Letters to the Editor – Monday, September 20, 2021

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Members of the ANZMAT team and their Ministry of Health counterparts during their arrival in Fiji. Picture: SUPPLIED

ANZMAT teams return home

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY thank the Australia-New Zealand Medical Assistance Team (ANZMAT) for their valuable assistance and support towards my beloved Fiji at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ANZMAT team, consisting of 30 medical and nursing personnel and six liaison officers, was deployed to Fiji from June 21 to September 3.

The three medical teams, better known as Alpha, Bravo and Charlie, were on hand to assist the Ministry of Health in their fight against the pandemic.

It was pleasing and heartening to see members of ANZMAT join hands with our health teams to address the pandemic, and it reflects the valuable partnership between Fiji, Australia and NZ — a sign of good times, and a reflection of solidarity.

Thus, I accord a big vinaka vakalevu to the ANZMAT for their love, care and support!

I also thank the Australian and NZ governments for standing by Fiji at our time of need during COVID-19.

RAJNESH ISHWAR LINGAM, Balgovind Rd, Nadawa, Nasinu

Ethnicity and society

ETHNICITY contributes to the rich fabric of society.

It provides us with something with which we can identify and helps us understand each other better.

It can open the door to explaining inequalities in areas such as health, education and economic status.

To undertake research with an ethnic lens is a practice endorsed by many organisations and countries around the world in order to gain the best understanding of the population under the microscope.

Applying filters will render the data incomplete and will therefore be an inaccurate representative sample; no different to the ostrich with its head in the sand or the horse wearing blinkers.

The World Health Organization for example relies on data disaggregated by ethnicity in order to understand better the depth of inequalities that can be inherent in a healthcare system.

Latin America and the Caribbean have high maternal mortality rates and access to the healthcare is very uneven.

Addressing ethnicity can help to explain ethnic disparities and contribute to providing more equitable health care services.

In England, the National Health Scheme (NHS) has undertaken a massive nation-wide survey on the effects of COVID-19 on the population which includes ethnicity data collected by none other than the Office of National Statistics.

Furthermore, the NHS has been providing to the public daily statistics of COVID-19 deaths by ethnicity.

The First Schedule (Section 5) of the Statistics Act of Fiji 1961 refers to: collecting population and housing data; and information required for the computation for the national income of Fiji.

I fail to understand why ethnicity should be excluded from the data collected.

There certainly isn’t any specific reference to it in the section for which the CEO of the Bureau of Statistics “lost his head”.

Usually, when the law is silent on a matter it can be interpreted as being inclusive.

To forbid ethnicity and religion from being part of a national survey is just a step away from ethnic cleansing and we don’t need to be reminded of modern history where this has occurred.

JULIE SUTHERLAND, Tamavua

Number one or two

HE is unhappy with USP.

He is unhappy with Nawaikula’s case

He was unhappy with the Auditor-General’s report.

Now he is unhappy with the BoS (Bureau of Statistics) CEO.

Then all the experts came out firing.

It seems he knows better.

“Oh no, race and religion don’t play a part in the running of Fiji.”

He is not the most powerful minister in government, he is the most powerful minister ever.

Sometimes I wonder if he is number one or number two.

ALLEN LOCKINGTON, Kava Place, Lautoka

Arbitrary dismissal

THE arbitrary dismissal of the government statistician Kemueli Naiqama is nothing but a case of abuse of power by “the most powerful minister” in the Bainimarama government.

The minister has exhibited a pattern of that abuse since his rise to power.

He must learn from history that such abuse of power does not end well in the final analysis.

RAJEND NAIDU, Sydney, Australia

Ethnic-based statistics

ACCORDING to the latest poverty report compiled by the FBoS (Fiji Bureau of Statistics), it specified the sad reality that the i-Taukei, who are the dominant population, still remain the poorest compared with other ethnicities.

Can an additional survey be undertaken to conclude if this has been the situation all along?

Often stereotyped as being “lazy” with a “kana vinaka raica mataka” approach, could this be a major contributing component of majority of them being categorised as poor and deprived as per FBoS’s current analysis?

With a wealth of natural resources at their disposal, I firmly believe the indigenous Fijians should be
rated among the “richest” in the country.

NISHANT SINGH, Lautoka

Pipeline

JANIF, the swimming pool issue is still in the pipeline.

