The microscope
Gareth Baber and our national 7s players are under the microscope as they participate in the PacificAus Sports Oceania 7s tournament, prior to the Olympics? How will they perform in Townsville? To their disadvantage, they have not participated in international games this year unlike Australia and the All Blacks. To their advantage, opponents have less knowledge about their performances. As the clock ticks and the Olympic Games approaches, our gladiators are increasingly being subjected to the microscope. The expectation of our nation is obvious. Let’s hope that come the Olympics, our views through the microscope reveal a golden colour. Floyd Robinson Toorak, Suva
A serious matter
You report (FT Friday, June 6) that the Fiji Court of Appeal has set aside at the behest of the Government, a judgment of the High Court about the right of religious schools to approve the appointment of state funded principals and teachers in faith-based schools. I have not seen the following from our Constitution quoted in this media discussion. (Ch. 2 Bill of rights 22.4) “Every religious community or denomination and every cultural or social community has the right to establish, maintain and manage places of education whether or not it receives financial assistance from the State, provided that the educational institution maintains any standard prescribed by law.” It seems obvious to many that the intention of the Constitution is to preserve the rights of religious bodies against State usurpation. Some prints: 1. Whose money pays the teachers? The Government gets its money from taxes. The Government does not ‘own it’. The money belongs to the people of Fiji. It is supposed to be spent for the good of all the people. This is called distributive justice. 2. OMRS is nonsense if it will not include real qualification like sharing the beliefs of the religious school. 3. The school must be up to an academic standard. Who wants a substandard school? But this condition does not give the State the right to make arbitrary laws which frustrate the purpose of the Constitution. 4. Education must be within the context of a world view, why we exist, where we are going. A secular State education which offers nothing is substandard. It gives no meaning to life. In fact I believe it is itself a religion, a belief position, that this Government is attempting to impose. Fr K McGuire Raiwai, Suva
Relief for residents
While the residents of Muanikoso Village can breathe a sigh of relief that their lockdown period is over, it is important to pay attention to Dr Fong’s message that the virus can kill, and that it has the power to inflict mass death. The lifting of containment borders has eased life for Fijians, but instructions should not fall on deaf ears. Before taking any major step, we should always think about our frontline workers who are making endless sacrifices to provide services to the nation, and the least we can do to appreciate their service is to respect their efforts. Thursday’s The Fiji Times stated that the Fiji Nursing Association was concerned about the welfare of its members who took care of COVID-19 patients in hospitals, as the increasing cases of COVID-19 added burden on health resources. On the other hand, Fijians are getting vaccinated which is a positive sign. This pandemic is scary and precautionary measures must be taken. Finally, I plead with good Samaritans to liaise with the Health Ministry and to reach areas which are under lockdown, as people are requesting for food supplies. In this way, our assistance will support families. Rajnesh Ishwar Lingam Nadawa, Nasinu
Audit reports
It was so good to read in Vishnu Deo Sharma’s letter (FT 12/6) that “the audit report is the yardstick of government performance”. Some years after the 2006 coup at a social function here in Sydney a fellow Fijian was going on about how grand the post coup regime in Fiji was, so I asked him how come we have not seen any auditor-general’s report to make an appraisal of how well the country was being governed. He said that was not important! And, he was now living in a country where accountability, via the audit report and other checks and balances, were at the heart of good governance. I hope like Vishnu Deo Sharma says, the grassroots people in Fiji are indeed “following the audit report very closely to make their decision” at the next election. RAJEND NAIDU
Sydney, Australia
Viral video
A VIDEO is going viral about a taxidriver who stole five goats in Ba. The owner of the goats caught the driver and made the video and posted it on Facebook and gave an explanation. And I thought the animals hired the taxi. ALLEN LOCKINGTON Kava Place, Lautoka
Why pick on Lynda
WHY pick on Lynda to donate in the West? There are West-based politicians from the Opposition who are distributing rations. I have yet to see West based government politicians distributing rations in the West apart from honourable Parveen Kumar, distributing face masks in Suva. DAN URAI Lautoka
Special people
IT would appear the health authorities are in despair as the virus numbers keep rising. They say this increase is due principally to people not following the health advice. I believe the main reason people are not following the health advice is because the people of Fiji are incredibly special. At least that is what they believe. In Australia we call mentally challenged people “special people”. We all know special people belong in a certain hospital. How many such people are there in Fiji? JAN NISSAR NSW, Australia
