A New Zealand politician and human rights activist with a strong connection to Tonga’s Democracy movement and other Pacific activism has been farewelled after dying last week aged 80.

Keith Locke served as a former Green MP from 1999 to 2011.

While in Parliament, he was a notable critic of New Zealand’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan and the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002, and advocated for refugee rights.

• READ MORE: Other obituaries, reports on Keith Locke

He was appointed a Member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to human rights advocacy in 2021, received NZ Amnesty International’s Human Rights Defender award in 2012, and the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand’s Harmony Award in 2013.

Locke was often a voice for the Pacific in the New Zealand Parliament.

In 2000, he spoke out on the plight of overstayers who were facing deportation under the National Party government.

As the Green Party’s then immigration spokesperson, he supported calls for a review of the overstayer legislation.

Links to Pohiva
“We are a Polynesian nation, and we increasingly celebrate the Samoan and Tongan part of our national identity,” Locke said at the time.

“How can we claim as our own the Jonah Lomus and Beatrice Faumuinas while we are prepared to toss their relations out of the country at a moment’s notice?”

Locke had links to Tonga through his relationship with Democracy campaigner and later Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva, who died in 2019.

Locke defended Pohiva in 1996 when he was a spokesperson for the Alliance Party. He said he was horrified that Pohiva and two colleagues had been jailed for comments in their pro-democracy newspaper Kele’a.

He criticised the New Zealand government for keeping silent about what he described as a “gross abuse of human rights.”

In 2004, Locke called on the New Zealand government to speak out about what he called the suppression of the press in Tonga.

Locke, who was then the Greens foreign affairs spokesman, said several publications had been denied licences, including an offshoot of the New Zealand-produced Taimi ‘o Tonga newspaper.

Vale #KeithLocke, tireless and fearless campaigner for peace, justice and a sustainable future for a green planet … I’ll also remember him for friendship and commitment to independent truth publishing and OneWorld progressive bookshop. – @DavidRobie, editor, #AsiaPacificReport pic.twitter.com/SC0obJzfOA

— David Robie (@DavidRobie) June 21, 2024

Tribute by Asia Pacific Report editor David Robie.

‘Speak out as Pacific neighbour’
“We owe it to the Tongan people to support them in their hour of need.  We should speak out as a Pacific neighbour,” he said.

In 2007, ‘Akilisi was again charged with sedition, along with four other pro-democracy MPs, for allegedly being responsible for the rioting that took place following a mass pro-democracy march in Nuku’alofa.

“As the Greens’ foreign affairs spokesperson I went up to Tonga to support ‘Akilisi and his colleagues fight these trumped-up charges. I was shocked to find that the New Zealand government was going along with these sedition charges against five sitting MPs,” Locke said in an interview.

“I was in Tonga not long before the 2010 elections with a cross-party group of New Zealand MPs. We were helping Tongan candidates understand the intricacies of a parliamentary system.

“At the time I remember ‘Akilisi being worried that the block of nine ‘noble’ MPs could frustrate the desires of what were to be 17 directly-elected MPs. And so it turned out.

“Despite winning 12 of the popularly-elected 17 seats in 2010, the pro-democracy MPs were outvoted 14 to 12 when the votes of the nine nobles MPs were put into the equation.

“However, in the two subsequent elections (2014 and 2017) the Democrats predominated and ‘Akilisi took over as Prime Minister. I am not qualified to judge his record on domestic issues, except to say it couldn’t have been an easy job because of the fractious nature of Tongan politics.

“And ‘Akilisi has been in poor health.

‘Admirable stand’
“As Prime Minister he took an admirable stand on some important international issues, such as climate change. At the Pacific Island Forum he criticised those countries which stayed silent on the plight of the West Papuans.”

Locke said that Tonga may not yet be fully democratic, but that great progress had been made under Pohiva’s “humble and self-sacrificing leadership.”

Keith Locke was also an outspoken advocate for democracy and independence causes in Fiji, Kanaky New Caledonia, Palestine, Philippines, Tahiti, Tibet, Timor-Leste and West Papua and in many other countries.

His remembrance service was held with whānau and supporters at a packed Mount Eden War memorial Hall on Tuesday.

Dr Philip Cass is an editorial adviser for Kaniva Tonga. Republished as a collaboration between KT and Asia Pacific Report.

Warner Bros Discovery will struggle to retain viewers in New Zealand if it has no news operation, Newshub journalist Paddy Gower predicts, as he continues his crusade for someone to save at least part of its newsroom.

A grim 48 hours for news media has resulted in many jobs being lost in the sector — as TV3 confirmed the closure of Newshub, and TVNZ announced it was going ahead with axing its current affairs flagship Sunday, consumer affairs Fair Go and two news bulletins.

About 250 jobs are being lost in the shutdown of Three’s national news service, which will close in July.

Gower told RNZ Morning Report Warner Bros Discovery needed to get on and do a deal for another party to take over the news bulletin.

He was among seven senior Newshub journalists who pushed back against the company’s proposal and put forward their own plan.

The proposal, led by his colleague Michael Morrah, was “radical”, “aggressive” and would have pared the news operation back to the bone, he said.

It centred on the 6pm bulletin which brought in a lot of advertising revenue, retain the website and would later build up the digital operation.

“Basically it was a cutdown radical proposal to hang on to the 6pm bulletin and find digital solutions out into the future.”

While management gave them access to figures and helped them in other ways they ultimately decided not to go ahead.

He said when the closure was confirmed, there was a feeling of “the weight of history” at the loss of a taonga which Kiwis would miss when it disappeared.

“It’s gonna be a dark time for news in this country,” he said.

Gower said Warner Bros Discovery would have “a helluva time” keeping viewers without Newshub providing news and current affairs.

“We tried. That’s the Kiwi way. That’s the Newshub way.”

He said another media company, such as Stuff or NZME, could now come in and further their own news brand and their reputation by saving part of a significant news operation.

They would oversee the making of a 6pm news bulletin that would be sold to Warner Bros Discovery and in the process be working with one of the world’s leading media companies.

