Letters to the editor.

Editors Comment: Exam time

It is encouraging to note that 8235 Year 13 students sat for their first paper in the Fiji Year 13 certificate examination on Monday. Education Minister Premila Kumar said to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted exam period, dates had been changed in light of Election Day on December 14. The exams for the Year 13...

Letters to the editor

Stop blaming INTERESTING comment made by the FijiFirst general secretary Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum when speaking to voters in Tavua where he said,”We are not here to give a speech on election or racial differences …We want to talk about policies but we are being forced to talk to you about these things.” My question to Mr...

Editor’s Comment: Appreciating lessons learnt.

The fact that as many as 462 staff members and frontliners from the Health Ministry received mental health screening and psychosocial support at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic is something we should take note of. We learn that local counselling and social services NGO Empower Pacific provided this service during the pandemic. Exposure to...

Pacific fisheries observers could return.

Commercial fishing vessels in the Pacific could see regional fisheries observers returning to their decks as early as January. Before the pandemic there were around 800 regional fisheries observers on board vessels in the region. These independent witnesses spent weeks – sometimes months – collecting objective data relating to the volume and type of fish,...

Insights from Solomon Islands : Can civic nationalism help reduce corruption?

In many parts of the world “nationalism” has earned itself a bad rap. Ethnic cleansing, war, genocide and other atrocities have been committed in its name. In recent years we’ve seen political leaders, such as Donald Trump, whip up a toxic form of nationalist sentiment defined by race and a disdain for foreigners. On the...

Letters To the Editor

Police Seals Deal! The Police football and rugby teams sealed the deal in the 2022 FMF Ratu Sukuna Bowl clash. Police beat Army 3-1 in football, and then 19-11 in rugby. I was impressed with the standard of rugby displayed by both teams, and I salute the players for playing their hearts out and for...

Editor’s Comment

The fact that police are investigating two fatal accidents which happened at the weekend should be a reminder for us all about road safety. We keep talking about this issue because there have been deaths connected to it over the years. Police reported the first fatality happened last Friday evening along Princes Rd near Colo-i-Suva...

Letters to the Editor – Monday, November 28, 2022

Tobacco deaths TOBACCO is responsible for 20 per cent of deaths from coronary heart disease. Do you know that every year, 1.9 million people die from tobacco-induced heart disease, according to a new brief released on September 22, 2020 by the World Health Organization, World Heart Federation and the University of Newcastle Australia ahead of...

Editorial comment – Rape stats a concern

It is never easy to accept reports of children being raped. So there will be concern over reports that child rape this year has increased to 70 cases compared with 24 cases reported last year. Out of the 70 cases, the Central and Northern divisions recorded the most with 38 reported at the Fiji Women’s...

Letters to the Editor – Sunday, November 28, 2022

Thee best ever THERE was only one man many came to see when Portugal – the 2016 European champions – played Ghana in their opening World Cup fixture in Doha, Qatar. And when he duly delivered with a crisp penalty in the second half, the world witnessed history and another record as the 37-year-old Ronaldo...

Editorial comment – Say no to violence against women

It is a concern that counsellors continue to encounter cases of women who are struggling to meet their family’s needs or suffering from violence and relationship issues. Empower Pacific CEO Patrick Morgam shared this at the launch of the 16 Days of Activism Campaign in Lautoka on Friday. Counsellors, he said, often provide immediate support...

The future rests with your vote; ‘The destiny of your country is in the choice you’re about to make’

Can you believe, the future of who’s going to be driving your country forward is all in the stroke of a simple little tick, cross or a circle. In the past, because some people got ticked off with your tick, cross or circle of approval, they decided to overturn the result creating a ticking time...

Opinion: Our choice – The partnerships and the teams

Fiji’s voters in the 2022 elections face a real choice between two dominant partnerships who could form a government: Bainimarama/Aiyaz or Rabuka/Biman. On the surface, the two partnerships appear similar: Bainimarama and Rabuka are both former coup leaders; both partnerships espouse multiracialism; and both partnerships are multiracial with one member an indigenous Fijian and the...

Opinion: Hacker arrested

Earlier this month, US Authorities seized another Silk Road Hacker’s $3.36 billion Bitcoin stash! (worth $F121,694.06) As reported online in various news agencies including Wired.com, the legendary DarkNet market for drugs known as the Silk Road was designed to be an anarchic underworld economy that evaded all government control. Instead, years after it was taken...

Opinion: Citizenship and belonging

The last article in this series promised to analyse the 1999 elections that confounded many with its results. In the lead-up to polling in May 1999, both Sitiveni Rabuka and Jai Ram Reddy were jubilant that the 1997 Constitution was finally accepted and promulgated as a consensus document that came about through a painstaking, acrimonious,...

Vet corner: Is my dog dreaming or having seizure?

The old saying: “let sleeping dogs lie” was said for good reason! You may have witnessed your dog sound asleep and periodically making twitching movements or even vocalizing little yelping or “crying” noises. A dreaming dog can show twitching, paddling, or kicks of their legs. These movements are often brief (lasting less than 30 seconds)...

Letters to the Editor – Saturday, November 26, 2022

Postal votes THE Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem seems now to be bemoaning the low number of postal votes received. I do not disagree with his concern especially when the FEO did several expensive trips to Australia and NZ trying to register voters, opened and ended registrations on many occasions and did some targeted blitzes...

Editorial comment – When numbers stand out

A lot of Fijians will be encouraged by the revelation that tourists are continuing to arrive in the country in numbers. Last month, a total of 70,152 tourists arrived in the country. It was, however, lower than the 72,657 who arrived in September. The Fiji Bureau of Statistics (FBOS) said out of the 70,152 visitors,...

Opinion