This is the excerpt of the Daily Post Editorial:
New media, freedom of expression and responsibility
14-Mar-2007
IN the past week, the Interim Government has been raising its concerns over the contents of an online journal or blog.
Apparently, some news-hungry journalists spiced up the soup regarding the death of a fourth person allegedly at the hands of the military as reported on the site, intelligentsiya.blogspot.com.
What irked the Interim Government, and certainly would worry a responsible media is the fact that reports on this blog had been irresponsibly regurgitated and sensationalised in conventional media. Some servings of the soup even ending up in the international media, further exacerbating Fiji’s strained relations with its regional big brothers Australia and New Zealand and adding more bullet points to their travel advisories.
While the debate rages on, what is evident is that the spread of the Internet and modern information communications technologies (ICTs) in Fiji is revolutionising the manner in which individuals express their opinions and thoughts on events and issues of national importance.
New media is emerging in Fiji as an alternative to traditional media and is challenging long-held rules of news reporting.
And this is why the Interim Government is so concerned and it is justified in doing so, considering Fiji’s ever growing new generation of young, socially mobile and liberal cyber-democrats.
A text-based online environment that includes blogs, online discussion forums and internet chat rooms is changing not only the way opinions are expressed, these are also challenging long-held notions where the author decides what you read.
People can now easily air their views from the comfort of their personal computer, participate in discussion boards and receive or send emails on topical issues like democracy, human rights and governance.
There are also opportunities to send anonymous opinions to web blogs such as intelligentsiya.blogspot.com. These new media have a new rule “the author is dead, long live the reader”. It’s the nature of the Internet as a kind of virtual ‘black hole’ in which anonymous people and their opinions appear and disappear instantaneously. There are no editors, no style and very little or no rules.
While the Internet provides a forum where individuals and groups can experience a renewed sense of democracy, it necessitates a greater sense of responsibility. Web sites and blogs are not only used for democratic expressions and productive ends. They have also become literary havens and propaganda machineries for terrorist groups, bomb makers, neo-Nazis and dictatorships.
The Internet is also home to pedophiles and others with evil intentions. In short, the Internet harbours both the good and the evil. For Fiji, we are beginning to experience the digital revolution and the impact of new media on our society.
The Internet has opened up opportunities and taken away customary restrictions and is challenging our post-colonial culture of silence.
The power and political clout of the Fiji’s post-colonial institutions that have dominated the social and political scene for so long is being undermined by our new generation of liberalised cyber-democrats.
In political terms, democratic governance, mass participation and mobilisation is being enhanced by the use of the Internet and other modern ICTs.
An this becomes more pronounced in our post-coup situation as people express their opinion against the coup in conventional media have come under the attention of the military regime.
Individuals are being forced to write blogs or report to Internet sites because their rights to express their opinions in conventional media is under constant threat.
While the concerns of the Interim Government does carry weight - after all writing anonymous opinions for public consumption is against the rule - we now live in world dominated by new media technology that occasionally blurs the line between truth and fiction.
Interestingly China has banned the opening of new cybercafés this year citing the rising influence of the Internet on its people.
Sydney Morning Herald's article has updated the story talking points; stating that the source-Intellgentsiya had issued a correction, minus the Mea Culpa disclaimer.
Apparently Intelligensiya's seductive dismemberment of the truth, while creating a lot of attention, has also motivated other bloggers on Fiji. Here are several new blogs:
1. Discombobulated Bubu.
2. Hearts and Minds.
3. Free My Fiji.
4. Loyal Fijian.
While the Daily Post Editorial has rightfully pointed out, the apparent dangers of misreporting the facts by online citizen journalists; it is not a true reflection of all Fiji blogs. To lump all blogs in one basket of incompetence, is an unfair characterization; especially coming from main stream media who believe they have a monopoly on all news and editorials. Blogs provide a much needed fact-checking ability, which the Fiji public needs.
For starters, facts have been mis-represented by the conventional media as well; Daily Post being the leader of such practices, followed closely by the Fiji Sun's Political Editor.
The following is an excerpt of one such article from Fiji Sun's Political Editor:
Let us have an early election
By MAIKA BOLATIKI
Political Editor
We need to go to the polls quickly so that we can be accepted back into the global family.We cannot wait for 2010 or longer.International pressure is mounting for Fiji to quickly return to democratic rule. The question is: Will the Interim Prime Minister bow to this pressure?
Commonwealth secretary general Don McKinnon last week called on the international community to continue putting pressure on the Interim Government to return Fiji to democratic rule.
The United States of America has urged the Interim Government to take rapid and decisive steps to return Fiji to democratic rule and to adhere to the rule of law.
Fiji will benefit from a quick return to democratic rule. The USA is willing to ease some of its policy restrictions put in place since December 5. Already the USA has contacted its allies from East Asia and Europe in regard to the situation in Fiji and they all support a quick return to democratic rule.
Mr McKinnon says there are no signs Fiji will soon return to parliamentary democracy. In fact, Interim Minister for Justice Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum said there was a possibility the next elections would not take place in 2010. The reason given is that the roadmap gives only six months for the Constitutional Boundaries Commission to draw up the boundaries. But this can only be done after the census is taken and will take longer than six months.The Interim Government has already set a road map for the return to parliamentary democracy. Let us revisit that road map.
