PNG Attitude blog post covers a recent Radio New Zealand International news bulletin, quoting from Fiji partisan talking heads, who raked the MSG leaders over the coals for their unwavering support of Fiji.
Some of the responses to the post were from PNG readers, that illustrated a different picture, than what was painted by Johnny Blades, the correspondent from Radio NZ:
All these words of the so-called UFDF are bullshit. We Melanesians do support the regime in Fiji and we are working towards transition to democracy as planned. Commander Frank needs to sort out outstanding problems before a national election.
PNG understands Fiji so Fijians are not denied democratic rights, they are all happy with the regime.Posted by: Steve Gallagher | 14 July 2013 at 07:37 PM
Agree Steve - Who is the UFDF representing? Some of these groups are set up for financial (and political) gain.
They should do a survey and find out what the majority of the Fijian people think (and want) about the deprivation of their ‘freedom’. That would be a democratic thing to do.
Posted by: Marcus Mapen | 15 July 2013 at 07:49 AM
Just from the week I spent recently in Fiji, I've observed that Fijians under "dictatorship" have for freedoms than PNGeans in "democratic" PNG. UFDF folks and their backers should come live in PNG and they'll figure why Fiji's a better place.
Even the social policies of their "dictatorial" regime are far more progressive and inclusive than "democratic" PNG.Posted by: Martyn Namorong | 15 July 2013 at 09:59 AM
I believe you Marcus that those things happen daily in Moresby.
But it's beside the point.
I am not comparing Fiji to PNG and neither was the article.
Posted by: Johnny Blades | 15 July2013 at 04:02 PM
Johnny - Of course this rival group and others in Fiji have a right to be heard.
And they have a right to review their country's continued participation in MSG after they've got themselves an elected government in place.
But I think Bainimarama has managed to foster a greater united front among the Melanesian countries by the mere fact that he was able to demonstrate to his peers that we don' have to do what Australia et al think is best for us.
Regardless of how his opponents and others in the world see him, he is increasingly becoming a key figure among his other Melanesians who don't trust Australia et al to interfere in their political process.
Posted by: David Kitchnoge | 15 July 2013 at 04:15 PM
Johnny Blades in sunglasses (Source: Pacific Scoop)
What was interesting, was the fact that Radio NZ correspondent Johny Blades had to chime in and defend the use of drive-by journalism in his biased interview, to the readers.
Posted below (mp3 file) is an audio mash-up of the Radio NZ interview, featuring some added rebuttals to the otherwise idealogue and partisan comments.
Jenny Hayward Jones latest post on The Interpreter on Fiji's draft constitution has some valid points, buttressed by conjecture:
This announcement was the culmination of a campaign from the Fiji regime to
distance itself from the Commission it had itself established, which
begs the question of why the regime bothered with the expense and effort
of engaging international expertise, attracting support from donors and
seeking the views of the people[...] It is difficult now to see how the Constituent Assembly, even if it has a
fair representation, will have a reasonable opportunity to provide
independent advice on the new constitution. It seems likely it will be
hounded into rubber stamping the regime's new draft, with only a month
promised for consideration.
Grubsheet post addressed some of the reservations Jones had penned:
Some, of course, will accuse the Government of disregarding the advice
of the constitutional referee it appointed because what he came up with
didn’t suit its purposes. Others who appeared before the Commission or
lodged submissions will be aggrieved that the views they expressed are
being ignored. Yet as the Bainimarama Government sees it, there are
sound reasons for it to take the course it has and also to be aggrieved
about many of the provisions of the document bequeathed to the nation by
Professor Ghai and his fellow Commissioners.
Croz Walsh latest post, further provides salient points and reminds the astute political observer of the ineffable setbacks on Fiji's path:
The road from December 2006 to the promised elections in 2014 was never
going to be an easy one. The potholes and patch-overs have proved to be
far worse than those on Fiji roads. And, as with the roads where
cyclones, floods and poor workmanship, have often undone the good work,
so also in the political scene. Promising steps forward have too often
been followed by too many steps back.
Jones while seemingly concerned about the democracy in Fiji, however- Jones' florid sentiments on Fiji's future democracy are incredibly disingenuous and misleading:
Fiji may end up with a flawed democracy but it wouldn't be the first
flawed democracy to participate in international forums and enjoy stable
diplomatic relations with the world's powers. Many flawed democracies
have improved over time and even though Fiji has a way to go, there has
at least been a public discussion about the future, which cannot be
undone.
Croz outlined the benevolent policies :
There is far more to the credit of a government that launched the
People's Charter that won the support of two-thirds of the adult
population, despite opposition from these self-same critics and others
in the old political establishment. I cannot believe that a government
that has placed so much emphasis on racial equality, a shared Fijian
identity, national unity, and has done so much towards improving the
country's physical and institutional infrastructure, not to mention its
efforts to assist rural communities and the poor, is merely in power for
self-serving purposes.
It is rather reprehensible of Jones, to gloss over the exceedingly greater flaws of preceding democracies in Fiji, in comparison to the existing path mapped out by the current Fiji Government.
Unfortunately, Jones has some disconcerting history of blatantly flippant analysis on Fiji's domestic politics, as highlighted by a 2009 SiFM post:
Interpreter's Melanesia specialist Jenny-Hayward Jones has got it wrong yet again, along with the biased media reports from ABC. Jones' latest posting, unashamedly uses the talking points of the SDL
segment, highlighting the 2 pillars of society, warning of imminent
danger to the general public if their dual-pronged influence is
permanently removed from the landscape of Fiji politics.
Ironically
both pillars were also intimately involved with Fiji's 1987 and 2000
coups and it is rather myopic and repulsively selective for Jones to
obfuscate that well documented fact.
Radio Australia host Bruce Hill interviews Brij Lal, the academic from Australia National University on retainer, who cynically (as usual) opines on the draft constitution . Unsurprisingly, Bruce Hill's maker's mark of yellow journalism was underscored in the interview, by the routine absence of alternative perspectives in providing balance. Furthermore, Croz Walsh had highlighted in a blog post, the journalistic bias in Bruce Hill. Croz also posted the defense by Radio Australia of Bruce Hill.
Brij Lal appears to echo his default reaction to any changes to the 1997 constitution, as addressed in a 2009 SiFM post:
Dr. Lal, later questioned the issue about the consultation phase,
regarding this new Fiji Constitution. However the ABC host did not
bother to challenge Lal's remarks or even bother to compare the present
and continuing consultations, to the diluted 1997 version. Neither did
ABC offer any other opposing views, apart from their favorite talking
heads, in their so called forum.
A surreptitious version of due
diligence; that was formed during Lal's celebrated and at times,
over-glorified tenure as 'architect' of the 1997 Fiji Constitution.
Irregardless of the glaring failures of the 1997 legal document; in the
context of racial equality- a crucial issue which Brij Lal has
vacillated on repeated occasions.
Video of Fiji President and Prime Minister's joint address on the draft constitution (posted below).
