The Prime Ministers of Samoa and Fiji have expressed pleasure at the election of Pope Francis. Speaking to Radio Australia last Thursday, The Prime Minister of Samoa, Tuilepe Sailele, who is a Catholic, said he was delighted at the election of a Pope from a developing country. The Prime Minster of Fiji, Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama,in Read more
Prime Minister John Key has expressed alarm over a video showing two men being beaten by Fiji police. Key said the New Zealand government was taking reports of the attack seriously. “And we expect the Fijian authorities to deal with them appropriately and hold those people who have undertaken those beatings to account,” Key said. Read more
Some news sources are saying Father Kevin Barr hopes to see out the last of his days in Fiji. Others are reporting that he is deciding whether he will renew his work permit. Barr, who has lived in Fiji for over 30 years, is an Australian citizen and his work permit expires at the end of the year. Read more
The colonial policy practiced in Fiji of pitting one community against another has succeeded and its effects still remain according to a preliminary report from the Constitutional Commission. The report has been circulated for a meeting to get feed-back from local experts and public servants. It says that as a result of this colonial policy Fiji is Read more
When Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress met with Fiji President Epeli Nailatikau in Fiji last Friday he said China believed that all countries, big or small, rich or poor, strong or weak, are equal members of the international community, and that international affairs should be handled by all Read more
The new President of the Methodist Church, Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu, says the church supports the idea of Fiji being a Christian state. “Fiji was given to God,” Waqairatu told Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat. “When we say that Fiji is a Christian state…we say it was decided by our chiefs who ceded Fiji to Great Britain that Read more
Fiji’s Constitution Commission chairman, Professor Yash Gha, has made it clear that the separation of Church and State will be enshrined in Fiji’s new constitution. “This doesn’t mean that the State is anti-religion but just a feeling that the function and responsibility of religion of beliefs within societies should be separated from the functions and policies Read more
Fiji will be a secular state,” says Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama. This was the Prime Minister’s response to the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL) party submission summary handed to the Constitution Committee by the party constituent leaders. The SDL said Fiji should be a Christian State and Christianity is the state religion. “This will Read more
Fiji’s military ruler sat behind an imposing wooden desk, deep in thought. This was the most attention he had given to any of the questions posed to him in the interview thus far, and he seemed to be struggling to find an answer. Finally, after a lengthy pause, he said that he could think of Read more
Melanesian Leaders attending Rio 20+ have spoken out about the effect of climate change on their nations. The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) has used the opportunity at the Rio+20 conference in Rio de Janeiro to promote its Declaration of Environment and Climate, recently signed by MSG Leaders in Fiji. Prime Minister of Fiji Voreqe Bainimarama also addressed Read more