In mid-October, the Fiji Times and Fiji Daily Post printed a letter from a certain Vili Navukitu of Queensland, Australia complaining about a recent high court ruling that legitimized the actions of the country’s president in dissolving the Parliament, and the elected government of Laisenia Qarase, immediately following the December 2006 coup that brought into power Commodore Frank Bainamairama.

The letter (which has been reprinted in this post) pointed out that Bainimarama had undue influence on the jurors because he had previously removed the court’s chief justice.

After the letter was published, Fiji’s Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum accused the Fiji Times of being in contempt according to Fiji’s laws because it casted doubts on the integrity and independence of the courts. The Fiji Times printed a front-page apology admitting contempt and offering to pay all court costs.

The Attorney General, unimpressed with the apology, has asked the court to jail the editor and publisher of the paper and apply stiff fines to the paper. The case is in recess until December.  The editor and publisher of the Fiji Daily Post, where the letter also appeared, could meet the same fate, the Attorney General declared this week. Both newspapers have been asked to provide full details of the letter writer.

The scandal comes at the heels of the announcement that press freedom group Reporters Without Borders ranked Fiji 79th for press freedom out of 173 countries, a large leap from the previous year, where it was 107.

Fiji’s bloggers have largely expressed outrage at the case against the two newspapers.

The blog Soli Vakasama complained that the Fiji Daily Post also apologized to the judiciary, which is something no newspaper should ever have to do:

[T]oday the Fiji Daily Post dedicated its entired editorial towards apologising to the judiciary and therefore caving into the illegal interim government and that arse of an AG’s demands. While they maybe in a tight spot, the question we may ask is when will the so called “Fourth Estate” be man enough to draw a line in the sand and say it as it is instead of complying to the selfish demands of these illegal bunch of thieves who stole power through the barrel of a gun?
If the media are not game enough to do it we will say it at Solivakasama that there are certain members of the judiciary who are a bunch of low down selfish self serving scums…

However, not all people agree with those sentiments. A commenter, Budhau points out:

This ain’t about Aiyaz and what he says. The issue is contempt of court and regardless of who is in power or who the judges are - the letter, and the publishing of the letter was contempt.
Now the newspaper folks should have done a better job of going through the letters before the print it - not because of the content, but to deal with issues like contempt of court, libel etc.

Mark Manning claims:

There was no contempt of court as the case had already been heard and dealt with .
It’s only contempt if the case about to be heard or is in the process of being heard . It’s actually freedom of the press and it’s a Journalists job to report these matters , but not while the case is before the courts .

“FIJI'S JUDICIAL responses to contempt by two local newspapers become sillier and sillier,” writes New Zealand Journalist David Robie’s blog Cafe Pacific.

The contempt laws for scandalising the court were never meant to stifle vigorous debate about court rulings. Citizens Constitutional Forum chief executive Rev Akuila Yabaki says the draconian prosecutions “stifle free speech in an oppressive manner“. The paranoid climate around the judiciary following last month's controversial High Court judgment declaring the post-coup regime to be legitimate is deteriorating.

Discombobulated Bubu, which reprinted the letter (along with another equally critical one) says these opinions are on the tongues of many people:

These letters to the Editor of the Fiji Times reflects the mood of the country right now. Our people are sad, angry and struggling to make ends meet. As one who is involved with charity work on a daily basis, it is no exaggeration to compare Fiji to Zimbabwe.

We are truly at the beginning of Zimbabwe's slide into self-destruction…

When the taxpayer can see that there hard earned money is being spent on trivial things such as new uniforms for Teletubby and his band of marching boys, thousands of dollars a day to an expatriate FIRCA consultant, thousands of other dollars for useless and unnecessary overseas trips for Baini, Mary and accompanying entourage, a Charter process costing millions that is failing big time, thousands of dolllars for a Charter consultant to produce a Class 8 essay, and useless court judgements costing thousands to legalise murder and coups, prolonged and vindictive false prosecutions against “enemies of the State” , something has got to give.

Our Fiji was never given to us to be run by bullies with guns. Be warned , the military regime in Fiji is living on borrowed time.

Raw Fiji News looks ahead to December, when the country’s government will publish its new law governing the media.

And to stifle the media even more, Frank’s gestapo regime is going to impose their media law in December. And we say, bring it on! The truth is this - in this new day and age, information reaches people the way they want to receive it. And guess what, more breaking and detailed news can be found outside of the mainstream media with a touch of a button and people already know that and are accessing it online all the time. Sounds familiar? Yep, that’s us the new i-peoples of this world who don’t rely on the media to tell us waz up and waz down!

As regional leaders try to turn up the political heat on Fiji’s government, bloggers have been voicing worries that global warming and other environmental issues are now causing economic hardship for Pacific island states. 

