THE video footage of the violent beating of two men shows that brutality has crossed the line from using excessive force against a resisting person to unprovoked gratuitous violence against a person offering no resistance.

Yes, it’s a violation of their human rights, but may I ask the readers a question.

What about the victims of home invasion, robbery with violence, rape and assault?

Isn’t it also a violation of their human rights?

Article 3 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights says that “everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.”

Despite the differences in crimes, they all have one trait in common — for the victim, the event is unexpected, uncontrollable and can create traumatic experience. The majority of victims say they will never have the same feeling of security and inviolability that they had in the past.

Remember, a burglar can steal more than just your belongings; they can steal your feeling of security.

Wise Muavono
Lautoka

Letter to the Editor (27 February 2013) (not published by either Fiji Sun or The Fiji Times)
Dear Sir

I would like to encourage Ms Patricia Mallam that she is in good company defending the freedom of her child not to be coerced into attending any school religious ritual that she does not believe in.

More than a hundred years ago, the genuinely great Harvard University faced that same dilemma, reminded its current President (or Vice Chancellor) (Professor Drew Faust), in her morning prayer with the Harvard University community.

Faust remembered the contributions of a former President of Harvard (Charles Elliot) who not only converted Harvard from a mere “College” to a “University” but he fought for members of Harvard to have the individual freedom to attend or not attend religious rituals and prayers.

Readers may access her full speech here: http://www.harvard.edu/president/morning-prayers-2007   (and also read about this remarkable university administrator).

Faust, the President of Harvard University gave thanks that they had the opportunity to choose to pray rather than be compelled.

She observed: ” Our religious affiliations are far more varied than he (Elliot) ever could have imagined. … Let us continue in this new year our dedication to Harvard’s liberality as regards opinions, its devotion to ideals, and the preciousness in its sight of individual liberty.”

Ms Mallam, one day your daughter may get to Harvard, or some other great comparable
academic institution, where she will not only have freedom of religion, but also the respect of others for her right to be not compelled in others’ faiths. In the meantime, press on regardless.

Every public crisis and debate should makes us all think deeper about the purpose and practice of life, whether coup, constitution, democracy, and basic human right (including freedom of religion).

Professor Wadan Narsey

There are organisations, like Leadership Fiji, which perform a great service for society by trying to encourage young people to take up leadership roles in society- in all the areas that leaders are needed: economics, political, social, environment, etc.

I am not sure what they are doing these days: I used to be requested to speak (usually on economic policy issues) but those invitations stopped soon after the media censorship kicked in and I became persona non grata in the Fiji media.

I wonder however if Leadership Fiji (or other leadership programs) have ever have asked their young leaders to identify the FAILURES OF LEADERSHIP IN FIJI.

And surely, the bigger the mess any country is in, the bigger is the failure of leadership at various levels!

Of course, it would be difficult for the organisers to get their young people to confront such contentious issues in the current climate- they may soon find their program shut down or the organizers given free unplanned exercise around some playground somewhere.

However, one exercise they could set their young participants is to have closed sessions, without any organizers, under “Chatham House rules” (i.e. all discussions are unrecorded and confidential to the participants only) to discuss this very topic- what are all the failures of leadership in Fiji; and what should and can be done to help Fiji out of its current morass.

They might also like to do a tracer study of all their previous “young leaders” and find out how many still remain in Fiji. Or have the bulk of them also, like all our other tertiary graduates, taken their leaderships skills to Australia, NZ, US and Canada?

Professor Wadan Narsey
6 March 2013.

On Sunday February 3rd my son, walking to the nearby shops for that morning’s papers, found a little nestling lying in the road. It had just enough fluff and feathers to be identified as a baby wattled honey-eater. There were people nearby but they were showing no interest, so, knowing that a cat or a dog would likely kill it, Robert decided to try to raise it. At home he found a suitable plastic container, lined it with an old towel and, having made the bird a temporary home, he phoned me to ask my advice about feeding it. 

Years ago in the UK I came to know a woman who rescued injured birds. Her house was full of them, including a ‘recovery’ aviary in the garden. Two of her patients were permanent lodgers – a one-eyed owl and a black-bird with half a wing missing, could not be returned to the wild, and lived quite happily together, loose in the house for the most part. The rest of her patients were housed in a variety of cages dotted about her home. These patients were all fed on scrambled egg and the occasional supplement of worms. This kind woman also ensured that her charges each had a mirror to look into – she claimed that seeing what they thought was another of their kind would give them comfort. So I suggested that Robert add a mirror to his make-shift nest.

By Sunday evening the bird was taking scrambled egg from a pair of plastic tweezers – or rather, Robert was shoving the egg down its throat in imitation of an adult bird; and Robert had made up some sugary water in the hope that it would take it from a dropper. Come Monday the bird was still alive.

Robert had an appointment in Suva late that morning. Before he left for town he Googled rearing nestlings and returning them to the wild; he also contacted Kula Bird Park, who told him that hard-boiling the egg and finely chopping it might make feeding easier, and to make up honey-water rather than give the bird sugar. Shortly before he left for Suva he brought the bird around to our house.

 I’d become a bird-sitter, and it was both exhausting and terrifying. No way did I want this bird to die on my watch! None too well at the time, I was run ragged by this minute, rather ugly, almost featherless wee creature. It lay on the towel in the basket chirping constantly – loudly when it wanted to be fed; quietly and contentedly for a while afterwards – a very short while afterwards. I’d told Robert that if I were to be a bird-sitter I had the right to name the bird – so I named it ‘Beaks’ since we had no idea what gender it was. Beaks was with me for only three hours that day – it felt like three weeks. Continue reading →

AN aviation expert I am not, nor obviously am I privy to the “deal” that was struck with Airbus, but one of the main selling points of the A330 was its alleged superior fuel economy against similar aircraft.

Some interesting points on fuel economy come up with the A330 versus a competitor, the Boeing 767-400ER.

With exactly the same seating configurations and similar numbers of passengers, the 767-400ER has much better fuel economy.

It burns 4.25gallons/ mile at cruise, 0.0173 gallons/ passenger mile compared to 5.44 gallons/ mile, .0215 gallons/ passenger mile for the A330.

Considering the distances that Fiji Airways intends to fly its aircraft, this will make a significant cost difference.

If the 767 had been chosen this would have left Fiji Airways with an all-Boeing fleet, another major costing advantage.

Perhaps the lower range of the 767 was the determining factor.

ALLAN LOOSLEY
Tavua