Bunkum evidence

So the military regime is “investigating” how Lt Col Mara escaped and who may have aided him. The figurative horse has already bolted from the stable – why spend so much time trying to figure out how the stable door came to be open?

The answer could lie in another case from the illegal regime’s deep, dark past. Coup 4.5 – ever on the ball – has unearthed interesting information about the conman, Peter Foster and his relationship with the illegal regime. It is evident that the regime spent a LOT of time using Foster’s testimony to legitimise their reasons for overthrowing the legitimately elected multi-party government.  All the information that Foster gave them was bunkum – poison fruit from a poison tree. But BainiVore, the malodorous Chodokant and their minions of the time quoted the information ad nauseum. Why? Because BainiVore needed to convince the Military Council that his plans were necessary. And through his lies, he managed to fool them.

So, this time, who is BainiVore trying to convince? What lies is he preparing the ground for, and for whose benefit – aside from his own? Does he need, once again, to pull the wool over the eyes of the Military Council? We know he wants to get rid of the Nailatikau’s. Perhaps he is trying to use Ului as red herring to achieve that.

Whatever his plans, we know that his intentions are evil. Members of the Military Council – DO NOT BE FOOLED! Get rid of him, strip him of his position, and take us back to free and fair elections. We are SO CLOSE to freedom now. Tabu soro.

God bless Fiji

Egypt’s parallels in Fiji

This article on Egypt’s upheaval by editor Christopher Hitchens in Conde Nast’s April edition of Vanity Fair has some stunning parallels to Fiji’s situation.

The day is coming when Fiji’s illegal interim military regime will fall. What we need in place is the interim government that will replace them, that We The People can get behind and support.

The goons are doing all they can to prevent an alternative administration forming (by dealing out lashings of beatings, etc) and to prevent We The People from voicing our protest (such as pressure on the organisers of the aborted 4 March rally).

There are two quotes from this excellent article, which appears on the page titled “Hitchens” (see top of the page), that stand out for Fiji’s situation. I paraphrase them here for Fiji.

“Fiji is not a country with an army but an army that has a country.”

and

“Bainimarama wants to be thought of as a father of our nation, only to discover that We The People want to be orphans.”

How long will we allow the illegal regime to make us their victims? How long will we allow them to rule us with our own fear?

You can read the full article online here http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/04/hitchens-201104.

God bless Fiji

Vanity Fair is published by Conde Nast and is a darn good read

Hot Bread owner under threat

The illegal regime has blocked us from being able to read Michael Field’s blog. So, thanks to our internationally-based freedom activists, here is a transcript of his latest post.

Heat Over Hot Bread Owner

Fiji’s military are poised to seize Dr Mere Samisoni and  haul her up to the Queen Elizabeth Barracks, presumably for  re-education, Chinese Communist Party style.

I have been advised of this by a good source who is frankly alarmed over what might happen.

She is facing the same kind of treatment dished out to Sam Speight who was tortured at QEB over a DVD circulating. (click here to watch the videoes)

The military, who have somewhat shamefully taken the route of oppressing the Fijian people, are also working to close down Dr Samisoni’s Hot Bread Kitchen chain.

Some background

Back in the days I was allowed into Fiji and camped up at  the Holiday Inn, I used to have a early morning ritual.

I would walk up the road to the Hot Bread which, even at that early hour, was open. Customers would often be lining up buying fresh bread.

Not being much of a white bread man myself, I just limited myself to buying the daily newspapers. That was when they were independent, lively newspapers.

I knew Dr Samisoni owned the chain and I knew of her strong involvement with the ruling Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua  (SDL). At some stage we even came to indirect blows. She  wrote a letter to the Fiji Times critical of something I wrote.

I cannot remember what the issue was. The thought, though, that I would boycott the Hot Bread Kitchen because we had a disagreement, simply did not enter my head.

Mature adults in civilised states can have disagreements.

And still break bread, so to speak.

Besides, the Hot Bread Kitchen struck me as a worthy enterprise by locals for locals. It has 400 locals working for it.

