Politics of negativity

Timoci Gaunavinaka, Nausori

The father of a close friend of mine used to tell his children and us, their friends that a man is only troubled when he is floating in the middle of the open sea.

Once his foot touches land, he no longer has any valid excuse to justify his failure to live, progress and thrive.

Today, when reading comments by vari­ous opposition politicians in the media, it seems that they are trying to convince us that our whole population is floating in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight.

They try to convince us that all the devel­opments, benefits and potential opportuni­ties we see and experience today are noth­ing more than just mere dreams.

Unfortunately, some of us swallow these seeds of deceit hook, line and sinker with­out carefully analysing their dishonest and fabricated foundations.

1. They claim that poverty in Fiji is wide­spread although no one is dying from hun­ger. Our people are dying in thousands every year from NCDs (non-communicable diseases) caused mainly by eating expen­sive red meats, chicken, excessive alcohol use and, etc, instead of eating cheap and easy-to-plant vegetables together with lack of free exercises.
2. They claim that the traffic jams are the sign of bad governance and chaos when in fact it is caused by the increased num­ber of our people who buy cars today that many could not afford before. And the simultaneous upgrading of our various roads that was long overdue confirming the improved state of our economy.
3. When the current Government gave genuine assistance to tens of thousands of our people who are marginalised because of poverty, floods or cyclones, they call it “freebees” and wastage of resources.
4. They even convince significant people like the Catholic Head to join opposition politicians in providing false examples of bad governance with incorrect facts and manipulated figures to convince ignorant voters then later apologised and admit their wrongs after the damage has already been done.
5. When Government built and upgraded various infrastructure to the benefit of our people and attract investors, the op­position claim that our loans have reached unaffordable levels despite both the Inter­national Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank confirming that our loans are man­ageable and we have consistently made nine straight years of economic growth.
6. Biman Prasad preaches about the $5 minimum wage they will implement. But when asked if he or any NFP candidates are paying any of their workers that mini­mum rate, he said ”No”.

In a private e-mail to a business woman he describes that it will be implemented in stages, a fact he never told his supporters.

But the opposition deserves a special award for finding needles in hay stacks.

Today they will search dozens of “hay stacks” of FijiFirst’s good and honest governance and will still find that “magic needle” that can prick it with a stench of evil. If no needles are found, they will “im­provise”.

They may just wake up on the wrong side of the bed one morning with the sun on their face and start accusing Government for favouring us Lauans by unfairly mak­ing the sun rise from the east all the time.

Archbishop apology

Simon Hazelman, Savusavu

The apology by the leader of the Catho­lic Church in Fiji, Archbishop Peter Loy Chong, for giving out wrong figures about the economy and poverty in the country (Fiji Sun 10/10) is not only unfortunate but rather suspicious.

Especially, with the general elections around the corner!

It is pretty obvious that the leaders of both the Catholic and Methodist churches have been against the FijiFirst Govern­ment from the start.

The reasons are obvious as well! They were both heavily involved with past ad­ministrations and got their way!

While the FijiFirst Government has shown and proven that they are doing all they can to support the nation and al­leviate poverty, these two major church denominations have failed in their teach­ings.’

Because poverty is not a biblical princi­ple for it goes against everything the Bible teaches and it finds its roots, causes, and effects through evil doing!

What we have here is called ‘spiritual pov­erty’, beginning from the top of both these two church denominations and filtering down through to their congregations!

This suspicious blunder by the Archbish­op simply confirms how out of place the church is! For a man who forgives sins, I wonder who will forgive his?

The will of God will remain steadfast!

Lingering question

Spencer Robinson, Savusavu

My friend once asked: “How can you run a ‘company’ or an ‘institution’ when there are traces of disunity within the group it­self ?” My colleague really ‘hit the nail on the head’ with this issue, very well said bro. Cheers!

Moderate politician

Dharmendra Kumar, Suva

Sitiveni Rabuka desperately tries to por­tray himself as a moderate politician in the FBC programme, 4 the Record.

Unfortunately his past continues to haunt him. I believe the Fijians of Indian descent have forgiven him, but those who went through the traumas of 1987 will not forget the violence that they had to endure.

This may well be Sitiveni Rabuka’s last shot at the political heavyweight title and he wants us to forget what transpired in 1987. Yet he still does not believe in every­one being called Fijians.

“Forgive and forget.” Those words roll off our tongues with ease, but if we’re honest they don’t roll out of our hearts with ease.

Forgiveness is a challenge but as Chris­tians we are commanded to forgive, but forgetting I believe is downright impos­sible. Every scar tells a story. A story that says “I have survived.”

Impressive

Floyd Robinson, Suva

Passing by Colo-I-Suva the other day, one was rather surprised to see an impressive welcome as the new structure at the en­trance reflects creativity.

Another passenger in the bus quietly whispered to me ‘ssh..I think they are coming here’. It took a while before I real­ized that she may be referring to the Royal Couple visiting Fiji. All in all, a good job to those in charge of Colo-I-Suva Park.

Congrats Blues

Kirti Patel, Lautoka

I would like to congratulate our baby blues for producing the wonderful out­come at the Courts IDC.

Well done. Congratulations are in order. Kudos to all the hardworking players.

Thanks for making us proud.

Poppy Appeal

Neelz Singh, Lami

The poppy has a long association with Re­membrance Day. The distinctive red flower becomes such a potent symbol of our re­membrance of the sacrifices made in past wars by our fallen soldiers.

In late 1914, the fields of Northern France and Flanders were once again ripped open as World War one raged through Europe’s heart.

Once the conflict was over the poppy was one of the only plants to grow on the other­wise barren battlefields.

The significance of the poppy as a last­ing memorial to the fallen was realised by the Canadian surgeon John McCrae in his poem In Flanders Fields.

The poppy came to represent the immeas­urable sacrifice made by his comrades and quickly became a lasting memorial to those who died in World Wars and later conflicts or peace missions.

Fiji has a rich history where our soldiers are contributing when it comes to overseas or UN Missions.

The Poppy Appeal reminds us that we need to contribute in aid to those serving in the Armed Forces.

So donate generously support the worthy cause, and wear a poppy flower today.