Fiji Islands government crackdown on media expatriates causes worry

(PINA/IFEX) – On 16 July 1999, the Fiji Islands government denied a work permit to Fiji Television’s new chief executive. The Immigration Department told the chief executive, Ken Clark – who has been an executive in Canadian and New Zealand television – that his temporary work permit would not be renewed and that he must […]

(PINA/IFEX) – On 16 July 1999, the Fiji Islands government denied a work
permit to Fiji Television’s new chief executive. The Immigration Department
told the chief executive, Ken Clark – who has been an executive in Canadian
and New Zealand television – that his temporary work permit would not be
renewed and that he must leave the country by 25 July. The grounds given
were that the company, which has an exclusive licence to set up and operate
the national television service, did not train a local to replace the former
chief executive, New Zealander Peter Wilson. The decision led to concern
that the country’s new Fiji Labour Party-led coalition government is trying
to control who the country’s news media chief executives are.

**Updates IFEX alerts of 5 July, 23 June, 21 June, 18 June, 15 June, 11
June, 4 June, 21 May and 7 May 1999**

PINA president William Parkinson told “The Fiji Times” newspaper of 17 July
that the business of hiring people should rest with boards and not
governments. He warned that the next step could be the government trying to
select chief executives for all companies. The publisher of “The Fiji
Times”, Alan Robinson, was quoted as saying that the government is trying to
take on the role of management. He said no company would recruit an
expatriate if there was a suitable local. Fiji Television Limited Chairman
Isoa Kaloumaira said in a statement: “In spite of extensive training, the
board and recruiting firm were satisfied that, because television is a
complex industry and new to Fiji, no local applicant was yet qualified to
take on the role.”

“The Fiji Times” said in an editorial comment: “The Government’s
determination to control what is written or said about it in the media is
irrational, immoral and ultimately self defeating. It is irrational because
the theory that it will be easier to control the media when expatriate
executives have been expelled is nonsensical. Even this Government cannot
deport locals who refuse to toe the line. And it cannot tell independent
companies who to appoint – much as it might like to. It is immoral because
it has no mandate for its high handed and draconian action in overturning
the Fiji TV board’s choice of chief executive. It is doubly immoral since
the prime minister himself is on record as saying that the choice of chief
executive should be a matter for individual companies. It is self defeating
because it sends a very negative message to existing and potential investors
in Fiji. All companies must today wonder if they will be able to employ the
people they believe are best for each position.”

Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry has said his government is looking at
terminating the contracts of expatriates, including those in the media, and
replacing them with locals. Chaudhry is also Minister for Information. “I
have always expressed the importance of training our own people …
developing the capacity of our people,” Chaudhry has said. Chaudhry said he
was informed that there are about fifty expatriates in the media, including
public relations. His assistant minister, Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi, later gave the
figure as twenty. Industry managers quoted by “The Fiji Times” put the
number in the mainstream news media at five, two of them at the region’s
biggest news media company, “The Fiji Times”.

Background Information