Fiji’s Supreme Court … formerly the Parliament, site of the original coup in May 1987. Image: David Robie/PMC

“Like the Yash Ghai draft which resonated with many ideas of the 1970 and 1997 constitutions and the People’s Charter of 2008, the new Fiji constitution is underpinned by many universal principles aimed at creating a democracy of human decency, equality of citizens and belonging to a nation with a common national identity.”

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Professor Satendra Nandan

Fiji now has a new constitution—the fourth since independence in 1970. The final version was published last Thursday – on August 22, 2013. It becomes law on September 6, a day before Australia goes to the polls.

The general elections based on the constitution are scheduled for not later than 30 September 2014, almost exactly a year after the Australian elections.

It is a 98-page document—half the size of the Independent Constitution Commission’s draft presented to the President of the Republic of Fiji on December 21, 2012 by its chair Professor Yash Ghai. Read more »

East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao with his Fiji counterpart President Voreqe Bainimarama in Nadi: “Having the East Timorese leader there was an important bridge for Asia-Pacific relations.” Image: Graham Davis

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Kalinga Seneviratne in Singapore

A new Pacific islands forum will seek to challenge the dominance of Australia and New Zealand in a regional body. The new grouping’s approach is being billed the “Pacific Way”, and also the “green and blue” way for its commitment to environmentally sustainable oceans as well as land.

The new Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF) challenges the Pacific Island Forum (PIF), a 16-member inter-governmental organisation which includes 14 Pacific Island countries plus Australia and New Zealand.

The PIF is headquartered in Fijian capital Suva. Fiji itself was suspended from the PIF in 2009 after naval commander Voreqe Bainimarama grabbed power in a coup in 2006 and refused to hold elections. Read more »

The Chinese flag fluttering above the Embassy at Suva Point in Fiji. Image: David Robie/PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Commentary – By Arnold Chanel in Suva

Australia and New Zealand’s political moves to impose sanctions and cuts in foreign aid to Fiji have resulted in the suspension of diplomatic relations. But China is stepping in to fill the gap.

Ever since the military coup in 2006 in Fiji, relations between Australia, New Zealand and Fiji have taken a turn for the worse.

Responding to the internal political situation in Fiji, Australia and New Zealand and a host of other nations have sought to injure Fiji’s economy. Read more »

Masked Kanak pro-independence militant near Thio during Les Evenements in New Caledonia during the mid-1980s. Image: David Robie

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By the PMC news desk

Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie has  condemned “paranoid” French politicians and security officials over the 1985 Rainbow Warrior state terror attack in a recent interview on the Newstalk ZB programme Total Recall.

July 10 marked the 28th anniversary of the French attack, which Professor Robie detailed in his 1986 book Eyes of Fire and also Blood on their Banner on Pacific independence struggles in 1989, Pacific Media Watch reports.

“The whole attack was outrageous in the first instance. It’s just inconceivable that an attack like that could have been launched against a major nation in the world, a peaceful nation,” Dr Robie said. Read more »

Fiji’s first coup leader and a former elected prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka,
talks to The Nation on NZ’s TV3. Video: Frontpage

Pacific Scoop:
Report – The PMC news desk and The Nation

The leader of Fiji’s first two coups and a former elected prime minister who ushered in the 1997 constitution, Major-General Sitiveni Rabuka, admits he still has political ambitions.

He also believes Australian and New Zealand sanctions imposed on Fiji are “punishing the innocent”.

Rabuka, who led both coups in Fiji in 1987 and was prime minister from 1992-1999, said in an exclusive interview on TV3′s The Nation this weekend that he had not ruled out contesting next year’s post-coup elections. Read more »

Professor Stephen Howes – accuses Australian government of “using its muscle” to veto loans to Fiji by both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Image: Crawford/ANU

Pacific Scoop:
Commentary – By Graham Davis in Suva

Relations between Fiji and Australia have taken yet another turn for the worse with the revelation that Canberra has been secretly blocking Fiji’s access to hundreds of millions of dollars for development projects.

A senior Australian academic – Professor Stephen Howes – told The Australian newspaper that the government had used its muscle to veto loans to Fiji by both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

They would have been used to finance improved basic services for ordinary Fijians such as water, roads, hospitals and schools. Instead, Fiji was forced to turn to China to secure low interest loans and was also obliged under these contracts to use Chinese firms and Chinese workers. Read more »

Back again aged 81 … Gaston Flosse, political supremo in Tahiti for more than two decades. Photo: PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Commentary – By Charles Richardson

Veteran anti-independence leader Gaston Flosse is back in charge in French Polynesia, but ongoing corruption charges mean that his tenure is far from assured.

The second round of French Polynesia’s territorial election last Sunday produced very much the expected result. The three parties that had met the 12.5 percent threshold in the first round shared out the vote in pretty much the same proportions they had a fortnight earlier: Tahoeraa Huiraatira on 45.1 percent, the Union for Democracy 29.3 percent and A Ti’a Porinetia 25.6 percent. (Official results here.)

In recent years, that sort of three-way split has led to chronic instability, as shifting alliances among the three parties brought first one and then another to the top. Read more »

Former Kompas regional editor for Papua and peace negotiator Octovianus Mote at the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day lecture in Auckland. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By the Pacific Media Centre news desk

The Papua Peace Negotiator Team has condemned the deadly shootings of Papuans who marked the 50th anniversary of the transfer of administration of West Papua (previously West New Guinea) from United Nations responsibility to Indonesian rule 50 years ago.

The Indonesian government’s celebration of the integration of Papua anniversary on May 1 was overshadowed by pro-independence flags being raised across the region and reports of deadly shootings of pro-independence activists by police.

Police allegedly killed two activists and arrested six others after reporters witnessed them raising the banned Free Papua Organisation’s Morning Star flag on Jalan Raya Adibay, Biak, on Wednesday morning. Some unconfirmed reports said up to 10 people had been killed in incidents across the region of West Papua. Read more »

Scoop editor and general manager Alastair Thompson (left) and Pacific Media Centre’s director Professor David Robie at the Scoop Foundation launch last night. Image: Del Abcede/PMC

An address by Scoop editor and general manager Alastair Thompson for the launch of the Scoop Foundation project and Pacific Scoop Internship at AUT’s Pacific Media Centre last night.

Pacific Scoop:
Speech – By Alastair Thompson

The name for Scoop’s “Scoop Foundation Project” plays on the associated ideas of “foundation” and “construction”. It is clear that we now need to build a new journalism.

The one that we have has been struggling for some time, and a key component of it – print – is now on life support.

And to build a new journalism we need to start by (re)constructing some foundations. And that is what the Scoop Foundation project will do. Read more »

The Danish newspaper BT featured Marie Krarup’s criticisms about Māori traditions as one of its top stories yesterday. The BT headline reads: ‘Doubts cast on Māori-Marie’s penis story’, referring to Marie Krarup’s comment on traditional carvings in the navy’s Te Taua Moana Marae. Image: BT.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Daniel Drageset of the Pacific Media Centre

Several New Zealanders have sent hate mail to Danish politician Marie Krarup after she characterised a traditional Māori powhiri at Devonport Naval Base in unflattering terms.

And she has now apologised on a New Zealand television show after the controversy erupted yesterday.

In early March, Krarup, who is the defence spokesperson for the far-right Danish People’s Party, witnessed the Māori welcoming ceremony as one of six MPs from the Danish Committee on Defence. Read more »