… he can then first concentrate on his health for now!…and should be allowed to travel abroad for medical treatment should need arises…
Hope this is the beginning of extramural mercy to “political” prisoners deserves and to be afforded, and expressions of goodwill to be liberaly distributed all around.
A much needed precursor for other immunity we the people of Fiji may in the future be required to extend to those who claim to deserve immunity and amnesty!
Eh? He rips off the itaukei people and he’s a political prisoner?
Chodori, vaeyshnoi and all trade unionist big time chorwa.
Let me help you add two more so called unionists names such as Agni Deo Singh and Attar Singh.
Others such as law firm which made big business with Qarase government and are crying foul with Bainimarama Government because they not getting business now: Munro Leys. Self Proclaimed devotees of Fiji, Lawyers Richard Naidu, Jon Apted and Flowrence Fenton.
Self proclaimed Human rights Activist Imrana Jalal who being a lawyer was not aware that one needs to get a license first to run any type of business. This is the same shameless woman who disturbed two marriages and worked away with Dalip Jamnadas and Sakiusa Tuisolia. This same woman claims to be working for the rights of women and children.
Wow, how courageous Imrana.
I say to my I-Taukei brothers if you want to marry Indo-Fijian girl, marry a decent one and not someone like Jalal. Let your brain and heart do the thinking for you and not your third leg.
You got it baby…………Imrana married Sakiusa for Political gain.
That woman is not worth her salt.
Damn…..I only have access to internet for a limited time here and am beginning to like your posts….and I don’t even have the time to contribute…..thanks
Bula Meli.
Very interesting letter by Croz Walsh in:
http://crosbiew.blogspot.com/2013/04/my-open-letter-to-prime-minister.html
He really sounds sincere in helping contribute to the Draft constitution.
There is an idea he mentioned: A body for the iTaukei, Rotumans, Kai Solomoni and other minority interests to advice Govt of their interests. A very interesting idea.
While I believe in equality for everyone and really believe in a multiracial Fiji – I believe we should also think of the iTaukei, Rotumans, Kai Solomoni and other minority interests. Perhaps just a body that is not political but does look after these people’s interests as they are special to Fiji and are indigenous people of our nation.
I hope our good PM can come up with something appropriate for them in the Constitution. But in doing so, equal rights and respect for everyone should be paramount. This to some degree could be somewhat be a draw card for the PM if he tackles it amicably and puts in the right amount of ingredients.
Of course, the poor of this nation, esp. Fijians of Indian and European origins should also be special and appropriately cared for in the Constitution.
God Bless You all.
Rajen Chaudhary writes in his facebook today that PM, AG, Ex- Judge Nazhat Shameem and Chief Justice should be charged and prosecuted.
Chaudhary Jnr is troubled as his daddy’s case on money laundering is approaching for trial in the High Court. So he is trying to target the Judiciary in advance knowing that daddy’s turn to help in cleaning of Naboro Prison is near. Qarase has done part of his share, now its Chaudhary’s turn.
There wont be any sympathy or special treatment for Chaudhary Snr from Judiciary or Government as the family has cried that Fiji has been taken over by Muslims.
If chodory jnr wants to stir up trouble, I invite him to come to fiji and try.
I like the way you pronounce Chaudhary – nice.
Hey Ramlu if Chaudhary had the guts why would he be sitting in Australia and making nonsense allegations on Judiciary members and other respected people.
I bet he would not pop up even for his appeal, he is a coward and a loser.
Latest info on the streets is that RC has been invited by the pro-Democracy group in Oz to address them on the draft constitution etc. No doubt washed up politicians like Kenneth Zinck (now living a luxurious life on the dole on the Gold Coast) and Sam Speight etc, will be there to support ‘the cause’.
Ro Teimumu V. Kepa
Na Gone Marama GARA LEVU RokoTuiDreketi
Vanua ‘o Rewa
Vale Levu
LomaniCICI
REWa
HI all , I like many men at once, if the military boys CAI me Hard then , i may accept the constitution.