The Boundaries Commission will be asked to draw up new open seat constituency boundaries and to ensure that the number of voters is, as far as reasonably practicable, the same. This will entail the holding of a population census in 2007 to ensure that the commission works with the correct figures, in a geographical location, before determining the constituencies and their boundaries.
The Bureau of Statistics will take 12-15 months to complete a census report before the commission can gainfully use it. This process will take place in 2007 and 2008.The Boundaries Commission will need six months to prepare the new constituency boundaries to be used in the next election.
The preparation of the new boundaries is likely to be completed in 2009.The Elections Office will need up to 12 months to prepare for a general election. The preparatory work will be done between 2008 and 2009.
There will also need to be a new system of polling, voting, vote counting and declaration of results, which would take 9-12 months to complete.Under the road map, the return to parliamentary democracy for Fiji may become possible after three years.
Within that time frame, all the required tasks to be performed by the Interim Government would have been successfully completed, as part of the requirements of the Presidential mandate. After three years, the country’s economy and government finance would have recovered fully, to be able to fund and sustain the required cost of a general election in Fiji. The road map will be subject to a mid-term review in late 2009. However, taking into account Mr Khaiyum’s announcement, the election may be later than 2010.
Fiji has already been condemned worldwide because of the illegal removal of a democratically elected government by the military. Surely we will expect more sanctions because of the new the timeframe. Fiji is a small country and we depend mainly on donor agencies and imports. We have not really felt the impact of the coup because there are no trade sanctions. Let us pray that this state of affairs will continue.There can be trade sanctions and other bans put in place against Fiji if the Government does not adhere to international pressure.
Surely the census cannot be an excuse used especially when a general election in a democratic country like Fiji can happen at any time, like a government losing to a vote of no confidence in parliament. We know the Interim Government is working in accordance to a mandate issued by President Ratu Josefa Iloilo. But the Government cannot function well without the support its international allies.
They are willing to help Fiji to return to democratic rule but the Interim Government needs to take the first step. The Interim Government wants the next general election to be free and fair.
The Interim Prime Minister said: “For Fiji’s next general elections to be free and fair there are several important requirements that must be fulfilled, including the holding of a national census, determination of new constituency boundaries, new voter registration system as well as a comprehensive programme of voter awareness and education on the electoral system and voting rights.”
Does this mean the 2006 general election was not free and fair? The international observers invited to observe the 2006 general election agreed that the election was fair and free. The Pacific Forum’s Eminent Persons Group (EPG) in its report wants the country to return to the polls in 18 to 24 months’ time. Fiji is in isolation because of the undemocratic nature of its government.It had been suspended from the councils of the Commonwealth.
We all want Fiji to be back in the Commonwealth and the global fold generally but I must admit this is very unlikely in the near future.We should be glad that the Commonwealth wants to help Fiji to quickly return to democratic rule.
However, here in Fiji the Interim Government is taking its own time. Interim Prime Minister Commodore Bainimarama said the global family must understand the situation in Fiji.
We are glad of the assurance from the Interim Prime Minister of the country returning to democratic rule. However, it is the timing that needs to be looked at.
If the 2000 Interim Administration can return the country to democratic rule in less than one year, why can’t this Interim Government?
No one can rule forever and in a democratic country, the people decide on the leadership. It is a fact that they had no say in the recent change of leadership.It is a fact that we are slowly walking the road to democracy.
It is slow because we are following the Interim Government’s pace. With the Interim Government’s strong stance, there is no short cut to our return to democratic rule. In the final analysis, we have to bear with them even if we move forward at a snail’s pace.
Accordingly, S.i.F.M affords readers with a counter-point to the Fiji Sun article.
The article by Fiji Sun Political Editor, Maika Bolatiki which called for early elections, only invites a stern and factual correct rebuttal.
Bolatiki opens the article with such absurd uses of the word “we”. Categorically, it infers that the Political Editor speaks for all voters in Fiji, while demanding an earlier transition to democracy.
Bolatiki's insinuations further escalate, by equating the international community's objectives of returning Fiji to democracy, with the aspect of timing.
Although, the United States State Department had remarked that Fiji should return to democracy and Fiji could accelerate the process of electoral reform; what the State Department did not address, given Fiji's perilous financial position is that; the velocity which Fiji should undertake this process, is directly proportional to the resources available to the island nation.
What the official from U.S State Department could not do, is put money where their proverbial mouth is. By not offering any under employed American experts in electoral reform, the call by the US for a speedy return to democratic rule remains embarrassingly hollow.
Bolatiki points out that, Fiji will benefit with the quick return to democratic rule. Nobody disputes that. It appears that 'benefit' is the Political Editor's only motivation for returning the nation to democracy. One major point that needs to be established beforehand is that, democratically rule may require some analysis of the definition.
If US State Department, Commonwealth Group, the E.U, Australia or New Zealand demands Fiji to return to a democracy that overwhelmingly uses race based seats, then effectively that type of democracy they want in Fiji is intellectually flawed.
