In 2001, while writing his thesis on the "Final Solution" to ending the Great Council of Chiefs, the young Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, an Ahmadiya Fiji Muslim, had taken a swipe at the predominantly Sunni Fiji muslims and their corporate body the Fiji Muslim League. Now that he has succeeded in convincing the dictator and the puppet president to de-establish the GCC, we wonder if he will axe the Fiji Muslim League, which he accused of acting as “a fiefdom”? See below his Letter to the Editor in the Fiji media in 2001:


Critique of FML decision regarding the 1997 Constitution
The claim by some executive members of the Fiji Muslim League ('League') that Muslims support a review of our Constitution and demand separate seats merely because the executive says so is a gross misrepresentation of the views of the everyday and majority of Muslims in our country.


The executive lack the mandate to speak as a representative body for Muslims since the League has been and is essentially an administrative institution managing and maintaining mosques, schools, orphanages, a sugar cane farm and real estate.


In addition to the lack of mandate the arguments and justifications espoused by the executive for a review and separate seats are flawed. They are flawed because our Constitution, in particular the Bill of Rights, namely sections 38(2) and 35 more than adequately guarantee and protect religious freedom and minority rights. Indeed if an almost identical South African Bill of Rights provision protects the rights of the minority South African Muslims then what is so special about and differentiates Muslims in Fiji?


On the basis that last century the then nascent League made submissions on separate seats, it is argued today that so called Muslim rights will be achieved if these seats as submitted then are allocated now. To refer to a
resolution passed some seventy years ago, in an era with its own specificities and dynamics, as justification for separate seats in today's Fiji illustrates a complete ignorance and denial of our political, social and constitutional history/experience as a nation-state.


Indeed if we were to hark back and uphold the standards of 1929 then commoner indigenous Fijians and women would not have the right to vote. Fiji and the rest of the world have moved along. Clearly such absurd referrals to the past illustrate an enormous vacuum in basic critical thinking and analysis, discourse and a general prevalence of obscurantism within the executive.


Furthermore, it aptly demonstrates a complete ignorance of contemporary developments in and interpretations of Islamic law and jurisprudence vis-a-vis constitutional, human rights and international law and conventions. More tragically, however, the opportunism of the executive displays the absence of and lack of belief in justice, compassion, selflessness and basic human decency.


Most Muslims in Fiji know that certain officials treat the League and its branches as their own little fiefdoms. Fiefdoms, where nepotism is known to be rampant at most times; where certain families and individuals have reigned as executives literally for decades; where children and families of well-to-do officials benefit from scholarships which were and are meant for poor students; where chairs of numerous committees are held by single individuals; where businessmen and business interests are over represented; where women, the youth, various provinces and other denominations are either underrepresented or not represented at all; where appeals to religious dogma and unity are utilized in response to queries of administrative/financial discrepancies and where certain individuals view the League merely as a means to acquire access to power, influence and ultimately money - all under the guise of "protecting Muslim interests."


Indeed the absence of proper representation, transparency, accountability and ultimately legitimacy also plague other local institutions in contemporary Fiji.


The executive of the League cannot and does not represent the political opinion, views, philosophies of individuals or the bulk of Muslims in Fiji. These self appointed guardians do not speak for the masses. Therefore, the current administration and all Fiji Islanders must understand and recognize the majority of Muslims who believe in basic human decency, justice, democracy and constitutionalism reject the idea of separate seats and/or a review of our Constitution.


Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum


University of Hong Kong


Hong Kong


sayedkha@hkusua.hku.hk

Khaiyum’s uncle accountant Zarin Khan behind Magic Mountain Springs (Fiji) Ltd to extract bottled water in Fiji


The late Ratu Ovini Bokini and Tavua businessman Rajendra Kant Patel other shareholders


By VICTOR LAL


In January of this year I asked the question: who owns Magic Mountain Springs (Fiji) Ltd, and promised to reveal all soon. In the same investigation I disclosed how Fiji Water and its chief executive David Roth were hounded by the illegal regime to make way for Magic Mountain to open a bottled water facility in Rakiraki.


Well, whom else do you think owns Magic Mountain? Yes, the dictator’s “oppressed and downtrodden” Indo-Fijians - the “poor” Khaiyum clan! Since the 2006 treasonous coup, the family have used Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum’s status as illegal Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Anti-Corruption, Public Enterprises, Communications, Civil Aviation, Tourism, Industry and Trade to further their business empire, with aunty Noor Bano Ali acting as pay mistress to the illegal regime of dictator Frank Bainimarama and her nephew Khaiyum.