I am trained as i use to take MANULEVU fron the front and LENORAS husband from the back.
Please i am willing to submit to frank and withdraw the protest if he agress to punish me hard and ruff. Malo.
Senior Govt members required to reveal their assets and liabilities said ASK in Fiji Village. He said this will be in place in next 3 months. Why does it take 3 months to put in place when they can change and push draft constitution in less time! Unless he and PM are busy hiding things.
BHRug
None of your business wanker.
The group led by teimumu kepa should quit beating around the bush. They should say that they want the qarase qovt and the great council of thieves reinstated.
Bula Graham
Has Rajendra Chaudhry shut his facebook – loloma
No, “Facebooker”, I’m still accessing it. Chaudhry’s two latest postings give some idea of his inner turmoil. The old politics of race. Very disappointing.
Rajendra Chaudhry
27 minutes ago
Come on Tovata and Kubuna – reject the Bai Khai draft constitution. Reclaim Fiji from the hands of dictatorship. Let us all unite and get behind Rewa/ Burebasaga.
Rajendra Chaudhry
8 hours ago
Any Fijian who supports Khaiyum directly or indirectly is a traitor to his/ her race.
How can he, that is the only place he can piss out
.
Somebody needs to tell Mahachod Chodari to intervene and give some holy advise to his beloved son who is tying every loose string so that FLP does not qualify even for one seat – if they get a chance to get registered .
For goodness sake dude can someone help that “Kuta ke Pilla”(dog’s puppy) Rajendra Pal Chaudhary. That one gone absolute mental.
He writes the Draft Constitution was done by Nazhat Shameem, now he writes it was done by Sharma- can someone kick his ………he needs to think before he writes.
Who is the the author of that Draft Constitution????? Get the real name ass……….
Stop shooting every dick and harry Chodri
Dear Graham
Please can you -post the actual comments from Rajend’s facebook HERE on Nazhat allegedly sleeping with Frank, so we could all see it, and pass it around against this pappa’s kala kutta
Intelligence gatherer, dude have some respect for your name. Why don’t you go and read in Kutta ke pilla’s facebook yourself. and yes, next time take that name with respect – its Madam Nazhat Shameem………
@ intelligence gatherer
Yawn.
Hey bro Graham ma man, how we going with da gumboots shipment. Any news bro?
“Fred Dagg”, if you’d been following the story in the Fiji media, you would know that the gumboots have been delivered, as promised. Those gumboots seem to have generated an extraordinary degree of interest. Please explain why because I am at a loss to understand it.
Graham
I was pleased to read in the daily paper a while ago that the gumboots had been delivered and hope that someone had thought of getting the right sizes, a selection of colours and some permanent markers so the recipients could write their names on them.
You are right in that this small act certainly generated a lot of interest but from what I read most of it due to the ability of some to put a negative twist to it unfortunately.
What did surprise me was why the PR gurus never jumped on this. What an oppurtunity for a great picture of 120 kids wearing new wellies smiling away, they and their school would have loved that.
Yes, Alby, don’t dictators generally do jackboots, not gumboots? I suppose the dreaded Qorvis and its foreign lackeys ( I wonder who that might be?) should have been all over this one. Which just goes to show how stupid we are in concentrating our efforts on a much bigger agenda – moving Fiji forward to next year’s election and the introduction of the first true democracy in the country’s history. Silly us for being obsessed with something so trivial.
Not like you to miss photo opportunity. I was only thinking of your career GD and this would have fitted in nicely. You, Frank and kids all in gumboots on front page of Fiji Sun. Maybe the MINFO can prepare one for you using photoshop.
All signed sealed and delivered to the kidddos bro.
Graham
I find your reply rather surprising as within my post there was certainly no intention of sarcasm or anti anyone but a genuine interest in this small act of kindness undertaken by the government.
It was yourself that first bought this matter to your readers attention some weeks ago and believe it or not there are some of us that value being informed of this type of act.
