 |
| Suliasi Daunitutu (left) at last week's Black Tuesday rally. |
The pro-democracy movement says Australian journalist Graham Davis’ story about the Gone Marama Bale, the Roko Tui Dreketi’s letter to Frank Bainimarama is so biased 'it is tantamount to professional recklessness.'
The Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement (FDFM) in Australia says even Davis' attack on Ro Teimumu for addressing Bainimarama as 'Voreqe' instead of 'Frank' is below the belt and ill-informed.
 |
| GCC helped secure release of Chaudhry govt during Speight coup. |
FDFM president Suliasi Daunitutu says Davis dishonestly uses Ro Teimumu's letter to suggest 'a titanic struggle looms between the old and new orders in Fiji for the hearts and minds of the indigenous majority – the i’taukei'.
He says it is 'irresponsible media hype' aimed at stirring emotions never intended by the writer.
"The deliberate choice of title ‘Paramount Chief deals the race card’ is intended to deflect from the substance of the Gone Marama Bale’s letter to Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama ... implying a foreign meaning, more sinister in nature and calculated to attract negative reaction from knee jerk reactionaries."
Daunitutu says FDFM wholeheartedly agree with the gist of the Gone Marama Bale’s letter and her comment to Bainimarama regarding his illegal government's obsession with race issues:
"Internationally, ethnicity and culture are recognised and valued, for it is only through racial and ethnic diversity that we can realise civic strength. It is when our nation fully appreciates the different ethnic communities and their culture and learn to accept the different cultures and religion, it is then only, when we will have everlasting peace in Fiji.”
Daunitutu says he himself had warned the military junta of its short sightedness in abolishing the GCC in an earlier release which concluded that FDFM is concerned that:
- Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s personal agenda of wanting to dismantle Fijian Institutions because it will supposedly free Fijians has fooled Commodore Bainimarama and others.
- It fails to grasp the possibility that it could instead unleash and spiral Fijians out of control, fuelled by an avalanche of fear and anger directed against Bainimarama, Sayed-Khaiyum and their supporters triggering an implosion within Fiji’s already fragmented RFMF, civil population; causing a massive wave of retribution & - causing civil unrest affecting all peoples and the economy, but unfortunately Fijians and Indo-Fijians will bear the brunt, of the likes never witnessed in modern Fiji before.
Daunitutu says like Ro Teimumu's letter, FDFM's concerns were never meant to incite people or to arouse racial hatred as made out by Davis, but rather serve as a concerned warning of what could happen as a result of the regime's decision to dismantle Fijian Institutions, such as the GCC.
"FDFM wishes to reiterate, it was the Great Council of Chiefs who negotiated the release of the Chaudhry Government from George Speight’s captivity through the Maunikau Accord, which unfortunately resulted in Speight’s arrest following the subsequent attack on the Kalabu Settlement because of Voreqe’s reneging on his promise and blaming everyone else accept himself.
"Graham is ill-advised in using the ‘race card’ as his trump card because this was never the intention of the Gone Marama Bale, thus inviting ridicule and scorn upon himself after being caught out throwing down a trump card whilst having the same suit in his hand at the time, known in Fiji, as “yaraneke.”"
Daunitutu says the Rewa chief's belief the GCC play a pivotal role in Fiji’s political landscape is something even the former Indian NFP Leader, Jay Ram Reddy, and the current Indian FLP Leader, Mahendra Chaudary, have acknowledged.
"It’s foolish to think, race and ethnicity can be exorcised in Fiji and nor should it be because as the Gone Marama Bale rightfully alluded to, it’s recognised in International Forums, such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was adopted it at its 62nd Session at its New York Headquarters on 13/09/2007.
"Graham’s biased support for Fiji’s illegal military junta has deprived him of the ability to see things as they truly are and to discern what not to take at face value. His limited repertoire of tools because of his biasedness reminds me of Abraham Maslow’s quote: “when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail.”
He adds: "Edmund Burke’s quote of “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing” is a timely warning for Fiji at this time, but unfortunately enforced by people like Graham.
"The Gone Marama Bale, knowing the cost to her own personal safety, chooses to speak on behalf of the countless Fijians and Fijian Chiefs who cannot freely speak their minds for fear of reprisal or the withholding of government development projects from their provinces or villagers.
"She has already been previously arrested and taken into Police custody in the middle of the night, like a fugitive (charges were later withdrawn because of insufficient evidence) - so she is fully aware of the implications of her letter, but it’s something she believes Voreqe Bainimarama needed to hear."
Regarding Davis' reference to Ro Teimumu as the Boadicea of the South Seas, Daunitutu notes: "The difference between Boadicea and the Gone Marama Bale is that Boadicea almost succeeded against the Romans, whereas the Gone Marama Bale with our assistance, other Freedom Fighters and other support will succeed against Fiji’s illegal military junta."
The FDFM president says he and the movement challenge Graham to be as courageous as the Gone Marama Bale the Roko Tui Dreketi and to fully disclose 'his interest regarding Fiji’s illegal military junta, rather than hiding behind the façade of an Independent Journalist, which he certainly isn’t.
"If Graham cannot take this courageous stance, then I suggest he divert his attention elsewhere because we’re talking here about innocent people’s lives and the deprivation of their rights and freedoms, which was usurped by Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama in his December 2006 coup."
FDFM rebuttal of Graham Davis story
