Ratu Tevita Mara - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz Catholic News New Zealand Mon, 03 Oct 2011 06:49:05 +0000 en-NZ hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://cathnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-cathnewsfavicon-32x32.jpg Ratu Tevita Mara - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz 32 32 70145804 Australia and Fiji - for the people against Govt https://cathnews.co.nz/2011/10/04/australia-and-fiji-for-the-people-against-govt/ Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:30:54 +0000 http://cathnews.co.nz/?p=12595

Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Affairs, Richard Marles, was recently interviewed about the relationship between Australia and Fiji. He said that Australia's beef is not with the the Fiji people, "in fact quite the opposite. We want to stand with the people of Fiji in what is a very difficult time for them." He said Australia took issue Read more

Australia and Fiji - for the people against Govt... Read more]]> Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Affairs, Richard Marles, was recently interviewed about the relationship between Australia and Fiji. He said that Australia's beef is not with the the Fiji people, "in fact quite the opposite. We want to stand with the people of Fiji in what is a very difficult time for them."

He said Australia took issue with is with the interim regime in Fiji and with what it is doing both to the country of Fiji and its people.

Among other concerns he noted that "Church organisations have freedom of association. Church organisations have their meetings banned...The people who are doing that are the interim regime of Fiji and they're the people we've got an issue with," said Marles.
Last month the associate director of church solidarity in the Pacific for Australia's Uniting Church, Bruce Mullen, told Pacific Beat he has been in contact with his counterparts in Fiji."I had a conversation with somebody from one of the congregations who said they are not allowed to conduct meetings of any kind at their congregational level and his comment was, 'we hope this impasse will soon pass and we may be able to conduct our meetings again'," he said."So it's a kind of patient, waiting, long-suffering kind of approach I think." In a recent press release Ratu Tevita has accused Attorney General Aiyaz Khaiyum of trying to get control over Fijian land by removing "two key stumbling blocks", the Great Council of Chiefs and the Methodist Church.In response to this Professor Crosbie Walsh says he did not see any direct connection between the Methodist Church and the land. He was of the opinion that most observers thought "Bainimarama was concerned about the Church's political involvement, the racism and extreme nationalism of some of its leaders, their support for previous coups, and their opposition to the People's Charter and other government initiatives." 

Source

Australia and Fiji - for the people against Govt]]> 12595 Mara gets 2 days in New Zealand to tell his story https://cathnews.co.nz/2011/06/28/mara-gets-2-days-in-new-zealand-to-tell-his-story-tell-his-story/ Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:00:59 +0000 http://cathnews.co.nz/?p=6435

Tevita Mara gets 2 days in New Zealand "to tell his story". However John Key says that New Zealand is "taking quite a cautious view." While Australia has removed Mara permanently from its travel ban list, Key said, "We have no intention of doing that at this stage." "It will be an opportunity for New Zealand Ministry Read more

Mara gets 2 days in New Zealand to tell his story... Read more]]> Tevita Mara gets 2 days in New Zealand "to tell his story". However John Key says that New Zealand is "taking quite a cautious view."

While Australia has removed Mara permanently from its travel ban list, Key said, "We have no intention of doing that at this stage."

"It will be an opportunity for New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials to talk to him and get a sense of what his perspective is. But it doesn't mean he'll be granted a visa to come back. He'll be like a number of people who have been put on the ban for a good reason and they need to prove to us there's a very good reason why they should be permanently taken off."

Mara is back in Tonga but is expected to come to New Zealand as early as Monday.

Source

Mara gets 2 days in New Zealand to tell his story]]> 6435 Tevita Mara - Wows the Aussies and Kiwis https://cathnews.co.nz/2011/06/17/tevita-mara-a-mara-by-any-name-is-sweet/ Thu, 16 Jun 2011 19:00:09 +0000 http://cathnews.co.nz/?p=5707

The interim Fijian Government says it expects Australia to respond positively to a request to extradite Ratu Tevita Mara. It may be disappointed because the Australian and New Zealand Governments appear see Mara as a credible figure around which to base a serious challenge to Commodore Bainimarama Mara began his campaign in Australia by invoking the mana of his father, Read more

Tevita Mara - Wows the Aussies and Kiwis... Read more]]> The interim Fijian Government says it expects Australia to respond positively to a request to extradite Ratu Tevita Mara. It may be disappointed because the Australian and New Zealand Governments appear see Mara as a credible figure around which to base a serious challenge to Commodore Bainimarama

Mara began his campaign in Australia by invoking the mana of his father, Fiji's respected founding father, the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.

However, according Graham Davis, "The problem is that some of his new acolytes are people who Mara senior loathed and blamed for the destruction of his own presidency in 2000 and the destruction of his attempts to forge a thriving multiracial nation in Fiji."