Recent developments

Dr Samisoni recently went to Lomaloma, her home village, on Vanua Balavu in Lau. She was setting up yet another Hot Bread – a daunting operation on those distant islands. She had a copy of a DVD that had been the source of trouble for Sam Speight. The DVDs were not produced by SDL. The original piece was sent from Suliasi Daunitutu who was the speaker in the DVD. Fiji Democratic Freedom Movement (FDFM) World Wide Chapters funded and produced the DVDs in Australia. Once the original arrived people dubbed their own. These can also be downloaded from youtube (click here to watch the videoes).

Dr Samisoni told her cousin, the Turaga Ni Koro, that he could look at it if he wanted to. Or not. Up to him. It is not known if he watched.

The military heard word of this, and now I hear she is targeted for re-education at the barracks.

Prices

Voreqe Bainimarama’s Price Incomes Board is also being used against her, with rules proposed on the price that can be charged for bread.

Now, at first blush, one can assume that setting a price for bread is a good thing. But in the case it is a military regime trying to stay in office. And as anybody who has followed recent UN Food and Agriculture Organisation  bulletins, the price of the ingredients needed to make bread  have internationally gone through the roof.

How can a military board set a price independent of the world price? Fiji, the way the world should be?

The military have revengeful method in their madness though, and they are using the Incomes Board to get at Dr Samisoni.

The big bakeries such as the Malaysian owned Morris Hedstrom and the small Chinese shops can use white bread as  a loss leader. That means they sell it at the board price, at no profit, but make it up on other produce.

Alert

If the military demands she comes to the barracks, she should call her solicitor as soon as Police or Army call or visit her. Further that she has a right to remain silent and she tell them that she will maintain that right to silence. Her solicitor can take over when he arrives there. Basically tell them, she will remain silent and they can charge her with an offence(s) or release her, they have burden of proof. It’s not her job to answer their questions and provide them with any evidence.

Fiji, lost now and little noticed in the world, might believe it is able to get away with the kind of oppressive action feared about to happen. Who cares, the Republic of the Fiji Military Forces might say, what happens to an indigenous businesswoman.

Well, here is a piece of news to those soldiers thinking of  doing it; you are being watched and you will be named.

At some stage in this whole mess, there has to be a reckoning.

27 March 2011

Michael Field http://www.michaelfield.org/hotbread.htm

God bless Fiji

When Good Men Do Nothing

RIP Ratu Iloilo, Tui Vuda and former President of Fiji.

A good and decent man, beloved by all in the chiefly village of Viseisei and further afield, his time of leading our people is forever tarnished by the machinations of OmniVore, iArse, the malodorous Chodokant and their minions who manipulated a frail and vulnerable old man.

Unfortunately for the people of Fiji, in Ratu Iloilo’s final years his health was frail and his mental capacity was in question.

In a perfect world, he would have lived out his time as President with competent staff helping him to fulfill light duties and make him and Fiji look good while running the country to fulfill its best potential.

Edmund Burke is attributed with having said: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

This regime exploited the Tui Vuda, lied to him and manipulated him and, tragically, he was unable to do anything.

The Tui Vuda’s time is now past. Our hopes live on. Tabu soro.

God bless Fiji

By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them

So iArse got the green light for his casinos.  What can this possibly bring about, other than the further ruination of our once-promising nation?  “Fiji Fantastic”, so the ads used to say. That possibility is now so far out of our reach it seems almost as though it never was.

Gambling. Readers may recall back in mid 2009 Dr Wadan Narsey released a far-reaching analysis into how badly the new illegal regime was performing.  Many others besides predicted how this regime would start rotting our infrastructure. Discombobulated Bubu hit the nail on the head with her Boiling Frog series. Solivakasama (under Kutu, as it was at the time) held many forum discussions on the true corruption of this illegitimate regime. Well, the regime is no longer even pretending to care about moral fibre, and is instead looking at gambling as an easy avenue to a quick buck. (iArse – will you never learn? THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS EASY MONEY!)

Let’s revisit the facts.

