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 »

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 »

Australian Pime Minister Julia Gillard ... "What on earth will she be making of the fact that the so-called regional pariah, Voreqe Bainimarama, is three times more popular with his own people than she is with hers?" Photo: Alexander Winkler / PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Graham Davis

Regional policy makers are reeling at the implications of a remarkable opinion poll that shows overwhelming public support in Fiji for Voreqe Bainimarama – widely regarded as a Pacific pariah for his 2006 coup and continuing refusal to bow to demands for an early election.

The poll – commissioned by the independent Australian think tank, the Lowy Institute – reveals that Bainimarama enjoys the support of 66 per cent of Fijians, with 39 per cent of those questioned strongly supporting the premise that he is doing a good job as prime minister.

The full report is also a snapshot of Fijian opinion on a host of other issues, including widespread irritation at Australia and New Zealand’s continuing intransigence on Fiji. Read more »

Poll manager Jenny Hayward-Jones with Dr Sitiveni Halapua, co-director PIDP, East-West Centre and Member of Parliament in Tonga. Photo: Alex Perrottet / PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Alex Perrottet

A leading Fiji academic led critical responses today to a new opinion poll giving a favourable view of regime leader Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama and the direction the country is taking.

Dr Steven Ratuva, senior lecturer in Pacific studies at the University of Auckland and an authority on regime change and electoral systems, questioned the poll methodology.

“A researcher would have a field day with this. The credibility of results depends on the credibility of the methodology,” he said. Read more »

Fiji's regime leader Voreqe Bainimarama ... high approval rating in Lowy Institute poll of the Fiji Islands' "voice". Photo: Graham Davis

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By PMC news desk

International polling in Fiji by the independent but conservative Australian foreign policy think tank, the Lowy Institute for International Policy, has revealed “strong satisfaction” with the performance of Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama as Prime Minister, says the institute.

“The results pose complex challenges both for the Fiji government and Pacific Island Forum leaders who are meeting this week in Auckland,” the institute announced at an event during the Forum in Auckland.

The poll  ‘Fiji at Home and in the World’ authored by Lowy Institute Melanesia director Jenny Hayward-Jones, surveyed more than 1000 Fijians on their views towards other countries, both internationally and in the Pacific region. Read more »

Fiji's Voreqe Bainimarama ... still plenty of clout in Melanesia as Forum loses influence. Photo: Graham Davis / Grubstreet

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Rowan Callick

A uniquely large number of world leaders are joining New Zealand’s John Key and Australia’s Julia Gillard at the Pacific Islands Forum summit that starts in Auckland tomorrow, but it is the figure who is banned from attending — Fiji’s military ruler Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama — who may cast the longest shadow over the meeting.

Such summits usually test the mettle of Australian and New Zealand leaders since so much weighs on how the dominant powers operate in the region.

But this year, Australia’s aims for the meeting are modest, so the Prime Minister may be able to use the forum as a place where she can regroup after her disastrous past month. Read more »

Two of the 1997 Constitution architects ... Fiji's Jai Ram Reddy (left) with Sir Paul Reeves in Auckland last year. Photo: PMC archive

Pacific Scoop:
Tribute – By Professor Wadan Narsey

Sir Paul Reeves  (RIP) contributed enormously not just to his Māori community, but also to the wider Pakeha community in New Zealand. That remarkable ability to transcend the ethnic barriers within New Zealand, also saw the international diplomatic community calling on him to help in resolving ethnically divided and strife-torn communities in South Africa, Guyana and Fiji.

I write briefly on his service to Fiji, although more will be written by others who have a more intimate knowledge.

To understand the difficult political challenges which Sir Paul faced and overcame, one needs to understand the debilitating century-old ethnic politics in Fiji, which eventually also undermined the work that Sir Paul Reeves did. Read more »

Fiji's military renegade Ratu Tevita Mara meets Coup 4.5. Photo: Coup 4.5

Pacific Scoop:
Opinion – By Professor Crosbie Walsh

The anonymous but popular blog Coup 4.5 has again peddled a Muslim scare-mongering item about Fiji.

The blog writes: “Intelligence sources say the CEO of Vodafone, Aslam Khan, was frisked and detained in a US airport on the suspicion he may be financing terrorist cells.”

From their first two words, they spin deceit. The “intelligence sources” are their informants, not some state intelligence source as many readers would suppose. Read more »

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Professor Crosbie Walsh

Fiji’s Public Emergency Regulations (or the PER as they are generally known) were introduced in April 2009 and have been extended – by Presidential decree – at three-monthly intervals ever since.

I have argued previously for all sides on the PER issue, saying that PER should be retained if there are specific, immediate threats against public order and government; lifted, at least in part, if there are only general threats; and lifted completely if the threats are unlikely to amount to anything.

A military government by inclination is likely to find control mechanisms convenient, but a military government committed to essential reforms, dialogue, constitutional and electoral reforms and elections in 2014 is not credible if restrictions are maintained without proper cause. Read more »