Blogs only uncensored news from Fiji
The blogs are now the only source of uncensored news from Fiji. The media are now now allowed to report news that is “negative”. And even the blogs are at risk – there is talk that the Commodore has ordered Fijian telcos to cut off Internet access to Fiji.
I encourage people to read and promote these blogs. Also I am always happy to do a guest post from any Fijians who don’t want to set their own blog up.
- Intelligensiya
- Raw Fiji News
- Discombobulated Bubu
- Luvei Viti: Children of Fiji
- Soli Vakasama
- Fijigirl
- Tears for Fiji
- Coup Four and a Half
- Talking Fiji
And here is the news that they don’t want people to know:
- Fiji Reserve Bank Governor arrested
- Two Fiji Sun journalists detained
- A Fiji TV reporter detained
- TV3’s Sia Ashton detained and deported
- Fiji Times publisher to be deported
- The former head of the military legal service appointed a High Court Judge and another military person as Court Registrar
- That Internet access may be cut off in the very near future.
- Soldiers have taken control of banks and petrol stations
- The head of the Dept of Public Prosecutions has been arrested
- The President of the Fiji Law Society may have been arrested
I suspect Fiji is going to have a run on its foreign reserves, due to the Reserve Bank sacking.
Hat Tip: Andrew Bartlett and Roarprawn
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Tags: Fiji
April 14th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Commodore Frank Bainamugabe.
April 14th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
I’ve said it before – it’s time somebody went in and shot Commodore Banana. He has chosen to live by the gun instead of getting elected by democratic processes.
Regardless of whatever you may have thought of the previous regime, this is not looking good for anyone except the commodore and his mates.
April 14th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Hooton and Harre were correct on Nine-Noon on national radio, NZ’s policy on Fiji is wrong and has been for years, and this just proves it, nothing we are doing is changing the situation for the better.
More to the point, if the previous government was racist and corrupt from top to bottom, and it was, why were we supporting a return to the status quo of the corrupt and racist system if Frankie wanted to get rid of it?
On a practical note, Frankie has all the guns and his people know how to use them and we, and arguably Australia, have no ability to stop him doing as he pleases with those guns short of having the SAS assasinate him (we cannot invade and occupy the place, not enough troops, not enough shipping and logistical support). As such it would behove us to work with what we have and start working out how we can use what little influence we may have left and help Frankie give Fiji a corruption and racism free constituion and political system, and keep Fiji onside, because if we dont do so we will have China move in where we used to be and that is the last thing we need.
April 14th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
In the spirit of compromise I’m tempted to tolerate the deportation of TV3… no…must…stay…true…to..my…principles….
April 14th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Fijigirl seems to have an unpleasant anti-Indian edge to it. For example: “Has our fate become so hopeless that Bainimarama is now kowtowing directly to nefarious, faceless investors from the malodorous Chodokant’s Mother India?” It’s just a variant of the old Jewish Banker slander.
April 14th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
# Ratbiter (907) Vote: Add rating 0 Subtract rating 0 Says:
April 14th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
I’ve said it before – it’s time somebody went in and shot Commodore Banana. He has chosen to live by the gun instead of getting elected by democratic processes.
Regardless of whatever you may have thought of the previous regime, this is not looking good for anyone except the commodore and his mates.
”
Fine, and once we have assininated the guy who supposedly want’s a corruption and racism free Fiji, who steps into his place? Here is a hint, it wont be someone of NZ choice because we dont have the ability to prop up any person other than one the Fijian army supports, because the Fijian army have the all the soldiers with guns in Fiji and we have none. And even if we did want to invade the place and prop up our choice of puppet, we cannot do it because the insanity of our defence policy has not delivered the ability to allow it.
[DPF: His stated aim of a corruption free Fiji lies in tatters at his media censorship. The media are vital arms against corruption. Corruption gets worse, not better, when you censor the media. And if he really wanted a racism free Fiji, he would have set out a realistic timetable for a new constiution, census and elections. But he refuses to do this - hence I conclude his interest now is solely to hold power as dictator]
April 14th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Ratbiter>I’ve said it before – it’s time somebody went in and shot Commodore Banana. He has chosen to live by the gun instead of getting elected by democratic processes.
Change “Commodore Banana” to “Fidel Castro” and you’d have a far more accurate statement in terms of oppression and the mistreatment and murder of ordinary people. But all the lefties would be condemning you, rather than making the threat.
