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Opinion
24th December
‘Good governance coup’ : Political will and corruption in Fiji
In 2006 Fiji’s current prime minister, Frank Bainimarama, seized power from a government that had been elected only seven months earlier. Named the “good governance coup”, the takeover was justified by concerns about corruption as...
The joy of the festive season
The jingling of bells and the impeccably adorable decoration in homes and shops indicate Christmas Day. Santa Claus, the name that has been given to the harbinger of happiness and joy, adds a special element of innocence to the festive season. The hearts of people are filled with excitement and joy, as they decorate Christmas...
Remember the less fortunate
A small child with big brown eyes sat looking at me. She looked like she was probably around seven or eights years old. But what struck me as odd was, she didn’t have a twinkle in her eyes as children her age often do. And there was no smile either. In fact there seemed to...
Citizenship and belonging
The last article in this series highlighted how the Indo-Fijian community missed two sterling opportunities to involve meaningfully across the ethno-political divide and share national concerns together in order to forge cross-cultural understandings and bonds. A third one presented itself to Fijians of Indian descent on Rewa Day in 2016. Let us go through this...
The case for a GNU
In a divided society with conflict dynamics like Fiji, a hung parliament is not a bad thing unless the party holding the balance of power is extremely volatile. A hung parliament can make power-sharing, dialogue, negotiation and consensus building mainstream which can have a unifying effect on the people and bring a paradigm shift in...
Letters to the editor!
Dilemma or denial It is almost a week after the final results of the 2022 General Election had been announced and yet we do not have a government in place. No party had achieved the 50 per cent clear majority of seats to form a government. The FijiFirst party secured 26 seats, The People’s Alliance...
Editorial Comment – A time for reflection
After deliberations yesterday, the Social Democratic Liberal Party management board has once again decided to form a coalition with The People’s Alliance party and National Federation Party in Parliament. The meeting which was held at Suva’s Southern Cross Hotel was filled with drama. The outcome would have gone down well with supporters of The People’s...
23rd December
Letters to the editor!
General secretary The general secretary of SODELPA might be correct that he had informed the management board that there were two board members who were not re-elected as required. However, according to the SODELPA Constitution this was not required during the last management board meeting, but at least 60 days earlier. The SODELPA Constitution under...
Editorial Comment – A period of festivities and politics
AS we count down the days to Christmas Day on December 25, you’d expect celebrations to go up a notch. There is tradition tightly linked to this special day, and the one after, on Boxing Day. Fijians celebrate this festive season, albeit for different reasons. Christmas day provides an opportunity to unwind, and be with...
22nd December
Letters to the editor!
Humble request Congratulations to Bharat Morris (FT 21/12) for his list of humble requests. We can only hope that our new coalition government will serious consider each and every item. If they consider his requests, will they also consider ensuring that the CWM Hospital wards are as pristine, well-maintained and cared for as the CWM...
Editorial Comment – We wait!
Politics remains on the minds of thousands of Fijians right now. By last night, the rumour mill was in over-drive in the Capital City. You could feel the euphoria and sense of joy in the city as vehicles drove by with horns blaring, and fireworks lit up the night sky in the wake of the...
21st December
Lives hang by a thread : Hiroshima survivor pleads for halt of radioactive waste dump
Japan is standing its ground over the planned discharge of treated radioactive waste from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean in 2023 despite strong opposition from Pacific leaders. The country said in April that the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) would discharge more than 1 million tonnes of contaminated water in stages after treatment and dilution,...
Letters to the editor!
People and change The people of Fiji have voted. The intention of a clear majority is visible beyond any doubt: they want change. FijiFirst is the loser of the 2022 election. Although some 15,380 more people have voted in 2022 compared with four years earlier FijiFirst received 27,000 votes less. These are huge numbers. Instead...
Editorial Comment : Change is here!
When it mattered yesterday, the powers that be came together and voted for change! The Social Democratic Liberal Party effectively ended FijiFirst’s reign, bringing to an end a chapter in the history of our country. SODELPA wielded power. They were the kingmakers! And they kept the nation in suspense. In the end though, the tooting...
20th December
A sceptical eye on the tech titans
For years, Silicon Valley’s stars have been able to drum up positive media headlines with their visions of a future tech utopia. In 2022, several of them ran into the hard wall of reality. “Make some noise for the richest man in the world,” said the stand-up comedian Dave Chapelle, as he welcomed Elon Musk...
Letters to the Editor – Tuesday, December 20, 2022
Mbappe v Messi While everyone else will be stating the obvious here about the epic final won by Messi & Co., I am predicting that France will beat Argentina in the 2026 WC final in North America. That will effectively be Messi’s last hurrah! By then Mbappe will have collected a couple of Ballon d’or...
Editorial comment – Waiting for the ‘big reveal’
Yesterday marked the end of the 2022 General Election, bringing an end to a period that culminated in two weeks of intense campaigning leading up to December 14. In the heated battles, parties embraced strategies they calculated would woo the important component in the election process — the voters. However, that panned out, campaigning reached...
19th December
Mangroves matter – Fiji surveys first step to sustain natural surroundings
Mangroves provide critical ecosystem goods and services to Fijian communities by providing shoreline stability, habitat, and breeding grounds for important subsistence and small-scale commercial fisheries and protection from storms. Mangroves are also a vital natural climate solution greatly contributing to the storage and sequestration of carbon. Through the Blue Carbon FiProject, Conservation International Fiji, with...
Letters to the Editor – Monday, December 19, 2022
Croatia finishes third CROATIA beat Morocco 2-1 in the third-place playoff as the African side’s historic 2022 World Cup ended in defeat. It took Croatia just seven minutes to open the scoring through a header from Josko Gvardiol before Achraf Dari equalised two minutes later. In an open and exciting game, Croatia re-took the lead...
Editorial comment – We wait!
Now that the Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem has handed over the Final National Results Tally to the Electoral Commission in Suva, we learn that the 2022 General Election had a total voter turnout count of 68.3 per cent. The total number of valid votes cast in the election was 470,584, while the number of...
