Gemini News Service: 19 November 1999
FIJI ISLANDS: 'SWIFT JUSTICE' THREAT STIRS UP A HORNET'S NEST
The honeymoon appears to be over for Fiji's first Indo-Fijian prime minister. Six months after Mahendra Chaudhry won a landslide victory in his island nation, Gemini News Service reports that journalists and opposition politicians are accusing him of acting like a dictator, particularly in his approach to the media.
By DAVID ROBIE in Suva
FIJI'S new prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, has become embroiled in a bitter war of words with local and regional news media, who have accused him of seeking to crush freedom of expression.
Chaudhry, the Pacific country's first Indo-Fijian premier, has enraged sections of the press by threatening to establish a "swift justice" media tribunal and legislation to curb "distorting" and "lying" journals and broadcast organisations.
His comments, at a media event last month, have drawn fire from many sides. Oseah Philemon, veteran editor of the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, said that if the prime minister followed through with his threats, he would become the "first civilian dictator" in the Pacific.
Philemon is vice-president of the Pacific Islands News Association. Its president, William Parkinson, commented: "[Chaudhry's] attacks against the media were draconian to say the least. We have not had those threats made since the military government [which came to power in Fiji in a 1987 coup]."
Chaudhry was elected in May when his multi-racial Fiji Labour Party won a landslide victory.
He formed a 'people's coalition' government with two indigenous Fijian parties, although he could have ruled without them.
Since coming to power, his administration has reversed privatisation policies of the previous government of the coup leader, Sitiveni Rabuka, and has charted a course of social, health and education reforms.
His first budget, announced in November, was greeted as a moderate one, to the surprise of business leaders. But his government's attempts to deal with a volatile land issue in balancing the needs of indigenous Fijians and mainly Indo-Fijian cane farmers have been widely criticised.
Indigenous inhabitants comprise about 48 percent of Fiji's 800,000 population. Indo-Fijians, mainly descended from indentured labourers brought in by British colonial rulers more than a century ago, make up 46 percent.
Disputes between the two sides can be destabilising. The 1987 coup followed protests by some indigenous Fijians against what was perceived as an Indian-dominated government.
The political opposition has now joined the chorus of press criticism of Chaudhry, saying that media gagging is one of the first signs of decay in democracy, and describing the prime minister's comments as "characteristic of a ruthless and power-hungry dictator."
During the election campaign, Chaudhry pledged to defend press freedom. But in October, as guest of the Fiji Media Council to launch a new self-regulatory code of ethics, he stunned many at the event by lambasting sections of the media and saying they faced a "crisis of ethics."
The Fiji Sun reported: "The media got a taste of their own medicine as the prime minister slammed the lack of professionalism among some local journalists and then warned them of new regulatory measures. There was nervous laughter from the floor and tension mounted as those used to criticising were themselves criticised."
Chaudhry's concerns over professional standards and ethics are shared by many people in Fiji - even some in the media. Recent research suggests that only 14 percent of Fiji's journalists have qualifications, and they have, on average, less than three years' experience.
One senior editor resigned recently, complaining of a lack of skilled subeditors in the country.
But the prime minister's style of bitter personal attack infuriated many publishers and journalists.
He singled out four organisations - the Fiji Times, owned by the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, the locally owned Fiji Sun, Fiji Television and the regional news magazine Islands Business. He also directed his fire against certain individual journalists.
Accusing the Fiji Times of "fanning the fires of sedition and racism", the examples he cited included a front-page story quoting a high chief threatening bloodshed over the land issue (she later denied using the world "bloodshed"); a series of news stories about threatened protest marches which never happened; and "fire and brimstone" race-based articles based on interviews with feisty indigenous trade union leader Taniela Tabu.
Chaudhry said his government was considering establishing a media tribunal to mete out "swift justice" in cases of defamation. Reports also circulated suggesting that a motion would be tabled in parliament calling for the licensing of foreign-owned media, with annual fees of 20,000 Fijian dollars.
Irked that newspapers did not run Chaudhry's speech in full, the government spent almost 12,000 Fijian dollars on advertisements to get the prime minister's message published.
Islands Business said in an editorial: "In view of his dictatorial assertions and virulently anti-freedom of information and expression attitudes, so nakedly displayed at such an early stage of his prime ministership, a question to ask now is: Has he already blown it?"
However, the self-regulatory Fiji Media Council sought to play down the issue. Its chairman, Daryl Tarte, said: "Press freedoms are guaranteed in the constitution, and I am not concerned that Fiji will have any draconian laws forced upon its people."
The local office of the international anti-corruption lobby Transparency International offered to mediate in the dispute and urged those in the media to strive to raise professional standards.
Its chairman, Ikbal Jannif, said: "We all know, some of us from painful experience, that if you continue to poke a stick at a hornets' nest, the hornets will attack." - GEMINI NEWS GM187
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