On the subject of payroll, let me make it absolutely clear that I am not on the payroll of Fiji Water. Many of the readers will recall that when the first instalment came out, the pro-regime detractors claimed that me and Ratu Epeli Ganilau, who as then acting Prime Minister and Defence Minister had refused to deport Roth out of Fiji, were on the Fiji Waters payroll, hence my investigative piece on Magic Mountain.


For example, see(http://www.coupfourandahalf.com/2012/01/sources-jostling-behind-scene-over.html: “Anonymous said: Victor Lal, how much have Fiji Water paid you so far? Can Firca/RBF go through Fiji Water books to determine and publicise this. The people of Fiji must know about these self serving “scoop” journalists who will compromise the national interest and fill their pockets.”


However, one of these days I will be revealing how much Aliz Pacific - the mother and father company of Khaiyum’s uncle and aunty - have stolen from the taxpayers of Fiji – for writing out those pay cheques to the illegal Ministers and having financial fingers in other post-coup ventures – details passed onto me from their very own accountancy office. They can criminally swindle thousands of dollars of taxpayers money but they will not be able to hide from the long arm of the law, if and when, Fiji returns to democratic rule.


One may also ask why, for example, the dictator is never seen smiling with his own pay cheque from Aunty Bano Ali, for he is quick to smile with cheques donated to him for other purposes.


Meanwhile, in November 2011 the people of Fiji were told that an American company was expected to open a bottled water facility in Rakiraki soon. According to the illegal Bainimarama-Khaiyum regime, Fiji 480 Holdings Limited along with Magic Mountain has been granted a lease to set up the facility at Vunitogoloa – just kilometres away from the Fiji Water bottling plant.


Magic Mountain, the illegal regime told us, is a locally owned company with various businesses having invested into the venture. The source of water is at Nananu village. It is anticipated that the new facility will be bigger than the Fiji Water plant and will provide competition. The new plant – to be established within the next 12 months – is expected to provide employment to surrounding villages. So the reports ran in Fiji.


Who owns Magic Mountain Springs (Fiji) Ltd?
Magic Mountain Springs (Fiji) Ltd (MMSFL) has the following persons as directors: Zarin Khan (chartered accountant), Rajen Kant Patel (company director), Ratu Ovini Bokini (company director; deceased 15 January 2009) and Syed Asad Ali Kazime (American). Is Kazime (also spelt Kajmie) behind the so-called American company which is expected to open the bottle water facility in Rakiraki. He states his address a 175 Moore Park Road, Thousand Oaks, California, 91360, USA.


On 4 September 1998 Zarin Khan (f/n Jaffar Khan) informed the Registrar of Companies that “Magic Mountain Springs (Fiji) Ltd has this day been incorporated under the Companies Act and that the Company is limited”. Signing off as Director/Secretary (and presenting the details through his BDO Zarin Ali, Chartered Accountants & Consultants), he informed the ROC that the registered office of the company was situated at Level 8, Dominion House, Thomson St, Suva.


The other director was the late Ratu Ovini Bokini, the Tui Tavua and former chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs during the 2006 treasonous coup. The object of the company was “to carry on in Fiji and elsewhere the business of extracting, bottling and marketing natural spring water and producing, bottling and marketing other beverages and all activities normally associated and ancillary thereto including at its sole discretion the manufacture of bottles and associated packaging for the business or for sale to third parties”. The two, Khan and Bokini had taken out one share each.


Incidentally, on 4 September 1998, the day Khan had notified the ROC of Bokini’s directorship, Justice Sadal had ordered that the Tavua chief’s case be remitted to the Magistrate’s Court for preliminary inquiry to be “held without delay”. Bokini was facing 32 Counts of Official Corruption contrary to Section 106(a) of the Penal Code and 32 alternative Counts of Fraudulent Conversion of Property contrary to Section 279(1)(c)(ii) of the Penal Code Cap. 17, all these charges first came before the Resident Magistrate's Court at Suva on 22nd November 1996. Bokini faced charges of official corruption arising from investigations into the National Bank of Fiji scandal. He was represented by the recently disbarred Ba lawyer Dr Mohammed Samshu-din Sahu Khan.