April 14th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Short of it is we can either work with Frankie Bannana and maybe get a positive result at some point if he was actually serious about rooting out corruption and that racist constituion, or not work with Frankie Bannana and make a bad situation worse, loose all influence in Fiji and let in the influence of China. And all of this that is a situation thats almost totally of our(and Australia’s) own making.
[DPF: Bullshit. He has been given numerous opportunities to show good faith. He himself promised election by last month. His thugs are now arresting people for disagreeing with him. Name one actual proven case of corruption proven in the courts?]
April 14th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
No it’s not bullshit David. Do you believe everything you hear from Fiji just because it’s on a blog? ALL the indo Fijians I know and I know a good many are cheering for Bainimarama and regard Qarase as a crook and the current constitution as a crock. It was hatched together, if you recall by the Clark regime and its helpers.
[DPF: Adolf. That doesn't matter anymore. His stated aims may be noble, but nothing justifies arresting journalists for telling the truth, censoring the media, cutting off Internet access for the country - that is what they do in North Korea. He has to be judged by his actions, not his words. Corruption will only get worse in a country without free press.]
April 14th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
[DPF: His stated aim of a corruption free Fiji lies in tatters at his media censorship. The media are vital arms against corruption. Corruption gets worse, not better, when you censor the media. And if he really wanted a racism free Fiji, he would have set out a realistic timetable for a new constiution, census and elections. But he refuses to do this - hence I conclude his interest now is solely to hold power as dictator]
Maybe he does want to be our regional ‘El-Presidente for Life’ ™, I am not a confidant of the Commodore’s, so I dont know what he wants in actuallity, but one must also bear in mind that he is a naval Commodore, the equivelent of a full Colonel, and this is not something that equips one to run a country properly.
But the thing is you dont win freinds and influence people by pissing them off, and thats what we have being doing to the man who is running Fiji when we have no way of replacing that man. Frankly, we are part of the problem in this instance and if we wish for a more favourable situation in Fiji, and keep others influence to a minimum, then we must be a lot smarter about this than we have to date, because our options are very limited (mainly due to our own stupidity).
April 14th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
so umm is it a bad time for Dime to visit?
April 14th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
[DPF: Bullshit. He has been given numerous opportunities to show good faith. He himself promised election by last month. His thugs are now arresting people for disagreeing with him. Name one actual proven case of corruption proven in the courts?]
Good god David, what dont you get about this? He has the army on his side and is willing to use it *and we cannot stop him!*, he does not have to show any kind of ‘good faith’ because he has all the guns in Fiji and we have none! we cannot pull a ‘regime change’ because of our own defence policies, and Australia does not yet have the sea lift for that kind of stunt. Our actions to date have demonstrably made things worse, not better, indeed all we have done to date is piss the man in charge off. How can we do anything if the man in charge of Fiji is not taking our calls?
[DPF: Of course we can not stop him, and we are pissing him off. But pissing off dictators who remove democracy and press freedom from a country is not a bad thing to do. Everytime he removes a bit more freedom from Fijians, we should protest it. ]
April 14th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
I have to say I am no longer a fan of Bananarama. We should send Bros in to take them out immediately.
Agreed however, that NZ’s approach, both from National and Labour, has been ign’ant. They should have offered to work with Frank to help facilitate a new constitution and follow that with elections. But no, blanket condemnation has been the order of the day, and now the Commodore has finally decided he doesn’t give a shit. His crackdown on basic human rights is a disgrace, but on the other hand, New Zealand and Australia have put him in a position where he is damned whatever he does, and given that choice, why not be a dictator?
April 14th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Am I the only one who does not give a toss what happens in Fiji?
Let THEM sort it out, stop sending money and stop all assistance, the Fijian people are the only ones who can do anything about the situation and from what I can tell (admittedly I don’t really care) the people themselves are not that bothered.
April 14th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
BlairM
“I have to say I am no longer a fan of Bananarama. We should send Bros in to take them out immediately.”
The “Bro’s” would not last five minutes.
April 14th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Useful aid would seem to be satellite transceivers with internet modems and a generous Gig tab. Also how to make satellite dishes out of woks as is done in repressive Asian regimes.
April 14th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
David, now you really are talking like an idiot and I know you are not an idiot.
[DPF: Adolf. That doesn't matter anymore. His stated aims may be noble, but nothing justifies arresting journalists for telling the truth, censoring the media, cutting off Internet access for the country - that is what they do in North Korea. He has to be judged by his actions, not his words. Corruption will only get worse in a country without free press.]