“That has to be a possibility . . . They would be seen to be saving news in New Zealand and that’s a big ups for them . . .

“The company that is able to get that deal done …. is going to get some incredible journalists on board to help them do it,” Gower said.

It would probably save about 40 to 50 jobs, he said.

Warner Brothers Discovery declined to be interviewed by Morning Report.

Broadcasting Minister accused of lack of vision
Former head of news at TV3 Mark Jennings believed Broadcasting Minister Melissa Lee was “all at sea” as the country veered towards a media crisis.

He found her response to the Newshub closure confusing and did not believe the cabinet paper she has been working on would provide anything beneficial.

“I think you’re likely to have three parties, New Zealand First, ACT and National, all with different points of view and I can’t see them agreeing on any forward course of action, particularly not with Melissa Lee who appears to have no vision here at all.”

Jennings said he was notsurprised the Morrah-Gower plan did not succeed, because employers had considered other options and then made up their minds before the consultation period began.

If an offer from an outside organisation did get the go-ahead, it would be a “basic product” and would be “news-light”, he said.

It might be shot on i-Phones and edited by journalists and would not resemble Newshub’s current flagship bulletin.

While both the pandemic and social media had lowered the quality threshold of what viewers might accept, it would still be compared to what TVNZ was screening.

“The challenge will be for them to hold on to their ratings and more importantly, their share. Their share has been decreasing over time and if it gets too much lower, they’ll find themselves back at square one really.”

Minister Lee was unwilling to be interviewed by Morning Report.

On Wednesday, she refused to tell RNZ once again what her plans to reform the sector were, citing cabinet confidentiality.

She said she was focused on ensuring New Zealand’s media industry was sustainable and modernised, and she was looking at reviewing the Broadcasting Act.

Although she has written a cabinet paper, she would not say what was in it.

Lee said she had talked to international companies on how they could support and increase New Zealand screen production, but it would not include a quota.

She said it would not have helped the situation at Newshub.

Not much scope for NZ on Air
New Zealand on Air chief executive Cam Harland said the agency had a limited ability to intervene because its remit was to provide funding for a large number of audiences across a range of genres.

He heads the agency responsible for distributing public funds but its budget isn’t nearly enough to address shortfalls.

Daily television news was expensive to produce, so he considered it unlikely NZ on Air would help much, he told Morning Report.

The loss of jobs and talent was “monumental” and NZ on Air bosses intended to meet with TVNZ and Newshub as well as senior journalists, such as Jennings, to get more information before making any decisions.

“We absolutely want to help . . .  so I guess our view now is: Can we be more innovative with what we’re funding, can we get more bang for the buck?”

The organisation was also faced with reviewing its spending in line with the government’s requirements for the public sector.

Union files claim against TVNZ

The union representing journalists has filed a claim against TVNZ alleging the company breached its own consultation requirements in its job cuts process.

E Tu’s negotiation specialist, Michael Wood, said the broadcaster should have involved its employees before the proposal was presented.

Talks were continuing with the Employment Relations Authority to see if a legal case could be heard as quickly as possible.

“It’s an urgent matter now . . . We’ll be trying to get an outcome there as soon as possible and we want to see an outcome that respects the process.”

He said mediation between the parties might be a part of the process.

While the union and employees had a small victory with a handful of jobs being saved, there was still “a massive loss of capacity” with the axing of several programmes.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Warner Bros Discovery has confirmed its plans to shut down Newshub in Aotearoa New Zealand, including its website and all TV news shows by July 5 — 294 staff will lose their jobs.

The company says no deal is in place yet with any third party to supply daily news.

Newshub staff learned of the company’s decision at a meeting fronted by Warner Bros Discovery’s Australia and New Zealand chief Glenn Kyne and its Asia-Pacific president James Gibbons today.

• READ MORE: NZ media: All Newshub operations to be shut down, 250 jobs to go
• TVNZ’s Sunday cancelled, broadcaster confirms
• TVNZ to cut Fair Go, midday and late night news bulletins
• TVNZ job cuts: Public asked to join ‘save our stories’ protest campaign
• RNZ News live blog on the cutbacks
• Other NZ news cutbacks reports

In a statement, Gibbons said there was “nothing anyone in our New Zealand networks business could have done better” to avoid the closure.

“It was a combination of very strong economic headwinds both in New Zealand and the global market,” he said.

“The downturn has been severe, and the bounce-back has not materialised as expected.”

Warner Bros Discovery first revealed its proposal to close Newshub on February 28. Newshub Michael Morrah told RNZ’s Midday Report many staff saw today’s decision as inevitable.

‘Many resigned themselves’
“The confirmation was still very upsetting and disappointing, but nothing like the shock of six weeks ago. Many had resigned themselves to the closure,” he said.

“I have worked here for 18 years. We believe in what we do. And know it is important to the people who watch — 900,000 every week. What happens to those people who relied on us to present key news and current affairs?

“And to the investigations that are being worked on?”

Gibbons said $74 million disappeared from broadcast TV advertising in New Zealand in 2023 alone. That was the single largest year-on-year drop over the last three decades outside of the Global Financial Crisis in 2007-8.

“Every business in its own market has to be financially sustainable, and we simply could not continue in our current form.”

Fresh annual figures released yesterday showed total TV advertising revenue in New Zealand TV fell from $517 million in 2022 to $443 million last year.  Digital advertising revenue is increasing but the vast bulk of that goes to offshore tech companies Google and Facebook.

Kyne said free-to-air and news operations were too expensive to run as they were. He was concerned that the move would leave TVNZ as the only service running free-to-air broadcast news, but said there was no other choice.

Impact on plurality
“We are deeply aware of the effect this is likely to have on the plurality of media voices in New Zealand. Having just one TV news operation in New Zealand — that is state-owned — will be an ongoing issue until it is solved.

“But as we noted on the day, it is simply impossible to continue operating in our current form.”

The final day for staff who have been made redundant will be on July 5, and that will also be the final day for the Newshub bulletin, the statement said.

When Newshub’s closure was first proposed in late February, staff were given six weeks to give feedback on the proposal.