Meanwhile, on 8 September 1998, Rajendra Kant Patel (f/n Hathi Bhai Patel) the Indo-Fijian Tavua businessman and a close family friend of Bokini became the third director of MMSFL. Patel reflected on their friendship when Bokini died in 2009: “It’s unbelievable for me and my family,” Patel said, adding he struck up a friendship with Ovini in 1976 because their parents were friends. “We were very close and this is indeed a great loss for Tavua and for Fiji. I will always remember my chief and would like to specially remember him as a humble and great leader, always ready to offer guidance on many things. I was never too busy to answer to Ratu’s needs during those challenging times and they were opportunities I was happy to provide for him and his family. I went to pay my tributes to the family this week and the house is silent. There is something missing there…”


In the above eulogy, Patel had not mentioned the business water venture, and other business partnerships. On 3 May 1999 Zarin Khan informed the ROC that “At an extraordinary general meeting of the members of the company duly convened on the 3th day of May, 1999 held at the office of H.B. Patel Brothers Ltd (owned by Rajend Patel family), a special Resolution set below was duly passed – Authorization of Share Allotment – That the directors be and are hereby empowered to allot and to issue at their sole and absolute discretion 22,500,000 shares in the capital of the company to the seed funders, project promoters, project consultants, facilitators of debt and equity funder and the permanent financier of the company project”.


Those holding ordinary shares besides individuals included Navakatidro Development Company Ltd (Tavua, 1,125,000 shares; Bila Development & Investment Ltd, 8th Floor Dominion House, Suva, 225,000 shares; Corporate Agents Ltd, Suva, 1,125,000 shares; Tavua Holdings Ltd, 300,000 shares; Ramapa Proprietary Ltd, Tavua, 1,125,000 and 225,000 shares respectively).


Zarin Khan and Sunil Deo Sharma owned Corporate Agents Ltd, which was formed in 1993. Sharma is a business accountant partner of Zarin Khan and Nur Bano Ali. Tavua Holdings Ltd, formed in 1998, listed its directors as Bokini, Zarin Khan and Rajendra Kant Patel. Navakatidro Development, formed in 1996, had Eroni Kito, Lemeki Tareguci Rasiga, Ratu Inoke Baleisuva Bokini and Ratu Tavo Bale Bokini as directors.


By 1999, the Bokinis were sole directors: Ratu Ovini, Tavo Bale, Inoke, Totivi Dakaniviti, Kelera Vakawale, and Sereima Lalavanua. In 1998 Bila Development and Investment Company was owned by Sairusi Tagivetaua and Eroni Kitou, of Tavua, who listed their occupations as businessmen. On 15 June 1996 Kitou and Lemeki Tareguci had resigned their directorships from Navakatidro Development, and were replaced by the Bokini family. The company’s financial affairs were managed by BDO Zarin Ali (the aunty and uncle accountant team). Sahu Khan and Sahu Khan represented the company’s legal interests.


By February 2004, MMSF had a fourth director in the person of Dr Shailesh Khatri (f/n Devidas Guludas), an interventional cardiologist, who gave his address as Suite 4, 4th Floor, Pacific Private Clinic, 123 Narang Street, Southport Qld, 4215, Australia. A year later, in 2005, the Return of Allotments showed those holding allotted shares as followers: Navakartidro (2,025,000), Ramapa (2,025,000), Corporate Agents (Fiji) Ltd (2,025,000) and Syed Asad Ali Kazmie of California (1,800,000). In August 2005 Khatri was removed from Magic Mountain and Kazmie was appointed in his place. Another company, Travelex (Fiji) Ltd (a client of BDO Zarin Ali) of Varoli St, Ba, was allocated 406,000 shares in 2005. The directors were listed as follows: Devidas Gulabdas (f/n Gulabdas Hargovind), Puspawati Nagindas Vallabh and Akeneta Koyanasau, who resigned on 18 February 2004.


Meanwhile, as I mentioned in the first instalment, the treasonist 2006 coup, gave the Khaiyum clan, the Bokinis’ and the Patels a great chance to make a go for the control of Fiji’s bottled water. But, first, the illegal Attorney-General and Minister of a million illegal portfolios, had to vilify Fiji Water, with his uncle Zarin Khan hiding in the background.


