Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

With the economic doom predicted earlier now appearing closer to a reality , the illegal military regime is getting desparate!

The once proud Chaudhry has begged Australia and New Zealand to understand Fiji's situation and lend a helping hand. New Zealand and Australia remain firm in their sanctions, and so they should!! Chaudhry's excuse that these two countries did nothing in the past 6 years with regards to governance issues is waaayyy off topic and really stupid. You see, the governance issues were from a people's elected government. And the people of Fiji were given proper channels to voice their grievances regarding the government's policies and issues. There was always a channel open to us the public to speak up and be heard. That was during the reign of democracy and an elected government. People of this country were not threatened, intimidated, beaten, killed for speaking out against the policies of an elected government.

WE DON'T HAVE THAT CHANNEL OPEN TO US NOW.

The illegal military regime are in power thru illegal means, and Chaudhry's taking home his illegaly attained $50k plus salary not because the people put him there! but because he opted to join this illegal regime!
THERE IS NO OPPOSITION PARTY to this illegal military regime to counter and debate the issues and policies they implement.
We the people DO NOT HAVE A SAY IN WHAT'S GOING ON!
We the people are NOT ALLOWED TO SPEAK OUT, lest we be taken in for questioning, beaten or even worse!

Chaudhry, the international arena is watching closely and monitoring the situation on the ground. You seem to be loosing it badly as of late.

Your false accusations against the Elections Commisioner Mr. Karavaki has come back to bite you and your illegal regime. Chaudhry's claim that the Elections were 'rigged' stank (lewenski is there such a word?) so bad that even the Editor of the Fiji Times threw it back at him. Mr Karavaki the esteemed Elections Commisioner has returned the compliments ten fold.
The Times Editorial explains the irrelevance of Chaudhry's claim, and I thought I'd dwell a bit on that to enlighten the rural readers (if you can print and disseminate please do so) on the processes involved. Understanding the processes somewhat will empower you the reader to conclude for yourself the value of his claim.

My understanding, having worked in the Elections of 2001 and 2006 (Lewenski you reading this?:)), is that the Elections Commission worked closely with Australian and New Zealand Elections consultants in the 2006 Elections. These consultants also produced ongoing reports regarding the areas they were involved in, continually reporting back to their governments on the status of the work they were doing. Some of these reports were made available to all political parties taking part in the 2006 Elections, along with the reports produced by the respective international election watchdogs.
There is a lot of work involved in the organising and collection of Voter registration information to be entered into the Electoral roll database. This roll is then updated various times during in the build up to Elections as is required in the Elections Act. For each update, the updated rolls (not sure if only those updated, or the whole roll) are printed and given to the various Parties and monitoring bodies/agents. There are avenues for corrections from respective parties concerning their constituencies, and these corrections are then run through the whole process i've just mentioned. There is of course a timeframe to work with and the elections commission is limited in the number of correctios,updates etc they have in order to meet the deadlines. All this I am sure Mr Chaudhry knows of himself, having been involved in Fiji politics from as far back before the first coup in 1987.

Now the FINAL printing of the Electoral ballot papers are dependent on the

• Total voters registered per constituency
• Commision's allocation of Polling stations for each day
• and which constituencies are going to be available at each polling station.

I emphasised FINAL because during the build up before Polling starts, if the Elections Office makes an administrative error in printing faulty ballot papers then the Office is required to destroy the incorrect ones and there is a process for doing this. If memory serves me correct this occured in the build up to the 2006 Elections - I believe it was a print out with an incorrect logo for a candidate above or below the line,or something like that. I understand that the "destroying" process was followed by the Elections Office, with the Australian and New Zealand representatives kept in the know about it. Transparency was the keyword then and there was no complaint about these papers at all during the build up to Elections, during Eletions or after Elections - after all they could not be used in voting as the mistaken papers would have been identified during the Counting Process. eh Chaudhry?.

You can see the numbers game coming into play here.
The determination of how many Electoral papers to allocate for each polling station - for each day - is never an exact science. Having extra papers printed is a norm, they did so in 2001, and possibly other elections.
Why? Well the Elections Office can never be sure how many people will turn up to each polling station on a given day to vote for a particular constituency.
The Elections Office has always made voting easier for us the voters by opening polling stations close to us at certain days, and in case we can't make it for those days allow us to vote at near by polling stations also. Because the number of votes cast at each station is never known, the Elections Office has to work with bulk figures in determining how many papers to issue per station per day and reshuffling these to be used again at the next polling station and so forth.

Chaudhry's attempt at misleading the public with his "over 600,000 Elections papers" excess is really taking advantage of the ignorant public, most probably aimed at increasing his dwindling support group in his constituency and Fiji cane belt areas. You see what Chaudhry did not reveal, and no one knows if this is highlighted in the audit reports he was quoting from, is that no conclusion can be based on this number alone!
The following are points that need to be addressed to give us a better picture of the situation

Of this 650,000 papers;

1. What is the breakdown of this 650,000 ballot papers per Constituency ?
2. Were these excess papers printed during a single print session?
   If not, then explain why and how many excess papers were printed during each print session?
3. Would these papers have affected the results of any of the constituencies?
   

