(PINA/IFEX) – “Sex On the Beach”, a song by the Dutch-American group T-Spoon, is now off the air in the Fiji Islands. Radio station FM96 had continued to play the song despite pressure from the Fiji Islands Government’s Assistant Minister for Information and criticism from some religious and community leaders. But it confirmed on 16 […]
(PINA/IFEX) – “Sex On the Beach”, a song by the Dutch-American group
T-Spoon, is now off the air in the Fiji Islands. Radio station FM96 had
continued to play the song despite pressure from the Fiji Islands
Government’s Assistant Minister for Information and criticism from some
religious and community leaders. But it confirmed on 16 January 1999 that it
was no longer playing it. General manager Ian Jackson told “The Sunday
Times” newspaper: “Our main purpose is to entertain people. If we offend
people, then we will take it off the air.” But he added: “I was surprised to
see the amount of publicity a song generated, considering the issues this
country faces.”
Jackson said the song was on the air for six weeks before someone complained
to the government. The station had received only four complaints, including
one from the Ministry of Information, he said. FM96 is one of three popular
stations Communications Fiji Limited operates from Suva, the Fiji Islands
capital. It is aimed at the “modern and young market,” “The Sunday Times”
said.
“The Sunday Times” also quoted from a letter Assistant Minister for
Information Ratu Josefa Dimuri sent Communications Fiji Limited. He told the
company it had agreed to “plan and present its programmes in a manner that
respects the multi-cultural and multi-racial nature of Fiji society and will
use its best endeavours to ensure that no offence is caused to the cultures,
religions or morals of Fiji residents.”
The pressure on FM96 sparked a debate in newspaper letters to the editor
columns, with support for the radio station. One letter in “Fiji’s Daily
Post” said: “The type of control and supervision that they are advocating
are archaic. Do they want us to live in a society where censorship is a
dominant and all-pervasive force, felt in all levels of artistic,
intellectual, religious, political, public and personal life? We are living
in a democracy not a dictatorship.”
Background Information
Critics condemned the lyrics of “Sex On The Beach” as socially, culturally
and religiously offensive. The state-owned Island Networks Corporation,
which runs the Bula and Radio Fiji networks, banned the song from its
stations. Local music stores reported they had sold out of CDs carrying the
song. FM96 said it was its most requested song.
