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LoginFugitive Mara to embark on whirlwind ‘pro-democracy’ tours in US, Pacific
Runaway ex-colonel Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara at the Papatoetoe Town Hall, Auckland, on Saturday night. Photo: Alex Perrottet/PMC
Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Alex Perrottet of Pacific Media Watch
Fiji political fugitive Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara is departing New Zealand for Tonga today, and plans to make a whirlwind tour to the US and around the Pacific over the next month to promote his “pro-democracy” cause.
The former lieutenant-colonel and a key officer in the 2006 military coup accused by human rights activists of being responsible for torture in the regime – allegations he denies – expects to visit Samoa, Vanuatu, the Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
And he will return to Auckland for the Pacific Islands Forum in early September.
Former Fiji Land Forces Commander Jone Baledrokadroka (right) with Ratu Mara. Photo Alex Perrottet/PMC
Speaking at the Papatoetoe Town Hall at a meeting organised by the Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement New Zealand on Saturday night, Ratu Mara said he was still garnering support from other Pacific nations for his cause of bringing democracy back to Fiji.
‘Unelected, illegal and corrupt’
He had particularly harsh words for the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, Danny Philip, who has supported Bainimarama resuming chairmanship of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.
“The Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands conveniently forgets that many Fijian soldiers gave their lives for that country during World War Two and now is he siding with an unelected illegal and corrupt regime,” he said.
“With the support of the Solomon Islands, [the regime] has resumed chairmanship of the MSG and its plan is to use it as a front against Australia and New Zealand.”
Ratu Mara plans on visiting Samoa first, after being invited by Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi when they met in Australia last month.
The former military officer, who fled Fiji in May after being charged with sedition, called on the 400-strong audience and all people to unite against what he repeatedly referred to as the “illegal regime”.
Paraphrasing the American Declaration of Independence, he said: “Whenever any form of government becomes destructive it is the right of the people to abolish it.”
He criticised the scaling back of freedom of movement, freedom of association and of the press, and said Fiji had deteriorated considerably since Bainimarama took power in 2006.
“It was not too long ago that the official tourist slogan for Fiji was ‘Fiji: the way the world should be’,” he said.
“I feel so sad and disillusioned to tell you that Fiji is now the way the world should not be.
“A fundamental right of every citizen is the right to free speech, the right to dissent. That right no longer exists. Citizens who speak out against the ruling regime’s excesses and abuse of office are arrested by the military, not the police and are taken to military headquarters, where they are beaten, kicked, and even tortured.
“And not only men, but women as well. And not only Fijians, but Indians and general voters as well.”
More ‘tyranny’ to come
Ratu Mara lamented the dissolution of the Great Council of Chiefs, the militarisation of the public service, as well as the Methodist Church and the new ‘Land Use Bank’, which is being developed in the wake of last year’s Land Use Decree.
“The Fijians are worried they will lose what they inherited from their forefathers,” he said.
He spoke of “heinous and tyrannical acts” on the horizon such as the establishment of a munitions factory in Fiji, which he said would have serious consequences.
He then accused the Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, of planning to rig the 2014 elections, with the use of voting machines.
“This is another sinister plan,” he said.
“I doubt elections will be held in 2014, but in case they are held, you can imagine what the illegal regime has in store with rigged voting machines.”
Ratu Mara said it was unrealistic that Bainimarama was attempting to change attitudes in Fiji with regard to voting and racial issues.
“That changes with time, and will only happen under a democratic system,” he said.
He supported the “Transitional Plan for Democracy in Fiji” explained by former Land Forces Commander Jone Baledrokadroka, who is a visiting research fellow at Canberra’s Australian National University, and was present at the meeting.
Baledrokadroka said the two most important points were to pressure the regime to drop the Public Emergency Regulations and to withdraw the military from the public sphere.
Alex Perrottet is contributing editor of the Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Media Watch project.
