The Indian Weekender Friday, 23 October 2020

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Thought of the week “Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.” —Wilma Rudolph Editorial Significance of ‘Quad’ group affirmed: India invites Australia to join Malabar naval exercise In a message to China on getting a wider footprint in the Indo-Pacific region, India invited Australia to take part in an annual naval drill -- Malabar Exercise -- in the Indian Ocean region along with the US and Japan to which Australia has agreed. The Indo-Pacific region is seen from the west coast of India to the US. It is for the first time that all the ‘Quad’ countries - an informal security forum comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia - will be part of Malabar exercise scheduled next month. Speculation is rife about whether this group of four countries will play a bigger role as a counter to Chinese assertiveness. It is important to note that till a year back, it was said that India was very cautious about doing anything that might upset China, especially since the Wuhan Summit. But, much has changed in the one year since, especially recently as Indo-China tensions escalated with the standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and culminated in the Galwan Valley clash in mid-June. Confirming the Australian Navy’s participation in the Malabar series, the Indian Defence Ministry in a statement on Monday said: “India seeks to increase cooperation with other countries in the maritime security domain and in the light of increased defence cooperation with Australia, Malabar 2020 will see the participation of the Australian Navy.” The Malabar series of naval exercises started in 1992 as a bilateral India-US naval exercise. Japan joined it in 2015. This annual exercise has been conducted off the coast of Guam in the Philippines Sea in 2018, off the coast of Japan in 2019 and is expected to be held in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea later this year. This year, the exercise has been planned in a ‘non-contact-at sea’ format. The exercise will strengthen the coordination between the navies of the participating countries. The participants in the exercise are engaging to enhance safety and security in the maritime domain. “They collectively support free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and remain committed to a rules based international order,” the ministry said. Earlier this year, the Indian Navy had conducted exercises with Russia and the ‘Quad’ countries. The Indian Navy had carried out a three-day bilateral maritime exercise with Japan in the north Arabian Sea from September 26, 2020 to September 28. It was the fourth edition of the India-Japan Maritime bilateral exercise JIMEX, which is conducted biennially. The Australian Navy and the Indian Navy carried out a passage exercise in the East Indian Ocean Region on September 23 and 24. The exercise involved the participation of HMAS Hobart from the Australian side and Indian naval ships Sahyadri and Karmuk. In addition, an Indian maritime patrol aircraft and helicopters from both sides carried out coordinated exercises. A bilateral maritime exercise took place between the Indian and Russian navies in the Bay of Bengal on September 4 and 5. The exercise is known as ‘Indra Navy’ and was the 11th edition. Indian Navy units undertook Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with units of the US Nimitz Carrier Strike Group as they transited through the Indian Ocean region on July 20. 23 October – 29 October 2020 Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thu On-and-off rain and drizzle 16° 9° Partly sunny 15° 8° 17° 9° Indian Weekender : Volume 12 Issue 32 Publisher: Kiwi Media Publishing Limited Content Editor: Sandeep Singh | sandeep@indianweekender.co.nz Chief Reporter: Rizwan Mohammad | rizwan@indianweekender.co.nz Chief Technical Officer: Rohan deSouza | rohan@indianweekender.co.nz Sr Graphics and Layout Designer: Mahesh Kumar | mahesh@indianweekender.co.nz Graphic Designer: Yashmin Chand | design@indianweekender.co.nz Accounts and Admin.: 09-2173623 | accounts@indianweekender.co.nz Media Sales Manager.: Leena Pal: 021 952 216 | leena@indianweekender.co.nz Sales and Distribution: 021 952218 | sales@indianweekender.co.nz Editor at Large: Dev Nadkarni | dev@indianweekender.co.nz Views expressed in the publication are not necessarily of the publisher and the publisher is not responsible for advertisers’ claims as appearing in the publication Views expressed in the articles are solely of the authors and do not in any way represent the views of the team at the Indian Weekender Kiwi Media Publishing Limited - 133A, Level 1, Onehunga Mall, Onehunga, Auckland. Printed at Horton Media, Auckland Parlty sunny Clouds and sun 14° 10° A touch o dafr This week in New Zealand’s history 25 October 1971 End of the line for steam railways 15° 10° Copyright 2020. Kiwi Media Publishing Limited. All Rights Reserved. Sunshine and pactcy clouds 16° 9° A few morning showers The Christchurch–Dunedin overnight express, headed by a JA-class locomotive, ran the last scheduled steam-hauled service on New Zealand Railways (NZR), bringing to an end 108 years of regular steam rail operations in this country. 