Graham Davis is a journalist best known for his incisive investigative stories over a twenty-year period for the Nine Network's flagship Sunday program, which he joined in 1983 after a radio career in the BBC, ABC and Macquarie Network.

Source

Tevita Mara - Wows the Aussies and Kiwis]]> 5707 Ratu Tevita Mara wants to come to New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz/2011/05/27/ratu-tevita-mara-platform-of-reform-abandoned/ Thu, 26 May 2011 19:00:47 +0000 http://cathnews.co.nz/?p=4845

Ratu Tevita Mara is looking at applying to live in New Zealand. He said he might make a formal application to seek asylum in New Zealand and was already in informal discussions. He says is also talking with people in other countries.Colonel Mara says he would also like his family to move to New Zealand with him. Colonel Read more

Ratu Tevita Mara wants to come to New Zealand... Read more]]> Ratu Tevita Mara is looking at applying to live in New Zealand. He said he might make a formal application to seek asylum in New Zealand and was already in informal discussions. He says is also talking with people in other countries.Colonel Mara says he would also like his family to move to New Zealand with him. Colonel Mara told Radio Tarana that New Zealand is in a difficult position. "I think if the New Zealand Government comes out too strongly in support of me I think it might see the Acting High Commissioner become persona non grata again in Fiji." The New Zealand Government says it has received no application from him yet and if he did apply, it would be evaluated in the usual way.

Fiji interim Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has declared the former army commander a fugitive and has issued an extradition application to bring him back to face a trial. Tonga's Prime Minister's Office has confirmed it has received an application from Fiji's government for the extradition. The Tonga Chronicle says Prime Minister Lord Tu'ivakano has stated that the government will not interfere with the process.

Mara said he believed he would not get a fair hearing in Fiji.

In a statement issued earlier this week Colonel Mara said "Nearly five years ago, the Fiji Military Forces led by Commodore Bainimarama ousted the SDL and Fiji Labour Party Coalition government. There is no denial of the part I played in this 4th Coup together with BG Pita Driti.The platform and agenda of the takeover was to reform Fiji and tackle issues relating to corruption generally.

After nearly five years we are now faced with a different Fiji, devoid of the noble objectives of the RFMF to return Fiji to Elections swiftly, once, the reforms were achieved. As you have seen, notable and prominent figures, all of whom initially supported the 2006 Coup have long departed or have been pushed out as the Regime started to deviate from the original intent of the RFMF.

Mara concludes by saying "the 2006 coup objectives are no longer any part of the Regime plan." "I am calling on the people of Fiji to unite first and then, we shall overcome the dictator soon before our Nation is completely destroyed."

Read the Speech

Source

Ratu Tevita Mara wants to come to New Zealand]]> 4845 Why did Mara flee to Tonga? https://cathnews.co.nz/2011/05/17/50-officers-have-abandoned-bainimarama/ Mon, 16 May 2011 19:00:58 +0000 http://cathnews.co.nz/?p=4376

Why did Mara flee? Ratu Tevita Mara himself said he fled because he had witnessed from the inside how power had corrupted and how the main players had forgotten their original objectives. He has criticised Fiji's attorney general, saying he is the real power behind a "morally and intellectually bankrupt" Commodore Bainimarama. Why did Mara flee? Crosbie Walsh says: Forget Read more

Why did Mara flee to Tonga?... Read more]]> Why did Mara flee? Ratu Tevita Mara himself said he fled because he had witnessed from the inside how power had corrupted and how the main players had forgotten their original objectives. He has criticised Fiji's attorney general, saying he is the real power behind a "morally and intellectually bankrupt" Commodore Bainimarama.

Why did Mara flee? Crosbie Walsh says:

  • Forget the story spread by journalist Michael Field on his blog last year that the fallout with the PM was all about sexual improprieties with both Pita Driti and Ratu Tevita implicated. This may have been a factor, but it was not the reason for his flight.
  • Forget also the accusation that Ratu Tevita was implicated in the $3 million missing from the Fiji Pine Trust, and alleged misuse of Lau provincial money. These also may have been factors but even collectively they are not the reason for the flight.
  • Forget also that there has been a major ideological break with Ratu Tevita no longer favouring multi-racialism. Prior to mid-2010 Ratu Tevita was frequently seen in Bainimarama's company and the body language between them was good.
  • The central reason for the defection needs to be traced back to last October when Mara was sent on leave following the sexual allegations . The rumour at that time was that they had asked the President to ask the PM to step down.

    • Why did Mara flee? Michael Field suggests historical inter-Fijian rivalry

    Why did Mara flee? Australian National University senior researcher Jon Fraenkel says the regime has said there are records of mobile phone conversations which suggest Ratu Tevita and former land forces commander Brigadier General Pita Driti were involved in some kind of plot to dislodge the commodore.

    Why did Mara flee to Tonga?]]>     4376