The Fiji Times » Opinion

Letters to the Editor – Friday, March 31, 2023

All for Fiji It is an excellent opportunity to take this moment to extend our sincere good wishes and best of luck to all our rugby teams this weekend. Away in So Kon Po, Hong Kong, both our women’s and men’s sevens rugby teams will play their hearts out in the HSBC 7s tournament. A...

Editorial comment – Positive growth in tourism

It is good to know that the tourism sector is projected to grow to a $3 billion industry this year as markets in Asia open up and new markets, including Canada, come on board. It is exciting news! Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica shared this development with stakeholders from the public and private sector who...

Surviving the pain of abuse – Why women need men to help end domestic violence

Warning: This story talks about experiences of domestic violence. In the Pacific, almost two-thirds of women and girls experience violence at the hand of a family member or intimate partner. In Papua New Guinea, the statistics are even more grim, with a woman beaten every 30 seconds. Lydia Gah was one of those women. Her husband...

Letters to the Editor – Thursday, March 30, 2023

A physical battle As predicted on the front page (FT 29/03), the battle between the Swire Shipping Fijian Drua and the Melbourne Rebels is going to be tough and physical. I’m expecting a jam-packed HFC Bank Stadium and the sea of blue to inspire the Drua to record another scintillating performance and victory at home....

Editorial comment – A welcome turn of events

You could feel the emotions in some of the leaders of Fiji’s newsrooms yesterday! Finally! After 12 years, it is happening! When Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka announced that Cabinet had approved a Bill to repeal the draconian media legislation, it was met with joy in newsrooms. Today we reflect on the Media Industry Development Act...

Call for rapid action

Pacific leaders are not surprised by the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that says current action and plans are insufficient to keep warming below 1.5 degrees. The report said more than a century of burning fossil fuels and unsustainable land use has had led to global warming of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial...

Letters to the Editor – Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Beautiful write-up of a mother’s rise to success Wata Shaw is congratulated for her beautiful write-up on the plight of a single mother’s rise to success – FT, Tuesday, March 28, 2023. Elisabeta Torava Waqa, the exemplary and determined single mother of nine, against all odds, is a huge success story that needs sharing. For...

Editorial comment – Attention to detail

Fijians and visitors to our shores deserve police officers who are professional, calm, and collected. That’s the point driven through at a two-day workshop in Suva by Acting Commissioner of Police Juki Fong Chew. Speaking at the closing ceremony of the Fiji Police Annual Consultative Workshop in Suva, Mr Fong Chew told senior police managers...

Letters to the Editor – Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Photograph of the year award Congratulations to my friend Sophia Ralulu for scooping the Photograph of The Year Award. I have had the pleasure of knowing Sophia for many years and I have always admired her talent and dedication to photography. Her passion for capturing the beauty and essence of the world around us is...

Editorial comment – A matter of life and death

A 53-year-old man died in a motor vehicle accident near Teidamu Hill in Lautoka on Saturday afternoon. He was from Barotu, Rakiraki. Police said the victim’s vehicle was hit by another vehicle driven by a 26-year-old tertiary student. The impact of the collision, we are told, resulted in a third vehicle sustaining damage and its...

Fijians hurt after big thrashing

The Swire Shipping Fijian Drua ignited hopes of a stellar year in Super Rugby Pacific after beating the mighty Crusaders 25-24 at Churchill Park. The boys lost to the Reds 27-24, and there were hopes the side was going to record another upset against the injury-hit Highlanders which narrowly beat the Drua 27-24 in Suva...

Honey industry struggles

A boom in beekeeping in the Pacific has helped improve yield and quality for more than 30 per cent of the country’s pollination-dependent crops, but it comes at an inopportune time as Fiji grapples with a varroa mite invasion and adverse weather events. It has presented beekeepers in the Pacific nation with a dilemma. There...

Letters to the Editor – Monday, March 27, 2023

Poor support for victorious Silktails I was blessed to witness Silktails win at Churchill Park on Saturday. While the focus is on our two Drua sides, I was offered an invitation by a significant personnel of the Silktails set-up, thanks to high school connections. Amazingly, the Silktails are made up of young blood who are...

Editorial comment – Consistency, intensity!

It was difficult for Fijian Drua fans to absorb that 24-57 loss to the Highlanders at the weekend. Trailing 12-33 at the breather, the Drua were expected to come back in the final quarter. They did come back, but it wasn’t good enough to overcome the Highlanders. We had gone into the game with high...

Managing depressions

Bula Fiji! Welcome to my new column where I will be sharing insights and practical strategies on mind wellness, selfcare, and self-awareness. The mind is a complex structure. We exist as mind-body-spirit beings and often our wellness emphasis is purely on the physical body. Our minds also go through changes in health. So today, I...

The giving tree

Some of you may have read this apparently simple story by Shel Silverstein. But it is much more than just a simple story. My wife used to read it to our daughters. Once there was a tree. And she loved a little boy. Every day the boy would come and gather her leaves, make them...

Letters to the Editor – Sunday, March 26, 2023

African tulip THE African tulip is truly a pest and is steadily over-running our forests all along the Queen’s and King’s roads. This is most alarming. I am truly concerned. Over the years, through these columns, I have called for its eradication on many occasions. Somehow, no one took heed at all. I now make...

Editorial comment – Remove those derelicts

On this day back in 2014 we highlighted the issue of derelict vessels that littered the Suva Harbour. It is still relevant today! We suggested that if things continued the way they were going then, the people of Suva had to be prepared to see ships of all sizes, shapes and colours actually clog the...

Letters to the Editor – Saturday, March 25, 2023

Tribute to Joshco Wakaniyasi THE community of civil society organisations has lost a friend, a mentor, an advocate, a thinker, a strategist, and above all a leader of high standing. He championed the cause and issues of persons with disabilities, or differently abled people, with great courage, compassion and zeal that none of us can...

1953: A fateful year for Fiji

Greetings readers! Today I wanted to take you back in time to Monday, September 14, 1953, at precisely 00.26:34 the deadliest and most destructive earthquake seen in Fiji’s history struck our island nation, particularly Suva. The force was magnitude 6.8 with a depth of 10kms. Unfortunately, there were eight known fatalities that were reported, five...

Editorial comment – All for Education

There was joy at the start of the school term this year when the Government announced financial assistance for families. Families applied to get assistance to send their children to school. It was savoured to the brim. We place great value on education. And that’s the way it should be. The placing of value that...

Toward sustainable fiscal consolidation – Rethinking taxation and spending efficiency

Last week, I discussed how fiscal consolidation measures such as tax hikes and spending cuts could potentially be detrimental to an economy that is on a recovery path following a major economic crisis, and with dynamics such as Fiji’s. I had stated that there are other measures such as broadening the tax base, increasing spending...

Managing boxing

AT the outset, I would like to apologise to readers that this week we do not have an article totally focused on Citizenship and Belonging. Instead, it is being replaced by one on boxing in Fiji (interspersed with some crosscultural references) for a number of reasons. One, boxing returns to Suva this weekend with a...

Opinion

ICJ on climate change – Vanuatu says court’s opinion will be a ‘massive win’