Cogito, ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. (René Descartes, mathematician and philosopher,1599-1650)

Wednesday 10 February 2010

Short Briefs 10.2.10

Asia Human Rights Watch is  again calling on UN to condemn Fiji's "abuse of human rights.

Jon Fraenkel and Jone Baledrokadroka will speak Thursday midday at the Austrian Ambassador's residence in Canberra on the Fiji situation tomorrow. Austria! Those wishing to attend email karina.doblander@bmeia.gv.at

Rev Akuila Yabaki is in Geneva attending a Human Rights workgroup that will make submissions to the Human Rights Council from 9am – 12pm on Thursday (tomorrow) 11 February 2010. The event can be watched live on: www.un.org/webcast/unhcr/index.asp For my opinion on this, see the post "What  Price Human Rights?"

Gold Find in Upper Wainibuka valley, Tailevu.

Fiji plans to lure 130,000 Kiwi tourists.

Former High Court Judge Nazhaat Shameem looks to the media to properly inform the public on the new Media Decree.


NLTB liquidates Vanua Development Corporation. Wants full landowner participation.

Australian travel ban harsh and not working,

The local shipbuilding industry could be revived next year with help from China.

FNPF review. Public, employer, trade union, NGO and civil society organization  submissions close in one week (16 February) on the Fiji National Provident Fund Act review. The FNPF is working with the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise on phase one of the review process to reposition the FNPF for the next decade. Reserve Bank and FNPF officials will visit Singapore to study its Central Provident Funds structure and operations. Link here.

Companies in breach of land rent conditions. The Public Accounts Committee has found that several well-known companies like Flour Mills of Fiji and S Nair Buses are in breach of lease conditions on Government land. Re-mortgaging has occurred without rental reassessment, FMF was underpaying rentals, many thousands of dollars are involved, one lease is on land zoned residential, and some cases go back to 1999.

See also the first comment on the "Political Satire" posting for opinions on some of these developments. Thanks, TheMax.

9 comments:

Is Fraenkelstein Austrian? said...

I would urge anyone reading this to bombard the Austrian email contact with protest letters about this ridiculous briefing. Talk about a biased duo! The lanky stooge of the Qaranivalu and the fearsome Dr Frankelstein. Pass the sick bag, Alice! What on earth are the Austrians thinking getting briefed by two monkeys of the same miserable persuasion from the same dismal jungle at the ANU? Can you imagine the scene? They'll be sitting there scratching each other's vitals and nodding sagely at each other's dire predictions of armageddon in Fiji under Frank's leadership. And then they'll gorge themselves on strudle served up by blond young men in lederhosen, unaware that the Austrians have always been rather fond of dictators. After all, their beautiful but blighted country was the birthplace of Adolf Hilter and one of their more recent presidents, Kurt Waldheim, was a member of the Wermacht. Dr Fraenkelstein will be right at home, of course, with his close links to the racists in the SDL. But after the reception the Nazis gave Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics, Baledrokadroka would be wise to watch his back. Unless, perhaps, those blondes in lederhosen have developed a taste for the exotic. In which case he should keep his back to the wall for other reasons. Come to think of it, I might go along after all.

Yabaki vinaka said...

I love Akuila Yabaki. He looks a bit like Badger in Wind in the Willows - wise, very serious and completely trustworthy. So I hope the human rights gnomes in Geneva think the same. Of any of the so-called activists fighting for social and political justice in Fiji, the sagely reverend deserves a decent hearing. And we can be pretty sure he'll strike a balance between giving credit to the regime where credit is due and castigating it for its many shortcomings. For me, pretty much anyone who the Methodist Church doesn't like gets my support. But Akuila the Just is in a league of his own. And to think he comes from Kadavu!

Flightless birds stay home said...

Cros, no offence but I don't want 130,000 Kiwis here. Can't they find tourists from somewhere else? Plodding around Nadi town in their bloody jandles asking for sex when they mean six. Now, we've got even more reason to give them a wide berth. They'll be seething about our rugby sevens victory and be even more patronising than ever. No, let them holiday in the Kermadecs or somewhere. Come to think of it, perhaps that's why Frank sent old Kava Eyes the drummer boy to Wellington. He hoped they'd declare war on Fiji and we'd never see another Kiwi again.

qanibulu said...

@ croz...

I like the idea of short briefs but would it be too much to ask for a wider selection of undergarments to display, preferably female instead of the hot pink male offering that one would find at a sex shop in Kings Cross.

Every time my wife passes by and sees me on this site she thinks I've gone kinky looking at male undergarments.

Keep it brief said...

Oi Qanibulu, knickers to you, bad boy. I'm with your wife on this one. You ARE kinky.

Crosbie Walsh said...

Qanibulu, I like the humour. My wife's eyebrows went up when she saw me searching web google for something respectable.

TheMax said...

Hey Croz I have an idea. Maybe in your next brief, I suggest you put a picture of a real Qanibulu (coconut husk) on rather the "pink panther". That would be much more fun since Qanibulu would know what that means in the context we indigenous Fijians say that particular word in jest.

For example, in a rugby match, if we notice someone afraid to tackle an opponent, we say in Fijian to get a Qanibulu and stuck it up....(you know where)... to stop the person from being afraid, or in another way, from being a wimp, to tackle.

@ Qanibulu

Please don't get me wrong I'm just contributing to the satire and this is not meant as an affront on you.

We can always laugh about it next time we see Croz's short briefs and a qanibulu picture pop up.....lol

Qanibulu said...

@ The Maxx & Croz ..

Kinky is when you use the feather, perversion is when you use the chicken.

I can assure you that neither applies to me nor does the fear of confrontation on the football field or in public life.

If we cant laugh at ourselves we shouldn't poke fun at others.

Looking forward to Croz's tasteful selection of skimpy briefs...

Anonymous said...

"No, let them holiday in the Kermadecs or somewhere"
good idea as i sure wont be spending my money in Fiji.
Ex Fiji Tourist