Win-win punishments
To contain the COVID-19 we should just focus more on a win-win situation. I feel it would be more productive if we did not waste energy, time and resources on court cases and putting curfew breakers or lock down offenders in already “needy” remand centres or police cells. I believe these facilities are already bursting at the seams and costly to maintain. Further, the police should not be unnecessarily distracted at such a critical time as this. A more productive way of dealing with those who break the curfew directive is to give instant punishment that will boost their health, public health, our food security, economy or address climate change or all combined! Let us be creative and rethink our way out of this crisis, outside the box. We must innovate, conserve our energy and resources and preserve our good, happy, Fijian veilomani/ veiwekani spirit. I therefore, kindly appeal to our government and the relevant good Minister(s) to please let us lead the world by making those who break the curfew or lockdown rules do alternatives to prison terms and fines (Remember the people of Fiji and their parents who are paying the fines — are already out of work!). These are some suggested activities to replace fines: l 100 to 200 press ups or rounds of a playground (for their health); l Plant 50 to 100 fruit trees or cassava or dalo or a combination of these or even vegetables at alotted plots around the country (to promote economy and food security); l Plant 50 to 100 mangroves (Address impact of climate change); and l Clean, scrub and spray with disinfectant public toilets and markets (to promote public health) etc. I must congratulate and thank all medical workers, the Government, our police and charitable organisations and volunteers, for the work done so far. Perhaps some volunteers/religious organisations can put up their hands to supervise these tasks? God bless you all! Susana Tuisawau Wainivula, Nasinu
Sincere condolences
I feel huge empathy, and my sincere condolences to the Narayan family of Ba, who just lost their husband and father, the night after his first AstraZeneca jab. I believe until an autopsy is done, it will be difficult to know the exact causes of Mr Narayan’s death precisely. It certainly seems he had a fatal reaction to this first AstraZeneca jab. How could he have known this beforehand ? Sadly, a very small minority do react, like one in several million. Perhaps he indeed is one of these very rare cases? I am a child of the polio doses era in the late 1960s, NZ. And I had a breathless, fainting reaction after my second dose, within half an hour, as a 5-year-old. Fortunately, as my mum was a trained nurse, she recognised this, and quickly got me to hospital in time. I never completed the remaining two doses as result of this reaction. Similarly, my father was very allergic to certain penicillins, which almost killed him, when admitted as an asthmatic with pneumonia. He later died of double pneumonia. My mother also contracted TB as a nurse, before six children, and had issues with a collapsed lung, years later. So, with my families asthmatic genetics, we are always very careful about introducing new respiratory drugs, and/ or vaccines. However, I’ve also had pneumonia four times, including pleurisy, being hospitalised three times, including for a week last June, in Fiji. I thought I had Covid, but my swab test came back negative. The breathlessness was unreal and frightening, and meant I was kept on IV steroids and antibiotic for five days, after two weeks orally beforehand, as well as that glorious oxygen tank. So, while I swear by 4000mg of Vit C daily now, since the last hospitalisation, I decided to get my first AstraZeneca jab back in April, 2021, and I’ve been fine.
Coming from a high risk respiratory case family gene pool (asthma / bronchitis, and TB), I’m not willing to risk getting COVID-19. That is why I’ve vaccinated as soon as I could in Fiji. And I’m eagerly awaiting my second jab.
It is a risk I will take, because I do not want to get COVID, even more. While I know this is of no comfort to our Ba family, all medications have risks, it’s a choice we make at any time; yet so is catching this disease too, with long term consequences and damage to various parts of the body, including the heart and nervous system. The full extent of damage caused by long haul COVID casualties and patients are still emerging today, as it is a new disease with changing variants. I am so very sad to hear of this tragic loss, and I hope this family will get all the support and answers they need to clarify what caused Mr Narayan’s untimely death. With deepest sympathy. JEAN HATCH Nabua, Suva
Structured reports
SLOWLY the reports by Dr Fong and team are changing into what I believe are structured reports. DAN URAI
Lautoka
Struggling with communications
I THINK we are struggling with communications. Such a valuable and important weapon during this pandemic, it has not been consistent with public expectations. Yet among all this, I keep reminding myself that we do have a Minister for Communications and things may improve. MOHAMMED IMRAZ JANIF Natabua, Lautoka
