Police chief hires future son-in-law to help spy on Fiji citizens

Naivalurua

Fiji's Police Commissioner, Ioane Naivalurua, has recruited his soon to be son-in-law to work in the National Intelligence Bureau to profile citizens with known anti-government feelings.

Josh Matau, who is engaged to Naivalurua's daughter, Nowa, started as a Research Officer in the Bureau on Monday.

One of the key job descriptions of current NIB officers is to spy on Fiji citizens known to have anti-government feelings.

Nowa Naivalurua and Josh Matau

In his new role, Matau, who recently returned to Fiji after studying at the University of New South Wales,
will be required to profile these citizens and maintain updated files on them.

An insider says: "Matau will be tasked with keeping information on these people right at his fingertips."  

Naivalurua has already been criticised for allowing his wife, Kesa, to be involved in police and Fiji Corrections Service business. 

A former FCS deputy commissioner has also publicly stated he thinks Naivalurua is a corrupt opportunist and  others have accused him of taking backhanders from Chinese nationals and being caught up in a drug ring.


Information obtained by Coupfourpointfive now shows that at a time when the Fiji Police Force is strapped for cash and officers are revolting over wages and conditions, Naivalurua ordered his HR Director to find a job to match his son-in-law's academic qualification.

Matau, who will report directly to the Director of National Intelligence Bureau, has a salary of $19,000.
 

The NIB role is the second job Naivalurua has created for his daughter's partner. When he was Commissioner of Prisons, he organised for Matau to be an assistant media officer for the Prisons Department.

Datt the saint or the spoiler?

Krishna Datt

Two revelations about Mahendra Chaudhry that might not be a surprise: he fears being toppled and is an autocrat. 

All fairly predictable but the damage is in who 'exposed' him and what else was said about the Fiji Labour Party leader.

 

The party's former whip, Krishna Dutt, let loose to media today that he and four other MPs were forced to part company with Chaudhry because the Labour Leader 'was living in fear of being unseated and losing his prestigious and lucrative position'.

Chaudhry: Hanging on to the top job

According to Dutt: "Five of us were made to leave the Fiji Labour Party for disagreeing with the Labour Leader on some of the decisions. At that stage our differences were articulated within the party. In any democratic political system differences over issues and decisions taken are normal and can be handled in a democratic manner."

The damage, though, came from this 'revelation': Chaudhry is wooing indigenous Fijians because he and FLP have lost credibility with Indian voters.

"This is the only way labour can hope to survive," says Dutt. "Students of political science can have a field day following the manoeuvring of the Labour leader in trying to place him in a vantage position."

Not surprisingly Chaudhry insists Datt and the others were expelled for breaking party values and discipline.

He reckons the former Labasa MP is trying to be a political saint and that the support of FLP - and that of his own - is intact.

Time will tell but if Datt forms a political party or hitches up with an existing one, he could do a bit more damage than he did today.

Controversial TV Decree rules out challenge

The newly gazetted TV decree which allows the regime's Minister of Communications, Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, to revoke the licence of a TV station.

What Constitution Commission members are reading as prep work

More of the reading material Yash Ghai has steered the five-strong Constitution Commission towards, including his paper, Decreeing and establishing a constitutional order: challenges facing Kenya, which shows why the good professor has sided with the regime in excluding political party representatives on the Constitution Review Constitution.


We point bloggers in particular to page 6 where Ghai says: "This history suggests that there are good reasons why politicians should not bepermitted to play such a decisive role in constitution making. Each politician, or atleast each political party, will aim at provisions which ensure their access to power."

The second paper, the Role of Constituent Assemblies in Constitution Making, goes some way to answering some of the concerns raised by political parties recently about the make-up of the Constituent Assembly.

Both are essential reading for all following the work of Yash Ghai, who Coupfourpointfive understands is expected to be in Fiji in the first week of next month.

Ghai's paper on decreeing and establishing constitutional order
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?v5d8k1zj2ag56hr 
Ghai on Constituent Assemblies
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?x43yubfp4d85l5s


Letter to the Editor
A better democracy or true justice

As discussion and debate about submissions to the Constitution consultation process begins by different facets of our society, I am drawn to the commitment mentioned numerous times by Fiji’s military leaders "to build a better democracy for Fiji".

