Letters to the Editor – Sunday, September 25, 2022

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Raijeli Ledua Tiko (middle) hugs her mum Litiana Marama while Nursing coordinator Helen Bailey smles away at the Sai Prema Foundation in Suva, on Thurs 22 Sept 2022. Picture: ELIKI NUKUTABU

Gift of life!

I EXTEND my sincere appreciation to the management and staff members of Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevni Children’s Heart Hospital for carrying out life-saving heart surgeries and free echocardiograms. The hospital will be remembered by many in years to come for its generosity and kind gesture. I read the piece compiled by Shanelle Prasad (FT: 23/09) titled “Gift of life” and it warmed my heart. The piece focused on two-year-old Raijeli Ledua, who according to her mother Litiana Marama, was given the gift of life. Raijeli, who was the first recovery from the heart operation conducted by specialist surgeons from Singapore, had a problem with her heart and she used to have continuous cough and was a regular visitor to medical centres. Then the Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevni Children’s Heart Hospital came to her rescue as she did not have to collect money and travel overseas for the procedure. Little Raijeli survived the procedure and was ready to go home. The Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevni Children’s Heart Hospital is hope for the poor and disadvantaged and I accord a big vinaka vakalevu to Mr Sumeet and Dr Krupali Tappoo and the team. RAJNESH ISHWAR LINGAM Nadawa, Nasinu

Questionable integrity

SANEEM attacks Times (FT 24/9). Responding to the Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem’s attack, The Fiji Times editor-in-chief Fred Wesley wisely said he left it to the readers to judge The Fiji Times’ integrity. As a reader, I have no problem with The Fiji Times’ integrity. When it comes to questionable integrity, people need to look elsewhere. And, the intelligent people of Fiji know where. RAJEND NAIDU Sydney, Australia

Unsolved murders

ON behalf of the Indo/Fijian diaspora of Vancouver, Canada, I tip my hat for the following people: Police Commissioner Mr Qiliho and deputy Commissioner Mr Itendra Nair and the whole investigating police team for cracking the murder case of Sesha Reddy and his partner Mirdu Chandra of Sigatoka. Mirdu Chandra was from Vancouver. The case file has been forwarded to the prosecution team and let’s hope that with the help of public and the hardworking Fiji police, this time the charge will stick. Among so many unsolved murder cases, at least one will be solved. Thank you Mr Qiliho. KEVIN PILLAY Vancouver, Canada

Political developments

ACCORDING to my observations, Fijian politics had seen vast changes in the past decade. Before the 2014 General Election, Fiji was under military rule from 2006 to 2013 and was ruled by “decrees”. The 2014 General Election was conducted under the new 2013 Constitution. Almost same in the 2018 General Election but I believe 2022 will be conducted under the same Constitution but with different set of rules. While the 2013 Constitution remains same, the 2022 General Election will be different because of so many recent electoral amendments brought in the last few sessions of Parliament under Standing Order 51. Some of the major changes that I can see concerns manifestos, campaign meetings, fund raising etc. Manifestos got to have full details of revenue and expenditure of any project proposed by a political party. System of raising funds and how you spend these must be presented and above all how you conduct your campaign meetings. If you even suggest a new project, all costing must be provided. Finally, in the absence of any “independent body” I believe it would be very difficult to monitor all these new conditions. We can already see political parties running to SOE with minor complaints. Few cases have already been referred to FICAC and I expect more to follow. VIJAY MAHARAJ Sydney, Australia

Donkey business

I READ with great interest Selwa Nandan’s letter titled “Donkey’s genitals” in the FT 22/9, where he wonders about what is being done to Donkey genitals which are part of illegal trade and smuggled from Nigeria to Hong Kong. So I quickly goggled to find out and to my surprise, I learned that it is used for medicinal purpose. I only hope that my lost friend Allen Lockington does give a second thought in starting up a Donkey business. PRANIL RAM Votualevu, Nadi

