No Christmas miracle for Fiji

A match made by the stars: Ghai and Nailatikau

It started with a bang and ended with stars. That may well have been the way the world came about but it's not how the Fiji Constitution has found life or longevity.

The regime's plan to replace the Constitution it abrogated in 2009 has been dogged from the start by a lack of credibility. Today, December the 21st, the day touted as the arrival of Armageddon, that process fittingly came to an end.

The unelected government's plan for a new constitution has been bedded in doom with the chair of the Constitution Commission, Yash Ghai, himself admitting Frank Bainimarama tried to manipulate him and the outcome of the discussions and submissions.

He confessed to Radio Australia only last month the work of the Commission was not independent.

"...... there has been massive interference. Now I get emails from PM to do this or not to do that, and this is a kind of harassment. We've also been now told to publish any newspapers ads for which we pay, every single expense we have incurred since the beginning of July" before going on to say: "I do not see how Fiji is going to have a free and fair election unless these decrees are cleaned up."

The bad taste pics from the copter jaunt for Fiji cyclone

 

Is the cyclone a matter of mirth? Judging from these pics some in the regime hierarchy either don't know it's wrong to be seen to laughing it up when the nation has been devastated by a cyclone five category or don't care. 

These are the official photographs MINFO is using to promote the helicopter assessments made yesterday of the damage. 

Anyone following the regional coverage, especially that of New Zealand, would've thought it was serious time for Fiji, with reports citing the helicopter fly-overs as part of the official air and ground assessments.

Yet judging from these pics of Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum and Sharon Smith Johns, it was a fun jaunt or chance to play up for a glam Facebook photo.

Nadi and Suva have both been hard hit  by the cyclone and some eight thousand people across Fiji had to spend the night in evacuation centres in the past two nights.

No sign of the draft Constitution reigning in Fiji army

By Jone Baledrokadroka

No doubt in the coming weeks, there will be wide opinion in the media on the ‘leaked’ consultant draft constitution document as produced by the Commission.

As a military analyst, what is concerning is what is not in the Draft regarding the people’s say on the military - past, present and into the future. Deafening silence seems to be the approach by the Commission on the most pressing issue- the non-negotiable I suppose. 

An academic would argue that when it comes to unravelling what is the truth, nothing is sacrosanct. Perhaps it is a strategic move by the Commission to not raise the ire of its chief benefactor, the military regime just yet. But is this being truthful to the nation? What are missing are the Commission’s analyses of militarism and militarization and its relations between Fiji’s political and coup culture, the state and its citizens. 

On page 9 under the heading ‘Problems facing Fiji’ the document articulates “a number of problems which need to be resolved to provide a clear path to the future that Fiji faces”. It then outlines the past social and economic woes of the nation without addressing the blinding obvious, the elephant in the room- the military and its role in the regressive socio-economic state we find ourselves. 

Second set of police surveillance report claims there was a plan to abduct someone from the Bainimarama family

Alleged burning of police post by VRF

In our follow up report on the surveillance being done on citizens by the regime, we can reveal that the Fiji Police Forces' Intelligence Bureau had reported there were plans to abduct a family member of the illegal Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama.

The information is contained in the second set of Police surveillance report given to Coupfourpointfive.

The people behind the alleged plan were identified by intelligence officers as members of VRF, the Viti Revolutionary Force. Readers may recall the anti-regime graffiti and the burning of a police post earlier this year was the work of VRF. Several people, including Jagath Jarunarathe, a Sri Lankan national, were arrested and are currently charged.

The case is yet to be heard in court and the regime's claim proven.

Intelligence officers claim there was an abduction plan

The latest police surveillance report, however, alleges that "five teams of VRF in place on grounds awaiting instructions to abduct PM or any of his relative after which a negotiation will be called on the several demands to be met. The information rifted from the Narain Jetty on 7th January,2012 in which Apete Vere and Ratu Epeli Nailatikau was present."


Coupfourpointfive can't identify whether the Ratu Epeli mentioned in the report is in fact the illegal President.

We publish here part two of the NIB surveillance report on political parties, unions, NGO's and government agencies, which as readers will see lists the obvious and not so obvious.