Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama greets Sikeli Vuruna yesterday. Photo: LEON LORD

By ANA MADIGIBULI

Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama found time in his busy schedule to be at Nadi International Airport to welcome the Digicel Fiji 7s team yesterday.
Commodore Bainimarama told the team that he was there for the people of Fiji to thank them for a job well done.
“You’ve indeed made the country proud,” he said.
Commodore Bainimarama was accompanied by the Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
Fiji Rugby Union board chairman Colonel Mosese Tikoitoga thanked Digicel for their tremendous support towards the team.
“Digicel has been the backbone of rugby in Fiji for a while now,” Colonel Tikoitoga said.
He said the win was dedicated to supporters who have been following the team throughout the 2011/12 HSBC Sevens World Series.

Fiji Rugby Union chief executive officer Manasa Baravilala praised the efforts of those at Rugby House who worked behind the scenes to ensure that the Digicel Fiji 7s team performed well.
Baravilala was at Nadi International Airport yesterday to welcome the Alifereti Dere-coached side who took out the London 7s tournament last weekend.
He said it was a great effort for the national rugby sevens team to win three tournaments in the 2011/12 HSBC Sevens World Series.
“And of course none of this would have been possible without the support of our sponsor Digicel,” he said.
“As we look forward to an expanding tournament next season we would like to thank our fans in Fiji and around the world for their loyal support.”
Meanwhile, Digicel chief operating officer Maurice McCarthy said they are delighted with the outcome of the 2011/ 12 series. McCarthy said it was a great way to finish the season.
“Congratulations to the team, coaches and to the Fiji Rugby Union,” he said.
“With the final bonus payment of $85,857.85 Digicel has paid out a total of $310,996 in performance bonuses for the 2011/12 Series.
“Digicel looks forward to supporting the team in the 2012/13 Series again.”

Prime Minister Commondore Voreqe Bainimarama addressing the Digicel Fiji 7s team during their arival at Nadi International Airport yesterday. Photo: LEON LORD

By ANA MADAIGIBULI

Rugby fans gathered in huge numbers at the Nadi International Airport to welcome the Digicel Fiji 7s team yesterday.
National rugby 7s coach, Alivereti Dere said when the boys had gone to the last leg they had set their goal which was to basically work on improving their standing in the 2011/ 12 HSBC Sevens World Series.
Dere said they had actually achieved what they were working for and that is basically moving from fourth to second place.
“For future plans we hope to work harder particularly this year,” he said.
“Competition will start in October and we will ensure to maintain our momentum and try to win the IRB Series.
“In order to beat New Zealand in the upcoming tournaments we need to start working now.
“Yes, we have won Hong Kong and London but that is over now and we still need to work and move on from there.”
Dere said the next step is to start setting their targets and at the same time work on improving on their weaknesses.
“The reason why the boys did not perform well at Scotland was because of the cold weather, but luckily the weather in London was much better,” he said.

Desperate save .... Suva goalkeeper Emori Ragata takes a clean catch against Nadi during the first round of the 2012 Vodafone Fiji FACT tournament at Churchill Park in Lautoka. They drew 1-1. Photo: RAMA

By LITIA MATHEWSELL

The Nadi soccer team is pulling out all the stops in their mission to make the second round of the Vodafone Fiji FACT tournament this weekend.
With the tournament being shifted to Govind Park in Ba, Nadi soccer coach Kamal Swamy said his players have been preparing well in camp.
“I’m surprised with their level of commitment and determination to win,” he said.
“The team camp has definitely strengthened their bond and I’ve never seen them so committed in training. They are listening to all my instructions and have been training really hard. It’s the first time that I’ve seen this kind of determination.”
The Nadi side includes veteran striker Veresa Toma, Uraia Loki, Beniamino Mateinaqara and young Krishneel Krishna.
Solid defender Ilimotama Jese is going to play in their third pool match after copping a red card in their first pool game.
Nadi takes on Savusavu tomorrow, which Swamy said would be an interesting tussle.
“Savusavu played well and had time to recover and the boys are looking forward to a good challenge, although it’s difficult to rate Savusavu.”
Swamy said they are working on rectifying their mistakes and improving the defence and field coordination.
“Communication in the field is very vital and we need to keep at it all the time,” he said.

