The arrogant S.D.L/C.A.M.V coalition have encountered an unified opposition to the R.T.U Bill passage. I salute Fiji Military Commander!
Frank Bainimarama is not mincing his words against the present Fiji Government( S.D.L/C.A.M.V coalition). Straight shooters like him are a rare in Fiji and the nation is desperate for more people of that outstanding mould. People with the moral courage to question the colonial entrenched Fijian cultural establishment.
Let's change the status quo in Fiji!
Floreat Viti.
This R.T.U Bill is creating division within the ranks of Fiji Lawyers too. I believe these Taukei Lawyers who support the Bill are naive and fail to recognise the damaging indirect affect to the rule of law and order. If these Fijian Lawyers want to create a splinter group, go ahead. That's the beauty of democracy, they want to change. This new organization will never be recognised beyond the bridge of their noses.
This type of social responsibility advocated by Fiji Tourism Resource Owners Association is not on Fiji Governments agenda, simply due to the policy of propping up Chiefs and other colonial styled entities.
That is why the landowners in Fiji are evolving their business plan to take their destiny into their own hands. Good job! I feel that people are slowly coming around to new alternatives other than the over-relying on the crumbs from the dinner table of Native Lands Trust Board.
Fiji Education Department should not micro manage the funds of the E.U. Instead a new agency should be created for that exact purpose. The trouble with having the Ministry of Education being in control, in could possibly siphon off funds to an obscure slush fund, ready for the pickings of corrupt officials in the organization.
This fire in the Suva rubbish dump has underligned the under strength of Fiji's scientific capacity. The model of research launched by Pacific Forum Secretariat must be adopted now, in Fiji Government.
Leadership workshops like this in Fiji is a step forward but not the final solution to all problems. I reckon it's another theoratical harangue with little applications to the real world of racial conflict, corruption, poverty. This workshop cannot guarantee a place in the negotiating table of the G-8 goup of nations. That is the real demarcation of leadership on his planet. Do get me wrong, I'm not against the workshop. It just doesn't change the greater equation in terms of the global trade policies and trade barriers to third world countries.
The failure of this Yaqara Movie Studio project is evidence in itself, that the plans of the brain child, Mssr Phillip Gerlach was over optimistic, lacking the fundamentals of establishing a creative industry in Fiji. I beleive Mssr Gerlach, is misleading the Fiji Government for his own gain. Realistically he is NOT a major player in the movie-production industry. Never has been!
When you compare his name with the likes of Mel Gibson, who purcased Mago Island from a consortium of Japanese developers. The legal debate on the ownership will eventually ignite a huge legal battle, especially after Qarase annouced the move to return the Fishing rights ownership back to the Fiji natives or Taukei(landowners).
Fiji Senator Atu-Bain raises the issue of double standards used by Qarase in Parliament's March sitting.
Land alienation in relation to this large hotel developments can also (as we know) extend to very large areas, the whole islands in fact or significant part of these islands can be lost to big up market hotel developments as Turtle Island, Wakaya and now Mago Island, 2,000 hectares of land sold to Mel Gibson for around $15 million when the original owners have been struggling for years to reclaim their ancestral home.
I would just like to say here, this whole case really disturbs me because I have many memories of working in the National Archives back in the 1980s when there were groups of landowners coming in to the National Archives looking up the old records in relation to their ancestral homes. That included a group who came up to look for records on the theft of their island, Mago.
It is disturbing to see how people who have been struggling to reclaim their home for so long, have now been told by the honourable Prime Minister, that he can do nothing about the sale that is taking place. These islands are lost forever to indigenous owners and are used for the private gain of millionaires. Is this really the kind of development we should be supporting? Is this really in the best interest of the indigenous communities?
This move by Mel Gibson really moves the lime-light away from Yaqara project to obscurity. One will also notice the comments by Mssr Gerlach that he is slowing changing his tune. First he was all about Film production. Now it's about Resort development in the same Yaqara location.
The idea to out-source talent overseas to the Boards of state companies in Fiji, is a new approach worth considering.
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