“Myself and six colleagues suggested a stripped back Newshub live at 6 and retention of the Newshub (website) to transition from linear TV to a fully-digital model. We thought we had a profitable way forward.

‘We were told the option would be problematic for WBD and produce a downward trajectory for the business,“ Newshub’s investigations editor Michael Morrah told RNZ’s Midday Report.

Other alternative proposals to replace or continue Newshub were also considered amid heavy secrecy, bolstered by the use of non-disclosure agreements.

Considering proposals
In recent days media reports have indicated WBD has been considering proposals from other media companies to create a news service for the company’s channels.

New Zealand Herald media commentator Shayne Currie yesterday reported that Stuff was a leading contender for taking on the organisation’s 6pm news. Some have speculated that NZME, which owns the Herald and Newstalk ZB, could also have an interest.

WBD said today no arrangement with any third party was in place but Mediawatch understands the company has already rebuffed several and is only pursuing projects with one or two players.

Stuff reported yesterday that Stuff was “understood to be a likely contender”  but a spokesperson for Stuff declined to comment on whether it had been in talks with Warner Bros Discovery.

“The main thing is Newshub needs a lifeline. These people deserve a lifeline. Those people who are looking to do these deals, get on and get them done and save some of these people and save some news for Kiwis,” Newshub presenter Patrick Gower told reporters after today’s announcement.

Kyne said the company’s “door has been open to listening to all internal and external feedback and ideas, and we will continue to do so”.

“However, as of now, no deal regarding news output has been made.”

News archives
Kyne said the company was also looking to work with Nga Taonga to preserve its 30-year news archives.

Mediawatch understands that several staff made submissions calling on the company to preserve those archives, with fears that years of work — and New Zealand history — could be lost if they were deleted.

Newshub’s shutdown is the biggest and most far-reaching news closure in the post-covid era.

“Every time we think we’ve landed on stable footing, something comes along and makes it unstable again, forcing us to look at ways of further reducing costs,” Kyne said in a statement when the closure was first proposed.

“We’ve now reached a stage where any further reduction in costs means . . .  proposing to shut down the newsroom and the Newshub website.”

“Everyone can see that the media sector, here in New Zealand, and around the world is facing some very tough circumstances. While Warner Bros Discovery is a large global media company, each business is managed on its ability to sustain itself within the market it operates in.

“Subsidising losses for ongoing years indefinitely is not sustainable,” said Gibbons.

At the time, Warner Bros Discovery said its proposal was is to make the ThreeNow online app “the core of the model, supported by free-to-air linear channels” such as Three, Bravo, Eden, Rush and HGTV.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Journalists and media workers have criticised comments made by Aotearoa New Zealand’s newly-elected Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters — who claimed that a 2020 Labour government media funding initiative constituted “bribery” — as a threat to media freedom.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reports that it has joined its union affiliate, E Tū, in strongly disputing Peters’s comments, and urging the minister and other politicians to uphold New Zealand’s “proud tradition of press freedom”.

Peters has repeatedly accused reporters of receiving bribes and engaging in corrupt practices.

• READ MORE: Former broadcast minister defends NZ journalism fund, state-funded media independence
• Is Winston Peters right to call state-funded journalism ‘bribery’ – or is there a bigger threat to democracy?

Peters’ remarks relate to the participation of several media outlets, public broadcasters, and media initiatives in the Public Interest Journalism Fund (PIJF), a media support programme established in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking to journalists covering the first cabinet meeting of New Zealand’s new government on November 28, Peters asked journalists what they “had to sign before they get the money”, criticising the media professionals present for their perceived lack of transparency.

That same day, Peters claimed he was “at war” with the mainstream media, reports the IFJ.

On November 27, Peters accused the state-owned broadcasters Radio New Zealand (RNZ) and Television New Zealand (TVNZ) of accepting bribery, questioning their editorial independence and calling the funding initiative indefensible.

On November 24, Peters criticised media covering the new coalition’s signing ceremony for failing to give enough media coverage before the election, calling the journalists “mathematical morons”.

Avoided reporters’ questions
Since the release of the final election results on November 3, Peters has avoided questions from political reporters.

Peters is the only coalition leader to have not engaged with political reporters since the results were confirmed.

The PIJF was designed to address the dramatic ad revenue drop-off in 2020. The fund provided NZ$55 million (US$34 million) from 2021 and 2023 and was designed to support local news initiatives, specific projects, trainings, and public interest media.

On November 23, Peters, alongside the conservative National Party leader Christopher Luxon, who is now Prime Minister, and the libertarian ACT party, announced the formation of New Zealand’s sixth National-led government, following elections in October.

The E Tū said in a statement: “By spreading misinformation and supporting conspiracy theories, Mr Peters is placing journalists at risk. We urge Mr Peters, as well as other senior politicians and public figures, to support and protect our independent media, not attack it.

“While journalists strongly reject Mr Peters’ claims, we will all continue to cover him, New Zealand First, and all parties in an unbiased way.

“The media has an important role to play in a democracy, holding politicians to account and acting as a watchdog for the community.

“Our journalists’ daily work helps support and protect an environment of free debate and wide-ranging input, and we hope and trust all our political leaders’ efforts do, too.”

The IFJ said:“Peters’ ‘war’ on journalism is deeply concerning, especially from the deputy leader of a democratic nation.

“Misinformation spread by a senior political leader can validate dangerous conspiracy theories, and can endanger journalists and media workers. The IFJ strongly urges New Zealand’s senior politicians to uphold press freedom.”

The upcoming general election in Aotearoa New Zealand is poised to witness an unprecedented influx of around 250,000 first-time voters.

Data from the Electoral Commission shows that around 60,000 individuals will be eligible to vote for the first time this year after turning 18 since the 2020 election.

However, a more sizeable chunk of voters is expected to come from the roughly 200,000 individuals who will be eligible to vote for the first time after being issued fast-track residency visas in 2021.

• READ MORE: Other NZ election reports

Forty-nine-year-old Deepa Tripathi Chaturvedi is one such voter.