Labasa Football Association secretary and treasurer Satishwar will manage the affairs of the Labasa soccer team during the Vodafone Fiji FACT tournament at Govind Park in Ba this weekend.
Association president Bhim Raj Reddy told SUNsports yesterday that team manager Manshad Ali could not travel with the side because of work commitments.
“Manshad is a school teacher and he will have to be in school so therefore I’m making my decision that Satishwar will be the manager of the Labasa team this weekend,” he said.
“I have given Satishwar the full responsibilities of managing the team and I have faith in him that he will be able to do the job.”
Reddy also confirmed that he would not be able to travel with the team to Ba.
“This is because my daughter is admitted at hospital. So that was why I made the decision for Satishwar to accompany the team.”
Reddy said the one week break has taken its toll on the players as most of them have lost focus on the task ahead.
“The players returned to their homes and most of them have started to relax. Now we need to gather them together and help them realise that they need to complete their task.”
The Babasiga Lions take on Ba tomorrow night at 8:15pm.
“Ba will be tough and we respect them as a host district and we know it will be a tough game,” Reddy said.

The rebranding of our airline from Air Pacific to Fiji Airways is a good move.
Consequently the role of brand has implications for all the players along the spectrum, but each to varying degrees.
This will help build brand loyalty and enhance brand extension opportunities.
We are seeing new entrants arriving thick and fast and in order to truly break out from the rest of the pack, the consumer needs a reason to choose one brand over another.
It will be important for Tourism Fiji.
Lastly, what does this mean for our legacy carriers?
We are certainly witnessing these carriers getting squeezed from both sides.
However, in terms of brand strength and awareness, this is where the traditional players have the upper hand.
New entrants can hit the market, improved gadgets can enhance the service, prices can be lowered, but the one thing that the new players cannot win on is brand strength.
The legacy carriers have the advantage of time on their hands.
New entrants to the market may grow to become established brands, but this takes time.
In the case of the all-premium offerings, customers have diminished familiarity with their advantages.
Also, these brands are faced with the task of attracting customers.
So the role of brand is important in the airline industry and there is still room for our carrier to think more like brands and less like operations.
Amongst the airline brands, there needs to be a deeper understanding of the power of their intangible assets.
By recognising their potential strength, these Fiji Airways brand can break out of the clouds and truly fly high.

I refer to Dorine Narayan, manager Campaigns, Information and Media, Consumer Council of Fiji’s letter (FS 8/5) regarding FEA and why their reaction regarding their billing system was published, while the council was not highlighted at all.
Unfortunately this appears to be the norm whereby those ‘in power’ – so to speak – such as FEA, the DPP, FNPF, etc are given the platform and are always the lead letter in the newspaper, while the rest of us are further down the page, indicating that our opinion and the voice of the people is of less importance than theirs.
The ‘bully mentality’ – I think it’s called – where strength or power is used to intimidate those who are weaker.
Soygal Rinpoche says in his book ‘The Tibetan Book of Living & Dying’ – “know that you are neither separate from, nor superior to anyone”.
As for FEA, while they have the monopoly as Fiji’s power provider, they will continue to have a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude towards the consumers – there’s no competition to worry about!

Thakur Ranjit Singh’s narration of the lost history of the Indo-Fijian Girmitya (FS 14/5) is not as bad as he described it to be, given the many books and articles that have been written by different local authors in both Hindi and in the English languages.
In my view there are sufficient records of the struggles and exploitations by Fiji’s colonial masters.
These books aptly describe the very inhumane treatment and atrocity dished out to their early Indo-Fijian forefathers.
I sympathise with Thakur Ranjit Singh’s criticisms of the descendents of the Girmitya worldwide for their lack of support in commemorating May 14 as Girmitya Day, but I feel that it is understandable that the younger generations today would like to forget the black history of their ancestors’ past and had decided to move on in life and aspire for a better future for themselves and their children.
Maybe a more appropriate way of commemorating the Girmitya history is to have it as a family occasion, rather than a public gathering where in most cases the essence or spirit of the occasion is always lost through outside interferences like biased press and public side comments, etc.  The Israelites use the Passover feast and other family gathering to commemorate the release of their ancestors from the house of bondage from Egypt.
The post World War II Jews never publicly commemorate the Holocaust with all its inhumane history.
Definitely the Fiji Girmitya cannot be compared with the ANZAC commemoration, given the latter’s international prominence involving many countries.
So I believe that the descendants of the Fiji Girmitya should dedicate May 14 every year to commemorate their ancestors’ past struggles, where they can have family reunions and prayers, reciting of the family history, feastings and invite neighbours to participate. The event will be more meaningful than public commemoration.

A few months ago Water Authority dug up the road in front of my house in Burerua Street in Suva.  They are yet to tar-seal the road! Its nearly six months now and whenever we call they say we have noted the complaint.
We called again last week and they said they had no money to tar-seal the road.
Even the Suva City Council is not pushing them as the road is part of the council and they too are not helpful in anyway.
I hope the concerned parties will read this letter and get that portion of the road tar-sealed because we pay city rates and have full rights to demand that our roads be properly tar-sealed.