Everything justifies arresting journalists who tell lies or distort the truth. Corruption was endemic in Fiji when there was your so-called free press. What on earth gives you the idea that your precious ‘media’ are angels? You do not seem to be able to accept that Fiji is not NZ or Australia and what works here might not work there.
Perhaps you might devote your intellect to figuring our how much better off everybody might have been if Australia and NZ had not acted like a pair of jack booted bullies. Had we actually gone in there in 2007 and offered genuine help to sort out their disastrous constitution, carry out a reliable census, run a genuine and legitimate election, then by now Fiji would indeed have democracy restored. Not some sham election for the sake of having an election, just to keep a few political studies freaks in Wellington and Canberra happy.
[DPF: It is sad you are so far gone you now advocate military dictatorships.Now in case anyone is feeble minded enough to agree with your argument that because the media are not angels this justifies his actions, let me rebut that. If the media report falsely, then you can sue for defamation. You can even apply to have then fined by some tribunal. But only a fascist would advocate that journalists should be arrested by armed troops, simply because a self appointed dictator does not like their stories. I am amazed you advocate arbitrary detention of journalists - that is detenton with no charges, with no trial, with no chance to plead guilt or innocence. Imagine if in NZ, the Govt had Police arrest without charge right wng bloggers who said things the Govt did not like? Would you cheerlead for that?
It no longer matters what the Commodore's motives are. He could be the Virgin Mary, or Sister Theresa. But his actions in censoring the media are quite simply wrong, and they would be wrong if done by Jesus, the Commodore or Nelson Mandela. No amount of so called good motives justified forcing people at gun point to stop criticising the Government]
April 14th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
It never ceases to amaze me the level of understanding of good governance and why good governance is important.
Leave aside all the jokes about gunboat diplomacy etc etc Its the citizens of a country like Fiji who suffer under bad governance just like Zimbabwe. As one who has business colleagues in both countries it hurts to hear the support for terrible governance.
We must count our blessings that we dont suffer from the same level and thats why I and others have and will continue to speak up and speak out to prod and criticise our governance.
there is a fine line between the good and the bad when it comes to governance and every so called leader is perfectly capable of stepping over the good line if they are allowed to by the citizens.
It is only citizen power that prevents any government from going bad.
IMHO the Commodore has committed so many fundemental breaches of good governance principles and gone back on his word so many times he has no international credibility and now heads a failed State.
the Chinese government will be very weary of getting too overtly involved if the US and others make it clear they are not wanted in the SP
I mean what are the Chinese going to do
Launch a military invasion of NZ and Aust from Fiji. Really I dont think so. There are only 2 options. Isolation and withdrawal of the UN peace keeping and other contracts. Only providing aid when there is a complete audit and control of where and to whom it is going.
OR a covert destabilisation programme aimed at the Commodore and his close supporters to undermine his control followed up by a support programme for a democracy movement
April 14th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
[DPF: Of course we can not stop him, and we are pissing him off. But pissing off dictators who remove democracy and press freedom from a country is not a bad thing to do. Everytime he removes a bit more freedom from Fijians, we should protest it. ]
Thats the problem David, all we are doing and have done is protest, and not suprisingly its not working, because mindlessly protesting the things we dont like and cannot change seldom gets us anywhere, and that is a bad thing in foreign relations. We have to be a little bit smarter than we have been, and the first thing we must do is admit that our current approch, of banging our heads against a brick wall we dont like for no result, is not working.
April 14th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
# big bruv (3361) Vote: Add rating 0 Subtract rating 0 Says:
April 14th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Am I the only one who does not give a toss what happens in Fiji?
Let THEM sort it out, stop sending money and stop all assistance, the Fijian people are the only ones who can do anything about the situation and from what I can tell (admittedly I don’t really care) the people themselves are not that bothered.
”
The people of Fiji dont have the firepower to do anything about it and we should care what happens there because sooner or later Fiji will turn to China et al for any shortfalls, and that kind of help from those quaters comes with strings that would not be in our national interest.
April 14th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
BlairM (476) Vote: Add rating 0 Subtract rating 0 Says:
April 14th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
I have to say I am no longer a fan of Bananarama. We should send Bros in to take them out immediately.”
Having SAS assainate the Commodore may well be possible but we could not control the fallout from that, so it’s probably not worth it unless you know what the outcome would be or had pre-arrainged outcome you know will work.
A conventional invasion is out because ourselves and Australia cannot get a force of adequete size into Fiji..we simply dont have the lift or logistical capacity for that sort of endevour, and to be honest we dont have the money at this point even if we did have the gear and numbers.