The Langa Langa Information Portal out of the Solomon Islands, reported Toke Talegi, Premier of Nieu and host of the 39th Pacific Islands Forum, said with international attention now focused on climate change, the time is ripe to secure assistance for affected island nations, especially when per capita international aid has barely risen during the past ten years.   

The environmental issues for these islands, which are scattered along wide stretches of the Pacific Ocean, are numerous. With virtually no petroleum and ineffective hydropower, most island nations have problems creating electricity. Importing oil is expensive because their populations are often small and isolated, creating a minor economy of scale that drives up prices.  Very little petroleum storage exists on many islands, making stockpiling difficult. Development levels and population growth vary from nation to nation, as does access to electricity. 

On top of that, many islands remain vulnerable to climate changes and the potential for severe storms and rising seas. Papua New Guinea recently had to resettle more than 2,000 residents of the Carteret Islands that are slowly being inundated by water. Two uninhabited Kiribati islands were swallowed by the sea in 1999. 

While the heads of state discuss political and environmental issues, bloggers in Fiji have been searching for solutions to their nation’s energy problems, which were illustrated this week when the Fiji Times reported a regional hospital has been without power for six months.

Importantly, Fiji's well established tourism industry is getting involved. The writers at Diving in Fiji link to an article about green diving. Ben Keene, a young British entrepreneur and a friend took the idea of establishing a social networking site and transplanted it onto Fiji's Vorovoro Island, where they worked with locals to construct an environmentally friendly tourist facility, replete with wind and solar generators, compost toilets and housing visitors in traditional Fijian architecture. By their count, the enterprise has provided contracts to more than 150 villagers to keep the place running, like purchasing food from farmers and fisherman, renting ground and water taxis to transport tourists and hiring staff to run the resort. The group, Tribewanted, has been long-listed for a Responsible Tourism Award for “Conservation of Cultural Heritage” and post a detailed overview of the project here.  Finally, there is also an entire blog dedicated to organic gardening and farming as a means to supply food to country's numerous resorts. 

The blog covering sustainable development, Energy for All, reports on the use of cutting-edge technology at the local level. 

One community in the northern province of Macuata on the second largest island of Fiji Vanua Levu , has just moved into the era of efficient lighting. A women's group in Visoqo village ,Macuata Soqosoqo ni Marama (Macuata Women’s Association) with the help of GEF,Canada Fund and International Women's organization(IWA-Shikha is a member ),Suva raised funds to install several Solar Home Systems within the community.A local company CBSpowersolutions did the installation of SHS systems.

Small portable solar lanterns are a great substitute for hurricane lamps and ordinary torches.Photo below shows such a lantern ( Solar Navigator) recently introduced here in Fiji. It is a compact lantern with a 9W CFL, a built-in solar panel and a 6V battery. The battery can be charged by solar energy or any electrical outlet.This is a very well designed product and comes with a radio or a motion sensor.My students are currently running some tests on these lanterns as part of their mini project-…

Philippe, from Voice of Melanesia, follows a story about using bio-fuel from locally sourced raw materials. Blog Pacific Islander quotes a speech five decades old that predicted the end of the fossil fuel age while arguing nuclear power is a plentiful resource with the ability to create much energy from a small amount of material.  

Here’s the blog’s analysis of the issue: 

It is now too late to make the required adjustments to a post-carbon economy (an economy in which fossil fuels are no longer abundant or cheap) without some pain, perhaps much pain. Indeed, we are beginning - a little - to feel it already. But the longer we bury our heads in the sand, the worse it will be going forward. We can't say we weren't warned. I hope we are ready to listen to this speech, and take it to heart, even if we are 51 years late…

A blog called in Invest in Fiji, written by two local businesspeople, called on the government to begin devoting more resources to energy from the sun.  

I keep wondering why the electricity officials do not allow us to start using solar panels in our homes to supplement or even fully supply our home/office energy needs. 

In recent years, our import bill has risen with one of the biggest components being oil imports. 

Recent governments have tried to provide incentives for businesses that operate in the area of alternative energy production, however, not much effort has been done to fully encourage businesses to enter or operate in the area.

Local research into alternative fuels, including solar energy, is relatively non-existent with not much emphasis given by education planners to encourage anyone or firm to conduct research in the area.

Fiji has experienced four coups since 1987, brought on in part due to political instability stemming from “adversarial ethnic-based politics” that pit the indigenous Melanesian population against an Indian population imported by the British colonial administration who controlled Fiji until 1970.    

Yet, bloggers and press advocates worry that the government’s strong reaction to criticism of the Charter is stifling debate. Members of the Interim Government have proclaimed anyone not sticking to respectful discussion could face arrest. Police questioned a member of the New Nationalist Party who objected on television to one of the Charter’s main tenets which will refer to all people born in Fiji as “Fijian,” a term only now used for indigenous fijians. People of Indian descent are presently called “Indo-Fijian.”    

