from Peceli
I don't like to comment too much about Fiji politics but this is a matter of importance in my opinion.
Tevita Fa, a Suva Lawyer and the President’s Office
Is it dangerous to be silent when you know the real truth? Or is it dangerous to speak the truth?
The spirit of Fiji former lawyers like A D Patel S M Koya or Carmode or Falvey is back in the legal profession when a lawyer is courageous to speak up. Prominent Suva lawyer Tevita Fa who made a statement against the President last Friday, renewed his criticisms yesterday.
Fa said that Ratu Iloilo made a mistake in referring the problem between the Military and the Government to the High Court many months away. Fa is well-known in helping Fijians about land and he stands up against long-established institutions like the NLTB and other Fijian cases.
The problem of the President is complex. When we look at the office of the President perhaps there should be an age limit. I know Ratu Iloilo personally, especially when he was a Roko in Macuata, Babasiga land. He is a man I still respect but this week he had made a poor decision.
One of the Fiji papers wrote that:
‘ Fa said, "We have a government that says it can only do as much within the rules and we have a President who refuses to do anything. We also have a commander who does not want to listen. For all we know we could be having another coup around the corner." The President's Office and Prime Minister's Office are not commenting on the matter.’
I think Fa is right but not many people are game to criticize the President. The situation really demands strong words and actions from the President’s Office. He is the Commander in Chief so must act.
What do you think?
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6 comments:
Amazing grace.
Laminar, you caught me here! I laughed and laughed. "I once was lost, but now I'm found, Blind but now I see!"
We can't stop the music Laminar.
Peceli
That exchange was classic!
I may post a comment later after I stop laughing and catch my breath.
One wonders who is the wretch in Fiji?
John Newton was the self-proclaimed wretch who once was lost but then was found, but I suppose you know that.
When John was eleven, he went to sea with his father and made six voyages with him before the elder Newton retired. In 1744 John was impressed into service on a man-of-war, the H. M. S. Harwich. Finding conditions on board intolerable, he deserted but was soon recaptured and publicly flogged and demoted from midshipman to common seaman.
Finally at his own request he was exchanged into service on a slave ship, which took him to the coast of Sierra Leone. He then became the servant of a slave trader and was brutally abused. Early in 1748 he was rescued by a sea captain who had known John's father. John Newton ultimately became captain of his own ship, one which plied the slave trade.
However, on a homeward voyage, while he was attempting to steer the ship through a violent storm, he experienced what he was to refer to later as his “great deliverance.
He continued in the slave trade for a time after his conversion; however, he saw to it that the slaves under his care were treated humanely. (So, he didn’t actually give up the trade!) By 1755, after a serious illness, he had given up seafaring forever.
OKAY – then Laminar you ask about who is the 'wretch' in Fiji? Well, I don’t like the word ‘wretch’ – it is old-fashioned and very strong. How about ‘silly’ ‘foolish’ ‘misled’ 'grossly selfish’ ‘double-faced’ rather than a down and out rotter! Perhaps the characters in the Fiji story are all very human, occasionally pleasant people, but also flawed and their selfish actions have repercussions and damage society.
A 'wretch' can also mean a very poor person, therefore of the lowest order in the scheme of things - though we take it in this song to be a 'sinner'!
W.
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