There are also some of us that believe the ‘trivial’ (your term) positive aspects of life can go a long way to help guide the way forward.
Perhaps my mistake was to refer to PR gurus only and not our local news media ?
Ably the word for him is narcissist. What hope have we in Fiji with such people advising the regime?
At least I have a real name, not like you, eh “Fred”? I guess at least you’re true to your adopted name. Dag. The remnants of excreta around a sheep’s rear end.
“Alby”, I’m sorry if you took offence at my comment. My point remains that the gumboots are a minor consideration in the overall scheme of things and the “PR gurus” you refer to – which I naturally took to be Qorvis in this context – have more substantive concerns.
Oh is graham Davis your real name? Also your right about dag and most people when insulting someone would use the word dag. But being oblivious to fashion, wearing gumboots, look who is calling who dag when your self proclaimed leader is giving away gumboots. maybe You could call him a dag as well.
However mr graham Davis jr if you look closely you will notice that I have spelt it with 2 g’s. how many awards have you won? And what were they for?
Graham
Can native land be converted to freehold?
“Ghost”, it has happened in the past through a mechanism that has now been closed. Certain native land that was eyed by developers was converted to Crown Land and then swapped for other parcels of freehold land and declared freehold. The Bainimarama Government has closed that mechanism to protect ordinary i’Taukei landowners and no native land can now be converted to freehold.
The land transaction in question involved the swap or exchange of 68.7 hectares of native land owned by Tokatoka Nasau with freehold land of equivalent value owned by Matapo Limited, the developer of Momi Bay Resort Project.
Upon exchange the native land was to be converted to freehold and the Matapo freehold was to be converted to native land and registered under Tokatoka Nasau. There was no “loss” of native land in the transaction because of the equivalent freehold land and other benefits in exchange.
My information is that the conversion of native land to freehold was completed. But the conversion of freehold to native land has yet to be completed, due to interference by the present Government following the Military Coup on 5th December, 2006.
The transaction was made with the voluntary agreement of the two parties involved, Matapo Limited and Tokatoka Nasau. The NLTB gave its approval to the deal and the Government of the day sanctioned the land swap under the Land Transfer Act. The terms and conditions of the land swap are recorded in an Agreement between the two parties dated 31st May, 2005.
The landowners were obviously satisfied and happy with the benefits they received then, and the benefits they will receive in the future if the project is successful.
Unfortunately for the landowners they have suffered because of the effects of the military coup of 5th December, 2006. The overthrow of a democratically elected Government has effectively “killed” the Momi Bay Resort Project. The Momi Bay Resort development would have been completed by now if there was no illegal take-over of the Government.
No it can’t. Even with or without the consent of the landowners, even if the landowners are getting freehold in exchange, NATIVE LAND CAN NOT BE ALIENATED. Qarase has done something illegal. The whole transaction s probably void.
Fijian elite ‘eat’ Poor native Fijian
Laisenia Qarase (aka Mandela), Lalabalavu and Teimumu Kepa have been exposed in an illegal land swap deal involving mataqali land.
This is a clear example of how the Fijian elite have been preying on their kind while shielding their illegal and corrupt activities by using the Indan bogey.
Qarase has offerd a feeble and unconvincing explanation that the Native Land owners were happy to SWAP . But as someone rightly pointed out, the resort developers were by far getting the better of bargain.
The highly-valued piece of native land gets converted to freehold and its value increases dramatically year after year. The land that the Landowners get will not increase in value anywhere near as much over the years.
Is is kind of deal that people who are elected to represent Fijians and safeguard their interests, should be getting into? It smacks of the FHA share deals scandal in which elites like Qarase used insider information to buy A-class shares and cream the dividends.
This is modern day canibalism of the financial type, where the educated and knowledgeable cunningly prey on the uneducated and simple.
This system has existed in Fiji all this time, and elites like Mere Samisoni, who acts like a royal, want to maintain.
Before they were ‘couped’, some Fijian leaders became so greedy and desperate they even going after native land.