This begs the question, what is a better democracy? The answer is simple. You and I or Fiji's military cannot make or build a better democracy if we cannot even follow the simple concept of democracy. Democracy is it. By its own definition, democracy is “government by the people; rule of the majority; supreme power is vested in the people.” If anything has to be made better, it is the people who are the cornerstone of this democracy. People's understanding. People's lives. People's dreams. People's hopes. People's rights. People's responsibilities. People's everything.

And for this democracy to function properly and be a good government for the people who are vested the supreme power to make this democracy work, one thing is simple and final, “The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government” (quote on a court building in Manhattan, New York, USA).

Vani Veikoso

New York


Editor,
Gay Maxwell (FS 28/6) should give himself his own advice to 'at east try to be intelligent' because his own letter is  gobbledygook.
He wants ex-politicians to give him a 'break' and shut up because 'they do not even know if they are eligible to stand' for the elections.
What rubbish! Every citizen has the right to stand. That right does not depend on the whim of the people in power.
It is a right bestowed upon citizens by law. The constitution maker Prof. Yash Ghai can confirm this.
I am not aware of any ex-politician having forfeited that right todate.
They therefore have the right to speak their minds freely even if someone like Maxwell  feels unwell by what he hears them say.
That is democracy.
Yours sincerely,
Rajend Naidu
Sydney

Rising concern for Fiji TV

No word yet on the licensing fate of Fiji TV.

The station's operating licence ends on Saturday but as of this morning it has not yet heard from the regime's Communications Minister, Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum.

Warned: Fiji TV Board chair Isoa Kaloumaira

Fiji TV was told to quit pursuing 'anti-government stories' after it gave right of reply to deposed Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, and Fiji Labour Party leader, Mahendra Chaudhry, regarding comments made by a Constitution member about political parties being to blame for Fiji's current situation.

The Ministry of Information tried to deny Coupfourpointfive's story about Fiji TV being warned off about giving air time to political parties but our information has been right all along. 

We now understand Fiji TV is making contingency plans to end its service at midnight this Saturday (June the 30th) when its current license expires. 

There is huge concern about the plug being pulled: hundreds of people are likely to lose jobs and it will be another massive blow to the livelihoods of many families.

Injection of funds: FBC News and Riyaz Sayed Khaiyum

The decision will also leave the only broadcaster of TV news in Fiji in the hands of the brother of Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, Riyaz Sayed Khaiyum who runs FBC News.

The state-owned station recently benefited from a $22 million injection of funds.

Worryingly, the new Television Amendment Decree was gazetted last Thursday and has the following clause:  "The Television Decree 1992 is also amended with the inclusion that no court, tribunal, commission or any other adjudicating body shall have the jurisdiction to accept, hear, determine or in any other way entertain any challenges by any person or body which question any decision by the Minister, the validity of the process of the issuance of any license and any condition imposed by the Minister in granting a license.”

The clause gives Khaiyum the ability to revoke Fiji TV’s license at any time, allowing him to continue to pressure the company to provide news favourable to the regime.

Ghai's Kenyan constitution: a view of what's ahead for Fiji?

Will Ghai tackle the role of the military and regime members?

Yash Ghai’s analysis of Kenya’s  proposed constitution may well be a blueprint of how the Constitution consultation process will play out here in Fiji.

The 74 page booklet (as Ghai describes it) was produced in the run-up to the writing of a new Kenyan constitution.

Fiji's Constitution members say they have been told by Ghai, the Commission chair, to start researching a 'variety of papers and the constitution of other countries' in preparation of their work, which is expected to begin next  month.

Ghai's work in Kenya was one of his more noted achievements.

There is much to glean from the analysis but we suggest pages 15, 18, 31, 34, 36 and 37 in particular; it's where Kenyans have been asked to rate the old and new Constitution.

Note also Ghai's comment at the beginning of the booklet: "Some people have suggested there can be a change by means of an “Executive Order”. There is no such thing in this country. The President can do only the things that the law allows him."

That may well be the case but there is no law and to date, none of Ghai's writings deal with transition from military dictatorship to democracy.

