Sweet revenge
A hearty congratulations to the Naitasiri rugby team for dethroning Nadi in the INKK Fiji Rugby Farebrother Sullivan Trophy at Prince Charles Park in Nadi on Saturday 17/4. It was sweet revenge for Naitasiri. Nadi could have retained the trophy but luck was not on their side. As the saying goes, see you next time. All the best to my turaga naita. Vili Yaranamua Ba
SODELPA solid
SODELPA is solid and will not implode as some are suggesting. As background, SODELPA is the new name of the party formerly known as the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua or SDL. It won the 2001 and 2006 general elections and formed Government, but overthrown in 2006; months into its second term. As political parties can no longer have names in the vernacular, or the acronyms, the party became the Social Democratic Liberal Party or SODELPA. This was an effort to retain the SDL acronym in some form. SODELPA is moderate, dominant among the iTaukei and with 20 years behind it, is a strong institution. Having weathered many storms, SODELPA is seen by most iTaukei as their only hope. Under its wings came the CAMV, SVT and PDP; in essence four parties with SDL being dominant. The SDL people of which I am one, are disciplined and don’t say much. They are horrified with what some people say or do from within, but would bend over backwards to keep the parties united under SODELPA. If however, the other parties wish to go their ways as SVT has done, SODELPA can and will do it alone with its SDL base and prevail. Victory for SODELPA is imminent, not an implosion. Viliame Gavoka Party Leader, SODELPA
A liberated woman
In my view Lynda Tubuya is well educated, intelligent, flamboyant, out-spoken, resourceful and an extremely energetic personality. I categorise her as a liberated woman who is empowered to know her fundamental rights. She is a people’s leader who has her ear close to the ground. Lynda is extremely popular in Nasinu and Kadavu. For this reason she may be disliked by some political stirrers who want her out of SODELPA. Expelling Lynda from the party will be yet another Himalayan blunder. In a democratic setup the leadership is answerable to ordinary members or voters. They have the right to ask questions and to make suggestions or to make constructive criticisms. Lynda is exercising all her rights either directly or through the media. It is all part of democracy and good governance. Therefore, it will be naive and suicidal to expel her from the party. Well, what about those who pontificate about empowering women? I couldn’t care less if Lynda stays with SODELPA or joins some other political party. But one thing is sure that she will emerge to be a political force to be reckoned with. She simply cannot be written off. I have a hunch she has a much bigger role to play in Fijian politics. I wish Lynda Tubuya every success in her political career. Dewan Chand Namadi Heights, Suva
Containment success
The Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said that the success Fiji has enjoyed in terms of COVID-19 containment has made us far too comfortable that we had ignored social distancing, masks gathered dust tucked away in drawers, and business went back to normal. (FT 21/04) Mr Bainimarama further said that healthy habits that we learned 12 months ago were all but forgotten. Allow me to raise my views on what the Prime Minister had said first of all about the success as he claimed which made us too comfortable. Have we really achieved any success? I believe we never did, for there were continued registered cases of COVID-19 identified at the border quarantine from people coming from overseas and there will always be high risks for locals who come into contact with them as I believe happened in this latest case. Secondly, I do not believe that the healthy habits learned 12 months ago were totally forgotten, for there are many individuals, families and workplaces continued to adhere to good practices such as using hand sanitisers, coughing on elbows, handwashing before and after meals, handwashing after using rest rooms and so forth. All in all I sincerely believe that the problem is not that we are too comfortable and did not follow
the proven rule book, nevertheless, the problem is that we still continue to register COVID-19 cases at the quarantine areas in the past 12 months. KOSITATINO TIKOMAIBOLATAGANE, Vuninokonoko Rd, Navua
Saving our Earth
(This poem is dedicated to Earth Day celebrated on April 22) OUR wonderful Mother Earth Supporting life of all forms Providing us with everything But we are destroying Earth With our thoughts and actions Polluting air, land and water With toxic wastes that endanger Economic development at the Expense of our environment Depleting our natural resources
Our Earth struggling to live Let us protect our Earth Let’s reduce, reuse and recycle Each day and every day, always Let’s nurture, not neglect Earth Let us save our Mother Earth And strive to restore our Earth To its original pristine glory BHAGWANJI BHINDI Nasinu
Frontline workers
WHY do people who work in the frontline hotels which house returned people from overseas in quarantine and who are
