The Real Survivor Fiji – Payin’ The Piper :: MAXINE

Drop a stone into a pool of water and watch the ripple wave transverse across the calm surface.

For every action taken in haste, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Please tell this to the soldiers of Fiji who lost their guaranteed government jobs because the government is not bringing in enough money.

A nation under military siege is not a country people really want to visit. There are other beautiful Pacific Ocean island destinations that offer culture, gorgeous weather, and serenity that do not have a Commodore as its supreme leader in the middle of an action that will show itself as a major mistake.

I am sure that in another week or two, the former soldiers who are now citizens (and still others who will be on a rations diet) will see the light and wonder … what the heck did we do, and what were we thinking when we illegally took control of a democratically elected government?

In time, everyone has to pay the piper for the tune he plays.

This item from Reuters -

Fiji's military blows budget on coup, cuts troops

Source: Reuters - 16 Oct 2007 01:41:12 GMT

Coups can be expensive. Just ask the Fiji military, which has been forced to cut troop numbers and slash rations after breaking its 2007 budget due to the extra costs involved in toppling the government.

The South Pacific island nation's military was allocated F$80 million (US$57 million) for 2007, but a bloodless December 2006 coup and subsequent "mobilisation" [read "clamp down" and "control"] were not budgeted for, the army told local media.

The army has now reduced rations by more than half, slashing a soldier's daily pay from F$7 to F$2.50, to sustain operations, the news Web site fijilive.com said.

"Yes, we did bust our budget, but that was a national necessity for us," Military Land Force chief of staff Lieutenant-Colonel Mosese Tikoitoga told fijilive on Tuesday.

"We had to ask for an extra provision but we were not given any so we had to look from within. We had to cut on our rations."

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To trim costs the army said it made soldiers redundant because it could not pay their wages, disbanded its reserves in July and cut a lot of training programmes.

"We did not buy any vehicles this year. We had to go borrow all the government vehicles. There were a lot of cost-cutting measures," Tikoitoga said.

The army is in talks with the country's interim government, headed by coup leader and military chief Frank Bainimarama, on a new budget, which will be announced in November.

Bainimarama staged Fiji's fourth coup on Dec. 5, toppling the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, arguing his government was corrupt and soft on those involved in a 2000 coup. (F$1 = US$0.7152)

Reference At Source>>

The phrase in the article we, at MAXINE, like the most is ... "To trim costs the army said it made soldiers redundant" ... Hey, what is a military coup without military soldiers or the rations (slashed by more than half) to maintain them?

Why don't we just make the coup effort REDUNDANT?

Can anyone say ... "Reverse Coup?" ... we knew you could.

Labels: budget cuts, Commodore, Coup, Fiji, Frank Bainimarama, illegal, tourism, troops