Muddy political gatekeeping in Fiji.

Fiji Nurses strike ends after getting most of what they demanded from the old farts in civil service. Arresting their union leaders, will further ignite union passions.

Fiji Police, do you really want to play with the Hornet's nest in Fiji's current volatile atmosphere?

Qarase's Government cronies often sing praises of their own work. Liberally applying the race card in Politics and using rose-coloured glasses to prove his point.
Pulling the wool over the rural voter's eyes will NOT work this time, because voters in Fiji are extremely wary of lip-service and muddy rhetoric in politics. Voters are aware of this double standards. Qarase will fall miserably, like Rabuka!

Member of Parliament raises an important issue of the confused state of dualism in Fiji.

Fiji Government is pussy-footing around the concept of forming Fiji's own identity and in the process created an atmosphere of mis-direction and ingrained the colonial mentality of 'entitlement'. This over-reliance on foreign powers has formed a dependency mentality through out Fiji.
Thus the end result in all this; is a pathetic, top-heavy civil service which is riddled with bureaucracy, cronyism and corruption to the nth degree.

Selected letters to Fiji Times Editor Tues August 9th 2005.

Fijian coalition

SITIVENI Rabuka (F/T 8/8) should not talk about a coalition government between Fijian leaders given the pathetic performance of the SVT in the last General Election. The government should not be easily manipulated by these small fly-by-night Fijian political parties intending to contest the next election. Their only means of survival is a coalition.

Esala Nakalevu
Lautoka

Dirty game

In his thoughtful letter Tawake Kolinisau (FT 2/8) drew our attention to President Josefa Iloilo's speech wherein he reminded the chiefs (at GCC meeting) that they are looked upon not only as chiefs of the Fijian people but by all of Fiji.

In another letter Sam Loanakadavu (FT 2/8) informs us "Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase is a nationalist looking after the interests of indigenous people". I suppose the Prime Minister can be excused for doing that because he is commoner, not a chief.

Only the chiefs are meant to be above politics, particularly of the ethno-nationalistic variety, whereas (Qarase and his political fellow travelers must shave the latitude to "play politics". The danger is, sometimes the game can get dirty, very dirty, like it did for example in Sr Lanky.

Anjali Devi
Nasinu

Political debate

Whenever political comments are made in regards to land, the Great Council of Chiefs and other important national issues Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase has a habit of blaming the person as being disrespectful and insensitive to the feelings of the indigenous community or having no respect for the chiefs.

These kinds of comments do not allow healthy debates to progress for national development like we see in other countries.

The PM talks about indigenous rights but has nothing to show as the plight of ordinary Fijians has declined since he became PM. Times have changed. People will no longer be fooled and they will wake up to the truth.

Let us see an honest and transparent debate on national development, economy, poverty alleviation, land, health and education leading to the 2006 General Election.

No more of that racial politics.

Amand Chand
Brisbane
Australia

Racist PM

I READ in this newspaper that the PM had defended himself by saying he is not a racist.

May I ask the PM if he is not a racist, then why were Indian and other communities not informed of the racist Bill that he and Bale have done for the church leaders, provincial councils and the GCC?

He has always been racist and his blueprint for the indigenous community clearly outlines this. I think the New Alliance Party is the best party to take the nation forward.

I humbly plead to this great nation to show their unity by voting the SDL out in the coming elections. As far as Mr Chaudhry and Labour are concerned I think they will have excellent results.

If the New Alliance, Labour and a couple more like Mick Beddoes and James Raman can come under some arrangement, then there is no chance for the current evils to return.

Ivon Prasad
Suva

Silent critics

I HAVE to admit I enjoy Ravuama Vere's opinion's very much (FT 2/8).

Such ultra-nationalism and virulent abhorrence of people of other races reminds me of Dr Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister under Adolf Hitler. Goebbels was known for his perfection of the so-called argumentum ad nauseam (big-lie) technique of mass propaganda.

This is the technique of repeating a lie as many times as possible until it is taken to be the truth. For the past 18 years we have been hearing that whatever actions have been taken against elected governments have been to further the cause of indigenous Fijians.

Here's a litmus test to prove how it's working. If you are an ordinary Fijian with no connections to the gravy train, ask yourself how better your life is now than it was 18 years ago. If you say that you are now living a life of excesses beyond your wildest imagination, then I would say the coups were worth it.

A system where individuals are not allowed to think for themselves and centralised and often belligerent nationalists make decisions, is nothing short of fascism. We may not realise it now but one of these days it's going to hit us like a ton of bricks.

At present the acts are politically-motivated because the focal point is the fear of Indian domination. Twenty years from now, the focal point will be the fear of some provincial domination.

So why look for short term fixes when one knows that the problem will re-emerge in a different form down the road. In the interim all we will be doing is rearranging the prejudices in our minds until the new fear takes hold and once again we are thrown into chaos.

As for the Indians wanting to call themselves Fijians, I don't think we have a choice. Like Vijay Singh, every Indian from Fiji is referred to as a Fijian outside of Fiji.

Praneet Singh
Sacramento
CA 95838