Pacific Games

Simon Hazelman,  Savusavu

In October of 2012 Tonga and Tahiti presented their bids to host the 2019 Pacific Games.

In their effort to entice the Pacific Games Council the Tongans did everything they could to have the games in the Kingdom. Their efforts paid off and they were given the rights to host the 2019 Pacific Games.

Five years later in May of this year 2017 the Tongan Prime Minister announced that Tonga is to withdraw from hosting the 2019 Games amid concerns the country would face economic difficulties if it staged the event and decided to save the country from a costly mistake!

One would think that the Government of Tonga would have thought of the costs of hosting such an event even before bidding? To pull out five years later, and just two years before the game is scheduled, is an absolutely unjust act. Not only is it unacceptable but dishonourable.

They denied Tahiti and have brought disrepute to the Pacific Games!

The other question that needs to be asked is what measures have the Pacific Games Council put in place (or not) to discipline and tackle such an act? And more importantly, why wasn’t the council monitoring the situation since 2012? To think that everything was fine two years out is rather unprofessional to say the least!

It also seems the Games Council dropped the ball as well.

Tonga 2019 is supposed to be the 16th Pacific Games as was announced in Wallis & Futuna in 2012 but now with only two years to go we still don’t know where it will be held?

Or are we witnessing the start of the dissolution of the Games?

Education

Ravneel Sharma,  Suva

It has been noticed that school students don’t have pride for their schools like what it used to be in the olden days. Students are seen changing schools on a regular basis just because of disciplinary cases that are arising.

Many of these students are bold enough to play truancy at school and some being absent from school on a regular basis.

It seems that parents are not playing their part in teaching students moral values at home and even the importance of education.

As examinations are underway in the majority of schools around Fiji it would be better for parents to monitor their children so that they could produce better results and have a bright future.

Monasavu adventure

Steven Singh,  Sydney

Dewan Chand’s uplifting and feel good adventure (F/S-06/08) to the Monasavu Dam certainly deserves the prize for the letter of the week.

His narrative for me was like a tourism advertisement for Fiji and has encouraged me to embark on such a journey when I visit Fiji next time.

What a great piece of writing, it brought back many memories of my youth back in Veisari or Lami during the late 60’s and early 70’s when we, as a gang used to venture into the wilderness of Bilo Battery Hill and the highlands of Vunibitu Waterfalls for similar thrills.

Thanks for your memories.

Border Security

Manoah Kaleca,  Nakasi

The recent news of the arrest and deportation of the 77 Chinese nationals living in Fiji should ring the alarm bell for our Immigration department and border security.

I believe that if it wasn’t for Interpol and the Chinese Police involved, these group of fraudsters would have generally thrived.

Maybe it is a good idea to review our ‘Open door’ policy that we currently have with China.

Currently, they do not need a visa to enter Fiji like before so the Criminal Syndicate in their country grabs this opportunity to send these criminal gangs into our beloved nation.

The sad part of this story was that we the public was not informed about this until it was shown on ‘social media sites’ and other overseas news agencies.

It was on the ABC news, the New Zealand news and even on CNN but not ours.

However, we the public must stop pointing a finger and be quick to jump on the bandwagon blaming the whole Chinese community like some people have already done on social media sites.

To conclude, we must again revise our border security screening process and be more stringent in our approach to combating these organised crime gangs entering our nation.

PM’s rise in Popularity

Sukha Singh,  Labasa

“Party leader Professor Biman Prasad said this was to be expected because the poll was done in the aftermath of the 2017-2018 National Budget.”

It could mean the Budget is very good but in the Budget reply why he did not say so. The only advice I will give Dr Biman is what you say can be used against you.

Feedback:  jyotip@fijisun.com.fj