1. Alleged corruption. When OmniVore illegally took control of our government, he claimed that he was doing so in order to root out corruption blah blah blah. [Anti-IIR bloggers will know that his actual motive was to avoid prosecution for the murder of the CRW soldiers who died in custody. Then Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes (arguably Fiji’s most successful PC) had compiled his dossier and handed it to the DPP’s office. OmniVore got wind of this, through his chum and co-conspirator the malodorous Chodokant, and threatened to hold a coup-d’etat. If only we’d sacked him when we had the chance!]
2. Qarase Not Guilty. Since OmniVore took over the reigns of power, not one IIR allegation against the Qarase government has been brought to light, or proven. Not one.
3. Economic death. Since OmniVore took over the reigns of power, Fiji’s economy has plummeted. Whereas under the democratically elected Qarase multi-party government our economy was not only thriving but growly steadily, OmniVore has only been able to keep the country afloat by under-the-table deals like selling off our foreign assets without declaring them (WTF happened to our embassy in New York?) or selling off our mineral, forestry or fisheries resources without declaring them. They are taking non-transparent loans from mainland China (which, as any switched-on African will tell you, is A Bad Idea), asking the IMF for ridiculous loans and essentially throwing our nation so badly into debt that any democratically elected government who comes in after them will have such an enormous and ingrained mess to clean up that it may not be achieved in our lifetime.
4. Real corruption. OmniVore and his junta are self-appointed, and unelected. They have no reason to perform well at their jobs, and no-one to kick them out for poor results and for this reason, the REAL rot has set in, right from the top. They are systematically crippling our media, the fourth estate, from reporting what is really happening in our government. As the saying goes, the fish stinks from the head. iArse’s own mother has migrated to NZ to escape her son’s double dealings. Anyone who thought that corruption was bad under previous governments (let’s face it, Fiji’s politics has never been snowy white, but at least we had the option before to throw them out when they were really useless – like we did to Chodokant) is watching the IIR in real shock.
5. Real rot. And now the rot sets in. Whereas before, Fiji’s crime problems stretched as far as home incursions, a fledgling drug trade in the hill tribes, prostitution in the main towns and of course unsustainable illegal fishing in our waters, we are now looking at an entirely new ball game. Fiji’s criminal underworld is now probably better organised than the government itself. Prostitution is all over the streets in any town within 5 hours’ journey of a Chinese workman (just enough time for him to – ahem – come, spend his money and return to work on his next shift). The drug trade has exploded to the point where every province now has a local drug lord who monitors the crop, keeps prying eyes at bay, tries to placate or neutralise the chiefs (some provinces, where a chief has died suspiciously before his or her time, there are tales told of foul play by the local drug lord). The unsustainable fishing has been able to move into broad daylight. Boat captains on the wharves hold clearly visible, bulging brown envelopes which are passed without question to officials who turn their blind eye to the portions of the haul that fall way over quota. How ironic is it that Fiji’s waters are at their most endangered under a naval officer? And without a free and unfettered media, we can only guess at the full extent of the rot.
6. Gambling. And now, for iArse & OmniVore’s next chapter. Gambling. Not satisfied with the growth of organised crime, drugs, prostitution they now openly court the next addictive vice on their list. Gambling!

If you will forgive me for getting biblical for a moment, there is a story of the time Jesus found the moneychangers conducting their business in the temple of the Lord and, well, he basically lost it. Jesus’ passion, his righteous fury and the reported tantrum that followed, of overturning the tables, scattering the money to the floor, chasing them from what should have been hallowed, sacred and consecrated ground, has inspired believers, preachers, philosophers, artists and leaders alike. For the habitually reasonable and calm Jesus, this was the point at which he said ‘ENOUGH!’ and took a definite stand against the impending rot. Some scholars argue that it was this event which lead to his own people beginning to turn against him and planning schemes to hand him over to the Romans.

I like to think of Fiji as a land of God. The Almighty has given Fiji so many gifts, so many natural resources and precious, beautiful features. Traditionally, the Fijian people have seen ourselves as stewards of our land. We look after it in order to pass it on to our next generation.  This illegal regime takes a vastly different stand. Their only motive is to ravage and pillage Fiji for everything they can get. There is no thought for what will come after, or for the greater good of We The People. There is no consideration of their duty to the Almighty or how they should give thanks (real thanks, not the thanks of a thief) by multiplying the gifts that Fiji has to offer. No. Their only thought is of what they can take.