26 October 1942 Women Jurors Act allows women to sit on juries The Act provided for women aged between 25 and 60 to have their names placed on the jury list on the same basis as men – if they so desired. 27 October 1943 First opposed New Zealand landing since Gallipoli Troops of 8 Brigade, 3 New Zealand Division, landed on Mono, one of the Treasury Islands in the Solomons group, to help clear it of Japanese forces. This was the first opposed landing by New Zealand troops since Gallipoli in 1915 (see 25 April). 28 October 1835 He Whakaputanga signed by northern chiefs Thirty-four northern chiefs signed He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni (the Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand) at a hui called by the British Resident, James Busby. 29 October 1894 SS Wairarapa wrecked on Great Barrier Island It remains the third deadliest shipwreck ever in New Zealand waters: 121 lives were lost when the steamer Wairarapa struck Miners Head, the north-west point of Great Barrier Island, 90 km north-east of Auckland. 29 October 1919 Women can stand for Parliament On 29 October 1919, the Women’s Parliamentary Rights Act passed into law. Finally, women could stand for election to the House of Representatives. 15° 9°
The Indian Weekender Friday, October 23, 2020 FIJI 15 PM reaffirms Fiji’s commitment to NZ Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says Fiji looks forward to enhancing its bilateral engagements with New Zealand and in advancing regional and global issues of common interests to both countries. He made the comments in his congratulatory message to NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, for the historic victory in general elections. Bainimarama says Fiji and NZ share strong bonds of friendship. He reaffirmed Fiji’s commitment to work closely with NZ to deepen bilateral relations and strengthen the solidarity of the Blue Pacific continent. The Head of the Fijian Government said that through the strong leadership of Ardern, the Pacific region will together become stronger and more resilient when overcoming the unprecedented challenges currently faced globally. The Prime Minister conveyed the Fijian Government’s and the people of Fiji’s best wishes to Ardern for her re-election as the Prime Minister of New Zealand and wished her every success in her new term. Fiji still keen for 'bula bubble' with New Zealand and Australia Fiji's government is pressing ahead with its 'Bula Bubble' for New Zealand and Australia despite the two countries opting to resume travel elsewhere. The newly-appointed Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown said he expects quarantine-free travel with New Zealand to be in place by December. New Zealand's Prime Minister said she expects her country will soon be in a position to open up to the Cook Islands. Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said his country is committed to making the 'Bula Bubble' work with its major partners in the region. "Given that Fiji is Covidcontained, given we have gone more than 170 days without a new case of the virus, given the exemplary job we have done at managing our border and given the economic urgency of resuming flows of two-way trade and tourism, we are keen to see those discussions advance past the exploratory phase and on to practical progress as soon as possible." Addressing retailers in Suva this week, the prime minister assured the business community the government is in discussion with its regional "border closures had cut off the flow of revenue and the ripple effects have been felt across every industry in Fiji." He said Fijian businesses are suffering due to the pandemic development partners on resuming travel. Bainimarama said Fiji was expecting nearly one million visitors to its shores this year. But he said due to the Coronavirus, "border closures had cut off the flow of revenue and the ripple effects have been felt across every industry in Fiji." He said Fijian businesses are Fiji Is Covid-Free, Confirms Dr Fong Acting Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Dr James Fong, has confirmed that the two remaining COVID-19 patients that were in isolation at the Lautoka Hospital have been cleared of the virus and discharged. He confirmed that as of yesterday, there was no active case of the virus in the country. “Today (yesterday) is day one that we as a nation are without any active case of COVID-19,” Dr Fong said. “The remaining two patients had been cleared on October 13 from the Lautoka isolation facility and as of today (yesterday) there are no cases in isolation as they have all recovered and cleared. “We are happy that we are finally able to discharge the last two cases on Monday.” Dr Fong has requested the public to maintain vigilance and continue to adhere to COVID-19 State measures in place. “We need to understand that the risk still remains but they are mitigated by our strong quarantine measures. “Fiji still faces the threat of the introduction of COVID-19 into the country and in order for Fiji to survive we must allow our citizens to come back and we need to allow people who facilitate economic recovery to come back.” NZ Defence training team gets underway in Fiji A combined training team from the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) and Ministry of Defence will this week begin working alongside Fijian counterparts in areas ranging from basic hydrography to advanced combat first aid as part of a new training initiative in the Pacific Island nation. This is the first time that such a large group has deployed to Fiji to team up to train, coach, mentor and embed alongside military and defence counterparts. Defence Advisor to Fiji Lieutenant Colonel Josh Wineera said the COVID-19 environment had required a rethink of engagement with military partners, particularly in the Pacific. “The NZDF has well established health protocols and we have reassured the Fijian Ministry of Health that our deploying personnel will abide by regulations to ensure the safety of the Fijian public,” LTCOL Wineera said. “We have achieved two military activities this year that have taken into account Fiji’s COVID-19 regulations. The first was when Royal New Zealand Air Force aircraft delivered humanitarian aid after Tropical Cyclone Harold in April and suffering due to the pandemic. Bainimarama said in particular the "small businesses have bore a heavy burden". He said the government had expressed its interest to New Zealand to resume regular travel. However Bainimarama said until Fiji's border reopens, "most business revenues will not be what they used to". Meanwhile, last week, the Australian government announced it had finalised a deal for a limited travel bubble across the Tasman that would allow people to travel from New Zealand to New South Wales and the Northern Territory states quarantine-free from 16 October. But the New Zealand PM said her country is still not ready to have quarantine-free travel. then in July, HMNZS OTAGO carried out a ‘no-contact’ fuel stop while the ship was conducting joint fishery patrols with the Fiji Navy,” he said. “This combined training team represents the first faceto-face contact between our nations this year and clearly demonstrates the trust between our two militaries in partnering for essential training. "Working with our counterparts and growing capability is something we really enjoy doing. We’re very pleased to We owe a lot to our front-line heroes to keep Fiji COVID-Contained – PM Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama says with global coronavirus infections surpassing 40 million, most people on earth live under constant threat of infection from the deadly coronavirus but fortunately that is not in Fiji. While speaking to the frontline workers at Nadi International Airport today, Bainimarama says our success in dealing with COVID-19 is owed to our nurses, doctors, lab technicians and the members of our disciplined forces who have kept Fiji COVID-Contained. Bainimarama says this pandemic is the most sudden and devastating global event in 100 years. He says every nation was caught on their heels but in those crucial early months, Fiji was one of the few which did everything right. He says we have since achieved the world’s most remarkable record at containing this deadly disease. Bainimarama says some countries are COVID-free because they shut their borders completely, even to their own people, and never had the coronavirus. He says Fiji actually dealt with an outbreak and, together, we beat it. The Prime Minister says Fiji systematically identified and quarantined every known contact of every single case in the country and broke every chain of transmission. He says even when Cyclone Harold struck us smack in the middle of our outbreak, the containment campaign was not blown off course. have been welcomed by the Government of Fiji and Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) to assist in this way,” he said. RFMF Chief of Staff Captain (Navy) John Fox said the combined training team was the largest such contingent to deploy to Fiji this year. “When we first talked with the NZDF about the team it was evident that this was a bold idea to support our capacity building programme, especially as COVID-19 continues to be a major global concern. But we worked together to get the Kiwis in and the RFMF looks forward to the training and reaffirming our defence partnership,” he said. "We’re very pleased to have been welcomed by the Government of Fiji and Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) to assist in this way." Bainimarama says through it all, we have never turned our backs on Fijians around the world. He says with stringent infection protocols in place, we have safely repatriated our people without risking public well-being. The Prime Minister says we have now gone 186 days without a new case outside of a secure border quarantine facility. He says many of the measures we implemented have been replicated elsewhere such as mandating quarantine for healthcare workers, the use of disciplined forces to monitor our border quarantine facilities, and the mandatory testing of those in border quarantine before release. He says we should not only be proud of what we have done, but of how we have done it. Bainimarama says when people are dealing with a stressful situation like quarantine or isolation, that quality of care means a great deal. He assured the front-line workers that it does not go unnoticed, and it will not be forgotten. The Senior National Officer for the combined training team, Lieutenant Colonel John Barclay, said everyone in the team was excited about the initiative and looking forward to getting under way this week, having completed 14 days’ managed isolation in Fiji.
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