Having arrived in New Zealand in 2017 after a 20-year career as a broadcast journalist in India, Chaturvedi is looking forward to voting for the first time outside of India.

“I’m really excited to vote,” she says. “It’s my first time voting outside India. Secondly, I’d really like to see a change.”

Chaturvedi is concerned about the mounting cost of living in New Zealand, describing it as an increasingly arduous endeavor.

“Living in New Zealand is becoming incredibly difficult,” she says.

Home hopes look dim
Despite her reasonably steady income, the prospect of being able to purchase a home of her own looks dim.

“I believe in having my own place, but I just can’t afford it,” she says.

Chaturvedi is also concerned about the government’s immigration policies.

“I think it’s important to value your migrants and the current policies don’t reflect that,” she says.

Chaturvedi understands the importance of participating in the election.

Although Chaturvedi is unfamiliar with New Zealand’s mixed member proportional (MMP) electoral system, she wishes to educate herself about it before voting.

Chaturvedi also draws comparisons between voting in India and New Zealand.

Long queues in India
“There are voting booths in India I think every 2km, so it’s very convenient,” she says. “But the queues can be quite long. ”

Unlike New Zealand, which allows advance votes to be submitted, voters can only cast their ballots on election day in India.

She hopes that she won’t have to stand in long queues when she votes in Auckland for the upcoming October election.

Aravind Narayan Suresh, a 28-year-old IT professional and 2021 resident visa holder, shares Chaturvedi’s excitement about the upcoming election.

Having migrated to New Zealand as a student, Suresh is eager to take part in the democratic process once again.

“I have only voted in India and, now that I have an opportunity here, I’d love to participate in the democratic process again,” he says.

His optimism is tempered by the economic challenges he currently faces, including the high cost of living and petrol prices.

“I have my wife over here and I can’t support her with one job, so I’m thinking of doing two,” he says.

Awaiting a work visa
Suresh’s wife is a civil engineer but cannot work in New Zealand because she is still waiting to receive a work visa.

“We have been waiting for seven months,” he says.

Suresh understands his right to vote gives him an opportunity to effect change – whether his preferred choices win or lose.

He also emphasizes the importance of diverse and inclusive representation among candidates in Parliament, believing it reflects the values of the community.

“I think it’s really important to see representatives of the community at the parliament.”

Like Chaturvedi, Suresh is also educating himself about New Zealand’s MMP electoral system but says he has found the overall enrollment process to be relatively straightforward.

Jaikrishna Anil Kanmani, another first-time voter, is looking forward to the election with a touch of nostalgia for the vibrant electoral atmosphere in India.

NZ elections ‘a little dull’
“I feel like the elections in New Zealand are a little dull compared to India,” he says. “It’s a public holiday (in India) and everybody is on the streets.”

He describes New Zealand’s MMP system as confusing and wishes to learn more about the mechanics of it as the election draws near.

“There are members in Parliament who didn’t win their electorates,” he says. “That seemed weird at first to me.”

He says he’s learning more about the electoral system to better understand how it all works.

Concerns about New Zealand’s housing crisis resonate with Kanmani, prompting him to dismiss the idea of purchasing a home due to exorbitant costs.

“I’ve completely dropped the idea of buying a house,” he says. “With the current living costs and the wages, we earn, there’s no way I would be able to put a down payment for a house.”

Serena Wei, who arrived in New Zealand from China in 2018, confesses to being overwhelmed by the array of political parties and candidates.

“I’m still a little confused now,” Wei says. “On the day of the general election, should I vote for a political party or a person? Because I have never experienced it, and I don’t know how to vote.”

As a mother of two, she worries about the country’s education system and its recent reforms.

“The current reforms make the curriculum and exams less difficult,” she says. “If everyone is moving forward, our country is stagnant, and we may lose touch with the progressing countries.”

Emma Chan has recently obtained her New Zealand residency and is looking forward to the election.

“I believe that actively engaging in democratic voting is a fundamental responsibility as a member of the community, contributing to both my own future and the collective well-being of everyone,” Chan says, speaking on condition of using a pseudonym to protect her identity.

Chan highlights the inherent relationship between key issues such as safety, economic development, education and race relations. She emphasises the government’s role in formulating holistic, long-term policies to address these concerns.

Snowee Jiang, who has previously volunteered for elections but has never voted, wants to vote this year to have a say on social issues.

Jiang, who received the fast-track residency visa in 2021, seeks genuine representation in elected officials rather than a political spectacle. She also urges greater Chinese voter participation through enhanced awareness campaigns.

“I hope that the Chinese can increase the proportion of voting,” she says. “Many people will not vote, and many people don’t care. I hope there will be more publicity in this regard.”

According to the Electoral Commission, 3,871,418 Kiwis are eligible to vote on both the general and Māori rolls in this year’s election and, as of August 2023, about 88 percent had already enrolled.

Advance voting starts on October 2, and election day is Saturday, October 14.

Official results for the general election will be declared on November 3.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Research on climate crisis as the new target for disinformation peddlers, governance and the media, China’s growing communication influence, and journalism training strategies feature strongly in the latest Pacific Journalism Review.

Byron C. Clark, author of the recent controversial book Fear: New Zealand’s Hostile Underworld of Extremists, and Canterbury University postgraduate researcher Emanuel Stokes, have produced a case study about climate crisis as the new pandemic disinformation arena with the warning that “climate change or public health emergencies can be seized upon by alternative media and conspiracist influencers” to “elicit outrage and protest”.

The authors argue that journalists need a “high degree of journalistic ethics and professionalism to avoid amplifying hateful, dehumanising narratives”.

• READ MORE: The July 2023 PJR table of contents
• Other PJR editions

PJR editor Dr Philip Cass adds an article unpacking the role of Pacific churches, both positive and negative, in public information activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several articles deal with media freedom in the Pacific in the wake of the pandemic, including a four-country examination by some of the region’s leading journalists and facilitated by Dr Amanda Watson of Australian National University and associate professor Shailendra Singh of the University of the South Pacific.

