Stuck in Fiji M.U.D: Rotten State of Fiji.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Rotten State of Fiji.

The much awaited R.T.U Bill Committee has recommended minor changes that won't go down easily with Labour Party officials or the Fiji Army. Fiji Law Society's initial
response is sign of the de-sensitizing of immorality. This culture of abuse has spread to utilities like Fiji Electricity Authority in trying to wriggle out of the compensation ruling.

It is quite clear that any more Laws will have the same fate in Parliament as the Land A.L.T.A Bill.
Traffic Laws in Fiji are out of step with technology which the proposed accident database hopes to provide insight.

Fiji Sun's fantastic Editorial only echos the sentiments of Stuck in Fiji mud. Kudo's for finally getting enough courage to state the facts of this socio-cultural mud, that Fiji and her people are stuck in.

Friday 2nd December,2005

The chiefs’ dilemma

Questions posed by one of the nation's leading churches on the ability - or willingness - of the chiefs to influence the behaviour of their people point to the slow but very sure creation of a gap between the chiefs and everyday Fijian life.

For while the Great Council Chiefs addresses what it conceives to be the great issues of the day, the primary concerns of many of their people may very well lie elsewhere. This is not to say that the issues addressed by the GCC are not grave. Of course the Unity Bill, the poverty level among indigenous Fijians and the land issue to name but three are extremely important to the future of the country.

But there is a growing perception that these issues are matters for the Government which will no doubt take on board the advice of the council but at the end of the day will make a political decision. The chiefs can advise. They cannot decide. And therein lies the dilemma for the chiefs.

They need to remain relevant to the daily lives of the people but find it difficult to do so without the decision-making power to influence those lives. We are trying to run a semi-feudal system in tandem with a modern democracy. The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive but there are great obstacles to be overcome.

Ethnic Fijians - and most people of non-indigenous backgrounds - admire and respect the chiefs. They look to them for wisdom and guidance especially in times of national turmoil. However, they rarely look to them for action, possibly for the simple reason that the chiefs' room for movement has been eroded over the years, not so much by law but by practice.
That can change. The chiefs might do well to consider a more practical role in the affairs of the people.

For example, there is widespread concern at the level of break-ins and violent crime most of which are committed by young Fijians. The police do a good job of rounding them up and many end in our jails which, through neglect, have become little more than finishing schools for budding criminals.

But all of those young men owe allegiance to a chief or chiefs. Yet the public rarely hears to voices of chiefs raised in favour of ending or at least curtailing this dangerous trend in society. A concerted campaign by the Great Council of Chiefs would have the dual effect of making the people feel safer in the streets and in their homes while affording the chiefs an opportunity to make a real difference to people's everyday lives.