In a separate matter, police detained a journalist from the daily Fiji Times for a story she wrote that quoted a businessman who claimed the interim finance minister had been fired. The businessman was later detained. 

With at least three prominent political parties scheduling meetings around the country the weekend of August 15-18 and the Methodist Church gathering in the capital Suva, some bloggers wonder whether the government will be using the police to further curtail discussion.  

From Discombobulated Bubu

Our legitimate Opposition Leader [Mick]Beddoes said today that the use of police during the consultation process of the Draft Charter is part of the ongoing intimidation tactics used since 2006.

Its bad enough that the police cannot satisfactorily perform their task of catching thieves. 

“So suddenly the junta can afford to now turn them into delivery boys whose mere presence at a home will intimidate people,” he said. 

…Mr Beddoes said it was NOT the role of the police to be part of the teams that go around to promote the Charter. 

Tensions increased the days following up to the annual conference of the Methodist Church, which includes a membership of  an estimated 35 percent of Fiji’s population.  The chairman for the United Fiji Party, known as the SDL, the country’s ruling party deposed during the 2006 coup, said party members will use the Methodist conference to influence attendees against the charter, which he called an “imposition to find justification for the 2006 coup.” 

The Director of Information took note of the comment and said that if attendees to the Church conference will be discussing the Charter, the government would look into the matter. Police in Suva said if politics entered the Methodist program, they would withdraw the conference permit. 

Church officials backed off from the matter.    

A person named Striker argued in the Soli Vakasama blog that police forces have no business meddling in the Church's affairs.   

The church, like political parties, is entitled to discuss political, economic, and social issues that affect the nation and its members. Second, the Church Conference, according to my understanding is a private gathering in a private Church venue.

In a debate on the forum Fiji Board Exiles, Kalougata opines that the Methodist church has always acted as an unofficial political party, which is not part of its charter.  

As I have said from the beginning. Time for the I.G. to step in and strip them of any tax-free, church status that they enjoy, and time to label them as what they truly are, a political party, the MPP, aligned with the SDL, no longer a church. They long ago diverted from the teachings of Jesus and into the teachings of “nationalist, racist agenda” for Fiji. They will still have their “day of reckoning” before the lord. Shame. 

Stuck in Fiji M.U.D points out the connection existing between the SDL party and the Methodist church.  

Unfortunately, the difference between the two organizations have been blurred by some SDL party sympathizers, who are also lay preachers, and as such these blurring of roles also come with the baggage of blurring of ideals and blurring of finances. Where does this blurring begin and where does it end? 

The blog Raw Fiji News claims the police and military have more to worry about than people discussing the Fiji Draft People’s Charter for Change, Peace & Progress.  

The upcoming annual Methodist Church conference in Suva, Fiji, is turning out to be a huge threat for [Acting Fijian Army Commander Mohammed]Aziz. It’s an event that attracts the popular Methodist church followers from across Fiji. It can possibly become a nightmare for him, his boss and their cronnies and can become the biggest assembly since 05.12.06 to publicly protest against the military regime and their pseudo Constitution, the Charter.

Capital Suva will be a hive of activities as people converge to the troubled city for some high profile events like the Methodist Church conference, the Hibiscus Festival and rugby competitions. It is a natural mobilization of people in one city alone and a tiny spark can cause havoc to the already out-numbered and unpopular Aziz Mohammed-led troops.

The 45 authors, worked for the past eight months under the banner “National Council for Building a Better Fiji,” were given authority from the so-called interim government of Commodore Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama, which came to power in a December 2006 coup.

The National Council for Building a Better Fiji is predominately responsible for “ending the coup culture” in the island nation, where the military has interrupted democratic rule four times since 1987, helping suffocate the nation’s economy and usher in “lawlessness and bad governance.” To move beyond continued military intervention in politics, the group admits the country must end the “adversarial ethnic-based politics” which largely pit the indigenous Melanesian population against an Indian population that the British colonial government began importing to work in the sugar industry around 1880s and early 1900s. For decades, the Indo-Fijians, who are mostly practicing Hindus, maintained a slight numerical majority. Since the two coups of 1987, however, Indo-Fijian emigration has increased to the point where the largely Christian indigenous people now make up roughly 57 percent of the population.

The draft charter says for the country to move forward, people must affirm the constitution as the law of the land, reform the system of racially segregated voting and solve the land issue, one of the country’s most intractable problems, by insuring that people from all ethnic groups have access to land by increasing the supply of fertile fields and through sustainable lease arrangements. The Bainimarama government said the country must act on these recommendations before a restoration of democracy can take place amidst general elections, which were originally scheduled for March 2009 and recently postponed.