Fitting farewell

QUEEN Elizabeth II was laid to rest on Tuesday at St George’s Chapel within the grounds of Windsor Castle. After days of mourning, she was finally laid to rest. Her Majesty visited Fiji six times, as she enjoyed the Fijian hospitality and was touched by the warmth and bula spirit. She left behind golden sands of footprint and as we bid her the final good byes, the memories brought tears to the eye. The Majesty touched hearts because of her down to earth and humble nature and pleasant personality. No words can fully describe the extent of her loss. It was only fitting that the late Queen was farewelled at Westminster Abbey, the place where she was married in 1947 and crowned in 1953. It was fitting that she was buried alongside her late husband Prince Philip in a private ceremony. Rest high dearest Queen! RAJNESH ISHWAR LINGAM Nadawa, Nasinu

 

Fijiana game

ALTHOUGH the Fijiana rugby team for the upcoming World Cup competition revealed some weaknesses during the game with Canada which would make them vulnerable in the competition in two weeks time, it must be emphasised to the players that the team which commits the least number of mistakes would most likely win. Unfortunately, apart from weaknesses in some areas of their set play, the match was riddled with basic mistakes. There is room for improvement, however, before the Rugby World Cup. Best of luck. EMOSI BALEI Suva

Gone into hiding?

WHERE is the leader of PAP? It appears he has melted into thin air and gone into hiding when there is a crisis not just within his party but also with his coalition partner. Perhaps going to ground will solve the issues by magic. JAN NISSAR NSW, Australia

Tough IDC pools

AFTER winning the Punjas BOG, defending Courts IDC champions Labasa has been drawn against Rewa, Lautoka and Ba in Pool B, while Suva heads Pool A and will face Nadi, Nadroga and Navua. In the Premier Division, Pool A has Tailevu Naitasiri, Tavua and Nadogo, while Nasinu, Rakiraki and Seaqaqa will clash in Pool B. In the Senior Division in Pool A, Bua will battle Savusavu and Lami, while Dreketi will face Taveuni and Northland Tailevu in Pool B. Labasa won the 2020 IDC at the Stadium, defeating Lautoka 2-1. Ratu Anare headed in the winning goal. With a little less than two weeks, all teams are preparing well and will be gunning for the Holy Grail. It’s a pity that former giants of senior football Levuka missed out and so have the primary and secondary schools. I wish FFA brings back the primary and secondary grades back into the IDC competition and takes matches back to the good old days where football was played for 60 minutes. Those days football was so exciting to watch because the matches were played at a fast pace. I wish the giants of football, the Lions, all the best. I hope for the northern bullets to complete the treble. RAJNESH iSHWAR lINGAM Nadawa, Nasinu

Centre for educational excellence

“8000 part of USP open day” ( FT 24/9 ) tells us why it is regarded the premier regional institution of higher education. USP vice-chancellor Pal Ahluwalia couldn’t have put it more succinctly when he said “USP is the Pacific’s pride …” It is lamentable that the people currently in power in Fiji have seen it fit to arbitrarily withhold USP’s entitled funding. But USP stays the course in educational excellence. The huge open day turn out is testimony to that. RAJEND NAIDU Sydney, Australia

Why attend?

I STILL cannot get it into my head as to why our PM accepted the British government invitation to attend the late Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral when he decided to forfeit the Queen’s Birthday, removed the Queens picture from our national currency and even tried to change our current flag which has the Union Jack, but simply saying that he tried to cut off all the monarchy ties between Fiji and the British Crown which has a long history with our country since 1874? He looks lonely and uncomfortable from live TV images that was shared in both mainstream and social media all over the world to 4.1 billion viewers? Let’s see if our local mainstream media who always champion democracy, transparency, good governance and freedom of speech has the guts and nerve to print these black and white facts which is on public records including Google. JIOJI M CAKACAKA Tadra,Votualevu, Nadi

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