Are We There Yet??

As so many citizens are now realising, this Illegal Government is going nowhere and getting there pretty fast. The rash of military appointments to civil service positions may be a blatant display of nepotism, but look at it from another point. The reason the IG can’t get decent, qualified, law abiding citizens to take up positions is the travel bans from our neighbours and aid donors are having the intended effect.

The calibre of people that are taking up executive posts, case in point the Post Fiji chairwoman debacle, speak for themselves. Just like the current crop of Ministers who couldn’t get elected last year, these people couldn’t get a job even if they doctored up their CV’s with fake degrees from Harvard.

Just as a matter asides you want to have a laugh at imaginative CV’s take a look at Frank’s biography on the Wikepedia website link posted below. You will see the attempt to pass off attending overseas military conferences as the equivalent of obtaining a formal qualification. It is anyone’s guess as to what manner of gaffes he made while delivering research papers on defence. See the section on Pre 2000 Coup.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Bainimarama

A good friend of mine who worked at the UNHQ in New York recounted the incident of Frank’s best forgotten interview for a senior UN peacekeeping position. This all took place around the time the SDL government tried to ship him off overseas. Unfortunately for us his complete ignorance of military matters prevented him from getting the job. He couldn’t differentiate between the roles of Officers in battle and how many men they oversaw, while his doctored up CV saw him commanding a battle cruiser and an aircraft carrier that Fiji does not have. The Foreign Military Officers in the UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations had a hard time stopping themselves from laughing when they saw the Walter Mitty penned CV.

So what exactly is the point of this post you may ask? Lately people have been getting more frustrated and indignant with the latest going ons in Government circles. Well that’s a good thing because people need to get worked up to do something about what is happening. The only people that are going to rid themselves of this Illegal Interim Regime are you the people yourselves.

We need to combat this monstrosity on all legal fronts, if you thought the strikes aren’t worrying these people think again. I say to all civil servants to stand up and be counted it’s your livelihood and the day to day survival of your family at stake. If you’re a lawyer you better get up, stand up…stand up for our rights. Whatever race you are you need to rid yourself of the self perpetuating myth that you’re a victim and that the Government gave you a raw deal.  

The only legal and just recourse you have for settling scores with Government is thorugh the ballot box. Much has been said by the Illegal Junta and previous elected governments of democracy being a foreign flower that is ill suited to Fiji soil. While this may be true to a minor extent the fascist alternatives are much more terrifying and destructive, proof of this IG being a fascist regime in everything but name can be seen in the human rights abuses, travel bans and FICAC raids.

Totalitarian Governments around the world leave innumerable victims in their wake, but the first tragic victim is our innocence as we delude ourselves into thinking that things will get better if I keep my head down, I’ll be okay as long as I just do my job. Perhaps a better person to speak on this would be those people like Daniel Fatiaki, Olota Rokovunisei, all the Government CEO’s, Save and Tevita Banuve and countless others who have been suspended or terminated for no other reason than doing their job. 

Ask the pro democracy activists who were taken into custody on Christmas Day last year and the many people since then who have been subjected to torture and abuse at QEB, they were fortunate to live to tell the tale. Tragically the families of Verebasga, Rabaka and Malasebe are still waiting to hear the truth of what happened to them from a stalling DPP and Police Force.

Yet we hear of the manpower dedicated to catching the culprit who stole a laptop and mobile phone from Government Buildings as if it’s a top national priority. An already paranoid Frank realised that even with his beloved bodyguard detail security could still be breached, the coded message of an empty Sprite bottle and knife marks carved into his desk were enough to send him into conniptions. 

Ironically Frank’s veiled threats that Fijians would end up fighting each other if the Government was not overthrown is a very likely reality. Nature abhorrs a vacuum, whatever will take the place of those forcibly discarded traditional institutions  is dependant on  the choices Fijians make. I alluded to this in writing a post two months ago under the pseudonym Mick Dundee on Hyde N Ceek. The link to the post is provided below

http://hydenceek.wordpress.com/2007/05/15/will-we-survive-hurricane-bai/

To all traditional chiefs, the GCC needs to be firm in it’s resolve in making a stand to abide by the constitution and refuse to endorse this Illegal Government. Your very existence is at stake, the stance you take now will reflect on future generations of Fijian youth. The only legacy that this coup has left for young Fijians is that the manner in which you question authority is of no regard and damn the consequences.

If you are a soldier you cannot remain ignorant of the fact that you are being used to persecute your own bretheren and countrymen. I know after talking to many of you in confidence that you do not agree with how things are just getting out of hand. The underlying dissension amongst the officer corps and resentment is rife and there is an air of mistrust as people are afraid to speak out for fear of being victimised. Many of you lament the stained reputation for which you have now become infamous, a sharp contrast to the once proud traditon and legacy you enjoyed in the eyes of this country and the world at large.

I understand that it cuts to the bone for many of you to see incompetent and lesser qualified people rise to higher positions simply for saying yes to every idiotic thing that comes out of Frank’s month. To the command of the Fiji Military Forces remember loyalty that has been bought can be easily sold to the next highest bidder. At the end of the day the Army is a Fijian Institution and the way in which they are trodding roughshod over their traditional heritage is something that will only come back to bite them in the future.

For Bainimarama to remove Senior Military Officers who pledge their loyalty to the Flag and not to the incumbent Commander is one thing. For him to end the careers of a large majority of a once proud Officer Corps for the sake of the tiniest perceived infraction is another.

To those members of the armed forces keep this in mind, you serve a Commanding Officer who has shown his true colours on more than one occassion. When it comes to the crunch are you going to stand behind a man who can’t even stand up for what he believes in? Ask yourself this question: after all the misconceived intimidation tactics you used by attending the readings of the Qoliqoli Bill and RTU Bill in parliament, and campaigning against them within your own villages what purpose has it served? The SDL was voted into power by securing the majority of Fijian votes with CAMV. 

A good friend of mine said to me earlier this year that in the history of coups this one will go down as one of the worst planned operations ever for two reasons.  The first was you cannot have a coup and still claim to follow the constitution, a fact the Army is only waking up to seven months down the track. The other reason is they did not possess the full confidence of the Army Officer Corps, due to the illegality of their proposed action, as well as having no clear idea what they would do after they removed the SDL Government.  This came from no less than an Officer in the Fiji Military Forces… a force that is united 100 percent? Fuggedaboutit..

The telltale signs of this Regime beginning to buckle at the knees are there as they are constantly coming up against one brick wall after another, from the refusal of overseas aid and travel bans, a shrinking economy as the IG’s fiscal policies are coming to nought, the reluctancy of people to take up appointments in various bodies, to a growing public discontent through legal channels and critical media, the exposure of their cover ups and outright lies through blogs, not forgetting a cabinet ministry that can’t tell who’s leading and who’s following.

It takes an enormous amount of energy and subterfuge to sustain a conspiracy, and when one person turns the whole structure collapses like a house of cards. The one thing that is needed from you to accelerate this inevitable outcome is choose where you stand today. Granted there are no monetary gains to be made, nor any perceived rewards and public accolades for choosing to stand up for your rights. There is however the likelihood of persecution, public derision and vilification at the hands of this Illegal Government……..

…..but then for all who have chosen to do so it was never about any of those things, it was simply a matter of choosing between what is right and what is wrong, it’s the choice of living in light or in darkness.

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day who you will serve…..But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 23: verse 1 -5.

The Government you get is the government you deserve. You deserve better than these pretenders!!!