They conclude that the pandemic “has been a stark reminder about the link between media freedom and the financial viability of media of organisations, especially in the Pacific”.

Dr Ann Auman, a specialist in crosscultural and global media ethics from the University of Hawai’i, analyses challenges facing the region through a workshop at the newly established Pacific Media Institute in Majuro, Marshall Islands.

Repeal of draconian Fiji law
The ousting of the Voreqe Bainimarama establishment that had been in power in Fiji in both military and “democratic” forms since the 2006 coup opened the door to greater media freedom and the repeal of the draconian Fiji Media Law. Two articles examine the implications of this change for the region.

An Indonesian researcher, Justito Adiprasetio of Universitas Padjadjaran, dissects the impact of Jakarta’s 2021 “terrorist” branding of the Free West Papua movement on six national online news media groups.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, media analyst Dr Gavin Ellis discusses “denying oxygen” to those who create propaganda for terrorists in the light of his recent research with Dr Denis Muller of Melbourne University and how Australia might benefit from New Zealand media initiatives, while RNZ executive editor Jeremy Rees reflects on a historical media industry view of training, drawing from Commonwealth Press Union reviews of the period 1979-2002.

Across the Tasman, Griffith University communication and journalism programme director Dr Kasun Ubayasiri presents a powerful human rights Photoessay documenting how the Meanjin (Brisbane) local community rallied around to secure the release of 120 medevaced refugee men locked up in an urban motel.

Monash University associate professor Johan Lidberg led a team partnering in International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) studies about “the world according to China”, the global media influence strategies of a superpower.

The Frontline section features founding editor Dr David Robie’s case study about the Pacific Media Centre which was originally published by Japan’s Okinawan Journal of Island Studies.

A strong Obituary section featuring two personalities involved in investigating the 1975 Balibo Five journalist assassination by Indonesian special forces in East Timor and a founder of the Pacific Media Centre plus nine Reviews round off the edition.

Pacific Journalism Review, founded at the University of Papua New Guinea, is now in its 29th year and is New Zealand’s oldest journalism research publication and the highest ranked communication journal in the country.

It is published by the Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN) Incorporated educational nonprofit.

“The people of Fiji don’t deserve to go through another coup.”

This was the view shared by Fiji Navy commander Captain Humphrey Tawake while speaking to The Fiji Times during the Fiji Navy Day celebrations at Stanley Brown Naval Base in Walu Bay, Suva, this week.

“Fiji, as a nation doesn’t need another coup,” said Tawake, who is also deputy RFMF commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF).

• READ MORE: Other Fiji coups reports

“The RFMF commander has made his stance and we will abide by that.

“We will abide by the rule of law, there will be no more coups.

“We will respect the democratic process that has taken place and we must be mindful that we all have a role to play.”

Captain Tawake said at the event on Thursday that people or institutions should stop using the RFMF for their personal or political agenda.

‘Steadfast’ over rule of law
“RFMF is a professional institution and we stand steadfast to the rule of law and democracy.

“I stand by the RFMF commander, and I want to reiterate that again.”

RFMF commander Major-General Ro Jone Kalouniwai said last week he had made it clear during the Commander’s Parade earlier this month that the constitutional process must be followed.

He said they would continue to abide by the rule of law and order and continue to respect the decision of the people for voting in this particular government — the ruling coalition of Sitiveni Rabuka, who is both a former coup leader and prime minister.

Meanwhile, he said Thursday’s event was about commemorating 48 years of existence and the institution’s humble beginning in 1975.

Arieta Vakasukawaqa is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Fiji’s Home affairs Minister has held an urgent meeting with the nation’s military chief after he expressed concern about the new People’s Alliance-led government.

The government, a three-party coalition led by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, has been in power for less than a month.

Major-General Jone Kalouniwai yesterday warned that the government was taking “shortcuts that circumvent the relevant processes and procedures” which could lead to “long-term national security consequences”.

• READ MORE: Fiji military chief’s sharp criticism of ‘ambition, speed’ of changes sparks anxiety
• Fiji’s government summons top military commander
• Other Fiji politics reports

Kalouniwai’s statement also highlighted the military’s “guardian role” in the constitution, which he claimed was to ensure “excesses [of power] of the past are not repeated”.

The Home Affairs Minister, Pio Tikoduadua, who has responsibility for defence, said he and Kalouniwai had a frank exchange of views, but both were committed to respecting the result of last month’s election.

In a statement, Tikoduadua said he assured the commander that all the government’s actions had been guided by the law.

“The commander and I have spoken, and we have expressed our views frankly to each other. We both believe in the rule of law, democracy, and the rights of every citizen to go about their affairs in peace,” he said.

‘Respecting will of people’
“We are both committed to respecting the will of the people through the outcome of the 2022 general election and protecting that decision, let come what may.

“No one should forget that the commander and the military have also helped us navigate our way, democratically, to a new government a month ago when many people were uncertain that Fiji could achieve a successful transition of government.

“All of us are learning. We are slowly undoing all the misconceptions about democratic governance that have been allowed to take root over the last 16 years. Our institutions are absorbing the impact of a new govemment with different ideas and new priorities.

“But through all of this, we will be talking to each other, in the spirit of consultation to provide the best for the Fijian people.”

The FBC News reports Prime Minister Rabuka said he was not concerned about the public utterances made by Jone Kalouniwai.

He said he had no concerns over the relationship he shared with the military, and he was confident in the RFMF leadership and also the force members.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

Fiji’s Minister of Finance and deputy Prime Minister Professor Biman Prasad says all coalition partners in the new government have agreed to a closer relationship with the Suva-based regional University of the South Pacific (USP).

He said government would restore confidence in USP and respect the governance structure of the institution.

Professor Biman Prasad said that it was a commitment made by all coalition partners in government.

• READ MORE: Professor thrilled over USP return – Fiji to pay $90m university debt
• Other USP reports

He said Fiji would now be “a real partner” with USP.

“We’re going to restore that confidence, we’re going to respect the governance structure of the university,” he said.

“This means that when the university council makes a decision, we as members in that council will respect that decision, unlike the previous government and their reps, who disregarded it because they didn’t win in the council.