The last question is the most important one.
To answer the last question properly, we'll have to know the answer to the first question, and how valid these excess papers were come Election time.

The fact that Chaudhry did not reveal this vital information makes his arrogant smile all the more irritating. (caught you off guard there didn't I). Yes, like you I am tired of seeing his arrogance reflected in his online photos, his TV comments and his attemtp to con the populace into supporting him! Back on track here...

The breakdown is important as we the public need to know, if there was something illegal going on, how many excess papers were there regarding each constituency at each polling station for voters. How many papers could have been used to "manipulate the results" as he claimed it.

AND MORE IMPORTANTLY: HOW COULD IT HAVE BEEN USED TO "MANIPULATE THE RESULTS" AS CHAUDHRY CLAIMS !?!?!

Chaudhry went further to digging his own political grave by stating the following points:

"A detailed audit of the ballot papers was impossible because the Elections Office:"
Did not keep a record of ballot papers issued to each polling station;

Failed to maintain a master record of ballot papers against which reconciliation could be carried out of used/unused ballot papers;

• The ballot papers USED per polling station is verified at the end of the day for each polling station per day. The polling stations are bulk issued with ballot papers and a record of the number of papers used per day is recorded

- as each vote is cast
- and a final count at the end of the day when the polling station is closed for polling papers USED.
For each of these processes, a representative of each political party is allowed to be present in the polling room to keep track of the count.
The final count of papers USED is then substracted from the bulk count given for each station. Papers not used are returned to the Main Polling Office by Policemen, and a further verification count is done at the Main polling office of the papers returned. Again I believe the parties are allowed to be around when this is done, but am not sure on that account.

Maybe Chaudhry's FLP party missed out on some, but it appears that the Elections Office didn't.

It's important thing to highlight here is that in the whole process the USED ballot papers are important to keep track of, not the unused ones. The USED ones are the ones that should tally with the Registered Voters who Voted. Remember all those people sitting in the voting room with books in front of them and crossing names off? Yes well Chaudhry's people were a part of that group also, making sure that each used paper was accounted for.

Did not carry out a reconciliation of used and unused or spoilt ballot papers after the elections as required under the Electoral Act;
This reconcilliation was incomplete as Mr. Karavaki stated since the papers were still located at his Office when he was illegaly removed from Office by this bunch of illegal idiots. (yes, its getting to me).
Mr Karavaki stated that they were still in the process of finalising the audit when he was removed.
Notice that Chaudhry makes no mention of this audit, no reference to the legal work done by the Elections committe.

Burnt a large quantity of allegedly spoilt and unused ballot papers, which was in direct breach of the Electoral Act. The explanations for this gross misconduct was "administrative error";
My understanding is that the papers printed during the first few printing runs and were incorrect needed to be burned. Sitiveni Rabuka clarified the process in which this is done and it appears that the Elections Office followed this process. I think I remember this happening during the course of the build up for Elections. If Chaudhry has records of the burning, then this process was followed as was required by the Elections Act. If he is referring to this set of incorrect ballot papers, then what is the issue mr illegaly appointed minister?

The Supervisor of Elections is required by law to Gazette the results of the general elections based on reports submitted by Returning Officers.

Wasn't this Gazetted when the Government started its rule after Elections! I recall hearing the Elections Office state clearly all the results of the Elections as each count was completed. Does he mean Gazette it as in how the illegal military regime have been pushing out gazettes in their attempts to make all their illegal appointments legal?


The people of this nation, particularly those that live in the cane belt area and believe in Chaudhry's claims, need to understand that the Fiji Electoral Process is a model that has been approved by various local Political Parties and NGOs along with international countries.
The processes involved in every Election we have is carried out with so many verification, checks and double checks and all this with people looking over their shoulders so to speak.
This is so because it

• ENFORCES TRANSPARENCY at each step, with the close monitoring of the Elections Commision by international bodies and local party representatives.
  
  
• ENFORCES INTEGRITY at each step as various bodies have input at various stages of the Elections, including the political parties taking part, the government representatives, the Ministry of Finance for financial requirements, and the international bodies monitoring their investments in the Elections department.
  
  
• DISCOURAGES 'RIGGING' of Electoral results as the combination of the two points mentioned previously reduces the possibility of one political party rigging the Electoral results ; be it current Government, a political party or some influence form within the Elections Commission.

