The Fiji Times » Opinion

Editorial comment – A reminder about Pinktober

There are days in our lives when we should sit back and reflect on life. We sometimes take things for granted. This month is a special month, when many Fijians embrace Pinktober. We realise awareness is critically important if we are ever going to effectively fight breast cancer. Today, Fiji National University (FNU) senior academic...

Throwing it all away – Vanuatu’s abolition of licensed SWP and RSE agents

Vanuatu has been the most successful participant in Australia’s Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) and New Zealand’s Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme. The graph shows how rapidly the number of ni-Vanuatu working in the two schemes has grown, from under 2000 in 2007/08 to 10,000 in 2018/19. In fact, as the next graph shows, Vanuatu has...

Letters to the Editor – October 29, 2020

Women’s soccer IDC Unlike the men’s IDC a few weeks ago where there was so much hype and excitement, our women’s IDC seems to have been getting little attention in the media and I acknowledge The Fiji Times for setting the platform with the wonderful stories, articles and pictures in a buildup to the women’s...

Editorial comment – Cleaning the trash in the harbour

PROFFESIONAL diver and operations manager of Dive Centre Fiji (PTE) Ltd Captain Johnathan Smith knows what he’s talking about when it comes to pollution in the Suva Harbour. He spends days diving into the harbour. It’s become second nature for this man of the sea. So when he made some shocking revelations about the state...

Fijian in Wuhan

Wuhan is one of the known cities in the world this year. But in 2018, it was just another large Chinese city, and, for me, where I would be studying for the next two years as the recipient of a Chinese Government scholarship. My objective was to obtain a Masters in Civil Engineering at the...

Letters to the Editor – October 28, 2020

Our centenarian It was pleasing to read that President Jioji Konrote and First Lady Sarote Konrote paid a surprise visit to our centenarian Veniana Nakolinivalu at her Nasukamai Village in the province of Ra. I accord a big thank you to President Konrote for meeting the matriarch and presenting her with a plaque to commemorate...

Editorial comment – Rattles and all

It is interesting that roadworks in Labasa have been described as ‘pathetic’. We learn that this was made known during a talanoa session with Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum at Tabucola Primary School on Sunday night. A resident, we learn, mentioned that road contractors would continuously fix a road, yet potholes would still...

Pacific forum affairs

The Foreign Ministers of the Pacific Islands Forum met as one of the standing committees of the inter-governmental organisation. As is the way of things in 2020, they convened online. All 18 members of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) were represented. It is a quirk of Pacific politics that in some countries the leader of...

Heroes of the Pacific

Our Pacific Voyagers carry a tremendous burden. They bear the weight of our history and who we are as Pacific Islanders. They are risk-takers who defy western conventions to prove that our traditional knowledge has a place in the world. They are revolutionaries. They defy international conventions and decades of colonial education. Education that has...

Letters to the Editor – Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Storm crowned NRL champion The Melbourne Storm beat the Penrith Panthers 26-20 in the dramatic NRL grand finale at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium. The Storm held off the surging Panthers to claim their fourth NRL premiership. I watched the first half and I was impressed with the way the Storm took charge of the match but...

Importance of hard work

When Melbourne Storm flyer Suliasi Vunivalu intercepted a loping pass by Panthers’ halfback Nathan Cleary to his outside men, there was no stopping him on his run to the tryline. It actually turned the grand final around, and rocked the Panthers’ attack. It was the difference that eventually sealed the clash for the Storm, against...

OPINION: Making a real change in the lives of prisoners

Russian novelist and short-story writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky, who had an immense influence on 20th-century fiction, wrote that: “The degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” Somang Correctional Institution is South Korea’s first and only non-profi t penitentiary in Asia that is privately run. It opened in December 2010 and was built by the Agape Foundation Christian charity organisation. The...

Letters to the Editor: Monday, October 26, 2020

Congratulation Jack’s Nadi Heartiest congratulations Jack’s Nadi for the awesome come from behind win, with about three minutes remaining, to score a nail-biting winning try in the corner to lift the holy grail of Fiji rubgy, the Farebrother Sullivan Trophy, on Laucala turf at the ANZ Stadium, Saturday afternoon. Awesome victory won with 14 men...

Editorial comment: Tough times for all

The revelation that a prominent Suva law firm is feeding students in eight primary schools in Lami because their fathers had lost their jobs, and mothers abandoned them, will attract attention. This was raised by Lami District Council of Social Services president Asaeli Naisoro. Some mothers, he said, were abandoning their families because they were...

Letters to the Editor – October 25, 2020

Dreams come true As NRL fans prepare for the grand showdown, emotions will be high here at home as four of our boys will be featuring for the Storm and Panthers. Tui Kamikamica and Suliasi Vunivalu will don the Storm’s jumper while Api Koroisau and Viliame Kikau will play for the Panthers. The Fiji Times...

Editorial comment – Feast of sports action

Sports fans are anticipating big things this weekend. This afternoon, the National Rugby League grandfinal is scheduled to take place. Then there is the announcement of the 7s player of the decade in rugby union. In rugby league, we have Fijians who will be on opposite sides in this afternoon’s grandfinal. Viliame Kikau and Api...

Letters to the Editor – October 24, 2020

Sharing the truth Once again, the People column stood out! Classed as one of my favourite columns after the letters to the editor page, yesterday’s story by Repeka Nasiko on Alumita Rakidiva titled “Sharing the truth” was a worthwhile read. Hats off to Alumita, who is a survivor of domestic violence, for publicly sharing the...

Editorial comment – Fair warning for us all

We have been warned to expect four severe tropical cyclones with the intensity to ravage maritime islands within the next three to six months. That’s the word from Fiji Meteorological Service principal climatologist Terry Atalifo. He made the revelation during a news conference at the SPC Pasifika conference room in Nabua, Suva yesterday. The Western...

A loss to the nation – Pio Tabaiwalu and Fijian politics

I share the great sorrow of many at the untimely death of a close and dear friend Pio Kameli Tabaiwalu. I would never have imagined that I would be sitting here today to write his obituary. It is seldom we see the emergence of a great leader among us. It has been a very common...

Cybersecurity and national IDs

Security is rarely static. Technology changes the capabilities of both security systems and attackers. But there’s something else that changes security’s cost benefit analysis’ (CBAs): how the underlying systems being secured are used. Far too often we build security for one purpose, only to find it being used for another purpose — one it wasn’t...

50 years of service

Bula readers! It has been another auspicious and exciting week as we celebrated the 13th year of Fiji Fashion Week which I enjoyed tremendously as it seems to go from strength to strength with each event. We also celebrated the 50-year anniversary of Fiji Society for the Blind as they continue to strive against the...

The USP saga – Domestic politics versus regional aspirations

Ever since Pal Ahluwalia was appointed Vice Chancellor (VC) of the University of the South Pacific (USP) in November 2018 and announced an inquiry into the administration of his predecessor, Rajesh Chandra, the university has been divided and under siege. Based on a paper by the new VC titled “Issues, Concerns and Breaches of Past...

USP and the illusion of State ‘grants’

Would a consumer ever take a loaf of bread from a shop but inform the shop-keeper “I am not going to pay you for this loaf of bread until you fix up your management?” That is exactly what the public sees happening at The University of the South Pacific, the premier regional university. One of...

Opinion

30th October

Letters to the Editor – October 30, 2020