“Things didn’t go in their favour; they tried to [withhold] the grant of the university through some bogus claim that there should be more investigation.

“None of that was true, none of that was reasonable.”

Vice-chancellor ban already lifted
He said the ban on vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia, who was forced to become based at USP’s Samoa campus after being deported from Fiji in 2021, had already been lifted.

“As you know, the Prime Minister has already lifted the ban on Professor Pal Ahluwalia who was deported in the middle of the night,” he said.

“That was a sad thing for this country — it was an attack on democracy, it was an attack on academic freedom.

“So we are very pleased that our government has been able to remove that and we look forward to a very cooperative relationship with the University of the South Pacific and indeed with all other universities in the country because we believe that empowering the universities, giving them academic freedom, giving them autonomy is good for our students, good for our staff, good for the country.”

Professor Prasad said the government would work closely with tertiary institutions in the country.

“This government is going to work closely with the universities and other tertiary institutions to make sure that we empower them, we use resources at those universities to help government to work in policy areas, analyse data.

“As a government, we are going to be very, very liberal with the academic community in this country because we want them to know that this is a government which is going to be open, which is going to help them do research because we will not be afraid of critical research being done by academics, whether they are in Fiji or from outside.

“They will have access to data wherever possible. They will have access to the processes and the support to do research in critical areas.

“That will be very, very important for the government.”

#Fiji plans to ‘restore confidence’ in USP partnership, says Professor Prasad #AsiaPacificReport @fijitimes @bimanprasad #FijiPol #education #academicfreedom @USPlibrary @pal_vcp @ShailendraBSing @USPWansolwara @shrek45 https://t.co/MHM0kTlr2k pic.twitter.com/tXybbQwXkz

— David Robie (@DavidRobie) January 3, 2023

Half century of innovation
Pacific Media Watch reports that the University of the South Pacific is one of only two regional multinational universities in the world — the other is in the West Indies.

USP is jointly owned and governed by 12 member countries — Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The university has campuses in all member countries with Fiji having three campuses.

For more than a half century, USP has been leading the Pacific with distinctive contributions in research, innovation, learning, teaching and community engagement.

Rakesh Kumar is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Democracy! We may differ in how we understand and value democracy. But what is the essence of democracy?

On this special day, when we are reminded about democracy, perhaps it is apt that we should hear out the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

This day — September 15 — is listed by the United Nations as the International Day of Democracy.

• READ MORE: Other Pacific democracy reports

Whatever your take is on this special day, whatever it means to you, and whether there is value in it, perhaps we need the space and time to understand it. Perhaps we may then place appropriate value on democracy, understand it, and appreciate what it stands for.

The UN states this day “provides an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world”.

In his speech for the 15th anniversary of the day, Guterres said: “Yet across the world, democracy is backsliding. Civic space is shrinking.

“Distrust and disinformation are growing. And polarisation is undermining democratic institutions.”

Raising the alarm
Now, he said, was the time to raise the alarm.

He said it was time to reaffirm that democracy, development, and human rights are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. He said it was time to stand up for the democratic principles of equality, inclusion, and solidarity. He spoke about the media and its place in society.

“This year, we focus on a cornerstone of democratic societies – free, independent, and pluralistic media,” he said.

“Attempts to silence journalists are growing more brazen by the day – from verbal assault to online surveillance and legal harassment – especially against women journalists.

“Media workers face censorship, detention, physical violence, and even killings – often with impunity.

“Such dark paths inevitably lead to instability, injustice and worse.

“Without a free press, democracy cannot survive. Without freedom of expression, there is no freedom.

Joining forces for freedom
“On Democracy Day and every day, let us join forces to secure freedom and protect the rights of all people, everywhere.”

In the face of all that, we remind ourselves of our role as a newspaper company.

We are sure about where we want to be, and the role we can play to move our beautiful country, Fiji, forward. We are comforted by the fact that thousands of people place great value on democracy and on information.

We know we can be a forum where issues that are relevant to our multiracial mix of people can be raised, discussed and debated.

We appreciate the fact that there must be value placed on the dissemination of information that is fair, credible and balanced.

That would mean placing on a very high pedestal the importance of news that will inform, educate, and create awareness of issues pertinent to our various communities, and ultimately nurture or trigger important discussions, irrespective of where it is you sit on the political divide.

Democracy! How important is it in the greater scheme of things? Do we understand it? How much value do we place on it? Today is a special day!

This Fiji Times editorial under the title “Value on democracy” was published on 15 September 2022. Republished with permission.

Papua New Guineans, your future is in your hands, vote wisely.

As the campaign trail wound up its last hours at the weekend, voters were being urged to keep their future in mind when choosing and voting this election starting tomorrow.

Alvin Gia Huk, an independent candidate, and runner up in the 2017 National General Elections for the Mendi-Munihu Open seat in Southern Highlands Province is encouraging voters to not repeat the mistakes made in the past when electing people who didn’t have their interest at heart.

He said voters needed to make wiser decisions for long term benefits for their children, the district and the province as a whole.

• READ MORE:  Titanic power struggle tipped for PNG’s ‘game changer’ election
• Other PNG election reports

“Don’t follow money and materials today and spend the next five years being neglected of your basic right to services. You have the power to change your course in the next week, to receive what is rightfully yours and have a better quality of life,” he said.

Among other policies, he said a change in voters’ attitudes was what he had been promoting and encouraging throughout the campaign period.

“I have been educating voters since last elections to not vote with a cargo cult mentality or based on family lines, tribal ties and vote for quality”.

He admits it has been a challenge breaking the cargo cult mentality but he sees some progress from the previous elections.

Voters have become more educated and aware of what they deserve and what qualities they want in their leaders.

The PNG elections run from July 4 to 22.

Asia Pacific Report’s coverage of the PNG general election is being boosted by partnerships with media groups such as the independent Inside PNG, The National, PNG Post-Courier and RNZ Pacific. 

Hundreds of anti-mandate protesters remained on the New Zealand Parliament lawn today as health officials reported a big increase in covid-19 cases nationally.