This is why countries like Australia, New Zealand and other international bodies like the Commonwealth, the US, the EU and according to the Fiji Times editorial a group from the USP, are there to monitor the process ensuring that all parties are up to date with the latest information, all parties are informed and that the Electoral commision is abiding by the rules of the Elections Act and Constitution of Fiji. The same Constitution that Voreqe, Chaudhry and their bunch of thugs tore apart since December 5.

This is why Mr Karavaki states that the papers that were in excess were all accounted for and located in his office at the time he was unconstitutionally removed from his Office. He is not responsible for what occurred after his removal! Chaudhry is!

What is more astounding is the fact that Chaudhry claims that the Elections Office and Mr Karavaki need to provide proof to counter various allegations. Chaudhry has not provided any substantial proof to support his allegations, just pushing the burden of proof to Mr Karavaki in his letter to the editor in today's Fiji Times Friday 11th May. (if link doesn't work, check Fiji Times archives)

Doesn't this technique sound so farmiliar! Voreqe used that technique as his excuse for coup saying that there was "extreme wide scale corruption" and still to this day he hasn't been able to show us proof of this corruption that would justify a vote of no faith by Cabinet of the Elected Government.

A fellow blogger completes this argument by clearing up the air on the failed Elections techniques used by the anti-SDL parties their attempt to gang up on SDL, the clarification of the numbers game, and highlights the important fact that this "audit report" was done by a bunch of people appointed by this illegal Finance Minister Chaudhry.

Now I'd better put this out there in case what they say about the Military blocking this is actually true.
Read the latest news update from Pacific Radio News and tell me that they're not desperate!

Are We There Yet?

It's now the 5th month and counting. Nothing has changed for the better, just gotten worse. The people have listened to the coup perpetrators and apologists, in their attempts to justify the actions of the military led regime, and are now fed up and starting to speaking out against this corrupt "clean up campaign".

We have seen the Fiji Military Commander Voreqe Bainimarama make a complete fool of himself in his outbursts against the US and other countries who have decided to call for a quick return to democracy. The people watched as Bainimarama tried to put a spin on the results of the EU trip to make it sound like EU agreed with them! These points were conditional, and so far Voreqe has broken the first one with the extension of the Emergency Decree for another month.

Then we had the May Day Protest organised by my fellow bloggers Intelligentsiya, Good Men and Women Doing Something, Discombobulated Bubu and other supporters and contributors to their blogs. This in my opinion was a success - not because I'm one of them, but simply because the military in their feeble attempts to deny hunting "Fijian Black" made this blogger and his protest receive the attention it deserved. Regardless of the Lewenski propaganda, people protested in their own ways, and though the numbers may not have been visibly large there was a lot of feedback on what people did.

Thank you to those of you who took action in protest against this illegal regime. Congratulations for standing for something you believe in.

In reading recent editorials in the Fiji Times and Nai Lalakai, the voice of the people are now getting louder with the common question being asked this illegal military regime:

• Where is the proof of this so called "widespread corruption" that you started claiming in 2002?
• Did you have this proof before the coup?
• Where is the result of this clean up campaign Voreqe and his goons keep harping on about?
• What is there to clean up?
• Who should be doing the clean up?

The same Nai Lalakai issue had two interviews on the matter of the disbanding of the GCC. Interesting read for the indigenous populace. That this indigenous news paper is questioning the intentions of this illegal regime is a major accomplishment in itself.

IF Voreqe was as accountable as he and his senior officers (Naivalurua, Teleni, Driti, Lewenski, Naupoto...) claim to be, these questions would have been answered long before!
After all, they did have 4 years and 2 elections to prepare their case against the SDL led government and provide proof that will stand in a court of law - current tainted judiciary aside!

If Voreqe was as accountable as he claims himself to be; there'd be more support for this "clean-up" campaign then there is now!

If Voreqe was as accountable as he claims himself to be; Countries such as US, Australia, NZ, and organisations such as EU would not be holding back funds on conditional release for quick return to Elections.

If Voreqe was as accountable these countries would not be holding sanctions against Fiji!.


So what has happened in April?

Voreqe humiliated publicly by giving back the US their "street". His weak claims at laying this at the door of the Virginia Tech shootings further proved to the nation his cold heartedness at not even acknowledging the deaths at military hands of the late Nimilote Verebasaga and Sakiusa Rabaka.


EU delegation (waste of tax payers money) returned with illegal AG saying that the EU agreed with their illegal roadmap. From the increasing emphasis on spin that the EU was working with this illegal regime to "move the country forward" it was obvious that something was amiss. As the information filtered in later, publications in the Fiji Times and other blogs showed that the EU funds were to be given based on conditions. The conditions listed out were all in line with the reason why I started this blog.
Read here about the list of EU conditions to be met before this illegal regime would get the money

Driti playing his deflection game again (must've taken pointers from my article) :)
this time blaming Rabuka for the coup culture. As to be expected, he lost this round also.