The public statements had been cleverly left to Rajendra Kant Patel, who has been described as the boss of Magic Mountain, when we know from the records now that he is only one of the directors. In 2008, according to a Fiji Times report, the landowners wanted the ownership of the site of the proposed water bottling plant returned to them before work started. Yavusa Nakorosago of Nananu, Ra, wanted discussions with the interim Government and the Native Land Commission to correct what they claimed was an earlier mistake by the NLC.


Nananu Development Company secretary Vasiti Ritova said yavusa Nakorosago felt it was wronged when the then Native Land Reserve Commissioner, Ilaitia Caginavanua, awarded the land overlooking their village to mataqali Matalevu of Vunitogoloa.


The land had been leased by Magic Mountains (Springs) Fiji Limited.


Ritova said the 240-hectare site included the location of their original village, burial grounds, fishing area and food gardens. She said the decision was made in 1996 after an NLC sitting in Vunitogoloa, where the members of Yavusa Nakorosago told Caginavanua that Matalevu could not have owned that land because they were part of Vunitogoloa and Raviravi District and not Nananu. Vunitogoloa is about 20 kilometres from the disputed land.


“How can some people who live three mountains, two rivers and four villages away from us can come and claim what is right there under our nose?” she asked. “We, the members of yavusa Nakorosago, are left to work on this oversight ourselves and we will now renew our call to the Government and the NLC to have another meeting so that we can undo this very key decision that was made without proper consultation with all members of three mataqali in Nananu (yavusa Nakorosago) as far as the new spring water project is concerned.


Magic Mountain Springs boss Rajendra Patel, according to the Fiji Times, had said he would not comment on that issue. And Ritova, despite repeated e-mails to her from me, has responded to my queries. In 2007 Caginavanua’s contract was not renewed. The then Interim Fijian Affairs Minister Ratu Epeli Ganilau said the Board of NLTB decided against the renewal because Caginavanua was under investigation for alleged corruption. “The Reserve Commissioner even though his contract has lapsed...the Board has also not renewed his contract, he is also being investigated by the committee of Colonel Kurusiga on some of the allegations leveled against him during his term as Reserve Commissioner,” said Ganilau.


In March 2011, Patel was again in the news, with no sign of Zarin Khan. “This one man sorted out an 11-year issue and brought about unity among Ra villagers, paving the way for these water bottling projects. I am also thankful to the Native Land Trust Board for their assistance in these projects”. Patel was praising the Commissioner Western Commander Joeli Cawaki. The Fiji Times had reported that to enable the new developments, the Bainimarama-Khaiyum Government had solved an 11-year impasse between feuding landowners at Yaqara, “a truce which will be set in stone when work on the two water bottling projects begin in August this year (2011).


One factory, located at the site of extraction in Nananu Village in Ra, is a joint venture between Tavua businessman Rajendra Patel, United States investors and the people of Nananu. The other plant, also located at the extraction site will be a joint venture between the yavusa Mali of Naseyani, Unit Trust of Fiji, a subsidiary of Fijian Holdings Limited and an, as yet undisclosed, United States investor. We wonder who that investor is – Syed Asad Ali Kasmie?


Rajendra Kant Patel told the press in 2011 that he was waiting for financiers to arrive in the country later “this month (March 2011) before elaborating further on the Magic Mountain project in Nananu. He did not inform the nation that the water company had yet to pay rent arrears – a year later, in January 2011, it was the Taukei Lands Trust Board reported that Magic Mountain has only recently paid “rent arrears” but has yet to commence development in accordance with the terms of its lease.


The Fiji Democracy Now blog noted: “Cheating landowners of rent – what else would we expect from the Khaiyum Klan?”


There is no mention of the name of Zarin Khan when it comes to the Magic Mountain Springs (Fiji) Ltd. But no matter how deep the Khaiyum clan decides to dive, they will be fished out of water.


A secret report prepared by BLM Consulting for Fiji 480 Holdings Limited can be seen on the following sites, with a plan to contribute $25,000 to a village church and a cross)


http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=BLM_Fiji480_Project_Summary_12-10-2011&meta=

Two major announcements from the regime in recent days have been met with strong resistance from both major and minor political parties and democracy groups.

All are rightly denouncing the illegal government's decision to start consultations to replace the 1997 Constitution and the decision to abolish the Great Council of Chiefs.

The fresh and invigoprated debate shows the people of Fiji will not roll over and die and suggest there will be a fight to reclaim the country legitimately in the 2014 elections.

