GUEST BLOG: Ross Meurant – Is the truth so dangerous we cannot speak it?

Vivian Bullwinkel was the sole survivor of the Bangka Island massacre in 1942.

What the hell was Bangka Island?  Never heard of it, mate.

And guess why you never heard of it, mate?  

Because “senior Australian army officers wanted to protect grieving families from the stigma of rape”.

Only because a Ms Silver had the temerity to find out and validate and publish what did happen on Bangka Island, does the world now know that, a group of Aussie nurses were raped (repeatedly it seems from the evidence) by Japanese soldiers, before being marched into the sea and shot with machine-guns.

‘Nurse Vivian Bullwinkel was shot in the massacre but survived by playing dead. She hid in the jungle and was taken as a prisoner of war, before eventually returning to Australia.

‘She was “gagged” from speaking about the rapes at the Tokyo war crimes tribunal in the aftermath of World War Two, according to Ms Silver, who researched an account Ms Bullwinkel gave to a broadcaster before she died in 2000.  (BBC)

MY reaction to this disgusting censorship is:  What sort of precious pricks pervade the military (and police for I’ll get to that soon), that they think know best what the people of the nation which pays their salaries, should be told?

Denying these women justice, dead as all were except one, is a crime – in my view.

Just as the cover-ups of police killings in New Zealand being properly reviewed for culpability before a Court of law and not decided in a closed session hybrid mongrel “authority” which has usurped the role of our courts; is to deny justice to families of the dead.

In my view, we tread a perilous path when we permit these matters to be effectively, swept under the carpet, because the revelations might be, too injurious to the public.

To momentarily resort to the vernacular often used by Bomber Bradbury, “For Christ’s sake,” is this the manifestation of a democracy?

Regrettably I discern shades of this, “protecting the public”, in attempts to hide aspects of the recent massacre in Christchurch.  

Journalist Damien Grant adroitly addressed this dilemma when he penned: “I downloaded the Christchurch mosque shooter’s manifesto, that makes me a criminal.”

I have a novel due for release soon: OUT OF THE INFERNO.  Christ Trotter has reviewed the manuscript and wrote:

“In Out of the Inferno, Meurant proves there’s only one way to tell the unvarnished truth about the country he loves- write fiction.”

If writing fiction is the level we must accept to be exposed to reality, we are in a bad state and in danger of Orwell’s curse.

Ross is an international businessman and entrepreneur. In 2016 Ross was appointed Honorary Consul for the Kingdom of Morocco. In New Zealand he is trustee and managing director of absentee Russian owned forestry and commercial property.

Ross has a bachelor degree in politics and management, a master’s degree in economics, statistics, law and policy and C.O.P’s in law.

From 2004 he lived and worked in Zimbabwe, Russia, Czech Republic, Thailand and the Balkans.

Since 2005 Ross has established business interests in aqua culture and fisheries development – from Morocco to Syria: U.A.E and North Korea.

In 2015 Ross was prime speaker on sustainable fisheries as guest of the Moroccan government at CRANZ Montana ‘Sustainable Resources: Africa’ conference, and an official guest at the 2017 forum.

A former Member of Parliament (1987–1996) and Member and the Executive Council of New Zealand in the National government, Ross was Under Secretary (junior minister) Agriculture & Forestry; Cabinet Committee Industry & Commerce & Chair Select Committee Fisheries.

Subsequent to parliament, he owned equestrian facilities; was elected to local government as a councilor; consulted to several major fishing companies, was engaged by parliamentary services as adviser to Rt. Hon Winston Peters and emerged as a key figure in the Scampi Affair, which falsely alleged political corruption.

Prior to entering parliament, Ross had been 21 years in the police.  Service included: detective on Regional Crime Squad and Drug Squad; 5 years Armed Offenders Squad, second in command of the infamous Red Squad, and commissioned officer in charge of police spies i.e. Criminal Intelligence Section and V.I.P. Security.