Turf wars!
Good work by police and military prevented a major brawl in Nabua on Monday.
I was saddened to read news about the brawl that broke out between youths from the two neighbouring communities — the Public Rental Board flats at Mead Rd and Sukanaivalu Rd.
What concerns me is that these youths have virtually little or no respect for the law.
Hadn’t it been for the military intervention, something nasty and drastic would have transpired, and innocent individuals and families would have suffered.
The front page of yesterday’s The Fiji Times does not paint a good picture, and neither does the report published later, which stated that mothers expressed their fear after witnessing the brawl.
I urge the relevant authorities to resolve the brawl in an amiable manner before it blows up into something major.
Former rugby player Neori Buli also shared the ordeal that he went through – scary indeed! I agree with Buli that it’s time to bring back the bonding, and for this, communities must come together.
Our youths need to be shown the right direction, and cool heads must prevail. Rajnesh Ishwar Lingam Nadawa, Nasinu
Nabua brawl
I wonder why the Minister for Youth nor his assistant minister never uttered a word or a statement on this ongoing gang related brawl at Nabua?
As line minister for the Ministry of Youth, they should come up with a solution rather than leaving it to the police to do the peacemaking process.
Instead of making loud noises in Parliament, please, give some sound advice to our youths to diffuse and de-escalate the tense situation.
My heart goes out to the women, elderly, people with disabilities and children caught in the crossfire who are again victims when PRB decides to evict families of youths involved in the brawl.
Stop the fight boys and say no to violence.
You are all iTaukei and might be related.
You never know! Jioji M Cakacaka Tadra – Votualevu, Nadi
Real time issue
While experts have backed recent commercial banks reports that Fiji’s flailing economy will bounce back quicker than expected and show positive growth remains to be seen in real time.
Likewise, economist Dr Rohit Kishore says the local economy has shown more resilience as Fiji is taking concrete steps to show the world that we will be COVID contained and that travellers can come to Fiji. Although businesses are now opening with more Fijians returning to work, we must take every precaution for a safe return as the deadly Delta variant can easily take another deadly U-turn for a third wave.
Add to that the cyclone season is also upon us. In all of this, it is mainly the ordinary Fijians that suffer. Big businesses and manufacturers will always be on the gaining side, while our less fortunate ones will need to pick up the pieces and regroup in times of disasters.
Praying and fasting will always be a recipe to ask the Heavenly Father to protect, strengthen and guide us all during challenging times. Just a friendly reminder to Jan Nissar that international borders will open soon for travel. I pray that you have a safe flight to the tiny island of Fiji, regarded as the only back-to-back Olympics gold medal 7s champions.
Drinks and chasers on me at South Seas Club, Lautoka for a grand 7s victory celebration, and I am confident of your presence. Raymond Singh Golf Links, Lautoka
Government savings
I was intrigued by The Fiji Times article in yesterday’s paper, where Government seemed to be taking credit for the $484m alleged “savings” due to money unspent.
While this may sound like a good thing to some, it rang alarm bells when, on further scrutiny, we find money from ministries like Agriculture, Education, Health, Infrastructure, Poverty Alleviation, Police etc remains unspent.
To me this is akin to depriving the people of necessary goods, services and support, especially during the time of severe economic crisis. I may go even further to say that authorities responsible for using the taxpayers’ funds for important service delivery in these key sectors need to be taken to task for their inability to do so.
Of course we are all too familiar with the dire situations in all these ministries and wonder why the money has not been put to good use.
Unless of course there is some other devious motive and that is use these “savings” for pork-barrelling come election time.
Many of us still remember in the lead up to the last election, how money was awash and individuals and households were provided thousands of dollars for anything they could justify! Altauf Chand Minto, NSW, Australia
Travel time
With Australia allowing international travel from November, I would expect Fiji to resume international travel with the same timeline.
However, the question is, will we be able to attract tourists if we are not able to get over our obsession with curfews?
Will the mask mandate also hinder tourists coming to our shores?
If we maintain these restrictions, it will be interesting to see if tourists will want to come to our night prisons and worse not be able to see our famous bula smiles. Kiran Khatri Samabula, Suva
Facebook down
Facebook went down for some reason and I got a few calls from FB friends if I was able to access it.
I too had tried twice and when I couldn’t I just did something else. I pity those who are addicted to this popular social media.
It’s been four hours now and I wonder if addicts are now going out of their mind wondering in the land of Facebook.