Indians are portrayed as a threat to native land. This incident shows that it is their own kind that the natives have to fear most.
Qarase supporters are, of course, in denial.
Who were the directors of matapo ltd? From what I heard the project was doomed to fail coup or no coup as there were too many players. Blame it on the coup but the truth will soon be known.
Just some questions hope someone (with legal and land knowledge) can please throw some light on it please:
Are there any written legislation on swapping of native land for freehold land? Or is this a grey area?
If its not permissible then did LQ and his Govt. made a tremendous mistake in this?What did they do wrong? Should they have first go to Parliament for such required legislation or amendments be first enacted then effect the swapping of land? Does it need to be legislated in the first place?
If minerals or some other resources are found in the old native land will the native land owners have any kind of rights to it?
Does this mean that the native land owners loose all their traditional rights to the land they had given away – like their rights to ‘traditional qoliqoli’, right to have ownership to companies that may wish to benefit from resources in their land, etc?
Are there any benefits to swapping of land for the native land owners – like native for crown/freehold land – and vice versa? If there are how can we ensure that native land owners are not worse off? Especially when most iTaukeis landowners aren’t aware of many laws and processes, etc? Are these addressed in the current laws? Does this need to be enshrined in the new Constitution?
If swapping of land can be a good thing for our economy why is this not legislated? So all parties interests are well protected, especially too for our economic investors who can contribute to our country.
Your clarifications will really help clarify the issues………… please help clarify this as alot of us less educated people are spinning around from too many different explanations.
Perhaps this can help:
http://www.fijivillage.com/?mod=story&id=090413e353192a045f1ec39c2f3a83
Native land shall not be alienated whether by sale, grant, transfer or sale except to the Crown. Section 5 of the Native Land Trust Act.
So no transfer to swapping is allowed except if ‘it’s to the Crown’ (maybe it means to the Queen or State).
Maybe others here can clarify more.
Any Regulations on this by iTLB who administers ‘swapping native land to the Crown’.
A law on this should have been approved by the iTLB Board and Minister of Lands??? To ensure iTaukei interests were protected???
Any comments from iTLB?
Former iTaukei MPs in LQ Govt should have ensured this was all in order prior to agreeing??? Was this duty done?
Maybe the then NLTB (chaired by the then PM LQ) should have come up with written and appropriately approved established criteria on circumstances a swapping or transfer of land to the state should have been approved???
Was this done??? Was GCC or any Indigenous Council’s view sought on this sensitive matter??? Was this a requirement?
Yes, the iTaukei MPs in LQ’s cabinet should have questioned this too as they too have a duty to ensure this. Also especially when some of them were in the then GCC. Wonder whether an due diligence checking was done?
Who was the valuer who valued the said pieces of land??? Does he/she have the required qualifications??? Any geologist, environmentalist, and other appropriate expert involved in the valuation and due diligence exercise???
What benefits would the current iTaukei landowners receive??? What about their future generations – anything for them – or any monies set aside for them as their land had been swapped???
Was an independent legal opinion sought by the then LQ Govt on this swapping of land and not totally rely on their AG/SG’s Office???
Who were the main agents for the iTaukei landowners and in LQ Govt in this deal??? Did they receive any benefits??? Has anyone checked their personal and business bank accounts locally and overseas???
This case does raise alot of questions!!! I wonder whether anyone can answer these questions.
I believe the duty of due care should apply in here and all who are responsible in the LQ Govt should share some light on this.
Hope the investigations proposed by the current AG will clearly tell us what actually happened here and whether there were any laxity on anybody’s part for not ensuring:
a) the law was followed.
b) duty of care was done.
What’s up with new Air Bus at Auckland airport. I hear plane has defects.!
I really can not understand the point of your post. What is so surprising or unusual that a new plane has a ‘defect’ ?
Perhaps if you were able to enlighten us on exactly what the defect is and its possible potential impact on safety people may be interested.
Does it not occur to you that many do not care if we hear something like this as it demonstrates that a problem has been recognised and is being dealt with.