On that note, Coupfourpointfive has been told by insiders there is talk that Frank Bainimarama is being urged to name his new political party One Fiji. Insiders also insist Esala Teleni will be roped in to run Bainimarama's day to day operation while he concentrates on securing a safe exit for himself either as prime minister or president.

A new party has also made its debut. The Fiji First Party (The Neutralising Force), has released a statement denouncing the consultations (see below) and outlining its understanding of the current crisis.

Meanwhile the NFP says it's not convinced about the consultations saying "until we see something better we have no reason to abandon it."


Quote: "Mr Bainimarama’s announcements fall short. We cannot have genuine consultation in a restrictive environment. We need to see immediate steps to remove all impediments such as the plethora of decrees that severely restrict our rights, freedoms and access to the Courts."


The USA based Democracy and Freedom for Fiji Movement (see below) has also nailed it:

"The reason for the political upheaval in 2006 was not due to the constitution but because of the self-interest of Bainimarama. The demand made by Bainimarama in 2006 to the Qarase government never included the amendment or removal of the 1997 constitution.



"Therefore the constitution should be allowed to continue and the Court of Appeal decision of April 2009 be implemented. Any change to the constitution should follow the normal process where individuals are free to express their views and a Parliament approves the changes after wide consultations.


"We feel that the money that is being allocated to this time and money wasting exercise should be diverted to ensure that the services such as health, education and law order are delivered for the benefit of the public."

NFP on the Constitution
http://www.mediafire.com/?lq45tqmrlbt6nhe
Fiji First Party Constitution Abrogated
http://www.mediafire.com/?sxda2488cbdyb44
DFFM statement on Constitution
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=1360ed69c333e04a&mt=application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui%3D2%26ik%3Daa2b5fa4e1%26view%3Datt%26th%3D1360ed69c333e04a%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dsafe%26zw&sig=AHIEtbSCP3EiTjkERbAGVRImlhmxCykGfA

Vanuautu's newest chief Bainimarma aka Warwar. pic MINFO

It's the biggest hypocrisy out - Frank Bainimarama has killed off Fiji's Great of Council of Chiefs or Boselevu Vakaturaga but has himself become a chief in Vanuatu.

The country's self-appointed prime minister was installed as Chief of Malampa, one of the largest provinces in Vanuatu, five days ago - just as he was preparing gazette the disestablishment of the Great Council of Chiefs.

He revealed yesterday when he announced the GCC was formally abolished that the gazetting was done several days ago - probably about the time he was happily accepting his new chief title.

It's the biggest hypocrisy out and shows again that the 2006 coup leader is shutting down Fiji's traditional chiefly system to stifle the power they have on the people of Fiji to act against him.

For while he is happy to support another country's council of chiefs, he will not tolerate one in his own country because they are a threat to him.

Bainimarama's Vanuatu chief title is Warwar or chief of the island of Ambrym, which lies in northern Vanuatu in the Malampa province.

The ceremony to make him chief was according to the Ministry of Information release "four years of waiting and preparation following the Prime Minister’s adoption in 2008 by the chiefly family of Malampa."

He was given his title by the chiefs of the province at a traditional ceremony at the Melanesian Spearhead Group headquarters in Port Villa and the  ceremony was conducted by the National Council of Chiefs or the Malvatu Mauri as it is known.

In return for the title, Bainimarama gave two pigs - one for the chiefs and one for the Malampa province.

In his acceptance speech he thanked the people of Vanuatu, the chiefs and the government of Vanuatu for the traditional custom saying: “This is what we need in Melanesia, what sets up apart – our traditional ceremony and our solidarity.
“I thank the chiefs of the Malvatumauri for the traditional ceremony.”

Bainimarama also took the gifts presented to him by MSG members at the end of the ceremony, another traditional practice that he yesterday claimed made Fiji's GCC elitist and privileged.

We are in no doubt that this regime, led by the destructive hand of Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum and aided and abetted by Bainimarama, is working to destroy Fiji as it tries to justify its illegal rule.

We are not alone: numerous stories about the disestablishment of the GCC have appeared today on international news sites, so the world knows Bainimarama aka Warwar, is making war on his own people.

Fiji ruler ends chiefs council
http://www.fox8live.com/news/world/story/Fiji-ruler-ends-chiefs-council/MYNrPzbY8USs6hWZKiSNsw.cspx

Fiji leader disbands Council of Chiefs
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/fiji/9142682/Fijis-military-ruler-disbands-Great-Council-of-Chiefs.html
UN convention contravened
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=66839 

The deposed prime minister and the leader of the SDL Party, Laisenia Qarase, has hit back at the Fiji Sun story that claimed his party is racist.