Just imagine if FB shuts down for good? Allen Lockington Kava Place, Lautoka
Nabua youths
It’s really disturbing watching a video online of youths from Sukanaivalu Rd in Nabua making their way to Topline Mead Rd Housing with the intention of attacking other youths.
We saw that police officers at the scene couldn’t do anything and the youths were not deterred at all by their presence.
Why is it that such illegal activity continues to happen, and why is it that our civil force cannot stop it from happening?
These youths obviously care less about our police force and army and that’s a very concerning matter as it could well manifest into worse incidents in the future.
And here is where the problem lies, when police and army take the aggressive stance and come down hard on such lawbreakers, everybody starts talking and complaining about the way they handled the situation.
I also have a question for the opposition party SODELPA, why haven’t any of you stepped in to try and solve this problem, seeing that the youths are all iTaukei? If you cannot do anything while in government, what’s the use of your representation?
These youths will never learn nor change because they know our civil force cannot do anything to reprove them in any way.
The human rights against cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment, is actually wrong here, for these youths aggressiveness ought to also be met with aggression, otherwise expect worse! Simon JC Hazelman Rava Estate, Savusavu
Enough brawling
To the youths and men of Sukanaivalu Rd and Mead Rd housing, better you go brawl with some vacant land and plant cassava. Sa rauta mada! Wise Muavono Balawa, Lautoka
Other side
I admire your loyalty towards the FijiFirst party Mr Hazelman (FT 4/10) and likewise some other writers who are not able to see the other side of the coin.
The gloomy pictures are covering your eyesight hence you are not able to see the real picture.
Those parties that are uniting might make it or maybe not but they are trying. Certain things are only possible if you keep trying with a good heart and intention. As for poverty, it does not come in one form only.
Apart from backyard gardening which many have opted for, there are other forms of poverty related issues as well. Even the market vendors have seen the variation in sales scaling up and down.
There are many things in the list of poverty. I suggest you request our government to stop wasting time in passing Bills that is not essential at this stage, and start thinking about basic food items which will make a major impact on every affected souls.
The change that you are so afraid of, will eventually take place one day.
I just hope your loyalty stays steady in that scenario. I agree with you that our government has done some good work as well but that does not give them the right to act god.
There would be plenty of their own people not happy with them but might not have a choice but to go with the flow but they are all human beings with feelings.
To some extent we understand as well. I hope you are able to see that other side of the coin before it’s too late. Kirti Patel Lautoka
Fiji Day
History will decide our course of action in the future.
A big happy 51st Fiji Day in advance to all our beloved citizens out there either in Fiji or abroad. Jadon E Masivesi Tadra- Votualevu, Nadi
Pandora papers
Very interesting to read about some of the prominent world leaders named in the Pandora Papers.
Is it any wonder to see why some leaders and people leading various organisations and positions fight tooth and nail to retain their positions?
It would be interesting if your newspaper could obtain the list to see if we have any Fijians somewhere in the list, including the tax evaders. Ajai Kumar Nadi
Social media
Never realised how much we depend on Facebook until it’s taken away from us.
Felt like I was having a mental breakdown until it came than I started thinking properly. Navneet Ram Lautoka
High places
The Pandora Papers revelations by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists gives us an insight into how people in high places do lowdown things at the expense of ordinary people to amass their wealth.
They are a shameless lot overtaken by personal greed. Rajend Naidu Sydney, Australia
Lawn mower
Certainly, mowing the lawn early in the morning is definitely annoying (FT 5/10).
But what infuriates me most is the deafening sound of bottle trucks tooting their horns continuously specially on early Sunday mornings, rousing the entire sleepy neighbourhood in the process.
These trucks I believe have been inconsiderately waking sleeping Fijians up for decades now. Nishant Singh Lautoka
Life back
Good to know that some people got their life back yesterday when certain social sites were out of service.
I hope no one got a heart attack. Kirti Patel Lautoka
Daylight saving
We know that our neighbours Australia and New Zealand have already started their Day Light Savings.
I hope we don’t follow them because I have had enough of it. Nardeo Mishra Suva
Election 2022
Dan Urai (FT 05/10), let alone your thoughts of an early election, I have already launched my preparations for the next election.
I don’t have the luxury for multicontinental cuisine and rock ‘n’ roll so I settled for a couple of jam roll slices and the classic Bhojpuri song Aay Gayyil Neta Ji.
The launch did not take place during the hours Facebook was down. Mohammed Imraz Janif Natabua, Lautoka