But some have been driven away by the heavy rain and the gale force winds from the tailend of Cyclone Dovi lashing the capital Wellington.

The Health Ministry reported that the number of new community covid cases in New Zealand had almost doubled today, with a record 810 new cases.

• READ MORE: Covid-19 update: 810 new community cases in New Zealand today
• Covid-19 protest at Parliament enters sixth day
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

In a statement, the ministry said there were 32 new cases in hospital, with cases in Auckland, Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellington and Christchurch hospitals.

None are in ICU and the average age of current hospitalisations is 62.

Plastic mats being used to cover the mud at the protest occupation are being picked up by the wind and thrown across the precinct.

A man began speaking through a megaphone at lunchtime, but demonstrators do not have the full sound system setup of previous days.

Calling for PM Ardern
Some are calling out to Parliament and asking where Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is.

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson, who is also the local MP for Wellington Central,  earlier warned that although people had a right to protest when “they threaten, harass and disrupt people and a whole city they lose that right”.

Parliament’s buildings are largely empty with politicans not returning to the capital until Tuesday.

The playlist booming through Parliament’s loudspeakers changed about 11am, and now includes an out of tune recorder rendition of “My Heart Will Go On”, the Titanic theme song by Celine Dion.

UK musician James Blunt earlier posted on Twitter telling the New Zealand police to contact him if the Barry Manilow music, which was playing, did not deter protestors.

His suggestion has been enacted, with his song ‘You’re Beautiful’ now on rotation.

Photo essay: Parliament grounds occupation https://t.co/ja3dOhTmah

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) February 13, 2022

Both songs and the government’s spoken message advising the crowd to leave the grounds are being met with loud booing and chants of “freedom”.

Streets blocked by cars
Molesworth Street remains blocked by cars, campervans and trucks and Metlink has stopped all buses using its Lambton Interchange until further notice because of the protest.

Retailers say disruption to surrounding streets has also affected their trade.

Superintendent Scott Fraser said police would continue to have a significant presence at Parliament grounds and are exploring options to resolve the disruption.

In its regular statement today, the Health Ministry noted that there had been a number of rumours circulating about possible cases of covid-19 linked to the protest.

However, the Regional Public Health Unit had confirmed that there were currently no notified positive cases linked to it.

The current cases are in the Northland (13), Auckland (623), Waikato (81), Bay of Plenty (11), Lakes (11), Hawke’s Bay (8), MidCentral (3), Whanganui (6), Taranaki (5), Tairawhiti (3), Wellington (15), Hutt Valley (10), Nelson Marlborough (2), Canterbury (3), South Canterbury (2) and Southern (14) district health boards (DHBs).

There were also 18 cases in managed isolation — five of them are historical.

There were 454 cases in the community reported yesterday and eight cases reported at the border.

There have now been 20,228 cases of covid-19 in New Zealand since the pandemic began.

Last night, it was also revealed six staff members and seven patients across two wards for the elderly at Auckland City Hospital had tested positive for covid-19.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Journalist and publisher Maria Ressa has called on tech and social media giants to practise “enlightened self-interest” amid a global call for platforms to step up in the fight against disinformation.

“The world that you’ve created has already shown that we must change it. I continue to appeal for enlightened self-interest,” said Ressa, chief executive and founder of Rappler, in an online lecture for the Facebook and the Big Lie series.

Ressa, a veteran journalist and Nobel Peace laureate who will be receiving the award this Friday, has been studying, reporting on, and sounding the alarm against the use of social media platforms as a means to spread lies and hate.

• READ MORE: Rappler’s Maria Ressa, Russia’s Dmitry Muratov win 2021 Nobel Peace Prize

The Rappler boss herself has been the subject of harassment online and of legal cases against her in the Philippines.

Platforms like Facebook, said Ressa, give the same weight on posts, whether it is a lie or a fact, in a bid to increase user engagement.

While it has meant more revenue for the platforms, it also means that posts that spark emotion — whether or not they are based on fact — gain the most traction online.

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen had earlier revealed that the algorithm for instances, puts weight on “angry” reactions more than regular likes.

‘Moderate the greed’
“In the Philippines, we say ‘moderate the greed.’ [These platforms] are part of our future, that’s why we’re partners,” she explained.

The stakes are even higher in countries like the Philippines, which will be electing a new president in May 2022.

“Why we must fight disinformation. It weakens, and ultimately subverts, democracy, by undermining the factual basis of reality, by denying the standards of truth.”

— #FightDisinfo

“We cannot not do anything because we in the Philippines have elections on May 9. If we do not have integrity of facts, we won’t have integrity of elections,” warned Ressa.

Platforms, after all, are anything but clueless and helpless.

Facebook, for instance, put more weight on “news ecosystem quality” or NEQ after employees found that election-related information were spreading on the platform in the days following the US elections in 2021.

The NEQ, according to The New York Times, is a “secret internal ranking it assigns to news publishers based on signals about the quality of their journalism.”

The lies asserted that the elections were rigged and that Donald Trump, then US president, was the true winner.

The ‘big lie’ persists
he “big lie,” as it has since been called, persists to this day.

Ressa said she woud be asking Facebook “behind the scenes and in front,” via Rappler’s partnerships, to turn up the NEQ locally.

Increasing the weight of the NEQ, at least in the US, meant that for a while, mainstream media accounts — The New York Times, CNN, and NPR — were more prominent on the Facebook feed than hyperpartisan pages.

“The foundational problem is that facts and lies are treated equally, which is what has poisoned the information ecosystem,” added Ressa.

Duterte, who won the 2016 elections by a wide margin in a plurality, is among the first national candidates to effectively use social media in a Philippine election.

Social media hasn’t just changed how regular citizens act and candidates campaign, it has also changed sitting leaders’ tactics.

“Leaders in the past that would take over, their first challenge is always how to unite people. Now, with social media because of the incentive schemes, we’re seeing leaders awarded if they divide,” said Ressa.

