H.E THE PRESIDENT MAJOR-GENERAL (RET'D) JIOJI KONROTE'S ADDRESS AT THE NATABUA HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI – 90 YEARS ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

• The Chairperson of The Natabua Old Scholars Association, Mrs Taina Rokotabua;
• Members of the Organising Committee, Mrs. Mary Wesley, Mr. Dan Lomata, 
Mr. Joeli Tui and Mr. Samu Navale; 
• Former Students and Members of The Natabua High School Alumni – Your Good Spouses, Partners, Friends and Supporters; and
• The Traditional Chiefs of the Vanua Vakaturaga, O Nadi. 

Ni sa Bula Vinaka, Namaste, Salam Alyakum, Ni Hao, Noa’ia e’ mauri and a very Good Evening to you all. 

Ladies and gentlemen, Fellow Colleagues and Former Students – Members of the Natabua High School Alumni, at the outset I would like to acknowledge, commend and thank Mrs. Taina Rokotabua and the Members of The Organising Committee most sincerely for kindly inviting me to be your Chief Guest during tonight’s very special and historic dinner, for us to come together and re-unite as a  former Natabua High School Student Body to commemorate and celebrate the School’s 90th Anniversary as one of our beloved Nation’s prestigious institutions for higher Secondary Education.

In fact, I have been looking forward to attending tonight’s function and on behalf of my wife, Sarote and official Staff, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate past and present students and teachers to express our profound appreciation and gratitude to the extended Natabua High School family, immediate families and supporters too for the manner in which you had collectively maintained and promoted further the proud and enviable legacy and reputation of the School over the decades since the inception of the School some 90 years ago.   

In fact, as a former Student and Prefect who left Natabua High School during my final year in 1966, I deem it a great honour and privilege indeed to be attending this auspicious occasion since I left and enlisted in the then Royal Fiji Military Forces about five decades ago and embarked on my long and dedicated journey of service to our Beloved Nation as a Soldier/Military Commander, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General/Force Commander, The United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL), a Government Permanent Secretary, Diplomat/Head of Mission, a Government Minister – and now it is such a great pleasure indeed to be addressing you this evening as Your President and Head of State. 

Dear Friends and fellow Alumni, similarly, I am so thankful and equally humbled by this ideal opportunity to be present here tonight amongst so many of you whom we all attended the same Learning Institution – The Natabua High School, but during different eras and went off on our own, in pursuit of excellence and a successful career within different sectors of society, either in the Public or Private domain – yet remained in contact over the years with our common identity as members of the School’s Alumni.

Ladies and gentlemen, one thing is quite certain and that is:  We are the product of a Special School that prides itself of its Motto: In Scientia Fortitudo (In Knowledge Lies Strength) – an ingrained catalyst into our individual and collective psyche to endeavour to Strive for Excellence in everything that we do.

At this juncture, ladies and gentlemen I would like to commend and congratulate each and everyone of you because I believe that you have done reasonably well as professionals in the careers of your choice and collectively, we have contributed immensely to our beloved Nation’s overall socio-political and economical progress since we left the Natabua High School, which in my humble opinion, instilled and imbued in us a fundamental competitive  spirit to succeed in life with the right motivation, discipline  and drive to lead by example and be a beacon of hope for our fellow Fijians in the manner in which we interact and lead our lives as intellectually capable and very positive and influential Fijians who had and continue to contribute substantially to Nation Building and Fiji’s overall Peaceful and Progressive progress as a young Independent Developing Democratic Sovereign State  which we of today and hopefully, future generations of Fijians would continue to be proud to call home.

In this regard, please allow me to digress a bit and remind you about our Nation-wide celebrations and commemoration of our 50th Independence Anniversary recently during which I presented deserving members of our various communities with their Commemorative medals.

Despite the Real, Ever-Present and Serious Threat, and the traumatic devastating, sad reality impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic to Humanity’s Social cohesion and economic well-being, we celebrated this historical and important milestone in our evolution into political, socio-economical maturity in style nonetheless because we are a resilient and determined Nation and People who are proud of our achievements locally, regionally and internationally since independence.