at greater risk than most other people, so careless and carefree in their travels and what they do? If these people had any brains, they would stay as far away fromother people as possible and restrict their contacts with others. We are in the middle of a pandemic and Fiji or Fijians are not any special compared with the rest of the world, however much you may pray and fear God.I am just angry that one person’s carelessness has put the rest of Fiji on alert and many suddenly out of jobs. And it all seems very unnecessary and avoidable. It must be made mandatory that people working in the hotel quarantine industry
must stay home as much as possible instead of going about in town and everywhere else unnecessarily. How many more are out there? JAN NISSAR NSW, Australia
Unanswered questions
I write in response to the letter by Arvind Mani criticising me for calling on the Government to thoroughly investigate the breach of protocol resulting in the contamination of a security officer and a maid at a Nadi quarantine centre. He says there is no need to call for an investigation as the “PM has already said that it is being done”. What the PM said is that the maid got infected after “she had an interaction with the soldier when he showed up early to his room as it was being cleaned”. He also said that the maid was unwell on Thursday and was already contagious but this had not been detected. Arvind Mani, all these raise questions to which we have received no answers. The Prime Minister himself admits that there was a breach of protocol. I believe it was worse — there was obviously a lapse of discipline involved which must be investigated. For instance, how did the soldier get infected when there should strictly be no contacts with people in quarantine? We are not given any explanation about how the soldier got infected and his movements at the time. We are not told whether the soldier, and other workers at the quarantine centre, undergo tests on a daily basis. Was the maid allowed to walk in and out of the quarantine centre without being tested? Too many questions have been left unanswered. The authorities themselves have referred to the current crisis as the worst Fiji has faced so far. We need to get to the crux of the issue if we are to prevent this happening again. This “lapse of protocol” has seriously disrupted public life and will cause even more suffering and hardship to workers and their families. As for Arvind Mani’s claim that the FijiFirst government is “doing a reasonably good job”, that is certainly a matter of perception and one’s expectations from a government that has been in office for a number of years. One who travels daily on our pothole riddled roads may think otherwise as may the worker who receives a minimum wage of $2.68 an hour and finds himself struggling to feed his family, faced with the ever-rising cost of living. Deteriorating health services with operating theatres that have been inoperative for years, a chronic shortage of not only life saving drugs but basic hospital supplies and a debt burden which equals the nation’s GDP could be another gauge of just how ‘well’ this government is doing. Mr Mani, it is my duty as leader of a responsible political party to question the Government on its failures. Understandably, as a member of the FijiFirst party you will seek to defend it even if the facts point the other way. Mahendra Chaudhry Leader – Fiji Labour Party
Grey taxi
Doing delivery yesterday there was a lot of talk about a grey taxi. On our way to Natabua I told my taxidriver: “Can’t see any grey taxis.” From under his mask my taxidriver said: “Uncle, all must be hiding in a pothole.” Allen Lockington Kava Place, Lautoka
Good leader
It was said in this column that “a good responsible leader accepts criticism and makes appropriate changes”. Should not this apply to us all letter writers? A good responsible letter writer accepts criticism and makes appropriate changes to one’s point of view. Bharat Morris Rifle Range, Vatuwaqa, Suva
Drug issue
People have money to buy kava, cigarettes, beer, yet they complain when they have to buy a certain drug which is out of stock in hospitals for various reasons. They should be grateful they have free medical consultations; drugs, tests of various kinds are free. In most overseas countries, people have to pay for all these. People and government critics should stop playing politics and encourage people to be grateful. Raj Kumar Vinod St, Vatuwaqa
Best record
I believe the PM spoke too soon last week when he said Fiji’s record for containing the virus was the best. Dan Urai Lautoka
Brawl solution
If charging the Nabua brawl instigators is not the solution as per the acting police chief, I believe such a resounding announcement will only set a deadly precedence to future brawlers all over the country. It will be “scrap galore” in almost every neighbourhood. Tudravu needs to re-evaluate his strategy in quelling this solemn crisis. Nishant Singh Lautoka
Street dweller
Your article about a street dweller reading a copy of The Fiji Times in Toorak surprises me (FT 10/4). The pocket-size book beside him looks like a pocket size dictionary (if I’m correct). He must be up to date with all the news and doing the crossword puzzle, I presume. A street dweller or shall we call him “an educated street dweller”? Vili Yaranamua Ba
Frontline worker
Do they practise social distancing in the quarantine centres? How on Earth did the soldier catch the bug? Gabe Simpson Rakiraki