Shaista Shameem blamed the coup culture on the British colonial system. I had read the Fiji Times online article and entertained myself at the Fiji Times blog oops comments section with the occasional comment. Her attempt at deflection was an insult to the intelligent majority of this country, the same majority that is no longer buying what this illegal military regime is shoveling.


May Day Protest on 01 May 2007. This protest organised by the anti-coup bloggers got the illegal military regime worried to the point where

• PSC publicly threatened any civil servant that stayed home on May 01 2007 or face disciplinary actions.
  
• Lewenski first denying that they were monitoring the protest organiser Fijian Black.
  
• Lewenski then claiming that "yes they were monitoring the protest" and tried to downplay it with "not spending too much time on it"
• Lewenski didn't read the comments that followed. Can't type it here, my bit for freedom of media being responsible.
• People still took action either by staying at home, or turning up to work and not doing anything.

More people getting on the smart sanctions list, with recent outbursts against the list by a PSC senior earning her a spot on that list.


We read yet another article of support in Fiji Times by another academic supporting Voreqe, following in Dr. Nandan's footsteps. This author claimed that the blogs were being run by NGO staff who were "living the high life". It appears that their are a small group of people who have been allowed to speak out for this coup, slating us bloggers and the previous Government. More then not their arguments are the same, just different words. They argue that to go against this coup is to support the deposed SDL government and it's "racist policies". I for one did not vote for SDL in the last elections and do not plan on doing so in the next one. The similar templates used by these various speakers hints at a coordinated effort by the junta at building "public perception" - to borrow from Leweni's book of phrases. As a fellow blogger has already taken apart their arguments and points, I shall quickly move on.

The attempt at grouping and labelling the Fiji Freedom bloggers movement was so obvious that even the untrained mind could distinguish it from the truth.

This effort in itself speaks volumes of the increasing lack of support this junta has, and their realisation of it. We the people of Fiji wait and watch to see who personally benefits from their statements with what rewards.

We celebrate Media Freedom day with Lewenski telling the nation that the military supports the right to information, but will only disseminate the information they deem relevant to the public - on a "need to know" basis.
read more about the event from a bloggers perspective

The self proclaimed Fijian Affairs expert Epeli Ganilau disbands the Great Council of Chiefs (Bose Levu Vakaturaga) because they refused to support the President's nomination of Vice President - a nominee who has already taken a leading role in this illegal regime. This blatant slap in the face for the indigenous Fijian has started a rift amongst the Fijians of this nation, with the majority behind their Chiefs. Those who support the illegally appointed Epeli Ganilau (failed politician who couldn't win his seat in 2006 election) are keeping a very low profile due to the caliber of their opposition, the Vanua's support for the GCC. This rift has somewhat started what could be seen as the Fijian Civil War, a clash between the traditional indigenous Fijian and the pro-coup/anti-SDL/anti-Chief Fijian. The indigenous Fijian culture is now undergoing its biggest challenge in its short democratic history, with what could be the beginning of the end for the Fijian hierarchical structure.


WHERE ARE WE NOW?


Fiji citizens are again subjected to the rules of the Emergency Decree, extend once again to the end of May. This prohibits the great minds from organising public rallys to express our disagreement with the existing illegal regime and the crimes that they have committed against us the people of this nation. It denies us the freedom to speak out against the illegal military regime.
I had hoped that this would not be the case as the illegal military regime would understand that they risk all the EU money by breaking this first promise to the EU. It appears that they are either subjecting themselves to the temperamental manner in which Voreqe governs himself and this country, or they are too focused on their power play that they think they can push the envelope as far as they can with these international bodies. They have obviously made the assumption that given time, these international sanctions will be lifted and things will go back to normal on the international front. Assumptions...

We see the illegal military regime pulling back our esteemed ambassadors all in the name of "reshuffling". This is a public confirmation of the original intention of this group of illegal administration - to replace all those appointed to various posts under previous Government with their own friends and associates - regardless of credentials. The fact that this whole process is being carried out under the very noses of the people of Fiji says a lot for the Fiji people's mentality of acceptance and "shoulder shrugs".

Sadly, whilst a seemingly small group use the blogs for their voices to be heard, the real voices of frustrations are out there being smothered by the apparent media self-censorship and isolation from central areas of activities.

We see the illegal regime desperately trying to make the international countries give them breathing space, delaying the elections as much as possible. We have the international countries and bodies placing "smart sanctions" on the members and supporters of this illegal regime. We have the junta publicly claiming to move this country forward whenever they accomplish something that was started and planned before the coup - a typical case of twisting perception making it appear as though they deserve all the credit. The reason why they're doing this is obvious.

Without the international funding this illegal military regime is dependant on, they will not succeed.
The illegal military regime realise the fact that the people of Fiji, ordinary citizens like you and me, are tired of their lies and deception; their daily insult of our intelligence with their unending corruption and blatant rape of our rights!