In recent times, we have been, “Punching Above Our Weight” in addressing some global problematic issues like Climate Change, The Protection and Preservation of Oceans and the Global Ecological Environment to name a few as a responsible Sovereign entity.

I reminded the recipients, that despite the Global “New Norm’’ which has been unfortunately, imposed upon humanity by the ravages of the COVID-19 Pandemic, we showed the world that “This is Fiji – We are Fiji,” and we belong to a Nation that cares for its citizens and rewards them accordingly for their very invaluable contributions to National progress and prosperity.

As the products of a prestigious and iconic  Secondary Educational Institution like The Natabua High School, we should Lead by Example and be thankful and proud about the fact that we are “Doing the Right Thing” in life because of the proper and noble foundational values, principles and traits that we learnt during our formative years at the School.
   
Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to digress a little bit from the gist and thrust of my presentation and draw your attention to some of my additional responsibilities as your President.

Since assuming the role of Champion and Lead Advocate of our national effort to effectively combat the prevalence of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in our midst, I have been very vocal and committed in trying to draw the attention of our people to this scourge which unfortunately and sadly, have over these past decades, claimed the lives of many of our young and middle-aged citizens, reduced productivity to an extent and cost Government a substantial amount of its financial allocation to the Medical/Health Ministry in treating patients with NCD related ailments.

These are much needed funds that could be better utilised in improving the standard and quality of Education in Fiji.

In supporting Government’s Wellness Programme, I have demanded from the members of my Household Staff to be fit and well at all times and be the Example to the Nation in our level of physical fitness, bearing and work ethic.

Ladies and gentlemen, at the State House, my Staff and I strongly believe in Leading by Example as I alluded to earlier on, so I set the pace by – ‘Running the Talk’ – Walking is too slow!

As a former Military Commander and now Commander-in-Chief of the RFMF, I believe in keeping fit and well at all times, so my plea to you the Members of The Natabua High School Alumni, your Families and Friends is to adopt a Healthy Lifestyle by having a well-balanced diet at each meal time and equally important, Exercise daily.

Food Security is critically important for the survival of humanity and national progress and prosperity and in this regard, I am very happy to let you know that as an avid Farmer, my Security Team and I take great pleasure and pride in the fact that to compliment our daily Physical Training Programme, we are presently cultivating the land and producing our own root crops (dalo, tavioka, banana, kumala & yams) together with vegetables within the State House compound.  

This is our contribution towards promoting the Government Ministry of Agriculture’s Backyard Gardening Initiative.

Ladies and gentlemen, ‘Climate Change’ has been a very topical and important issue because of its inherent profound impact on humanity’s future and survival and we should be so thankful and equally proud of Fiji’s unwavering and undying efforts in drawing the global community’s attention, particularly the World’s Polluters, to the need to be more caring and compassionate towards small developing island States like Fiji and some of our Pacific Island neighboring States whose very survival and existence is now being threatened by the phenomenon of Global Warming and Rising Sea Levels.

In our collective effort to try and mitigate the impact of Climate Change to Fiji, in protecting and preserving our pristine and rich biodiversity environment and eco-system, I gladly accepted the request of the Honourable Osea Naiqamu, Minister for Forestry to launch Government’s 4 Million Tree Planting Initiative within 4 years in the beginning of last year.

And I believe that this target has been surpassed and that the Ministry is now embarked on a more ambitious Targetted Outcome to have more trees planted by 2025.

In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to encourage all of us to remain in contact and assist the present School Management and Student Body when and wherever possible as I did in 2015 when I reviewed the Natabua High School Cadet Corp’s Annual Pass Out Parade and at the beginning of this academic year when I officiated as the Chief Guest at the Inauguration of The Prefects and House Captains and commended the Principal Mr. Virendra Sharma, Teachers/Administrative Staff for “ Holding The Fort” for preserving and maintaining Natabua High School’s legacy and enviable reputation for the sake of present and future generations of our children who are going to be our future leaders like you and I.  

My wife and I would like to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Bright, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year.

Vinaka Vakalevu, Dhanyavaad, Fai’a’ksea, Xiexie, Thank you and may Almighty God bless you all.