The Petition of William Roberts Marshall QC, SC Resident Justice of Appeal Fiji since 16th July 2010 
1. This petition is addressed to the Prime Minister, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama and to the Military Council.

2.  One object of this petition is to explain, with evidence supported by documents, that since 9th  April 2009 there have been progressive inroads into the independence of the judiciary which process has culminated since mid-April 2012 in a judiciary which at all levels now does what it perceives is required of it by the Executive.  At all levels, judges having heard the evidence, having researched and found the applicable law, and having listened to the submissions of the parties now ask themselves,” Now what would the Attorney General like my decision and judgment in this case to be?” and make their judgment and orders in line with their answer.

3. A second object of this Petition is to persuade you that you should change this Executive policy forthwith.  The commendable objective central to your dismissal of the Qarase government in late 2006 was to have a nation where everyone regardless of race are Fijian citizens; where government is inclusive rather than them extractive, multi-racial rather than racist, and honest rather than corrupt.  Such a government is transparent in its actions so that its citizens can appreciate its problems and performance.  If there is nothing to hide then transparency will be appreciated by informed opinion and that good opinion will trickle down to the grass roots.

4. A transparent non-corrupt inclusive government which values and abides by the rule of law has a chance of being elected whenever, inevitably, some kind of electoral process is put into action and Fijians must vote.  You have said you will win in 2014 against Qarase and the SDA.  But you will not if the perception of voters is that your government has undermined the rule of law to the detriment of innocent individual citizens of Fiji who have become victims of miscarriage of justice.  Another matter is that citizens of Fiji do not want a government which if they have a civil or criminal case before the courts, will ensure a result in favour of the Executive.  They see confidence in the independence and impartiality of the courts as essential.

In the 143 page petition, Marshall says Khaiyum deliberately instigated a campaign to destroy the rule of law in Fiji and tells Bainimarama he must dismiss him or pass the reins on to someone in the ‘Military Council who will.’

Marshall recommends Khaiyum be exiled to Rotuma like Apolosi Nawai and be given no access to the Internet. He also suggests:

a) the Chief Registrar (Justice Arachchi, whose contract was terminated last week) be dismissed
b) Chief Justice Anthony Gates be retired
c) Nazhat Shameem be appointed Chief Justice
d) If she doesn’t accept, it should go to Justice Salesi Temo
d) Shaista Shameem be appointed to the office of Attorney General
e) And William Calachini made Independent Legal Services Commissioner
f) And judges from Sri Lanka serving in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court be dismissed

In the following excerpts from petition, Marshall details the Machiavellian actions of Khaiyum:

To read the full transcript
Click on this link ~ Final Petition of William R Marshall_rvse

LONG before the GPS was invented, bees learnt how to navigate the shortest possible route when they buzz from flower to flower.

British researchers have attached tracking devices to the backs of bumblebees – which live for about a month – and found that they use trial and error to determine the ideal flight path from one food source to another.

Developing an efficient route between scattered feeding sites – to save both time and energy – is the goal of many species including ants, bats and hummingbirds.

But scientists have struggled to understand how animals achieve this feat in the wild.

“[It’s] analogous to the well-known travelling salesman problem – finding the shortest route to visit a set of locations once and return to the origin,” the study leader, Lars Chittka, said.

The London psychologist from Queen Mary University and his team arranged five artificial flowers, each filled with a few drops of sugar and fitted with motion-sensor cameras, 50 metres apart on an open field to prevent the insects navigating the shortest distance by sight.

They also attached tiny transponders on the backs of five bees to track them as they foraged for food.

When released from their hive, all bees found the closest flower first. After several foraging trips they found the other sites.

Between their first and last attempts, the bees reduced their travel distance about 80 per cent, from 1953 metres to 458 metres, in one day. Measured by a computer, the shortest path was 314 metres.

Of the 120 possible routes between the five flowers and the nest, the bees tried only 20, on average, before finding the shortest.

Because it takes too much time for the bees to explore all the possible routes between food sources, the team suggests that the insects learn the best flight path through experience, abandoning a previous route if they happened upon a new, shorter path. On average, it took the bees 26 trips to figure out the ideal journey.

While the researchers were surprised how quickly the bees could find the best route, given the number of possible solutions, their technique was “simple and elegant”.

“It sounds simple to keep exploring even when you’ve found what looks like a good solution and, if you do find a new route, compare it with your previous one and then stick with the better of the two – but it’s robust and it works for an animal with a brain the size of a pinhead,” said Professor Chittka, whose findings were published in the journal PloS Biology.

When the researchers moved one flower to another location the bees’ distance increased before they incorporated the new location into their ideal circuit.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/from-a-to-bee-first-a-stumble-then-its-a-direct-flight-to-nectar-20120920-269q7.html#ixzz28N0d3FTA