Sadly, there have been the usual chorus of displeasure, from the proponents of instant gratification democracy. Among those, is the Fiji Times Editor; whose Editorial of Dec. 5th 2008 had no new ideas to propose, just more of the same whining.
The Fiji Times Editor, Netani Rika was also interviewed by Fiji TV regarding the relationship between Fiji's media and the Interim Government.
Rika, displaying his usual miscreance; downplayed the errors of the media and pointed fingers at the Interim Government's policies, like a person with an axe to grind. Not surprising for a person, awaiting the decision on contempt of court charges.
On the other hand, the Richard Naidu, Fiji Broadcasting Corporation's News Director was more objective and impartial.
The title of Fiji Sun's Editorial of Dec. 5th 2008, was a truculent at worst. At best, it was almost as if the publication was praying for a disaster and those opinions were almost equivalent to the ramblings of the Fiji Times editorial.
Both Editorials appear to echo the sentiments in several blogs, almost word for word.
The excerpt of Fiji Sun editorial:
We look forward to more bad news
Two years ago from today the nation awoke to a military regime. What will we find when we awake on the same day two years from now - December 6, 2010? The answer, unfortunately, seems to be: much the same and possibly even worse. There was a lot of hope on that day two years ago even though there was also widespread apprehension concerning the overthrow at gunpoint of an elected government. Corruption was to end once and for all. It hasn’t and probably never will.
There was finally to be transparency, accountability and good governance in the state of Fiji. There is if anything less of all three than there previously was. No member of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces was to benefit from this coup. They all have or are about to. We will produce incontrovertible evidence of corruption in the Qarase regime and we will produce it next week.
Two years on we are still waiting and probably will be two years from today. We will hold an auction of government vehicles. Where are those vehicles today and what condition are they in? And, of course, we will return the nation to democratic rule through an election no later than March 2009 and the military will accept the outcome no matter what. It is not going to happen.
The list could continue. But as the abandoned pledges mount, the military regime and its puppet cabinet have seen their support level plummet as even ardent coup supporters have turned away. The blatant overspending by the military and its shameless 2009 budget allocation at the expense of the service ministries have left the nation in shock. The draft People’s Charter “consultation” process has been a charade from the start and will not be taken seriously either at home or abroad.
The military and the interim government have made it abundantly clear that they neither need nor fear public opinion. They are in power, they have the guns and they ain’t moving. Their business class travels take them all over the globe in luxury hotels while the people they purport to serve and protect suffer as the national economy stumbles towards crisis.
And only yesterday what is tantamount to an admission of error in the removal of the then chief justice Daniel Fatiaki has cost those same suffering people a cool $275,000 - plus legal fees, of course. This has been a coup quite unlike those before it. The military is here to stay and its People’s Charter confirms that. Increasingly we see the signs of a divided nation - the newspeak of the National Council for Building a Better Fiji notwithstanding.
We have a sullen majority suffering in comparative silence while the overlords and their hangers-on have it all their own way. So, again, what will have changed two years from now? Very little, we fear. Who will ever be able to persuade the military to confront the fact that it has made a woeful mess of running the nation? No-one, we fear.
Will Fiji have even some semblance of an election before December 6, 2010? Not likely, we fear. Those who can are leaving while those who can’t shrug and get on with their lives as best they can. We have come a long way in the wrong direction since those glowing promises of December 6, 2006. In “moving the country forward” we have gone many miles backwards. Fiji did not deserve this.
However, the Pacific Beat's program- On the Mat,
Pacific Beat- On the Mat program, special edition (MP3) also reviewed the 2nd anniversary of Fiji's 2006 coup. Surprisingly, the On the Mat episode, did not paint a broad brush of negativity; which was used liberally by the Editorials of both publications.
Fiji TV news segment also reviewed the 2006 events. Video posted below.
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