Two Sides Of Every Coin-Fiji 2 Years After.

Two years down the road, Fiji is still moving towards democracy. Albeit, a work in progress for some. While democracy may be the ultimate objective, the debate in Fiji is how to get there and when.

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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Of Stars and Stripes- Dodgy Dinger's Designated Democracy.

In his last July 4th celebration in Fiji, outgoing US Ambassador, Larry Dinger commented on the issue of coups and American policy, stating both don't go well together, as reported in a Fiji Live article.

The excerpt of the FL article:

Have elections, not coups: Dinger
05 JUL 2008
Counting down on the number of days as the United State’s Ambassador to Fiji, Larry Dinger has sounded a friendly warning maintaining the US stand that coups and election do not go well together.

Instead, the outgoing career diplomat said it is critical that Fiji realises the importance of maintaining democracy being the right way to move Fiji forward.

He said the US government valued its democratic roots, which it believed was just as important in other countries, explaining the US stand on the current political situation in Fiji.

“We continue to believe that democracy is the right way to go, that elections routinely without coups are the right way to go,” Dinger told more than 500 guests in attendance at the US Independence Day celebrations.

“American policy and coups don’t go along very well together so that has made it difficult but Fiji is still filled with wonderful people and great deal of potential.

“And so Washington and I just hope that things settle down rapidly and you can achieve those potentials in the future.”

Dinger, who toured polling stations around the country in the 2006 general election, said past elections had shown that there could be free and fair elections under the current Constitution.

He said there were a lot of ways a country could undertake democracy.

“The US has one way and the Fiji Constitution has another, other countries have different ways. Many ways to get there but the key is to have the voice of the people heard so that the leadership is responsive to the people and has legitimacy from the people,” Dinger said.

“And that’s the problem Fiji has at the moment.

“An election under the current system will be fine by us to bring in a government with that kind of legitimacy and that they can address other issues that obviously need addressing in Fiji.

“We are not fans of coups. But we believe very strongly that the United States will continue to advocate for a return to truly democratic governance at the earliest possible time.”

It appears that Dinger, is not well versed with the US history of supporting coups in numerous parts of the world or selectively omits the facts derived from the 1973 Church Committee. Dinger unapologetically follows the play book of Pax Americana, of choosing a convenient option like a coup or opposing it, as long as it suits their interest.

Interestingly enough, Dinger's comments comes across as a pharisaical, and in a "holier than thou" tongue in cheek, contradicted the Interim Attorney General's remarks on the perceived impartiality of Heads of Missions in Fiji, as seen in a Fiji Village article. The excerpt of the FV article:

Dinger Disputes AG's Allegation
Publish date/time: 04/07/2008 [11:55]

Outgoing US Ambassador Larry Dinger has disputed the allegation by the Interim Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum that some heads of missions in Fiji are not impartial in their work.

Dinger who will be farewelled tonight by colleagues told ABC Pacific Beat that his work is to report the truth on the current political situation in Fiji to Washington which he has done.

While, Dinger is entitled to his opinion on democracy and election, it should be noted that one of US' closest allies in the Middle East aside from Israel, Saudia Arabia is a monarchy and never ever had a general election. That illusive nature of Saudi democracy really undermines and erodes Dinger's diplomatic position on the subject of elections in Fiji.

On the aspect of coups and American policy; Dinger may be well advised to rethink that statement, as 'empty sacks never stand upright'. Readers may also note double standards of sorts, in the US policy and even that dichotomy has not escaped the mind of Russia's new President, quoted in a IHT article titled "U.S. is in no shape to give advice".


Videos (posted below)summarizes the extent to which US egalitarianism has wavered.









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