Unannounced bombings are known to have changed the course of history.
When Japan sneaked in its attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941,
WW-II moved to the Pacific as the American giant was forced to wake up
and oblige the Imperial Japanese navy. That tipped the balance in that
war.
Then on August 6, 1945 President Truman directed the ironically named
“Little Boy” to be dropped on Hiroshima. This was followed by the “Fat
Man” on the 9th in Nagasaki to force surrender from a nation that
didn’t know the word. Emperor Hiro Hito was finally allowed to
surrender via a radio broadcast to the fallen nation on 15th August
1945.
On 13th August 2009, a finely parceled long-fused bomb was dropped on
Fiji and Australia by notorious soldier-of-fortune conman, Peter
Foster. The immediate reaction from skeptics and those with darker
concerns would be to dismiss it as the ramblings of a proven and
convicted trickster who has a huge axe to grind because he just served
more than 3 years in a Brisbane jail. Some would also see it as an
attempt by a wily mind to return to Fiji and resume the con-job.
This last point has to do with the fact that Foster has had his eyes on
a strip of Yasawa that he considers paradise on earth. That beachfront
property was leased to a New Zealander when Foster befriended him and
actually got a taste of paradise by living on the Kiwi’s goodwill.
While on paradise, Foster found out that the Kiwi held a Native Land
Trust Board (NLTB) lease that gave the actual landowners only 5% of the
monies involved. He then befriended the landowners and began to educate
them on a new formula that would give them 50% with Foster holding a
controlling interest in the new deal.
The Kiwi friend, who was conveniently forgotten in the process, got
wind of this and started asserting his contractual rights. Peter
retaliated in characteristic fashion and opened up a path of intrigue
that showed all the workings of shady dealings and questionable
decisions that became part of the Qarase government.
That saga remains unresolved and Peter wants to make a comeback –
that’s why he dropped this bomb, some say. That aside, there is no
doubt that Peter was an insider with direct connections to the inner
circle where PM Laisenia Qarase, political strategist and business
consultant Navitalai Naisoro and Qarase’s campaign manager, Jale Baba
plied their power.
Peter therefore, had firsthand knowledge about the workings of the
Qarase government. In his bomb, he has clearly mentioned names, dates
and incidents. And no one has yet talked about suing him for any wrong
doing. This itself should make skeptics take notice. Shooting the
messenger has long been considered the wrong option because it’s the
all-important message that gets ignored in the process.
Perhaps the most famous case of inside revelation by a criminal
involved testimony to a Senate Select Committee by a gangster called
Joseph Valachi in 1963. This was the first authentic insight that the
public had on the workings of the mafia; in fact this was the first
revelation of the very existence of La Cosa Nostra. If Valachi had been
ignored, America would still have pretended to be oblivious of the
existence of the mafia.
Now we have the Foster Bomb and a few of his more intriguing releases
include the fact that there was a clear post-2000 involvement by the
Australian government in Qarase’s reign. PM John Howard even seconded
his own party pollster Mark Textor to Qarase’s office to guide his 2001
campaign despite the fact that he was known to have supported the
Speight coup.
Even more intriguing is the counterfactual that despite the fact that
Police Commissioner Isikia Savua was seen to pretend helplessness on
national TV as looters plundered Suva unchecked, he was posted as
ambassador to the UN by Qarase and there was not even a squeak from
either Australia or NZ.
Foster’s allegation of complicity on the part of A/NZ does get the grey
cells churning when one recalls that it was Australia that seconded cop
Andrew Hughes as Police Commissioner in Fiji. His job was to hound and
bring to justice all the coup plotters of 2000. Yet it took him 7mths
to even interview a key figure who had fled to Australia fearing for
his life in Fiji.
Andrew Hughes was again supposed to have been involved in a plot to
have Bainimarama arrested in NZ when he came for the failed peace talks
with Qarase in Wellington. Last minute cold feet by NZ authorities let
him slip back to Fiji and oust Qarase and his nest of power posers.
The question that begs answering is if this bomb opens up issues of
intrigue leading on to the Bainimarama coup of December 2006, why are
Australia/ NZ pushing for a return to that façade of democracy when
Bainimarama is clearly espousing an attempt to get Fiji truly operating
as a democracy on par with Australia and NZ? Stay tuned for more on the
Foster Bomb.
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The opinions contained here are Subhash Appana’s own and not
necessarily shared by any organizations that he may be affiliated with,
both here and overseas. ?Email: subhasha@ais.ac.nz