We cite Sun Tzu from the Art of War: “Even the finest sword plunged into salt water will eventually rust." (Sun Tzu, The Art of War)

We also include a link to another handbook, that of the Dictator's Handbook (apparently a practical manual for the aspiring tyrant), which is doing the rounds at the moment.

Ghai's 74 page analysis of Kenya's proposed constitution

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?8m9w1oowjdcoite 

http://dictatorshandbook.net/dictator-excerpt.pdf 

Pflieger: Air Pacific in the money again

Flying high again atfer restructuring. pic escape at sorenlarsen

Air Pacific has announced what it says is its first operating profit since a $91.8 million loss two years ago saying it's a result of more bums on seats and and a tighter run operation.

CEO David Pflieger is reported as saying the profit was achieved on a combination of 'significantly increased passenger numbers, a large drop in costs associated with the airline's previously poor record for on-time departures, a more competitive schedule into the highly competitive Sydney market, and more efficient use of a smaller fleet of aircraft.'

"To report a profit in a year that witnessed significant fuel cost increases, strong and continued competition in a key market from two low cost carriers, and two major flooding crises, is a rousing testament."

 

A report on a New Zealand investment website says the airline has recorded a group surplus before tax of $13.4 million for the year to March 31, compared with an operating loss of $3.7 million a year earlier.

It says the airline announced a group statutory profit of $10.7 million for the year, compared with $25.3 million in the previous year, but the earlier year's profit reflected one-off items relating to cancellation of aircraft deliveries.

Air Pacific's group operating revenue of a reported $678.3 million is said to be up 15.6 percent for the year.

That group result supposedly includes its subsidiary Pacific Sun as well as a 38.75 percent stake in the Sofitel Fiji resort on Denarau Island.

Air Pacific's woes two years ago were blamed on the arrival of Australian budget carriers, Jetstar and Virgin.

Pflieger says the campaign to turn Air Pacific's fortunes around is far from done: "We remain mindful that a spike in fuel prices or changes to market conditions and therefore travel plans could impact our success while we finish restructuring."

The airline last month announced it would resume the original name of Fiji Airways to cash in on the 'Fiji' brand and is buying three new Airbus A330-200 planes.

No mention in the sharedot.co.nz story the airline is being kept alive by FNPF funds although it says Air Pacific is 'guarded about its passenger metrics', but it supposedly carried an additional 85,000 customers last year, compared with the year before, and 122,000 more than in the 2010 financial year.

No mention either of the ongoing leaks from staff of the inner turmoil within the airline and ongoing departures, including the most recent information sent to us about six more pilots resigning 'over frustration at management and for better work conditions from overseas carriers.'

Bollywood pyschological horror thriller

Fijiwood’s own director Khaiyum on the set of G3 with Sonal Chauhan and her co-star Neil Nitin Mukesh.

“Our names are Khans: Mohammed Afzal and Lailun Khan”

By Victor Lal

Bollywood stars, Khaiyum and Vikram Rajani and family. pic Fiji Sun

Indian film producer Vikram Rajani told the Fiji media in March that Eros International in conjunction with his own company Next Gen Films Pvt Limited will be shooting three Bollywood movies in Fiji because he liked the regime’s attractive tax incentives for movie-makers. The total cost of the three movie projects was worth $21million, he said.

Rajani met with Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum and Frank Bainimarama. The film producer said he first discovered Fiji while on holiday last year. He was accompanied by Lailun Khan, the former Fiji Trade and Investment Bureau CEO, when he visited the relevant Fijian authorities.

We may recall that in July 2008 Lailun had tendered her resignation to FTIB, to be effective from August of the same year. The short-lived regime lackey and former FTIB chairman Francis Narayan had confirmed receiving the resignation letter but would not disclose the reasons and claimed that he did not know of her future plans.

What were her future plans?

Pacific Investment Consultancy Ltd

It seems that she and her lawyer husband and former FLP senator Mohammed Afzal Khan were planning to set up a joint business venture, which they did on 20 August 2008. As Mohammed Afzal, in his capacity as Barrister and Solicitor (Messrs Khan and Co, Suva) informed the Registrar of Companies: