No matter what brave and honourable Graham Leung decides to do, he will succeed as he has done all his life.
Persons of Graham Leungs calibre will never be unemployed or left in misery and will have friends wherever they go.
Now that’s hard to beat!
God Bless You Graham, Your beautiful smile and sunny nature will always light up any room, just as your articulate and insightful conversations silent a room as everyone leans ever closer to listen and understand or listen and kaila at your wit.
The time will come when Graham Leung, like Ratu Joni and those honest citizens not afraid to continue to live and work without, and outside of the irrelevant influence of the illegal regime, will lead us out of the abject situation the ig has imposed on Fiji.
Soli Vakasama 
June 15, 2009 at 9:51 am
Can someone give some background information on this fellow he seems to be a bit of a mystery?
June 15, 2009 at 11:03 am
Hey Agent Vinod, why don’t you simply give Graham a call, or email him, if you haven’t got him figured out yet on all that’s available on good ‘ol google! Duh!
June 15, 2009 at 11:52 am
This one, that is not difficult to explain. Most lawyers in Fiji will have to register with the regime and if they don’t they don’t eat.
There are some lawyers, who can continue making a living acting more as a consultant and not as a lawyer.
What he has done by not registering is to make other lawyers who are opposed to the regime and who are still registering, he is making them look bad – that he is so principled and those other guys are prostituting themselves.
I wonder what he would have done if he was in the same position as those other lawyers.
So Graham should get off of his high horse – just because he has figured out how to work around the system does not make him great.
June 15, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I wonder what would have happened had Fiji not been forced this mafia rule.
June 15, 2009 at 2:50 pm
@ Budhau!
You seem to have forgotten that there are people with principles who have the resolve to stand up for those principles. Rich people and poor people alike. Princes and paupers. You only have to take a look through history to see such shining examples. Who have been willing to count the cost of following their convictions and to pay the price.
Some names that come to mind are Daniel, John the Baptist, Ghandi, Mandela, Martin Luther-King, Ratu Varani of Viwa one of the first Fijian Christian Martyrs etc.
Some if not all of these people had not “figured out how to work around the system” but were willing to pay the price.
I dont know whether My Tau Graham Leung has figured out how to work around the system. All I know is that his firm has been loosing jobs and money because of his stand even before this latest event. Only God knows his heart.
In the meantime, I am with Solivakasama and want to just thank my Tau Graeme Leung for willing to pay the price. May God bless and protect you.
June 15, 2009 at 3:45 pm
But why register with the regime and not the appropriate organisation, granted several years back NZ took the same stand only because there were a lot of dishonest Lawyers.
June 15, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Same ting with dat Nazi Shamemimi going around telling people she’s not gonna join the bench under this regime when we all know very well she is one of ’em pulling strings from behind loverboy Bai thru Aziz rite from the start. Principle her fat arse! Have you ever heard her utter a word to condemn the abrogation of the Constitution? Nah! All she does is go on and on about changing the electoral system when nobody in Fiji is fooled into buying that sagging old excuse for the 2006 coup.
June 15, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Bread and butter jobs. Substance? No?
June 15, 2009 at 9:24 pm
For some lowlifes it seem to be difficult to understand that are principled people out there. Graham is one of them and we should fend off any attempt to make him look as the other legal prostitutes roaming the floors of the government offices.
June 15, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Moderator – am I now blocked from SV?
June 15, 2009 at 10:13 pm
not at all senijiale – there’s a typo that I’ve just sorted.
You’re on!
June 15, 2009 at 10:33 pm
we salute you ole boy and are secure with the knowledge that with this princepled stand may lead to an even better digs than present unlike those that came in late.
June 16, 2009 at 2:09 pm
@ Budhau again
Found this piece on Raw Fiji News that seems to confirm some of our sentiments that Graham Leung is just making a principled stand and is willing to pay the price for it. Here it is below.
————————————————————-
Despite the political situation we still have educated people ( especially lawyers ) living in Fiji who are in denial about what the “Sotia Bullies and their leaders who continue to govern along its downward spiral with no end in sight.
A lawyer, according to Black’s Law Dictionary, is “a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice law. Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain stability, and deliver justice.
The legal system affects nearly every aspect of any society. Lawyers are the backbone of any legal system linking it to society in numerous ways. They hold positions of great responsibility and are obligated to adhere to a strict code of ethics. Lawyers are our representatives and act as both advocates and advisors in our society and should lead the way in exemplifying our legal rights and not take the pragmatic approach.
In Fiji we have a military regime that have changed the law. Instead of the Law Society issuing practising certificates ( PCs ) they moved the power to the Registrar of the Court, a military appointed army major. Incidentally, this was the same person who signed the illegal search warrants to snoop into the then Chief Justice Fatiaki’s tax files, resulting in charges being laid against him, ultimately forcing him to retire from office.
On Holy Thursday this year ( the day before Good Friday ) Fiji’s court of appeal declared that the Bainimarama government was “illegal” and that they should step aside. Instead of respecting that decision Bainimarama removed the constitution by staging another coup which he described as an “abrogation.” The new law on lawyer licensing is illegal as well. The issue for principled lawyers who refuse to apply to the Registrar for a PC should be a legal and principled one.
I am not a lawyer but common sense tells me that in legal terms if a lawyer applies to the Registrar for a PC it would mean that he or she have accorded their regime “legitimacy” which any educated person should know this regime do not have. In doing so lawyers would effectively be abandoning their legal oath which they all took when they were admitted to the Bar, to uphold the law and the constitution. It would be like asking a doctor to abandon his Hippocratic oath.
Principled lawyer like the courageous Mr Graham Leung must have thought about the matter at great length and seeked advice from prominent, learned people with great judgement, before he made his decision. “Bravo” to you Mr Leung for not applying for a PC knowing fully well the consequences on you personally and perhaps to your firm and colleagues in it. It is not a question of being “via via” or stubborn or arrogant, it is simply standing up to “dictatorship.”
If he were a taxi driver or a cane farmer of whatever, and were not a principled lawyer he may have had the luxury of looking the other way. Sadly, he had to look at the issue in the eye so my advice to the other lawyers is to PLEASE FOLLOW MR LEUNG’S FOOTSTEPS and look at the issue straight in the eye!
I have known Mr Leung all my life and over the last 3 decades he has tried to be a good and principled lawyer. The last 9 years especially have been testing for all of us that are passionate about our birth country and have opposed the legality of the Bainimarama Regime.
He has been president of the Law Society and has travelled the world at his own personal cost and expense, supporting the rule of law and democracy and giving people like myself the hope that one day our beloved Fiji will be returned to democratic rule. He has endured many hours on long flights, sandwiched in cramped cattle class seats, waited endlessly at airport lounges, slept in strange beds and scurried between countless countries meeting strangers willing to listen to what he has to say about our beloved Fiji.
He has emailed me from places like Jamaica, Kenya, Manila, London Mayaysia etc fighting the fight for all of us. To many of you it may seem he was globe trotting and having an extended holiday but it is nothing further from the truth. People that know and care about him dearly, know that it has been about establishing the personal contacts so necessary to promoting the goal of supporting the rule of law and democracy in Fiji, and of seeking relief for the legal profession which has been under so much pressure from so many quarters.
I and others who care also realize how much sacrifice his firm has made in permitting him to embark on this crusade for justice, at some not inconsiderable price to the firm and himself.
We appreciate greatly the fact that these forays into the international arena has meant that the international legal community has a keener appreciation of events in Fiji and continue to put it under the microscope. This is the biggest contribution to the development of the Fiji legal profession at a time when it is under siege and facing the most grave threats to its survival from any Fiji lawyer that I have seen. It is about time all pricipled Fiji lawyers got behind him and gave him the much needed support required for the survival of the country’s legal system and its reputation world wide as it was never about him as a person.
He has encountered personal abuse, villification, hate mail and ridicule, all of which he has had to face bravely over the last 2 years. He doesn’t want sympathy, simply to underscore the extent to which he has been prepared to endure being contested over what he believes to be right of his profession.
He is too humble a person to be compared to the price that so many other human rights defenders have had to face.
However, I could not possibly do what he has done because I am not a lawyer so the least I could do is to stand up for Everett, a very dear friend of mine.
America today would not be celebrating the election of an African American President but for the sacrifices of one Martin Luther King. He paid the ultimate sacrifice with his own life but America today celebrates greater freedom, tolerance and political diversity because of this great man.
I do not want to put any pressure on Everett but I believe that he was destined to do this job for us. Like me he believes that to whom much is given, much is also required. There is no higher calling or duty than public service and service of or towards one’s neighbour and country. Together our firm belief is that this value is consistent with scripture, that it is better to give than to receive. I am certain, Everett will agree with me if when looking back and asked would he do the same again his answer would be “Yes” because that is the kind of person he is.
This is a great opportunity for all Fiji lawyers to stop being in denial and follow the path that this gallant countryman of ours has taken. Imagine the impact it will have on this illegal regime if they all didn’t apply for their PCs?????????
No doubt he will be conscious of the uncertain waters that his ship will travel into from 1 July when he will not have a PC but if had an abiding belief ( I am sure he has ) that the Creator and Almighty has a plan for him just as he has a plan for each of us he will fight on regardless.
With God’s grace and mercy we should all be confident that Everett will find an appropriate niche to be of service to his country, his neighbour and humanity.
Material comforts are always nice but importantly they are transient in a world where we are but mere short term travellers. We should be resolved to deal with any future adversity or challenge that may come our way in a spirit of confidence and good humour.
Like this countryman of valour we should not be afraid of facing the future with the challenges it presents.
Hitler’s reign ended, we have something to fight for and look forward to!
Many thanks to Rawfiji News for the outlet to have my say. Your existence will not only rattle the cages of the illegal Regime but will demonstrate to Bainimarama and those that support him that they have a force to reckon with.
Rosalind Pratt
Townsville
Australia
June 16, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Budhau,
your mentor MPC also has done things by going around inhibitory stages in order to make him look or sound great while making his political opponents look bad and unprincipled, right ? !!
June 16, 2009 at 7:47 pm
@ kaiveicoco
In describing MPC in your post above, do you realise you have just described Bhudau in this blog? Who was it that said Bhudau is MPC…..could be something there.
June 20, 2009 at 8:13 pm
@ AQuila – re background Kai Kadavu mystery man.
Honest.
Principled.
Respected.
Determined.
Bauhaus.
June 22, 2009 at 10:55 am
Some one to find Graham Leung a mystery is strange and mysterious itself, to say the least!
Good one Bauhaus.
June 22, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Budhau caiti tamamu kei tinamu…sonalevu