The article Rumblings of the next eruption in SDL talk, was penned by regime supporter Graham Davis.

In a statement, Qarase says SDL has always been multi- racial and has a broad-based support.
INFAMOUS PROGRAMME
Its legislative programme included the infamous iQoliqoli Bill that would have required non-indigenous citizens to pay for the use of coastal resources, not just to fish but to cross stretches of water and even the simple act of going to the beach. Coupled with its plan to free the racial supremacists who staged the 2000 coup, including George Speight, the iQoliqoli Bill ultimately led to the SDL’s downfall.
Commodore Bainimarama – as military chief – demanded that Mr Qarase back down, accusing his SDL government of racism and corruption. Mr  Qarase refused and the rest is history.
Two years ago, Commodore Bainimarama told Grubsheet that Laisenia Qarase would return only over his dead body. Two weeks ago, he said he was welcome – like anyone else – to contest the election he’s promised in 2014.
But that means Mr Qarase himself, not the SDL. As far as Commodore Bainimarama is concerned, Mr Qarase can stand as an independent or form another party that is multiracial, with members of all races and a multiracial platform.
But the SDL? Only over his dead body. It is unequivocal and non-negotiable. And lest it be seen as a specific objection to the SDL, the same applies to any other existing single race party, such as the National Federation Party, the traditional political bastion of Indo-Fijians.
VISION OF EQUALITY
None of these have any place in Commodore Bainimarama’s vision of a new Fiji, where equal status, equal suffrage and equal opportunity will, he says, be the hallmarks. Laisenia Qarase knows this. So why did he choose to ignore it in the interview with Radio Australia’s Bruce Hill? Mr Qarase said he was “happy” with Commodore Bainimarama’s statement in the Grubsheet interview that politicians like him were free to stand in 2014, describing it as “a change of heart”.
All well and good. But then he talked about “getting through the selection process” of his own party, the SDL. Ahem. Well, they might choose you, Mr Qarase, but it’s a moot point because you’re not going to be allowed to stand on their behalf.
The deposed Prime Minister went on to say that while he’d prefer an election this year based on the abrogated 1997 Constitution, a decision on whether the SDL would field candidates in 2014 would depend on how the constitutional discussions went. But if the elections were free and fair, the party would contest them and he would win.
It isn’t going to happen and herein is the rumblings of the next eruption in Fiji – a raging argument over the legitimacy of any election whenever it’s held. Wherever you look, Fiji’s critics – the Australian and New Zealand governments, NGOs and think-tanks like the Lowy Institute – are insisting that any election process has to be inclusive, reflect the views of all sections of Fijian society and be a true expression of the will of the people.
SOME TOUGH QUESTIONS
But there are some tough questions to be answered that aren’t part of the current debate. Nor, incidentally, are they part of the political paradigm in Australia and NZ. Is racism a legitimate expression of democracy?
Does genuine democracy include the right to believe in the supremacy of one race and superior rights for that race over other citizens? Does it include the right of anyone to stand for office to represent the interests of one race or for race-based parties to field candidates in any election?
Definitive pronouncements are going to have to be made. And Laisenia Qarase has clearly decided to bring it on, to shove a spoke into the Government’s plans right from the start.
FAMILIAR TACTIC
His tactic is a familiar one – donning the cloak of democracy to mask his party’s supremacist agenda.
For Qarase and his party, it’s still “Fiji for the Fijians”, the lewenivanua, not equal rights for the whole nation as Commodore Bainimarama insists. The SDL opposes the use of the term Fijian for anyone other than the iTaukei.
Commodore Bainimarama has made it mandatory for everyone to be called a Fijian irrespective of race. What position will Australia, New Zealand and the rest of the international community take? Will it be enough that Laisenia Qarase himself is allowed to stand to meet their test of a legitimate election? Or will they insist that the racially exclusive SDL also be allowed to contest the poll?
On this most basic of questions, the immediate future of Fiji largely depends, along with its relationships with its neighbours.
A-G SENSES DANGERS
Commodore Bainimarama’s Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, clearly senses the danger a re-emboldened Qarase presents, referring to politicians “caught in a time warp where nepotism, elitism and racism were the norm”.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said that “voices that echoed from that past… sought to regain power and take Fiji back to the dark ages.” Certainly, that will only happen over Frank Commodore Bainimarama’s dead body, something the international community needs to comprehend as it assesses its position.
PM’S VIEWS ON MULTIRACIALISM
In the immediate aftermath of our interview with the Prime Minister for Sky News a fortnight ago, Grubsheet learned an intriguing fact about Commodore Bainimarama’s childhood that explains a great deal about his own multiracial outlook.
When his father was the local prison warder at the main jail in western Viti Levu, young Frank attended Natabua Indian Primary School.
So his friends were mainly Indo-Fijians and he learned Hindi in the classroom and the playing fields. Until now, it’s been assumed that his multiracial attitudes were forged much later, when he attended that bastion of multiracialism, Suva’s Marist Brothers High School, but it’s clear they were ingrained from early childhood.
FAMILY LINKS
It’s also a little known fact that only Commodore Bainimarama’s father is an indigenous Fijian. His mother was a Kailoma – a part European from the O’Connor and Pickering families. His wife, Mary, also comes from a prominent Kailoma family, the Keans.
All of which casts considerable doubt on the claims of Commodore Bainimarama’s critics that his multiracial agenda is merely an cynical mask for what they allege is his craven lust for power. While the young Laisenia Qarase was growing up in the village of Mavana on the almost exclusively indigenous island of Vanuabalavu in eastern Fiji, Voreqe Bainimarama was kicking a soccer ball around with his Indo-Fijian schoolmates in the country’s west.
Small wonder that their attitudes to race are so diametrically opposed.

