From The Crowd

1st October

Vet corner: The welfare and safety of horses

It’s been raining cats and dogs lately so let’s get some things straight from the horse’s mouth. Horses have many predators in the wild, so to survive, they learned to quickly react to something near...

PaCSON and Optus data breach

This week the Pacific Cyber Security Operations Network (PaCSON) organisation held their AGM at the Grand Pacific Hotel (GPH) in Suva. PaCSON membership is mostly made up of Pacific regional governments with some partners. I was invited to a meeting with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) officials attending, to discuss cybersecurity...

Boxing returns with a bang

Bula readers, it’s not every day you can say that you attended an event that exceeded your hopes and expectations, but this is what happened last Saturday evening in Suva when I attended a boxing program. All I can say is congratulations to Lewis Hill Boxing Promotions and a job well done. It was indeed...

Living with fear: Government should listen and learn

In many of my speeches I refer to the atmosphere of fear often felt in Fiji. This week the fear issue has emerged again. The prominent National Federation Party member Richard Naidu told an audience in Suva that the current government rules by fear. Minister Sayed-Khaiyum questions this. He asked at a press conference, what...

Voters and the 2022 polls

Fiji soon goes to the polls for the 2022 General Election. There are two major candidates vying for prime ministership, both former coup leaders – Sitiveni Rabuka (The Peoples’ Alliance) staged the country’s first 1987 coup and Voreqe Bainimarama (FijiFirst) who led the 2006 coup. Both PA and its partner, the National Federation Party (NFP)...

The ‘FICAC’ factor

If there is any organisation in Fiji that hangs over Opposition parties like the sword of damocles, it is the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption. It is critical to understand the genesis of this entity, and its performance so far, especially for the incoming new Government that intends to steer our soon-to-be 52-year-old nation back...

30th September

Asia’s new normal – The massive vaccination campaigns that preceded it

Over the past few months, much of Asia – like many other parts of the world – has returned to an uncanny normality. Streets are full of people, schools and universities are open, traffic is jamming the roads, shops are bustling and there is little, if any, social distancing. COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted across...

28th September

The harsh reality – Climate change and the Pacific Islands

Amid concerns the intensity and frequency of weather events across the Pacific Islands are being exacerbated by climate change, now the region is expected to endure more floods and droughts with La Niña continuing into a third year. The Australian Bureau Of Meteorology’s declared this month that the climate pattern would continue into another summer....

27th September

Feline fix by five

What that means is to get your cat spayed or neutered — also called desexed, castration, ovariohysterectomy, ‘fixed’, sterilised — by the time they are five months old. Given that cats reach sexual maturity at about 5 months of age, more and more people are advocating lowering the spay/neuter age to four to five months...

26th September

A greener future for Fiji tourism

Recently I arrived back in Fiji after nearly two years away. One of the first changes I noticed, on the drive from Nadi to Suva, was the proliferation of the African tulip tree. It’s a beautiful tree, with huge scarlet flowers – hence its introduction a few decades ago as a garden ornamental. Presumably no...