Fiji now has a MILITARY POLICE deployed across the nation under the guise of assisting Police with their police work fighting the "recent increase in crime".

The illegal military regime have acknowledged the potential threat to their illegal rule of the public moving in a coordinated effort to destabilise their regime - why else would they deploy soldiers to police stations! In doing so, they have only served to confirm the public perception that the Police are mere military puppets.
They are also confirming the Military state that Fiji's leadership has become.

Sad time to be a policeman, having their hard earned well deserved reputation dragged down to the same level as the military - all because Voreqe kicked out all the honourable senior policemen in place of disgraced ones.

Increase compared to what time? The obvious increase started in December 5 with the overthrow of a legally elected Government. The illegal regime's failed attempt at declaring the 2006 Elections invalid has left them with no other avenue to legally justify their actions. Their moral justifications for the December 5 coup flew out the window the minute they started, with their lack of control over the violent abuse of citizens' rights and eventual murder of two innocent citizens.

This public show of force further confirms the extent of Military rule in this country. The recent crimes committed in this country have not exceeded the crime rate of previous years, yet is being used as an excuse to deploy armed military personnel with the police. Police being joined by an institutions run by yet-to-be-tried criminals in the fight against crime. How ironic.

It appears that with this recent instant police recruitment, the days of free public gatherings are over for Fiji - for as long as this military regime continues its illegal rule.


Mahendra Chaudhry is now announcing the proposal to downsize the Government - a concept that was initiated by the Qarase led Government from 2001 till their overthrow in 2006. The manner in which this was reported made it appear as though the work was all done by this illegal regime. Similar trends in past reporting (EU trip) all spun to make it sound like the international bodies were complying with this illegal regime's plans. We all know the truth in that!
It is unfortunate for the current civil servants as this downsizing (propaganda phrase is "right sizing") is really another means of the illegal military regime getting more cash for their cash strapped agenda.

We have yet to see the progress of the murder investigations into the murders of the late Nimilote Verebasaga and Sakiusa Rabaka in separate incidents. The Police were quick to go public with the status when the families of the deceased threatened legal action. This was back in early April, and nothing since then; after we were all distracted with the deflections of the illegal regime making the media focus on other news items in turn sweeping this item almost under the carpet. Almost.

Voreqe, Lewenski and Military Police mouthpiece Romanu have all become silent on this matter. The last word from Leweni was "it's before the courts" during the media freedom talks held recently. The judicial arm of the bloggers network have refuted this claim. So where is this case at Romanu Tikotikoca?

How much more pain will the families of the two deceased undergo before they get the justice deserved them?

Are you planning to hold out for the "statute of limitations" ?

US making its stand known on the illegal overthrow of an elected government from none other then Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice herself. Other Pacific political giant Australia and New Zealand are still enforcing their smart bans and sanctions on Fiji's illegal regime. EU still holds the illegal regime to the

In short the illegal regime appears more desperate in trying to secure more funding in their capitalising on the funds already secured by the deposed government. There appears to be more intimidation coming our way, possibly to deter any civilian from expressing their opinions about this illegal regime by deploying more soldiers on the streets with their recent deployments to Police stations around the country. Although the crime rate has been worse before, the report of recent criminal activities are being used by the military for this deployment.

As a citizen you must ask yourself, will the soldiers based at the various police stations make them get to our houses faster?
Will their presence decrease the police's reaction time when a crime is reported?
Their presence is simply just to intimidate the citizens - criminals and citizens alike.
Will that work?
Obviously not, the criminals have been at it before the coup, and are back at it again. That this Military Police presence may deter criminals is very questionable, but it certainly will intimidate the increasing number of citizens who are frustrated with this illegal regime.

Fiji has reached a stage where 4 coups down the line, the people are more aware of their rights to a democratically elected government, and the illegality of a coup, and don't need a coup to show them the blatant abuse of power that is being exercised by this illegal military regime.

That this coup is illegal goes without saying - even the illegally appointed Interim Prime Minister Jona Senilagakali acknowledge that this coup was illegal. He even went on to say that we should just "accept it and move on", words later echoed by Voreqe, Leweni, Epeli Ganilau, Epeli Nailatikau. Telling us that they know they have committed an illegal act (a crime) and in the same breath forcing us to accept it and live with it. They have. I wont!. Will you?

The idea that I would one day, in Fiji, have to fight for my right to voice my frustrations against an illegal military regime without the intimidating fear of being beaten up or harassed by the military seemed so far fetched that even now I often stop and wonder how we as a nation got drawn back all the way to our "dark days". (a quote often used by Voreqe claiming that the previous government's policies were taking Fiji back to it's darker days)

The sad fact of the matter is that I and others like myself have taken to the internet to raise our voices against this illegal military regime that has plundered and torn apart our governing body all for their own personal good.
I did not want to risk my life and the lives of my family members to these thugs should my identity be made known, hence my anonymity.
I take my hat off to Seremaia Tui for publicly criticizing the military and their alleged clean up operations. He may have been hunted by the military, or may not have been, but the confusion on whether or not to print this story stinks of military intimidation then anything. Keep safe!

