Of weasels and weasel tactics

Take a bow Thakur Ranjit Singh aka Thakurji for the most erroneous, shabby, poorly expressed political commentary ever to be presented on national television! Apologies to those who were not privy to last Sunday’s Fiji TV Close Up debacle (take it from us you didn’t miss much), unfortunately the programme is not available for on-line viewing as yet.

The man essentially said that democracy is not about the wishes of the majority and that victims of human rights abuses are a price that we pay for an evolving democracy. Extremely odd that the organization that he is employed for has other views on the matter.

Messrs Thakurji was very careful however not to slam NZ too harshly saying it was a very transparent democracy BUT that it should have intervened with Fiji to get it back on the straight and narrow. In the next breath while detailing how Aotearoa went about their qoliqoli legislation he then went on to say that NZ understands sovereignty (I know! We were equally confused).

Way to go Thakurji…I wonder whether Amnesty International a global NGO committed to human rights worldwide would appreciate this interpretation of human rights and democracy especially on the heels of their international office’s statement supporting the immediate adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples!

But we’re not going to waste any more time on the weasels coming out of the woodwork. What is more concerning is the fast and furious pace that buy-in is being solicited on the Peoples Charter before the 2^nd deadline of 31 August. It is very evident that a concerted effort is being made by the junta to get some semblance of numbers from the rural populace (yes Raturala has been busy working that microphone) so that whatever happens next, they can confidently say that XX% of a cross-section of Fiji engaged with us on this charter…it will NOT matter that you disagreed with it (they might tell us later that "actually a majority of people we consulted really liked the charter and therefore the aye’s have it") in which case you will probably join the multitudes of unresolved complaints at the human rights commission or FAIKEK.

The frenzy for getting support whilst it has involved some provincial council engagement, will no doubt quadruple in effort thanks to the new GCC Review team which already (try as we might to be optimistic folks) reeks of an agenda.

We’ve said our piece on this bogus charter before but we’ll say it again. People of Fiji do not be fooled. The only charter that should be worth your time is one which has ballot boxes awaiting your ticks.