Initial opinions regarding the draft charter from the public, mainstream press — and most bloggers in Fiji — have been negative. Many people took exception with the committee’s proposal to combat ethno-nationalism by calling all citizens of the islands “Fijians” while changing the name of indigenous people to itaukei, a term from the local Fijian language. Presently, indigenous people are referred to as “Fijians” while the descendants of Indian workers are called “Indo-Fijians.”

gdevreal, a prodigious commentator at a very lively forum called Fiji Board Exiles argues that if the committee wants to change the name of Fiji’s inhabitants, it should find a title that is not already in use.

Pick something new instead of robbing it from someone else. There is no need to steal from one group to satisfy another. Pick a word that does not already have a meaning so you can respect Fijians right to what they have and what in addition is guaranteed to them under the Constitution by all the Peoples of Fiji.

Are People of all races called Indians in India? Japanese in Japan?

“Fiji citizen” is good enough as a common name…

In another post at the same forum, real jack had a historical take on then term “Fijian,” which he claims is a “British Colonial invention.”

…when Vijay Singh plays on the international golf circuit, everybody makes a point about him being Fijian - the media always underline that like its a badge of honour - and they underscore it even in TV reports with phrases like “Fijian Vijay Singh today won the US Masters……” as if we don't already know he is Fijian ! lol.

this argument about the word “Fijian” won't put bread and butter on the table - nor does it make a difference - that word is not our itaukei identity anyway - its a British word that came in with the Brits…

From Alohabula1:

If we were to take it on American standards then it would be Fijian African and Fijian Indian. Would the recent people from Fiji who have migrated to the US then be American Fijians and further defined to American Fijian Indians but NOT American Indians because they use to be the Red ones? I am sooo confused. You gotta love it, especially if we all supposedly originated out of Africa, then would I be an African, European, Hawaiian American???Fijian??? because I now live here? Or do we base it on Home is where the heart is? Or where we presently live, or where our parents were born, or where we were born or where we were raised. I am still confused.

People misunderstand the charter, claims Delta, a commenter at the Fijilive site:

People's Charter is absolutely correct. By birth we are the citizens of Fiji and therefore we should be called Fijians but under the sub-category we should be identified as Fijians, Indians, Samoans, Tongans, Whites from NZ or Australia etc. One can never change your origin by birth. The People's Charter is recognising the citizenship my friends. Don't get too self centered.

Paceli and Wendy’s Blog argued that if Fiji is to pick a new name for its peoples, it must be an “ethnically-neutral name, and a new name — for a new beginning for Fiji.” Indo-Fijian Kaicolo demurred, arguing that “I am a Fijian whether anyone likes it or not…my being of Indian race shouldnt belittle my being a Fijian citizen!!”

The name change was not the only issue that raised passions amongst people. Those at the blog Soli Vakasama argue the National Council for Building a Better Fiji has no legitimacy because its members were handpicked by an “illegal junta.”

Resistance is quickly spreading and we at the SV Team, believe the NCBBF Members are truly astounded at the level of resistance since they thought it was going to be a walk in the park and many Fijians will let sleeping dogs lie and get on with their lives, but little did they realise that what this illegal junta have done to Fiji has directly affected every person in Fiji is a way unlike previous coups and the people will not rest until the coup perpetrators are brought to justice.

Ragone, we at the SV Team calls for the ending of the coup culture permanently by bringing these perpetrators to justice, even if it means the death penalty for Vore and his cronies. Remember, [2000 coup leader George] Speight was handed the death penalty and commuted to life imprisonment by [President Josefa] Iloilo after recommendations from the Prerogative of Mercy Commission, however Vore and his Military Officers are not civilians like Speight and have no excuse and it is highly unlikely that the same will be recommended for them. What do you think?

Fiji Democracy Now argues the best way to get Fiji back on its economic and political feet is to restore the democracy overthrown during the December 2006 coup.

The thing that the quest for a common name needs most desperately is democracy. Only a democratically elected government can have the mandate for such a change. The un-elected National Committee for Bullshit and Bluster wants to give us pure democracy, as they see it, but why do they want to give us a new name before they have introduced their pure democracy?

We think we have an answer: it's because the Illegal regime wants to sow the seeds of anger and distrust in order to prolong their dictatorial rule. Far from wanting to move Fiji forward they want to mire Fiji in confusion, anger and distrust. We say return democracy and the rule of law to Fiji now. Let's move back to the rule of law, not forward, because if this is the future we don't want it.

Corruption Fighter, a commentator to the Soli Vakasama post, claims the widespread opposition to the draft charter may help speed the nation’s return to democracy.

What a great day for Fiji. May be some good will come out of all this evil if everyone unites behind the rule of the law and the spirit as well as the letter of the Constitution. Never forget that the 2006 coup
overthrew a multi-party government that represented the people of Fiji better than any previous government in our history.