Qarase stirs up trouble

Faleomavaega with Bainimarama

Frank Bainimarama's former third infantry commander, Roko Ului Mara, has fired another shot at the regime leader.
As Bainimarama tries to get the consultation talks underway to replace the Constitution he abrogated and formally revokes the Great Council of Chiefs, Mara has revealed the charges the police were trying to pin on the coup leader.
In releases describing Bainimarama as the "most conspicuous refugee from justice in the South Pacific", he says Bainimarama is just a "crim on the run".
Mara is also appealing to the US Congressman Eni Faleomavaega, who has supported the regime in the face of wide condemnation, to open his eyes to the true motives and corrupt behaviour of Bainimarama.
In a statement sent to Faleomavaega, Mara says Bainimarama's efforts to free Fiji of corruption are "a grotesque farce underscored by vindictiveness".

Bainimarama Charges

Letter to Eni Faleomavaega
http://cfdfiji.org/Council_for_a_Democratic_Fiji/Media_files/120305%20congressman%20letter.pdf
Bainimarama Brief: Crimes, Deceit and Ruination of Fiji
http://cfdfiji.org/Council_for_a_Democratic_Fiji/Media_files/120305%20CFDFiji%20congressman%20paper.pdf

Academic gave Bainimarama the Biblical proportions of the prophet, Moses.

Nandan (second left) with Khaiyum and others.pic the Jet

Thou shalt honour the dictator and see him in God's image. 

Academic refers to charter as sacred

A look at the writings and the connections of Yash Ghai, the newly-appointed chair of the Constitution Commission, reveal he's already pretty thick with the regime.

Ghai, Cottrell, and Khaiyum.pic CCF

The Kenyan born academic has been closely associated with the Citizens Constitutional Forum, supervised the controversial thesis of the illegal attorney Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum which recommended the dismantling of key Fijian institutions, and met Frank Bainimarama after the 2000 Speight coup for “legal consultations”.

In 2004, Ghai disclosed his meeting with Bainimarama as follows: “When I was in Fiji in October 2000, the Head of the Armed Forces invited me for consultations, particularly in view of the impending Court of Appeal decision on the legality of the coup. All senior officers were carrying copies of the Constitution. During our conversation, I was told that the Army had only begun to study it, and, to their surprise, found it was an excellent constitution and a better one could not be imagined. 

"But they had not known this when they more or less supported the coup! Not that the army came out in support of the constitution at that time. But is interesting to note that within a few years of the coup, the Army became one of the institutions in the nation that was relatively supportive of the Constitution. Over the last year, the army has strongly objected to the government’s plans to grant amnesty to the coup plotters, and the Commander even threatened a coup.”

Readers may also recall that last month Ghai surfaced in Fiji to launch his handbook on “Constitution making and reform: options for the process”. The book was officially launched by former vice-president, Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi (a CCF member), at the CCF headquarters in Suva. Among the guests was Yash Ghai’s former student, Khaiyum, who sat next to the Kenyan and his wife Jill Cottrell, one of the co-authors of the handbook.

