Peter,
After my recent comment you asked me to give my views on how I feel as a younger voter in the next election.
I have never voted in an election. I am 23 years old and am employed in Suva as a carpenter. I am married with two children. I struggle to support my family but am living a better life than most of my friends.
I am frustrated at the lack of control in my life and have been trying to see how and why I am so upset.
I dislike being governed without having any say in my future. I know many people are saying that a voting democracy is not suitable for Fiji as we are too immature a country to have this responsibility. I am offended by this attitude as I do not consider myself or my wife as particularly thick.
I believe we deserve a democratic state but what form of democracy is open for debate. A combination of military state and despotic Emperor like we have at present is not acceptable to me.
I don’t like the attitude of the soldiers who now act like they are superior to everyone else and I have even heard one soldier threatening a shopkeeper who he accused of overcharging with the phrase “I have been taught how to kill you”. These soldiers have piggybacked on the knowledge that people have been beaten often for reasons not made clear to us. This is scary and the threats sound very real.
I don’t like having new laws being passed each week that I will never get a say about. I approve of most of the laws but without the internet I would not know they even exist and yet could be arrested for not complying with them.
I am scared by all the loans and gifts we seem to be receiving without being told how I and 800,000 other people will ever be able to afford to repay.
I want to know where the money is going as the current reporting in the newspapers are positive for the Emperor in a manner that is totally unbelievable and this worries me. I see the RFMF in new vehicles waving at the girls and lounging around while rumours of a 100% pay rise swirl around.
No news has now been automatically been taken as the worst possible news and we all wonder why PER is still in place and fear there is a good reason we know nothing about. No news is bad news.
I want a vote at least every five years to decide who the Emperor is and depose him if he is not performing to the level the majority wants. With the poor quality of the Emperors in the past, three years would be better.
What type of democracy should be as a result of a vote on various systems after an extensive education program run by an independent body. I have no preference for a party system or a Presidential system as long as a free and fair press is in action to critique those standing for positions of power. A friend has suggested that there be much more rigorous rules for political reporting during an election with the defamation laws being strengthened to avoid biased reporting.
I just know I am uncomfortable with the current situation and see little sign that we are moving to an election in 2014. I hope so and dream of having some small say in my children’s future.
Chippy.
Fiji Today FijiTodays Open Forum Blog 
Boy.
You are still wet around the ears and therefore at this stage you dont have the faintest idea whether you’re arthur or martha or you could be a little bit of both.
I was in Fiji recently and everyone I spoke to are very happy with Bainimarama I couldnt find anyone that fault this regime.
You like the whangers in Australia cant argue with 99.8% of the people you guys are way way below the minority thus it may be prudent to remain silent.
Chippy,
Your post was reasonable, well-written, and carefully thought out. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Probably the people with whom Jeke spoke did tell him that they were happy with the present situation. With the secret police around, they would be taking a big risk to tell him otherwise.
Jeke is either an amployee/agent of the present dictatorship and owes his daily bread sucking up to the dictator or he does not have a clue what the hell he is on about.
I talk daily with my relatives in my village and in towns and yes in public they go along with the ” keimami sa koya tiko e nakoro, toso tiko na bula” type of response to “what do you think about the present government”…its the typical nebulous vague and off the shelf response of about 85% of the Fijians i ask similar questions.
However when i sit down with one, on a one to one basis, and having established confidence in the general environment of conversation, different viewpoints appear, a more critical one. There is the usual complaints about the spiralling cost of living, worsening markets for the typical produce fropm villages, high cost of education, the balooning and dominant numbers and precence of soldiers all over the place and probable drain on taxpayers, lack of participation in governance etc.
In general people in Fiji are reluctant/frightened to speak their minds freely
Very true about the soldiers, I to have overheard soldiers using there status as over and above that of any citizen, when in fact they have no special powers at all.
It does not matter what jeke, lord haw haw of horowhenua or coup collaborators like anthony gates or his boy pryde say or do – the reputation of the Fiji military, under the current leadership, is trashed internationally. It will take many years and new professional leadership to regain its former glory – if ever. The current soldiers are just thugs and gutter trash.
I did not know that carpenters in Fiji are that qualified to write such notes.
Jeke
Sona levu dabeca ga nomu gusu ni dakai!
Magaitinamu drau veicai kei painkiller kei voreqe kei ira kece na boci lalai mai na keba!
Is this ‘carpenter’ posing as Jesus Christ? Easter is just around the corner. But then Our Lord would never think of beginning each and every paragraph with ‘I’ – would He?
Neel said, “I did not know that carpenters in Fiji are that qualified to write such notes.”
Don’t be deceived by occupation. Perhaps carpenters don’t have a reputation for being well-educated. However, there are people who are much better educated than one might suppose from their occupations.
