SUVA lawyer and parliamentarian Lynda Tabuya and her group turned heads at the Hong Kong Stadium with their unique outfits made from clothes designed with The Fiji Times newspaper articles.
Tabuya said she floated the idea to her friends and they agreed with her.
“It was my idea,” she said during a break at the HK Stadium last night.
“I felt that The Fiji Times has always been attacked and have had a lot of bad experiences in the last few years,” she said.
“For me and my group which includes Judy Compain and Sevu Waqa. We came together and thought we got to do this.
“Last year Judy came with her Hot Bread Kitchen outfit and she had mentioned about a The Fiji Times outfit, but nothing came about of it but when I mentioned it she said that we got to do it.
“We’ve always being moved by the things that affect us and The Fiji Times and we’ve always been concerned by media freedom in Fiji and The Fiji Times has always been the one that is targeted.”
Tabuya said that they felt that they must pay tribute to the The Fiji Times for standing in there, for just being able to hold on and to fight and had the courage to go through in the last year with dignity and fortitude and most of the time just being unstoppable and not backing down.
“The Fiji Times has also fought for media freedom and we believe in this,” she said.
“I just want to thank The Fiji Times for being very courageous and continuing to uphold media freedom and to continue to fight for what is right in Fiji for the citizens of this country.
“That’s why we’ve endorsed this. We got this done in Suva by a local tailor who has a printer with a talented team.
“Her name is Sunita and Sean up in Waimanu Rd and they came with a concept and we wanted the article that says five in a row as in Hong Kong this year Fiji is trying to win five in a row.”
She said that’s why it was important to put it on their outfit but they were amazed by how popular it was, but at also how people felt how unique it was.
“For us it was important to push for our local brands and local organisations,” Tabuya said.
The Fiji Times is the only Fijian media that has been travelling to legs of the series.