C4/5 understands the book launch was a carefully choreographed exercise to pave the way for Ghai to turn his constitution making “handbook” into a “cookbook” on behalf of the illegal regime. 

The CCF CEO Akuila Yabaki’s statements that welcomed Ghai’s appointment as chair of the Constitution can be seen as nothing but a charade to hide CCF’s own complicity in the drawing up of a new illegal constitution.

As we can see below, (see earlier Constitution story on CCF and Jenny Hayward-Jones), Yabaki is trotting out some of the issues raised by Ghai; note his recent statement that decisions have to be made about the role of the Great Council of Chiefs plus land ownership.

So what are Yash Ghai’s views on the 1997 Constitution and other related issues in Fiji?

We direct our readers to the following chapter Between Coups: Constitution Making in Fiji, Ghai and his wife wrote for a book titled, Framing the State in Times of Transistion: Case Studies in Constitution Making. 

In their conclusion, the husband and wife team had the following to say about the 1997 Constitution: 

"Some commentators have concluded that the Constitution was fundamentally flawed because it permitted the emergence of an Indo-Fijian Prime Minister and this was unacceptable to the Fijian community. We find this a simplistic analysis. It is true that this Prime Minister was perhaps particularly hard for the other community to swallow. But it is also true that the result of the 1999 election made it much easier for those sections of society that really did not want any change in the constitutionally sanctioned reinforcement of Fijian paramountcy – meaning the paramountcy of a particular class and a particular structure for society – to portray the entire constitutional settlement as a disaster for Fijians. It was easier for this to be done because so few people really understood the document.

"How much could have been done by way of public education within the timeframe is not clear. But we have shown that the process was far less transparent and participatory than it might have been, and we have also tried to show why this was so. The experience of other countries has shown that in the final analysis what matters may be more the views of community leaders than the participation of the people themselves. And though Rabuka and Reddy may have tried to lead in one direction, other leaders were marching determinedly in another.

"The content of the constitution itself may share some of the blame. The electoral system that hardly anyone understood was responsible to some extent for the 1999 election result. The power sharing arrangement that is technically clumsy and politically unworkable with the current players gives the current government a good reason for pressing for constitutional amendment. And we have noted the awkward marrying of the liberal and the consociational that retained many ambiguities of the past.

"A constitution is not established in a vacuum. In order for a new and just constitutional system to take root in Fiji, a great deal of damage from the past must be undone. Much of that damage can be traced to the colonial experience, other elements to the post-1987 period. The Reeves Commission aimed for a radical restructuring of the values and institutions of the state. Although the people may have been ready for fundamental change, politicians clearly were not. Experience shows that if politicians, who have a special purchase on state institutions, are not committed to a constitution, its prospects remain dim.

"In trying to please many groups, the thrust of the constitution was blunted. One critical factor, for example, was the reversal of the Reeves Commission’s proportion between racial and non-racial seats, with the result that ethnic politics remained dominant.

"Constitutions that aim for a fundamental change need much more caring and nourishing than this one got. Had its principal proponents, Rabuka and Reddy, won the elections, more concerted efforts might have been made to observe its spirit and implement its provisions. Certainly, little was done to prepare the public, in terms of information and persuasion, for the new constitution and the radical changes it was intended to promote.

"The new constitution remained hostage to contingencies it could not control: the election of a prime minister who had little respect for the aspirations and conciliatory procedures embodied in the new constitution, an unsuccessful businessman cut off from the largess of the state with the change of government who capitalized on ethnic fears, and the easing of external pressures on constitutionalism all contributed negatively to the fortunes of the constitution.

"However, the constitution survives and there remains considerable support for it among sections of the people. The vision of Fiji on which the constitution rests still has its admirers. It is too early to write it off."

Yash Ghai is now prepared to write off the 1997 Constitution at the bidding of his former student Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum and the puppet dictator Frank Bainimarama. The question that needs to be asked is this: How much of Fiji taxpayer’s money is Ghai being paid to rip apart the 1997 Constitution?

Ghai on Fiji and Bainimarama to the NZ Herald in 2007
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/cultures/news/article.cfm?c_id=105&objectid=10467295 

Attar Singh

Mick Beddoes with Laisenia Qarase