April 14th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Hang on a minute here….
Tyrant in Iraq who does not allow freedom of speech or fair elections…
(Supposed) Tyrant in Fiji who does not allow freedom of speech or fair elections…
Are some of the same people who attacked Bush for going into Iraq now suggesting that we should do the same in Fiji?
April 14th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
gd (2074) Vote: Add rating 0 Subtract rating 0 Says:
April 14th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
the Chinese government will be very weary of getting too overtly involved if the US and others make it clear they are not wanted in the SP
I mean what are the Chinese going to do
Launch a military invasion of NZ and Aust from Fiji. Really I dont think so.”
In case you had not noticed China is a growing totalitarian power, with ambitions. All they need to do is what the Japanese planned to do, and undermine us from a position of strength, should the situation call for it, like the Soviets did with Finland. Australia and NZ do not need to be invaded to undermine and coerce our independence and sovereignty, all that is needed is to be able to dominate our export markets and threaten our trade routes, and you need freindly bases to do that.
Afterall why do you think they wanted to exclude us from the EAS, along with India and Australia and yet were happy to sign a free trade deal with us?
For an example of this type of thing look at how the French blackmailed us over our butter exports for the releace of those two French agents we convicted over the Rainbow Warrior affair.
”
There are only 2 options. Isolation and withdrawal of the UN peace keeping and other contracts. Only providing aid when there is a complete audit and control of where and to whom it is going.
OR a covert destabilisation programme aimed at the Commodore and his close supporters to undermine his control followed up by a support programme for a democracy movement”
There is a third option that has never been explored as described by Adolf Fiinkensein above, but that would require us to admit our policy to date is wrong.
April 14th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
It thrills me no end that Adolf is still supporting the worst “government” in the South Pacific. I always knew that guy hated democracy. And now he is openly arguing for the arresting and jailing of reporters, and the ending of the freedom of the press. It is good that the last piece of respectability he may have had is now gone. If Fiji is so wonderful Adolf, then go join them.
April 14th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
I wonder how much Japan might be prepared to pay for Fiji’s vote on the right to slaughter whales….After our experiences of the past decade I am surprised that there are still those who believe that the leftwing media can be trusted.. I mean after all none have analysed the manner in which the New Zealand contributions to the United Nations Development Fund increased during the past decade let alone had the courage to analyse it.(Ian Wishart exc;luded.}
April 14th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
^idiot (extend that to wishart)
April 14th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Well i guess all i we can say is “choo choo! look at our train set” the amount of squandered money and opportunity’s are really coming to roost.
April 15th, 2009 at 8:25 am
Bruce Hill of ABC Australia inteviewed the military security head a few months back where he explained why they were hunting for a number of particular bloggers to shut them down because you just can’t have people going around “saying things”.
When the matter of freedom of speech was brought up he got bitter and hung up.
Don’t be too shocked if some bloggers just plain turn up dead in Fiji. Defence of this military dictatorship is not an option for anyone with priciples any more. Maybe at the start but it has become clear than any honest intent went by the board some time ago. Its time to acknowledge your error and not be afraid of the flip flop.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:03 am
“Defence of this military dictatorship is not an option for anyone with priciples any more.”
So you’re saying your pal Adolf has no ‘priciples’ (sic), Murray?
April 15th, 2009 at 9:35 am
I’m saying in this he is wrong radar. And why do you describe him as my pal radar? Once again a left wing shill makes an assumption of a party line being toed. I have consistantly savaged Adolf for his support of Banarama because his actions are a violation of my principles. Adolf has taken a different line and I say that time enough has passed to for his view to have been shown as wrong and he should acknowledge it.
If however I feel the need to have some know nothing snide left wing female body part put words into my mouth I’ll get my brain replaced and give you a call. Till then, cram it.
April 15th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Stuart, how can you be supporting a moron who is just as corrupt as the previous Government. This is the guy who has a brother-in-law receiving full pay while doing time for manslaughter, gets released a few months later and Frankie gives him his old job back as Navy Commander.
April 15th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
# Kow Pow(1) Vote: Add rating 0 Subtract rating 0 Says:
April 15th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Stuart, how can you be supporting a moron who is just as corrupt as the previous Government. This is the guy who has a brother-in-law receiving full pay while doing time for manslaughter, gets released a few months later and Frankie gives him his old job back as Navy Commander.
”
I don’t support the dictator of Fiji, but I do say that our policy is unrealistic and for the last three years it has failed.