Having attained powers through illegal means, this military regime and their friends have walked all over our rights with their ad-hoc legislations, they've killed 2 citizens in the process, severly beaten up countless more, humiliated our senior citizens and indigenous leaders and simply thrown out all sense of logic and fair play since their takeover in December 5.

Our silence and acceptance of these actions and these people make us accomplices of theirs in all their crimes.

Are you one of them?

Do you unknowingly agree with them?

Then why are you silent?

What are you waiting for?

Speak up now ! Don't let this military intimidation get to you!

Tit for Tat

I was going to use this poem to end an article of mine, but thought it deserved it's own space on my blog. The poet is a civil servant who emailed this to me to vent on the frustrations of being forced to work for an illegal regime led by the temperamental Voreqe.

Thank you for your support. I urge you to keep your spirits up, these people won't be getting away with what they're doing.

Tit for tat
Isn’t that how it is with you Frank?
If you don’t like someone
You just threaten to shoot them dead
If you want to hide something
You gather your Coup Klux Clan
Then hold the country at Ransom
And pretend that all is well.

Tit For Tat
You play the game so well,
The GCC saw right through you,
And you caused quite a spat,
You dismantled this august Body,
Citing reviews and Acts,
You are a sad case Frank
And everyone knows that.

Tit for Tat
You took on the American’s
Threatening their diplomats
With your childish running rants.
The torture you’ve inflicted on citizens
When you took them up to camp
The same type of torture tactics
You ordered on Selesitino and gang.

Tit for Tat
You had better watch out Frank
The threat is not from us
But from those clowns you call friends
They are in it for the money
And not the ‘clean up corruption’ crap
Our Good Lord is watching
..waiting for you and your men to repent.

Military Intelligence

This blogging is addictive. Not for want of material but for lack of time, here's a quick run down on the topic. I thought I'd pick from the best of the best examples of the interim 'military intelligence' based on events that have occured over the last 4 months. Couldn't do all, sorry, blame it on the plethora of cases available.

Not knowing where to start, I thought that the "Hunt for Intelligentsiya" would suit the scene, after all this blogger did not know the availability of such 'internet power' until I saw my friend the Majahhhh on telly promising me that he'd catch these people. Thanks to this free publicity, I and others like me decided to join in and let our voices be heard, especially after my letters to the editor weren't pulished - even though I had toned it down as best I could! :(

We then have the much publicised Felix Anthony board membership saga. In December, the dictator publicly announced that he was going to clean up Fiji of corruption. A hard task, one that a lot of people wanted done - but not by this idiot. He soon proved people's expectations correct by first announcing that "No individual will serve on more then one board" and attacked the likes of Mr Joe Mar for serving on more then 5 boards (I'm not sure about actual number but could have been 9?). There was much publicity by Voreqe and his money man Chaudhry on individuals who served on more then 1 board, and victims of this smear campaign were those such as Mr Joe Mar, Mr Lionel Yee and anyone else they could find. Once they started replacing board members with their own people, they realised that they had erred drastically in the case of Mr Yee's presence on various boards and therefore announced that "ok, now we can have people on more then 1 board".
So much for Voreqe's claims of what "could amount to a conflict of interest and also divert the attention of those who are appointed to the boards."

Whilst we're still on Felix Anthony, remember his public slandering of the two FNPF executives who were told to go on leave pending investigations into alleged corrupt practices. The mainstream media ate it up with the lady executive suffering more since her home just featured in a recent issue of a local magazine. Mr Anthony was very keen to give the media what they wanted, all the 'juicy' details about the real estate this lady owned and her private assets making as much noise as he could about corruption in FNPF.

Suddenly the silence.

It now appears that the new FNPF board is now in negotiations with the two executives' lawyers on how best to resolve this situation, considering that their investigations have come up with nothing at all. FNPF is now into Damage Control regarding this situation, with everyone watching to see how much the silence of the two executives will cost us.

Can't go without mentioning the Fiji Human Rights debacle - when the international Human Rights Body suspends FHRC's accreditation, and FHRC Director ala coup supporter Shaista Shameem replies "we weren't suspended...we resigned".!!


