Saturday, 31 October 2009
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We are Not Africans We are Fiji
There is an exceptional piece written by Tears for Fiji today which aptly describes the true nature, feelings and yearning that we all have to ensure lasting peace and prosperity in Fiji and more specifically to live by our Constitution, that is to defend, to protect and to preserve it come what may. But our hands are tied, we are caught in a catch 22.
The harder this illegal government act in defiance with the laws of human nature, against the will of the people, without the consent of the governed, with arrogance vanity and naivety, the colder and harder our hearts become and all we need to do is move the game to the next level to achieve total destruction, so that we may build from scratch.
The concept of permanent interests that Tui continuously refers to, which happens to be a personal favorite of mine from the former PM of Kiribati in his answer to the Wests scorn on him engaging with the Russian Federation back in the days is absolutely true.You see for most of us, we have never in our lifetime, nor now, nor in the future, have any interest in who is to be the President, who is to win an Election, who is to take up Public appointments, who lives where, drives what, wears what, you know, all the run of the mill mediocre things that we see around us in our everyday lives that become part of the grog bowl gossip. Mediocre people who need the validation of others to justify their existence.
The average Fiji Islander whether living in Fiji or abroad spend a lifetime working in a job they do not want, to buy things they do not need, to impress people they do not like and then wonder why they are still not happy, not satisfied, so much to prove, so much to do, so much to achieve, not enough time and wish they were immortal. This is just the way it is you see.
But for some of us the words regurgitated by people like the NZ and Australian Foreign Affairs Ministers, the United States President and the European Union, Commonwealth of Nations, Pacific Islands Forum expresses in a nutshell our permanent interest, not because of who or what they are, but essentially what these words mean to those of us that have a desire in the private sector to not rely on our government to make things happen, to envision, to create, to invest, to develop, to innovate, to grow and ultimately to share and make “what really matters” to the people a reality, something that our government can never achieve on its own, due to the constraints of resources available to it and the entrenched ineffective unproductive work culture and mindset of our bureaucrats from those in power right down to the clerk at a government department counter, basically our chronic Governance failure.
The foundation of our permanent interest therefore is to ensure that Democracy is restored, that the Rule of Law and our Rights are protected under our Constitution and that we have an Independent sophisticated Judiciary to adjudicate without fear or favor or bribery in the event of a dispute pertaining to our commercial interests.
It is only in an environment of political and economic stability that our Nations unlimited potential will be unlocked with divine providence. Fiji Islanders are the richest people in the Pacific and we can be ranked number 1 in the new OECD World Ranking that will take in to account “what really matters” but this can only be achieved when we think and act as one, when our collective consciousness for a prosperous Fiji will manifest in our reality that Fiji IS the Way the World Should Be.
The scrambling of our illegal government for resources, the entire investment list deposited with FTIB and the dreams to create and innovate by all our budding entrepreneurs can be funded with a single phone call. Now that is our reality and we will wait for the opportunity to present itself when democracy is restored. No Fiji Islander irrespective of ethnicity, religious persuasion, nor provincial status need live without anymore. And No we do not need favors from the government, we just need to ensure that same is legit.
We have seen the tragedy of our people and its potential unfulfilled for far too long, it is time for all this to end, we are NOT AFRICANS, we are FIJI.
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