Why am I so angry about gambling being legalised in Fiji? Because, like the vices of drugs, sex/prostitution and  organised crime, once it has taken root, it will be very, very, very difficult to root out.

During the Qarase government, the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre released a story on the real cost to the nation of domestic violence. They counted up the number of reported cases of domestic violence, the amount of hours it took to process a report, treat the victim, prosecute and fine or jail the aggressor. They calculated the hours taken up by police, doctors and nurses, magistrates and court officials, detention facilities. And they were able to tell us all the REAL cost of domestic violence in Fiji. It was in the millions.

The cost to the nation of treating the consequences of gambling and addicts to gambling will be vast. Gamblers suck up their own finances, and the finances of their families to feed their addiction. They turn to crime and, like drug addicts and the prostitution ‘industry’, they feed the cycle of violence that sustains those vices. Fiji will not become the Monte Carlo of the South Pacific. No. Our gamblers will not be the great and the good of ANZ, no. Our gamblers will be our poorest, most vulnerable and most tiresome individual burdens on the state (other than the IIR, of course).

This illegal regime is doing everything it can to bring about the systemic ruination of Fiji. What is next? What lower depths can they stoop to?  I would not be surprised if they work their way around to child pornography, if they are not there already. (I write this in a matter of fact way, but looking into the happy, carefree and innocent brown faces of our beautiful children, the future of our land, I am filled with a gripping horror.) How much further will they willingly push us?

Jesus took a stand. When will We The People decide enough is enough?

Tabu soro.

God bless Fiji

ID cards – against what threat?

So the dictator believes that we all need to carry ID cards in the interest of national security.

Under this regime we are prohibited from asking the obvious questions, but this IS cyber-space, so I’m going to have a go.  What real threat to our society could POSSIBLY be thwarted by compulsory ID cards?

The main threats to our national interest and civil life include:

1. This regime, whose junta is unelected, self-appointed and refuses to allow We The People to voice our aspirations for the future of our beloved country
2. The desecration of our systems of law, order and justice, by the above-mentioned junta
3. Home incursions, which effect the daily living of every citizen who can no longer sleep securely with the doors and windows open because crime has flourished so thoroughly under this regime that we all must sleep in stifling heat or expensive air-conditioning (most of us under the latter because we cannot afford the former)
4. The plundering of our national assets by this regime – forestry, agricultural, minerals, foreign assets (the junta has never answered the question of what the hell happened to our Crown properties in the US), fishing, the list goes on and on
5. The spread of organised crime, prostitution and illegal drug culture which flourishes under this regime and will be almost impossible to stop once it has taken root

There are many other very real threats to our national interest, all of them flowing directly from this junta. So honestly, OmniVore – what or who are you trying to protect with this plan? And how do you intend to pay for it, because these schemes are prohibitively expensive. Many other Commonwealth countries have dropped the idea of compulsory ID cards because the costs far outweigh any potential benefits.

Is this something OmniVore is hoping to pay for with that $1billion he wants from the IMF? Because that idea has SCAM written all over it. If this is an intended programme for that IMF $1billion, who is to say it won’t go the same way as those legendary mill upgrades we were promised from India? That money went to India for the upgrades, but all that came back was spare parts – no upgrade. And OmniVore’s ‘people’ in the sugar industry were too scared and embarrassed to ‘fess up to it because the dictator has a bad temper, man, and they all know that, like all truly powerless people, he shoots the messenger.

Going on past performance, I would venture a guess that OmniVore’s plan is to get $1billion from the IMF, saddle Fiji’s current and future generations with a debt so huge that we stand little chance of ever paying it back and will have to ask, like Africa in days of yore, for amnesty. To justify the money, he will approve lame-brain expensive ideas, like compulsory ID cards, which have been brought to him by foreign (dare I say, Chinese or Indian) based companies who will charge enormous amounts for the service and fail to deliver a quality product. And he will pocket an extortionate proportion of the $1billion for himself and his corrupt cronies, sponsors and family members.

Is any of this sounding too far-fetched? I wish, from the bottom of my heart, that it did.

Free and fresh elections for Fiji. Now. Tabu soro.

God bless Fiji.