Letters to the editor Friday, March,17,2023

At the Hong Kong 7s

As a giant stepping stone, I am quietly confident, most die-hard 7s fans, both locally and overseas, would dearly love to see our 7s rugby team turn tables on our nemesis, Argentina, at the HSBC Hong Kong 7s. We wish our team guts, courage, brawn, determination, fitness and sustained explosive energies to outplay the Argentinians. Please do not tell us. Go and show us. You can!
Ronnie Chang, Martintar, Nadi

Children and drugs

Children being used to sell and courier drugs (FT 16/3) is a serious matter. Unless police, parents, communities and business people work in partnership, it will be difficult to put an end to it. Sometimes children follow their parents who are supposed to be the best role models. My father never told me how to live, he lived and let me live. Choose to refuse — say no while you can.
Tahir Ali Hamilton, New Zealand

Good chat

I thank Mr Rabuka for hosting the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, in our very own country. Just some very positive chats and talks, I have no doubt that we have already restored friendship and respect. This will definitely create a long-lasting relationship between our beloved Fiji and Australia. Surely, no matter how tight things are, we will always receive aid and support from our good friend, Australia, and its allies. Let this be a new beginning of our friendship and hope for the best in our association in times of trouble.
KELEPI DAKUIYACO Waikalou, Serua

For the love of 7s!

Rugby 7s fans converged on the HFC Bank Stadium yesterday as the 47th Fiji Bitter Marist 7s tournament kicked off. Last year, the Fiji Barbarians side won, defeating Police Blue 33-7. The Fiji Barbarians started off strong with Elia Canakaivata opening the scores, followed by Pilipo Bukayaro and Iowane Raturaciri as the Babaas led 19-0 before Keponi Paul scored a try just before half time. A brace to Viwa Naduvalo gifted the Barbarians the Cup title. Fans can expect a feast of rugby during the three-day competition. The Marist officials have done wonders with preparations, and it is time for the players to shine. I miss those days when the Fiji Bitter Marist 7s tournament concluded with the naming of the Fiji 7s team to the HK 7s tournament. Wishing teams all the best for the tournament! Rajnesh Ishwar Lingam Nadawa, Nasinu Walesi App The Walesi, Chinese made set-up box has ceased working, so to watch our local TV stations I have to use the smart phone, utilising the Walesi App. That was fine until the other night, when the App started to freeze and yesterday morning, no programs at all! While I was in town yesterday morning I visited the Walesi shop and a lady there tried to help, only to discover the App had stopped working and that their technical team was working to fix it. I can watch ABC, Aljazeera, Sky news etc., without a problem, but local programs — nothing! And we pay $12m/year for this service.
Alastair Ward Tamavua, Suva

Social welfare
Proper allocation of resources at proper places with proper categorised people saves, time, money and resources. Social welfare is for citizens of low-income. If those who can afford good houses are staying there and through proper evaluation are not considered any further, it is not an issue in any way. These simple things if followed by the previous government, our country’s debt level would not have reared its ugly head at this high level. It does not need a genius to realise these simple things that can help bring our country up to par. There is a huge difference between “using well” and “wastage”.
Kirti Patel Lautoka

Release me
IF I may, can the deputy Prime Minister please let me know when will he “tell-all on financial wastage”? As of today, it has marked 30 days of me bracing. One tamani big brace going on here bhai, please release me!
AREKI DAWAI Suva

FF resignation
Another one bites the dust. Edward Kumar Lautoka Vuvale With the huge amount of budget, climate action and other social program support Australia and New Zealand are providing, the vuvale relationship is now progressing from cliche to reality. Both the big brothers in the Pacific must be applauded for the tangible assistance provided to improve the quality of life of the small island peoples of the region.
Rajend Naidu Sydney, Australia