Maybe some more pipe lengths have been added, or the “pipeline” is pointing to those in leadership hence the “extra” lengths added to the pipeline.

I wonder if they think we will forget about it.

ALLEN LOCKINGTON, Kava Place, Lautoka

FNPF app

OF what use is the FNPF app for those people who continue to face accessibility issues?

MOHAMMED IMRAZ JANIF, Natabua, Lautoka

Termites

ONCE again Lautoka is being swarmed by termites.

What happened to the termite eradication program that was proposed by the former CEO of Biosecurity?

So much money used on the operation, but no results.

NARAYAN REDDY, Lautoka

Our government

ON International Day of Democracy Fijians are advised by the Speaker of Parliament to reflect on our collective responsibility to strengthen democracy (FT/15/9).

Let’s start by changing government.

DAN URAI, Lautoka

New career

IT is a refreshing change that a senior government official has resigned to pursue a new career opportunity rather than too familiar “for personal reasons”.

BHARAT MORRIS, Rifle Range, Vatuwaqa, Suva

Beneficiaries

WE have a good idea from what has come in the public domain (see John Kamea’s article ‘Poverty and the truth’ The Sunday Times 19/9 ) who all did not benefit from the “unprecedented growth” in the Fiji economy under the Bainimarama Government.

So who benefit?

Capitalist cronies and political donors to the ruling mob.

RAJEND NAIDU, Sydney, Australia

No jab, no job

IT saddens me to note that 54 medical personnels and 122 teachers have fallen victim of the “no jab, no job” policy.

Whatever the reasons may be, it is evident that certain percentage of workers had reservations to the vaccine and opted to lose job.

Nevertheless, it is unfortunate for them to uphold their principles rather than to comply with the laws that surround their employment.

Life can be difficult without a job and it’s our responsibility to weigh things out in positive way before making conclusions which may bring certain level of regrets later.

Let’s think hard and for the better of all.

ROUHIT KARAN SINGH, Lautoka

Life-changing experience

THE experience that members of the Balgovind Rd, Nadawa Humanitarian and Charity Group went through during the COVID-19 pandemic was life-changing.

While we were on the field providing food packs, sanitary pads, sanitisers, face masks, and colgate and toothbrush packs, we were touched by the hospitality and resilience that we received.

Those whom we assisted showed signs of moving on with life despite the adversities faced as a result of the pandemic.

On Saturday, my team and I were at the Valelevu HART where we were joined by Fijiana bronze medallist Lavenia Tinai.

The residents were overwhelmed, excited and emotional as they received their food packs and rubbed shoulders with Lavenia Tinai, who delivered a wonderful and encouraging speech.

I thank Lavenia Tinai for accepting our request to be part of our distribution.

Her presence lifted the morale of the residents living at the HART.

The music provided by the residents made my team members – James Swamy and Ram Lingam – show their hidden talents.

It was nice seeing the joy and delight on the faces of the residents.

Our team was able to assist 40 families on Saturday.

In total 617 families have been assisted with $50 food packs, amounting to $30,850.

At this juncture, I acknowledge our donors: Motibhai Group of Companies (sanitary pads and sanitisers); Jitesh Patel and the Suva Retailers Association (face masks and sanitisers); Rohit and Sandhya Singh (USA); and Sanjay and Nilam Narayan, Akesh and Karishma Narayan, Dhirend Chand, Sharneel Nand and Rajesh Kuldip (Auckland, NZ) for donating $2500.

The assistance we provided gave us an opportunity to meet Fijians from all walks of life.

This life-changing experience will be cherished.

RAJNESH ISHWAR LINGAM, Founder Balgovind Rd, Nadawa Humanitarian and Charity Group

Electoral system

IN her letter (FT 19/9) Susana Tuisawau has raised some pivotal issues regarding the fairness and integrity of the current electoral system that allows candidates with lesser votes to enter into Parliament whereas those with more votes are disenfranchised by the rules.

In other words, the total number of votes received by the political party determines the seat allocation.

I believe the number of votes is an essential yardstick to measure a candidate’s worthiness to represent the electoral in Parliament.

Not from piggybacking on the leader’s votes.

The poll is where his or her mandate should come from.

Hence the low votes are an indication of his or her rejection by the voters.

One cannot dispute that the person who acquired more votes is the preferred choice of the voters.

It is also imperative to note that in some cases there is a huge difference of more than 4000 votes.

SELWA NANDAN, Lautoka

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