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Mara lied about his magical rescue at sea by the Tongan navy conveniently in Fiji waters and then oddly taken to Tonga. Everyone knows this story is a farce. Now that we know he lies the question is; when is he lying and when not? He was personally involved in the issues he promotes as being criminal. He was there by his own admission when they “illegally” took over in that coup, but somehow he is innocent of that. He was there when he alledged there was torture. He was innocent of that too somehow. Was he just some kind of innocent reporter from the press, or was he into it himself? He is accused of sedition, but he is innocent of that as well. Why is the world harbouring him as some kind of hero? It makes those countries look stupid.
Just a lot of BS from someone who is broke and needs money.
This man is a fake. When asked how he was funding his campaign ( which we all know is funded by the Australian and NZ taxpayer) he said he was funding it himself with his own money. Well how much money did he have in his pocket when he was rescued at sea?? Or was it in a bank account in NZ or Tonga or Australia?? All without declaring it to the Reserve Bank in Fiji. I heard this man is coming here to the US to talk some more crap. Let him beware that he will be exposed fully; and he won’t be allowed to shut out the media as he did in NZ. This is a different country from NZ and Australia. Here he won’t be treated as the golden boy of our foreign policy.
Mara to address the Pacific Islands Forum?? Big deal. Bainimarama has already been outlawed by this forum so why preach to the choir. Australia and NZ should think up some better strategy instead of this redundancy. No wonder Bainimarama does not give a damn about the foreign policies of these two countries. Who else would make a liar and self-serving opportunist the poster boy of it’s foreign policy??
Jack do you know that Aus. & NZ are the White House foreign policy watchdogs in the Pacific? So to put it simply Barak is driving the roadshow circus wagon with clowns Kevin & Murray coming up with the acts to keep the show going.
Oopps my bad you said it was a choir right?….ok Barak is the conductor while Kevin & Murray are the 2 lead singers & the rest of the Forum are members of the choir..
Its definitely adifferent country….but just so you know Aus. & NZ take their queue from the U.S. After all he is coming in the name of “democracy”….the one cause that America will fight for till the death & the debt – by hook or by crook!
Coralia,
US is more worried about its debt ceiling then another aristocratic
carpet bagger like Mara.
If Aust or NZ are the US eyes and ears in the huge Pacific ocean, then they are all like 3 blind men feeling up the body of an elephant. One holds the tail and says its a x, the other feels the trunk and claims it as y, and the third is equally clueless.
Meanwhile, the fugitive Tevita Mara continues his barn storming crusade defending his growing fishing tale that is laced with flowery words like democracy, freedom and liberty, as if he invented them.
Cross his palm with silver and watch him speak, sing and dance like a wind up doll. (Batteries not included).
Debt is just one of its many worries….its shaky stature& influence in the the Middle East, the ever-worsening war on terror, oil security in North Africa, the rise of China. If you read between the lines on how US foreign policy works…US influence the world over has been preserved over the years by using regional proxies like Aus & NZ in the Pacific & Egypt in the Middle East to keep everyone in check for the ultimate goal of ‘realizing the American Dream’….all under the pretense of concern for democracy! Its just the way things work….there has never been & there will be no free lunches.
Ratu Mara using flowery words like democracy, freedom & liberty (overrated American cliches)…..how the Americans would love a wind up doll that dances to this tune!
Coralia:
Guess what? People here are not going to accept this man, or his message just because he shouts “democracy”, because Mara’s form of democracy is that defined by a constitution which marginalized groups of people based purely on non-merit factors and denied them equal rights, including equal voting rights. Then there’s the American definition which gives equal constitutional rights to all. Obama being where he is, is a case in point.
As to Mara meeting with the foreign policy people here, please consider it a pipe dream. They don’t have the time or the will to meet up with oddballs.
Also bear in mind that China is a key player here. Do you seriously think that the US is going to listen to Australia and NZ over China which has already promised, for better or for worse, to champion Bainimarama’s cause, even at the UN?? I think not.