Community post
The effects of my letter titled “Police post” (FT 11/03) regarding the Varoko Community Post located at the entrance to Ba Town have been made clear to me. Other than a few threatening messages from unknown users on my social media accounts, the attitudes of the officers were generally positive. The officers stationed at this particular post are currently setting up random checkpoints in Ba Town with the help of the Land Transport Authority officers in between their routine yawning sessions. Bravo!
DINESH KUMAR

Ba Bodyguards
I was of the view that bodyguards were self defence experts. No idea they needed guns to protect the FAG. (former attorney-general). Dan Urai Lautoka Red card In a soccer match, when a team gets the fifth red card, the game is forfeited. With the fifth resignation of the Opposition MP, is it safe to say they’ve forfeited politics yet?
Yash Kumar Suva

Farewell
Another one bites the dust, we thank the former minister for Health for his service to the country. Thank you for a failing health care sector. Thank you for the deplorable state of CWMH. Thank you for having your PS lead in your stead during a pandemic. We bid you adieu, farewell.
Aman Kumar Nadi

Loss of signal
Shortly after 7am Thursday, March 16, 2023, an outage occurred on all Walesi TV channels. As a retiree, into his 7th decade of earthly existence, I try to keep abreast of current affairs — when time permits. My normal 5km walk got shelved in the morning as I am not feeling 100 per cent. I guess I am in no position to complain because the service is provided free-of-charge. Did an EFL power outage somewhere trigger this Walesi TV loss of signals? I am trying to understand. Will we ever know?
Ronnie Chang Martintar, Nadi

Opposition voices
Former prime minister Mr Chaudhry seems to be doing well as an opposition voice, from outside of Parliament though. I’m not commenting here on his party’s fortunes in the last general election. It is what it is. Quality opposition pushes the Government to revisit and realign long-term and short-term plans and policies. It is common for ruling parties to incorporate opposition’s ideas and manifestos into government policies. We have seen our current Finance Minister being a constant voice on the opposition benches over many years and he made a proper impact on policy decisions. It will be a quiet day if respected leaders, allies and opposition, current and former, decide to keep mum on national matters. The Government needs all our support. Support may come in many forms, and opposition and criticism could well be the best forms yet. It’s a very good thing that we now have a fiscal review team in place that will thoroughly look at high quality submissions from the public, Mr Chaudhry and other experts. As for my five cents here, ANZ international economist Dr Kishti Sen makes light of our debt situation, which leads me to believe he is watching some other planet news, and I may have jumped the gun a bit here. We all jump the gun at times, sometimes shooting ourselves! All in all, until the fiscal review team comes up with sound advice for the national budget, I think we all should continue making contributions, mainly through formal submissions. However, it is all okay and also newsworthy for prominent figures like Mr Chaudhry to keep “scrummaging” on vital topics, be it tax increase or welfare assistance. Imagine our papers without such news! Our democracy must remain noisy. Donald Singh Suva On the streets An early morning walk through Suva along Handicraft and behind McDonalds and you’ll find young people strewn around the area either sleeping in corridors or wandering the streets. As I write this, it’s before 7am and I can see seven young boys sleeping on cardboard boxes beside the Handicraft area and four youths sit sipping a can of alcohol and smoking away. I also notice that they carry darkened plastic bottles which I assume is also used for smoking. Those who live and wander our streets may be there temporarily, but it’s a reflection of how far we’ve come as a nation since independence. Why are they roaming and sleeping on the streets? What caused them to move out of their homes? What do they do during the day? These questions and more beg to be answered. With the increase in physical, emotional and sexual violence and abuse in our homes it’s no surprise that youths have found solace in other like-minded youths and have decided to roam our streets. I urge the relevant government ministries and NGO to please step in and assist these young people. The choice they have before them is simple, continue with what they are doing or make a turnaround and pursue to be a better person. To do that they need intervention and access to shelter, food, clothing, someone who cares and will listen to their problems and not judge them for their choices. Is there a program that they can be part of? While we build regional and international partnerships we also need to look after the well-being of young people who roam our backyard.
Sailosi Naewe Naduru Rd, Nausori