Education doesn’t necessarily end with formal schooling, and it should not. There are people who have become highly educated through considerable reading, independent study of subjects which interest them, and through associating with well-educated people. Some people who have not been graduated from high school, or may not even have made it past form 4, are better educated than some people with university degrees. That is not the usual situation, but it does happen.
Chippy writes very well and seems to think very clearly. Although he may be “only” a carpenter, it appears that he is nevertheless well educated. It may even be that he has a university degree but enjoys working with his hands and, because of frugal living, is happy with his income as a carpenter.
Let’s get over this snobbery of putting people down because they don’t have prestigious professions.
My wife wrote down what I wanted her to as she is much better educated than I am. These days a qualified carpenter is much more than the man with a hammer that it used to be. I think you are showing your age as things have changed. One thing I approve of with the current government is that there are now building standards that require skill and expertise to correctly build a new home. The quality work I do is more likely to be in Tamavua than in Navua.
Above discussions refering to relationships between one’s qualification and work,…… i happen to have a friend in Lautoka who is very intelligent, qualified in Accountancy from USP and tutored USP students at Lautoka campus for a while but now just stays home and plant tavioka and dalo….still a briliant mind.
He might change vocation when time is right who knows, returns to village in Tailevu and plant more dalo or get a UNDP job for Pacific Region which he was once offerred but decided to take up USP job instead.
Present job may not necessarily truelly indicate what others think of one’s educational background.
This story about 99.8% support for the regime is quite thrilling. If I were an internationally shunned dictator not able to travel to the rugby world cup or anywhere else for that matter, if I were Frank, knowing that I will get 99.8 % of the vote, well I would probably hold elections tomorrow and legitimize my rule. However, this is not happening, not now and not in 2014. There are two possible reasons: First, Frank is even thicker than anyone thought, in other words too stupid to see the easy way out through democratic elections that he would win hands down. Or there are more than 1,600 Fijians opposing the dictator. Take your pick, but don’t give us the crap about the 99.8 % anymore.
Why have elections when the people 99.8% of them have given Frank the mandate to rule indefinitely?
Go figure.
How has the “mandate” been verified?
Who needs verifications?
The fourteen provinces have in the Fijian custom offered a “Matanigasau” or soro and also have given Frank the authority (mandate) to rule them (the Fijians).
So you see all this claptrap about a mandate can only achieved through electoral process is hogwash.
I’m not going to kadavu – too many shadows for me to jump at? Speaking of jumping at shadows – the PER has been extended again. It is because 99.8% of the people love me and mary……tik tok….tik tok
Is the struggling regime in its death throes? This could be an interesting week?
@ Peter Firkin
You’re getting boring Peter.
@ Peter Firkin
You’re getting boring Peter
@ mongoose painkiller
Mangy, we don’t find it boring at all? but then we are not whinging whining boney butts with no nuts!!! so fark of goose!!
A great article written by an articulate young couple.
Well done!
It is a shame that bananasinpyjamas and his 3 stooges can’t express themselves as clear as these young folks.
I agree with Chippy. Since the 2006 coup I feel like a slave. For the general population the main difference between any type of democracy and a dictatorship is the feeling of not being in control of your life. We now live in a world where some person unknown to you has complete control over your life. We cannot meet in groups. We cannot talk about what is happening. We know that there are spies listening to anything we say. We have a corrupt police force that may beat us on a whim if we are arrested. We have a military that is like a leech sucking the life out of the country. We see a new cluster of elite politicians tripping around the world in style while we slave to meet our weekly needs. We hear of promises made and loans taken without thought to the future.
All we have is 2014. By the time it comes we will accept any vague form of democracy and I believe this is the plan but I am not holding my breath.
ex Fiji tourist.
Whats your occupation?
Are married?
Do have any children?
Do you have any animals?
Do you see where I am going with this or are you to thick to understand?
EXACTLY what is the relevance of the above questions posed by Jeke?
FRE.
Are you confused?
Good.
The lies and exaggeration of this Chippy is so exposed only fools and mentally retarded believe in them. Enough said.
I agree with Chippy. Moreover, I am well-educated and have a 4-year degree.
FRE.
Degree from which Uni?
@ FRE
That’s why you are just like Chippy who cannot look beyond the tip of your noses. Small minds, small vision.
@ Jeke
“Why have elections when the people 99.8% of them have given Frank the mandate to rule indefinitely?”
Where does this magical “99.8%” figure come from again? Who elected Frank boss of Fiji?
Can’t be you – you live in NZ.
Bula Radio.
How’s it hanging?
Jeke your ceke is hanging out and its bludy ugly
@ SaRauta
He is only waving it around because he can’t answer the question.
Radio.
The people voted with their mouths 99.8% of them and given Frank the go ahead to rule, they know Frank is their BOSS.
@ Jeke
“The people voted with their mouths 99.8% of them and given Frank the go ahead to rule”
Whatever Jeke – you just keep talking about your imaginary 99.8% – at least you seem to believe your own bullshit – which is good, otherwise you would be left all alone with your goats.