Fiji floods earlier this month ... target of air assistance by French military in New Caledonia. Photo: Rotary Fiji

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Graham Davis

The presence of a French military aircraft over western Fiji surveying the damage from the recent widespread flooding has again highlighted the close ties between France and the government of the Fijian dictator, Voreqe Bainimarama.

In stark contrast with Australia and New Zealand – which have shunned Fiji since Bainimarama’s coup in 2006 -  France has continued to engage with the regime and provide it with vital assistance.

The Fijian military especially values France’s willingness to give it an aerial reconnaissance and search and rescue capability it simply cannot afford. Read more »

Major-General Sitiveni Rabuka ... carried out the first military coup in Fiji in May 1987. Photo: Indian Weekender

Pacific Scoop:
Opinion – By Arvind Kumar

Almost 25 years after committing treason by carrying out a military coup against a democratically elected government, Major-General Sitiveni Rabuka recently apologised to the Fiji public.

He was sorry, he told the Fiji public- and the world – for the “wrongs” which began at the barrel of the gun at 10am on May 14, 1987, as Parliament met for the day. Then a lieutenant-colonel, Rabuka and his armed henchmen marched into Parliament and took the multiracial government of Dr Timoci Bavadra into captivity.

The event sent ripples around the South Pacific and the world. The moment marked the death of “democratic” rule in the island nation best known for its friendly people and its white, sandy beaches. Read more »

Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama ... relaxed laws for 2012. Photo: Graham Davis / Grubsheet

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Pacific Media Watch

Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has announced an end to emergency laws that have been in place in the country since 2009, ABC News reports.

In his New Year’s address to the nation, Commodore Bainimarama said the Public Emergency Regulations would end from Saturday.

The regulations give police and the military extended powers, censor the media, and restrict public assembly. Read more »

Former Fiji publisher and columnist Thakur Ranjit Singh (left) with Professor David Robie at the graduation in Auckland. Singh's thesis was about the 2000 Speight attempted coup. Photo: PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By the PMC news desk

A former Fiji Daily Post publisher and columnist who managed the newspaper during crisis times a decade ago has graduated from AUT University after researching a thesis shedding new light on George Speight’s attempted coup in May 2000.

Thakur Ranjit Singh, who was awarded an AUT/Pacific Islands Media Association postgraduate scholarship in 2009, was delighted with his achievement. He pledged to work for a stronger and independent Fiji media.

Singh was awarded a Masters in Communication Studies (MCS) with honours this week for his thesis entitled The 2000 Speight coup in Fiji: An analysis of the role of The Fiji Times and the impact of partisan media. Read more »

Cartoon: matavuvale.com

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Dr Wadan Narsey

Two recent media releases indicate that the Fiji National Provident Fund board and management (at the instigation of the military regime) are digging the hole deeper for FNPF, with no accountability to the owners of FNPF and media censorship blocking all public discussion.

The first is the bad restructuring of the $303 million loan by FNPF to Natadola Bay Resort Limited (NBRL); and the second is the massively risky $200 million loan to help Air Pacific buy 3 Airbuses in 2013, completely contradicting the most recent advice by recent consultants (Promontory) on sound investment policy for FNPF.

Why interest free indefinite loan to NRBL? Read more »

Fiji rugby captain Deacon Manu being interviewed about rugby and religion by Ben Carswell. Photo: Myles Idoko Ojabo / PMC

STUDENTS from Fiji have plenty of views on their homeland but are cagey about being named  in view of the media decree and censorship.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Myles Idoko Ojabo

Recent speculation by New Zealand media that Fiji rugby players might not be granted entry for the Rugby World Cup proved unfounded. Fiji finally headed home last week after a lacklustre cup performance and a humiliating 66-0 loss to Wales in the final pool game.

Land Force commander Colonel Mosese Tikoitoga, who was installed as Fiji Rugby Union chairman, is taking the blame.

But a day before Fiji’s game against Samoa, lost  27-7, captain Deacon Manu was hosted by the Tertiary Student Christian Fellowship (TSCF) to talk about “rugby and his Christian beliefs”. Read more »

Fiji regime's Attorney-General Aiyaz-Sayed-Khaiyum ... Photo: Jet

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Professor Crosbie Walsh

One day, 10 or more years hence, someone will attempt to write a accurate history of Fiji during the first two decades of the 21st century, and blogs will be one source of their information.

It would be a formidable task in any event but with the vast number of sources available in the electronic age, and with every Tomasi, Rajieli and Hari expressing opinions with no evidence, or citing anonymous information relayed from so many “usually reliable sources”, it will be near impossible to know what weight to give to give to each source.

What will make it even more difficult is that some histories are already being written, and rewritten with deliberately distorted material posing as facts. Read more »

ACT Party politicians at the weekend Friends of Fiji dinner. Current Parliamentary Leader John Boscawen (from left), party leader Dr Don Brash and Epsom candidate and former Auckland mayor John Banks. Photo: Thakur Ranjit Singh / PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Thakur Ranjit Singh

ACT Party leader Don Brash has pledged that if his party gets back into the next Parliament in sufficient numbers, it will encourage the next foreign affairs minister to “re-engage” with Fiji in the interests of both countries.

Addressing a packed Chandni Chowk Event Centre in Papatoetoe, Auckland, at a dinner organised by Friends of Fiji and Fiji People’s Group advocating change in New Zealand’s official attitude towards Fiji, Dr Brash was critical of the current government’s policy.

Addressing some 250 diners, mostly Indo-Fijians, he described current policy as being not only harmful to Fiji’s interest, but also to New Zealand. Read more »

Poll manager Jenny Hayward-Jones with Tongan MP Dr Sitiveni Halapua. Photo: Alex Perrottet / PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – Dr Wadan Narsey

The interpretations that the Lowy Institute and coup supporters are putting on the recent Tebbutt research poll in Fiji would be laughable, if only the long-term consequences of such propaganda were not so tragic for ordinary people of Fiji.

Students of survey methodology should find this “Lowy Institute Poll” extremely  interesting, in a perverse kind of way, on how not to conduct, and how not to interpret sensitive opinion polls in a Fiji, dominated by a climate of fear and intimidation.

The key relevant questions:

•    Is the poll genuinely representative of the views of Fiji people? Read more »

Poll manager Jenny Hayward-Jones with Dr Sitiveni Halapua, Member of Parliament in Tonga, at the release of the report in Auckland yesterday. Photo: Alex Perrottet / PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Professor Crosbie Walsh

A Lowy Institute opinion poll on Fiji  has really put the cat among the pigeons. I had to pinch myself when I read the news. And my guess is that whatever they say publicly, NZ Prime Minister John Key and his Australian counterpart Julia Gillard will still be pinching themselves.

The independent poll has shown two-thirds of Fiji adults think Bainimarama is doing a “good job” as prime minister and that Fiji is heading in the “right direction.” And that from both major races.

These were the opinions of 75 percent of Indo-Fijians polled and 60 percent of ethnic Fijians. In December 2008 only 48 percent thought so highly of Bainimarama and the ethnic divide (Indo-Fijians 64 percent; ethnic Fijians 35 percent) was quite wide. Read more »