(PINA/IFEX) – On 30 May 2000, Fiji’s national television service went back on the air, less than 48 hours after being ransacked and put off the air by supporters of attempted coup leader George Speight. The service reopened with its normal 6 p.m. (local time) feature news bulletin. Fiji Television chief executive Ken Clark praised […]
(PINA/IFEX) – On 30 May 2000, Fiji’s national television service went back on the air, less than 48 hours after being ransacked and put off the air by supporters of attempted coup leader George Speight. The service reopened with its normal 6 p.m. (local time) feature news bulletin. Fiji Television chief executive Ken Clark praised the efforts of staff and others who had offered help to get Fiji TV back on the air. He also thanked the Fiji Military Forces for providing security to enable the station’s staff to work in safety.
Fiji’s independent news media are operating as normal and without censorship even though martial law has been declared and an interim military government has taken over running the country. The Fiji Military Forces moved in eleven days after the elected government of Mahendra Chaudhry was seized in an attempted coup by Suva businessman Speight and armed indigenous Fijian supporters, including some soldiers. The military takeover came amidst growing lawlessness, which included Fiji TV being ransacked and put off the air by a mob of what have been described as Speight supporters. There was also a stalemate in negotiations to free Chaudhry and parliamentarians still being held by Speight and his armed indigenous Fijian supporters at the parliamentary complex in suburban Suva. Senior military officers are now negotiating to get them released. Senior military officers, using traditional Fijian protocol, approached the president, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, and requested that he step aside and allow the military to declare martial law and take over running the country. The president’s daughter is one of the government ministers being held by Speight and his supporters.
PINA condemned the attack on Fiji TV. It appealed to all sides in Fiji to respect the crucial role the news media are playing in informing the people in the current crisis. PINA described attacks like the one on Fiji TV as attacks on the right of the people of Fiji to be fully informed. PINA appealed to the police and army to ensure the safety and security of the country’s news media so that all people in Fiji can continue to get all the information they need.
PINA said that without a free news media people end up having to turn to rumour or the “coconut wireless” in an attempt to find out what is going on. This usually inflames the situation with widely inaccurate information, PINA added.
PINA said that at times of conflict or crisis there is also a huge burden on the news media to get the story right the first time. Inaccurate or sensationalist reporting can have disastrous results, it said. PINA again praised the performance of the Fiji news media and said they have done a very good job in difficult and trying circumstances.
PINA reminded everyone of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
Background Information
The attempted coup by Speight and his indigenous Fijian supporters came amidst a march through Suva on 19 May by indigenous Fijians protesting against what they said are threats to their indigenous rights and land ownership. Indigenous Fijians then looted and burned shops in downtown Suva owned by ethnic Indians. Speight and his men have continued to hold Chaudhry and some parliamentarians prisoners in the parliamentary complex.
Chaudhry won power as Fiji’s first ethnic Indian prime minister in general elections held in May 1999. His Fiji Labour Party formed a coalition government which included some indigenous Fijian parties. The events of 19 May followed growing protests by some indigenous Fijians, who are concerned about the protection of indigenous rights and land.
Fiji’s ethnic Indians are mainly descendants of indentured plantation labourers brought from India by the British colonial government in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
In 1987, following widespread unrest and growing violence following the election of what was seen as an Indian-dominated government, Sitiveni Rabuka, then a colonel, led two coups by the army. Fiji returned to parliamentary government in elections in 1992, with Rabuka voted into power as a civilian prime minister. Chaudhry’s government was elected under a new multiracial constitution adopted in 1997.