F Dagg
What else did you hear? First it was gumboots then you tried to be qarases mouthpiece on the momi saga and now its the airbus. Move on man.
Yes you are right, I should move on as I am not saying what you all want to hear and I may be wasting my time. Seems like you are all here either as government ( illegal) mouth piece or have been brainwashed and don’t know any better. Wouldn’t be surprised if half of you all are the same person, simply spruiking it up to make it interesting and convincible for any innocent reader who has come across this site.
I can assure you I’m no mouth piece for anyone nor have I named called any one. I have simply asked questions which none of you liked as it was the truth which you all seem to have issue with. Dagger you seriously have problems.
@Fred Dagg-Ni bula vinaka. Am certainly not a spruced up version of someone else on here and am an individual who likes to think that has a balanced view on everything in life. On that note, I do agree that you do come up with views or do raise issues that may not align with the views of the majority of people that contribute on Grubsheet.
In saying that, I need to raise two things. Firstly, you do have all the right in the world to voice your opinion but in your case your views are very anti-regime which is your right and I respect that, but you are very one-sided in ONLY highlighting the shortfalls of the military junta rather than being balanced which you are far from. The current military government has made some bad decisions but like most things in life, they also have done some marvellous work with grassroots something that none of the post-colonial democratically elected government has ever done. For example, I have never known any past Prime Ministers to be so accessible to any ordinary person in the community like Frank Bainimarama although the way he usurped to power was illegal. He rode a horse to a village where there was no road and opened a school in the interior in Navose called Draubuta. I have personally in my University days walked from the nearest road which is Korolevu to Draubuta and it took us half a day crossing rivers eight times. Lately Frank opened a school in Naitasiri or Wainimala and the village “mouthpiece” talked about how past democratically elected governments (SDL in this case) made false promises to them but now this government has finally delivered. I do not condone military coups, period but blimmey I do know good leadership when I see one. Frank is streets ahead of any current Fijian leaders.
Secondly, you allege that most contibutors on Grubsheets have all been brain-washed and are mouthpieces for the current regime. Fred, tough ! The level of discussion on this blog is way above the others I have visited (C4.5, Peter Firkins blog to name a few) in terms of levels of intelligence potrayed by the manner in which people put their arguments forward and backed by facts although some may not be as strong as others; the reality is it falls in the realms of intellectual discussion rather than sheer hurling of verbal abuse as experienced in others. Maybe you are a minority in this blog but what an excellent opportunity for you to structure your views with some undebatable facts that you will win us all. Resorting to accusations because someone else’ views differ and then tarnishing everyone here as military government mouthpieces is very lame. You have simply shot yourself on the foot with that one. Kalougata tiko.
Spot on NZFijian@Heart.
Debate arguments and back it up with facts oh dear Fred!
Please be constructive and stop all the ‘un-necessities.’
This is a respectable blog for respectable people.
Fred,
You clearly state that you are ‘no mouthpiece for anyone’ in the above post so I have to question why it is then that you take others articles and post them under your name ?
One of your previous posts above regarding the Momi land deal is simply a copy and paste of a statement printed and reported as being made by Mr Qarase as published on C4.5.
This copied statement of Mr Qarase’s contains the word ‘My’, refering to himself but you make no reference to this not being your article and try to decieve us that it is your view and contribution to debate.
I have no interest as to the content of Mr Qarase’s statement but ask if you actually have your own views on anything ?
Dagg
The next rumor you gonna hear is that chaudary is gay.
The Latest is that property belonging to Rajendra Chaudhary in Muanikau is going for Tender by Bank – shortly.
Please see if one of his supporters or well wishes ( he so strangely thinks he has) might come out to help this poor guy.
Isa Raju, you have lost almost everything my boy.
Now stop making allegations on people and get on the Aussie streets to collect money to save whatever is left.
My best wishes raju.
Fantastic post however , I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this topic?
I’d be very thankful if you could elaborate a little
bit further. Many thanks!
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