Inspirational Mausam

Dhirendra Prasad,

Lautoka

I salute the Fiji Sun for bringing to the attention of Fiji and the world, the strug­gles and success of a bean and peanut seller.

No wonder Mausam Ali is an ardent fan of Ba soccer as I learnt that he is origi­nally from Ba.

He is an inspiration to struggling citi­zens through his decision-making skills. The decision he made 50 years ago has led him to great success. Our young minds need such inspiration from people such as him.

No one would miss this man at the Suva Bus Stand, hand full of packets and a cheerful smile. This smile is a show of respect and his happiness.

This is something people in high offices dream about. Imagine selling beans and peanuts for 50 years and still smiling.

Wow. I envy you, sir.

No matter what one does, he should be happy on his way back home after work. Not like many who still think of what will come next.

They have no sense of security because of their attitude and state of mind.

But Mr Ali is a man’s man, self-employed and employing some others as well.

This is an example of someone who is not dependent on others for a livelihood.

You are more famous than many of the high-class personalities.

According to him “it is better if we work hard rather than stealing ….”.

God bless you for being an inspiration to the citizens of Fiji.

Big vinaka to Fiji Sun.

You are truly reaching out to the ordi­nary in our society.

Fijian Made

Joan M Goon,

Jetpoint, Martintar

It is quite impressive to see the standard of quality in our Fijian made products.

Meeting the tastes and demands of the diverse consumer base is a hefty goal yet many of our local food manufacturing companies, especially are delivering with great results and with affordable prices.

On Fiji Day, I took a stroll by the street near mine and entered an establishment selling flavoured ice-blocks (popsicles). I saw “peanut butter” and purchased one to check it out at $1 a popsicle.

I was blown away by how good it tast­ed and when I looked at the back of the wrapper, I was immediately impressed and full of joyful pride to see that a Fijian company manufactured this. It definitely added more patriotism to the day.

Strolling through the supermarket a couple days later, I saw Cheese spreads and products for less than $4-$6 when similar products normally sell for $7 plus.

I was more impressed to discover that the cheaper quality items were Fijian Made. How awesome!

Lately, Fijian products have been deemed as too expensive even by foreign­ers so it is a relief to see affordable qual­ity Fijian items being displayed.

Victorious

Dharmendra Kumar,

Suva

The scriptures frequently refer to and picture the Christian life as a battle.

But our war is different from the wars of this world.

The ultimate outcome has already been determined for us. And while we face a vicious and powerful foe in Satan, one we cannot overcome in our own strength, we do not have to fight him alone.

We lack sufficient power to defeat him, but Jesus has already overthrown his kingdom through His death and resur­rection. And with the power of the Holy Spirit living and working in us, we can be victorious.

Vote Application

Sukha Singh,

Labasa

Could all the contestants in this year’s election write to sukhasingh33@yahoo.com on why I should vote for them.

Go The Blues

Kirti Patel,

Lautoka

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

Well done. Congratulations are in order. Kudos to all the hard-working players. Thanks for making us proud.

Discriminatory Signage

Satish Nakched,

Suva

In Fiji we have noticed that there is a huge discriminatory factor in the way people are recognised and addressed without any consideration and done very unethically.

The Fijian Constitution, which is with­in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is a well-written document which gives every people in Fiji the equality and freedom from discrimination.

Most organisations have this embedded in their policies and the recruitment se­lection are based on merits rather than the race, sex or affiliation within a cer­tain community.

There has been a lot of talk and encour­agement for women contributing regu­larly or holding senior positions within the organisations and being involved in the decision-making process.

In our Parliament there is growing num­ber of the female members and hopefully there will be more additional after the general election.

I was at the graduation ceremony this year at one of the universities and the Dean of a College acknowledged that the female graduates overtook the males in numbers and this is a good indicator of how the workforce in future will look like.

While this process is rapidly in pro­gress most organisations have failed to recognise the fact that the skyline of the labour market is now very different and will continue to change with more involvement of female workers taking up position which was male dominated previously.

Most of our current laws are obsolete and contain discriminatory clauses and when it refers to a person and words such as “he” or “him” are used throughout the documents.

There are Acts in place such as the Workmen’s Compensation Act and others which do not recognise the opposite sex.

This must be replaced with the title such as Workers Compensation Act.

One of the others out of so many is the licence that Energy Fiji Limited regu­lates which is contained in Chapter 180 of the Laws of Fiji under Part V reads as Electrical Contractors’ and wiremen licences.

Does this mean that female workers are not covered and cannot operate as quali­fied electricians?

Before the name change to EFL from FEA I believe the most important task was to review their governing legislation first and make it current that reflects pos­itively in real time.

The Electricity Act which governs EFL is about 50 years old.

I hope that there will be a mandatory directive issued to all the ministers after the general elections to audit the laws that falls under their jurisdiction with the intention to make it current and pro­gressive.

We now have women as surveyors, civil contractors and architects to name a few and when there are work in progressive on our roads we should refrain from us­ing precautionary sign boards which as “Workmen ahead” to Workers Ahead”.

Feedback: jyotip@fijisun.com.fj