Then came the grand Great Council of Chief's meeting. With people's expectations soaring, pressure applied on the Great Council and their debate on the Presidential nominee for Vice President. With the name already 'revealed' days before the meeting, the general public were left to wonder over the GCC's reaction to such a nominee and the consequences. We know by now the sequence of events that followed starting with the GCC snubbing the President's nominee. Voreqe and his buddy Epeli Ganilau feigned surprise at this reaction and returned the snubbing by "disbanding" the GCC.
Epeli G states that according to the constitution he has the power to determin who is in the GCC and who shouldn't be. He forgot to mention that he attained this 'power' illegaly !! He forgot to mention that when he tried to attain this power legally in the 2006 elections, his own people didn't vote him in at all!!! Now he's trying to tell the highest indeginous council of the land - our Chiefs - that he will change their membership because they don't agree with his and Voreqe's nominee for Vice President.
The ailing President hasn't been able to convince us all that he understands the gravity of the situation and where Fiji is in now. I say these words with no disrespect to the man, having known the President as Tui Vuda in Vuda village back before the first coup(lewenski, you reading this?). I know that when the late Dr. Bavadra entered politics and won the elections, the village of Vuda was politely split in two with Ratu Iloilo leading the faction that was anti-chaudhry. I stress politely because under Ratu Iloilo's leadership his main aim was to keep the village united in traditional matters whilst respecting individual's political choices - so the village life continued with people tiptoeing over political differences putting their village first. The Ratu Iloilo I knew then would not have supported this tyrant at all - and would have acted sooner and wiser had he been as physically and mentally healthy as the proxy president Peni Nacewa claims.

Back on track.

The so called Fijian Affairs Epeli Ganilau then claims that he wasn't aware that he could have/should have made a traditional presentation to the Great Council of Chiefs regarding their viewpoint and the illegal administration's "roadmap to democracy". His statements make it clear to the people of this great nation that this self proclaimed expert on fijian tradition and culture - judging from his name alone - was totally blind to the ways of the Great Council of Chiefs and thought that he could get away with dictating to the GCC what their choices should be - instead of approaching them in a humbled manner that could have gotten some points for what he was 'selling'.... could have.

How could someone be in charge of the Fijian Affairs portfolio and still forget the best way to present his case to his Chiefs !! Even if he was illegaly appointed.
They then try damage control via attempts at cooling the rising tensions in the vanua with the reassurance that their actions against the GCC isn't new; as though this would justify their injustice to the indeginous council.

More feeble attempts at damage control with the admission that the GCC body still exists, but that they'll just gazette that the "provisions for the GCC are null and void". The Council still exists, they'll just give themselves the legal powers to change the members so that the new GCC members will be the ones that sing to their tune, not the ones that actually represent their respective Vanuas.

The implications of this ignorant individual tampering with the Vanua and it's Chiefly council is something that doesn't bode well for future investments in this country.


Back to our friend Felix Anthony and his love for publicly slandering people. This time APRIL was the victim and after the smear campaign dust has settled, the results of Felix's witch hunt has now cost the Natadola project their golden icon; world reknown pro golfer Mr Vijay Singh. The millions lost plus potential legal costs to this project will have an impact on us the FNPF members, and posisbly the economy.


Then we have the recent tiff between our military and none other then the US themselves.

It started with Driti's public claims that certain Foreign missions attempted to get him to "incite mutiny before the December coup". This was rubbished by the respective Foreign offices. In the ensuing war of words, Voreqe ordered that the security barriers at the US embassy be removed, with Lewenski joining in As a public relations nightmare, this was one that had sever implications not only for the people of Fiji, but more importantly for the illegal military regime - taken from the perspective of the selfish illegal administration. A cover up damage control team was put into action with a conference for all foreign missions to listen to Vore's drivel about the "roadmap to democracy". Of course as a foreign mission representative at this meeting, you'd not want to say anything controversial so they all had a polite tea party and went about their business.

The US then calls for talks with Vore's office to discuss this removal of the barriers and the threat it posed to them. Now we have the possibility - though faint it may be it still exists - that the US embassy could relocate alltogether to an appropriate place if the barriers are removed. In the short timeframe required for such a move, the best solution would be to operate from an already secure international property belonging to the US that already allows for this office to carry out its functions whilst maintaining US mission standards. This could mean relocation to the nearest US embassy outside Fiji.

I had started writing this before the Fiji TV news article came on about Driti's admission of "reading between the lines" , then followed up on Austalian Network news of how Driti admitted to the australian media interviewer that "it wasn't said outright", but that he "read between the lines and knew what they were saying".
Now the whole world knows for sure the level of intelligence we have in the military. With Driti's skills he might want to assist Lewenski in finding intelligentsiya. Something might rub off.


Then my favourite... the latest..

Travel ban for Suva Mayor: Fijian radio station missquotes the Suva Lord Mayor as saying "They will not do anything to the barriers ..." instead of what he was reported as saying "..the SCC did not have the means to remove the barriers...". Fiji Military Intelligence immediately calls up Suva Lord Mayor to inform him he has been put on the travel ban and is in Voreqe's bad books. I guess the FMI Officer forgot to read the Fiji Times article explaining Suva City Council's stand on the matter. Maybe he should get someone to read it to him, slowly.

Fiji's "Military Intelligence".

An oxymoron if ever there was one.