If that democracy, which Bolatiki strives for involves turning a blind eye towards the ingrained culture of corruption in Fiji, then that model of democracy is not for Fiji. For democracy demands equal representation, a functioning and vigilant criminal justice system. Democracy does not endorse two tracks of rules. One specifically for people with chiefly status, the other for everyone else.
Bolatiki presented a question, "If the 2000 Interim Administration can return the country to democratic rule in less than one year, why can’t this Interim Government?"
The answer lies simply in Fiji's existing electoral system.
In 2001 Elections, as well as the 2006 one, the ballot system used race defined seats, as well as outdated boundaries. The electoral reform which the Interim Government unveiled, pointed out structural changes that, require labour intensive surveys and logistical projects, which Bolatiki overlooks.
Even if Don McKinnon, the Commonwealth Secretary General had called on the international community to pressure Fiji's interim Government to return to democratic rule, then perhaps it is prudent to re-examine and re-evaluate the Commonwealth's template of democracy for Fiji.
Obviously the definition of democratic rule which the Fiji Sun Political Editor subscribes to, is basically the system of racial based voting. Since Bolatiki is concerned with the hurried return to an electoral system, which race plays an overwhelming part; without examining the deficiencies within it, perhaps Bolatiki himself should deserve neither civil liberties nor voting rights.
“Surely we will expect more sanctions because of the new the time frame. Fiji is a small country and we depend mainly on donor agencies and imports. We have not really felt the impact of the coup because there are no trade sanctions. Let us pray that this state of affairs will continue.There can be trade sanctions and other bans put in place against Fiji if the Government does not adhere to international pressure”.
If timing was such a big issue for the international community, as Bolatiki obliquely portrays, the international communities would understand that such demands must be reinforced with assistance. It is easy for the international community to call for a rapid transition to democracy, without ensuring that the institutions responsible are logistically ready, in terms of staff, facilities and equipment. For it is Fiji, who will be engaged in the exercise of conducting a national census, creating new political boundaries and so forth. Not the international community. As many political pundits understand, all politics is local.
It seems that the Fiji Sun Political Editor had accepted an irresponsible default position, which advocates cutting corners of liberal democracy and presenting an error laden picture of the Interim Government's intentions.
Bolatiki also appears to be the cheering on the international community, to place more sanctions simply because Fiji could not operate within a time frame demanded by foreign nations. Or is it really because, the Interim Government is hell-bent of removing the racial components within Fiji's politics. A component which has served the SDL Government extremely well, including Fiji Sun's Political Editor.
It appears that the quality of Fiji's electoral system had escaped the attention of the international community. While they had called for rapid elections in Fiji, they also neglect that, the existing voting system uses race rolls. It is nothing short of farcical to call for rapid democracy, while ignoring the structural inadequacies within it.
“Does this mean the 2006 general election was not free and fair? The international observers invited to observe the 2006 general election agreed that the election was fair and free.The Pacific Forum’s Eminent Persons Group (EPG) in its report wants the country to return to the polls in 18 to 24 months’ time. Fiji is in isolation because of the undemocratic nature of its government. It had been suspended from the councils of the Commonwealth”.
Fiji Sun's Political Editor also prejudges the 2006 elections as free and fair, since it was certified as such by the International Observer Group. However, Bolatiki ignores the fact that, no one had any idea of how many voters there were in 2006; as a percentile of the overall population. In addition, the individual boundaries were decades old and were not updated with migration statistics, both local and international.
By not having an accurate baseine number of voters; undoubtedly opens the election process to more assumptions and thus errors. In other words, the Election office could have the ability to print extra ballot papers; since the number of voters (registered or not) could not have been feasibly determined, without a national census. The security of these extra ballots, was questionable and inlight of numerous complaints, casted looming shadows of doubt over the entire electoral process.
Having a ballot take place without empirical data confirming the nations population number, opens the result to interpretation and this inaccuracy also undermines the entire electoral process.
Bolatiki further adds, “Surely the census cannot be an excuse used especially when a general election in a democratic country like Fiji can happen at any time, like a government losing to a vote of no confidence in parliament”.
If the census are constitutionally required every 10 years, why aren't those basic steps being followed?
Census allows statistician to get an accurate population baseline, the data gained is also used in calculations for infrastructure development in Fiji. It allows statisticians to get a better idea of what the resources the nation has, with respect to the population growth. Those projections allow civil servants to plan for the future and by implementing socially responsible policies, improves the lifestyle of the national populace. Apparently, Bolatiki opposes those fundamentals of democracy.
To glossover the importance of holding a timely national census; is merely a convenient way to obfuscate the greater meaning of democratic institutions and under rate their interface with transparency and good governance. To propose accelerated time-tables of the road map, effectively surrenders to the follies of a fool; after all they do rush into action without forethought.
A hurried approach to the altars of democracy, risks jilting the bride of oversight. A rush, suggests cutting the corners of progressive ideals like multi racialism and equal representation. A rush earns Fiji no medals, but guarantees more errors.
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