Poverty alleviation
THE Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka’s, challenge to all Fijians to defeat poverty is a noble test. With a new budget showing positive forward movement for the country, it creates in all Fijians at least a modicum of belief that defeating poverty is doable. Premila Kumar’s utterances in a Fiji daily on 22/07/2025, that Rabula’s words are “hollow, 30 months into the Coalition Government’s tenure” is in itself an empty analysis of Fiji’s current forward progress economically. Ms Kumar was in a government that for 16 years systematically made all Fijians poorer than where we are today. And as an accredited economist in Fiji’s Minister of Finance finds prudent and new ways to get Fiji out of the literal “poverty hole” Premila and her previous government had buried us under, there is light at the end of the tunnel. And I ask for opposition members of Fiji’s government and were in the previous government to please censor or at least think about your utterances in Parliament. Nothing you did for 16 years was good for Fiji. Never again. Edmund Burke put it succinctly when quoting the Bible verse from Psalm 94:1-3, “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men (and women) to do nothing.” EPELI RABUA, Loloma St, Tamavua
War crimes
WHAT war crimes did Israel commit (Rajend Naidu FT 22/7/25 )? What about Hamas, Bashar al-Assad, Putin? Is it not right for any country to defend itself? Hamas is a terrorist group, not a legitimate state. In my opinion, Bashar al-Assad defended his administration from being toppled and Putin declared war on Ukraine. Were there war crimes committed? What about the recent killing of the Druz in Egypt? Any war crime reported? Why is Israel the only one to be “signalled out” as the war aggressor, warmonger and war genocidal? Why not Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and adjoining Arab countries take in Palestinians? I don’t think they care. Why was it that Humanitarian International only cared about the Palestinians and not the Israel hostages? Even the UN, the ICC etc etc are anti-Israel, in my view. Historically, all these ‘destructive aspects’ had been done before, but Israel still stands and thriving. The truth will always prevail. SAMU SILATOLU, Nakasi
The pleasures of being bored
IT looks like there is a lot of coverage of President Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, connections between them, and their possible activities. At present there is discussion but little released information. There is, however, no discussion about me and I am pleased about this. There is a great pleasure in being boring, no one wants to know what I have done or will be doing. I don’t use social media so no one can search for any misadventures. In case someone does try to find a colourful past, I don’t have one, unfortunately. Most politicians are actually boring, but hardworking. The louder they are, the less they seem to be doing to help their constituents. There is a lot more to come of this past friendship. DENNIS FITZGERALD, Melbourne, Australia
First for Fiji
I APPLAUD Fiji’s media for its historic first altruistic action to “set aside commercial competition to come together for the greater good of democratic dialogue and public engagement. The country’s major news outlets are uniting to host live town hall forums in the Northern Division, giving ordinary citizens a rare chance to question the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and senior government officials directly ( FT 22/7 ). This roadshow is no doubt further testimony of the government’s commitment to serving the public good after giving themselves a hefty pay rise and additional perks and privileges. Hope the ordinary citizens will use the rare chance to ask some hard questions so that they are well-informed before they go to vote at the next election. RAJEND NAIDU, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Player selection
FIJI soccer fans will all have their thumbs up in support of the editorial comment in the other daily titled: “Are we neglecting our local-based players?” I believe that Fiji soccer should try and copy what the Fijian Drua rugby has done and that is to pick the best soccer players in Fiji and expose them against overseas teams. In this way our national soccer team are not all overseas-based players, but with a good number of Fiji’s best local players. An idea came up when reading the editorial. Next time our overseas appointed Fiji team coaches pick only the Fiji overseas-based players, our local Fiji coaches should pick the best local Fiji team players and organise one or two matches between the teams. If our local players win then either send the whole local-based team to represent Fiji or include some outstanding overseas-based players in the team. This way, we will be rest assured that we send our best team to all the world tournaments.