Fiji's Black Friday

Last month, the Emergency Decree was extended and we suffered another month under the Illegal Military Dictator's rule. As predicted, we are into another month, and they've extended the Emergency Decree again!
This time to suit their purpose of suppressing the pending strike by the Unions over the pay cuts being forced down their throats, and now the GCC falls victim to this illegal dictator's childish, pathetic temperament - unfit for a leader at any level.

The Great Council of Chiefs made a decision to stand by their December meeting resolution regarding the coup of December 5, 2006. This meant they opposed the illegal regime's ruling and recomended a quick return to a democratic elected government based largely on the question of legality of the coup.
One can see in hindsight that the Chief's were remembering their mistake in appointing Ratu Seniloli as Vice President after the 2000 coup, only to have the judicary system find him guilty of taking part in the illegal coup.

As was their right, the Chiefs deliberated over the nominee for Vice President and democratically arrived at the conclusion not to support the President's nomination of an illegaly appointed administration and especially if the nominee is already part of the illegal administration. Their reasons for not supporting the nominee ranged from the illegality of the coup, illegality of the individual nominated participating in the coup and the status of the constitution (taken from various interviews with the respective attendees of this meeting).

As a result of the public 'slap in the face', Voreqe and Epeli Ganilau in separate interviews made it clear to the nation

• Their dissapointment at the result (What were they thinking?!)
• Their expectation that the GCC would go along with the nomination simply because it was the Presidential nominee
• Threatening to replace all the 'influenced' members of the GCC with members 'who are willing to take this country forward' because they didn't agree with the GCC's resolution.
  
• Their SUSPENSION of the GCC with diversion of funds elsewhere in their attempt to erase the GCC and it's members.
• Their harrasement of Ratu Timoci Vesikula as a warning to citizens of this country on what to expect from their leadership style.
  

Besides reminding me of my 5year old daughter stomping and kicking up a fuss because she wasn't allowed ice cream, this behaviour at this level is frightening as one takes into account the power that this illegal regime holds in their hands.

We must never underestimate the power they have, even though they do not have the support of the people of Fiji.

"With great power comes great responsibility."
"With great responsibility comes great accountability."

Driti's claims that he was asked to remove Bainimarama before Dec 5 by foreign diplomatic missions has been refuted by the diplomats themselves and now an escalation of events appear to be looming between the illegal military regime and the respective embassies. The citizens will only suffer more hardship if this happens and is not dealt with now.

The illegal regime need to consider that they have nothing, literally nothing to back them up - they are not in power through legal means, they do not have the mandate of the people, and worst of all they do not seem to have a plan at all. Their claims at having a roadmap have been rubished by their immature attempts at leadership.
Yes ok they do have their guns and that is what's keeping them untouched ... so far.

With the military's latest attempt to establish their authority with the USA giants; they have only shown the world the quality of their mentality, their leadership skills, and diplomacy. Instead of using alternative means of communicating with these foreign representatives via the Foreign Affairs ministry, they've decided to go public - Voreqe's usual M.O for dealing with pressure situations. As the media laps this up, one is left to wonder whatever happened to their illegal interim Foreign Affairs Minister who should have dealt with this situation - hang on, wasn't this individual also the Presidential nominee for Vice President?

Well it appears that the Chiefs have been proven correct to reject the nominee, after all how could this person be accepted as Vice President if he couldn't even handle diplomacy at this level?

Maybe it's because this nominee has taken off with a group of other illegal administrators to the EU to beg for more money? A matter of priorities perhaps.

I am puzzled as to how they believe that the EU will hand over millions of dollars to an administration that has been

• Rejected by the indeginous Chiefly council representation
• Lacks the support of the people.
• Not to mention that it's an ILLEGAL administration.
  
• And there is no gurantee that this illegal regime will stay in power long enough to justify the investment!
  

I had stated previously in my early posts that we're currently being run by a dictator. It appears that there is agreement with that point and by the looks of it, this Dictator is becoming bolder and letting the power get to his head.

For those of you who still believe in the cause of this coup, ask youselves these questions:

• Are you doing this out of your personal hatred for the SDL/FLP government? Is that what drives you to agree with this illegal administration and their dictator?
• Are you doing this because you're protecting your interests that were threatened by SDL/FLP government? Does this protection justify ALL that has occured since 5th of December? Does this country deserve to suffer all that it has and more ?
• Are you supporting this false clean up because you were a victim of the SDL/FLP policies? Was this resort the correct one? Have you exhausted all other aveneus?

If you answered yes to any of the above try the following - isolate your disagreement or hatred of the previous govt, isolate your personal insecurity and look at the events that have occured since December 5.
Strip away your hatred for the previous Government, strip away the personal insecurity, strip away the politics and look at what's left. Look at what's occured since December 5 and where it has taken this country.

Is Voreqe the leader that you wanted?

Is it all justified?