More manipulation tools
“Illiberal governments have gotten more tools to manipulate people,” she added. Rappler investigations later found that pro-Duterte networks used fake accounts to spread lies and disinformation well into his term as president.

Rappler started out as a Facebook page in mid-2011 and has since grown to be among the leading news sites in the Philippines. The news organisation faces at least seven active pending cases before different courts in the Philippines.

These are on top of online attacks over its reporting on the Duterte administration, including its bloody “war on drugs” and allegations of corruption among the President’s allies.

Ressa and a former researcher were convicted in June 2020 for a cyber libel law that hadn’t even been legislated when the article first came out.

Ressa is the first Filipino individual awardee of the Nobel Peace Prize and is the only woman in this year’s roster of laureates.

Ressa won the Peace Prize alongside Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov.

They won the prize “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”

Republished from Rappler with permission.

With no plans to evacuate their citizens from Honiara, the international community is closely monitoring the situation in the Solomon Islands following a week of political unrest.

There was an air of calm across Honiara this weekend.

Resident Claire Percel puts it down to the arrival of Australian and Papua New Guinea defence forces to help the local police.

• READ MORE: Other Solomon Islands crisis reports

She said the reinforcements had “really helped the situation but we’re still nervous”.

“Roadblocks now set up in key locations and I’ve seen them check vehicles. Local businesses have started cleaning up the streets and removing the burnt vehicles.

“I managed to get out of the house today for a grocery shop and visit some family. It was a really good change of scenery. I took my kids with me, it was a very difficult conversation trying to explain why this happened,” Percel said.

There was rioting and looting across the capital following a protest at Parliament on Wednesday calling for the Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to stand down.

Protesters angry over China
The protesters are angry at their government’s move to establish diplomatic ties with China, after decades of relations with Taiwan. Sogavare has refused to resign.

The tension escalated on Friday when more than 100 protesters reached Sogavare’s residence, throwing rocks while police with riot shields fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Australia and Papua New Guinea have deployed their defence force personnel to help the local police control rioting anti-government protesters.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Solomons reached out to his government for help. But he added Canberra was monitoring the situation in Honiara.

New Zealand officials are in contact with their citizens in Honiara and are aware that the travel plans of some have been disrupted.

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the government had not yet received a formal request for assistance from the Solomon Islands government.

“We are not activating evacuation plans at this stage but remain in contact with relevant partners on the ground and are monitoring events closely.

“The New Zealand High Commission is providing Safe Travel advice to New Zealanders in Solomon Islands, including to follow the instructions of local authorities.

“New Zealanders in Solomon Islands should not rely on New Zealand government-assisted departures in an emergency,” the MFAT spokesperson said.

Fijians safe, government says
Fiji’s government said its citizens in Honiara were safe.

Fiji’s consul-general to the Solomon Islands, Atueta Balekana, assured family members of the 400 Fijians living in Honiara their loved ones were safe.

The only unfortunate incident for the Fijian community in Honiara, he said, was the torching of one of its members’ shops.

Balekana also said a former Fijian soldier working as a caretaker at one of Honiara’s biggest hotels was confronted by rioters.

However, the couple who own Oceanic Marine Equipment Ltd are safe and the security officer had sought the aid of hotel employees that were loyal to the Honiara-based Malaitans to protect the property.

“We have issued an advisory for all Fijians in the Honiara vicinity not to get involved in the rioting and to leave them as they are,” Balekana said.

No evacuation plan
“We have not come up with an evacuation plan as yet, but if things escalate we would have to resort to one.

“At this stage, we do not expect the situation to escalate any further as security forces have stepped in to control the situation.”

Balekana said the Fijian community’s contribution to the Solomon Islands’ development is widely respected and “we do not think that we are under any threat”.

“The Solomon islanders treasure our relations but it is good to always approach these situations with caution.”

Balekana said more than 45 Fijian citizens worked in Honiara, while there were more than 300 Fijians married to Solomon islanders.

Unrest forces workers home
Rotuman Kaitu Aisake arrived in Honiara in 2019.

Aisake said he immediately adjusted well to life in the Solomon Islands. He welcomed the locals and the lifestyle.

The recent events in the city took Aisake by surprise. He grew up in Fiji and had experienced political unrest.

Aisake said his office was among several businesses torched and looted by angry protesters on Friday.

Employees have been told to remain at home until further notice.

“The riots have always been politically motivated and they’ve always been targeting the township and industrial areas,” he said.

“The advice has always been consistent: just stay home. We will not return to work until the security situation can be confirmed that it is okay.”

Plunged into ‘darkness’
Aisake warned that the political unrest in the Solomons has plunged the country further into “darkness”.

“This already had a huge impact without the lockdown. Our communities have already been deeply impacted. Unemployment, crime rates have gone up so socially everything is dysfunctional.

“The bright side is that we’ve managed to keep covid out of our borders but now with this, this rioting – whichever way you try to look at it, the impact is really bad though.”

Aisake hopes the arrival of security forces from Australia and Papua New Guinea helps stabilise the volatile situation in Honiara.

Tough times ahead, says ex-NZ resident
Former New Zealand resident John Wopereis said it had been a “tough week for everyone”.

He moved from Nelson to the Solomon Islands four years ago.

Wopereis said the events that took place in Honiara took his family and friends by surprise.

“This all happened so suddenly. We didn’t have anytime to prepare our families with food or gas – with businesses being burned, there’s a bank branch that got burned too.

“Hundreds of Solomon Islanders unemployed. Where are they going to get their money to feed their families? In a couple of weeks, it’s going to get very bad because there’s going to be a shortage of everything. There’s nothing left.”

He said the unrest may have started as “something political but spiralled out of control”.

Wopereis said people were taking advantage of the conflict with majority of them violating the laws.

‘Totally out of control’
“People are not respecting what is being asked of them so whether or not we did have a lockdown or not, I think it’s just gone totally out of control. It’s very sad because it’s not only men, it’s children too. I’ve seen kids walking around with batteries, with cartons of soft drinks. It’s total chaos,” he said.

“I do feel that the Solomon Islands will bounce back from this. The events that unfolded really exposed a lot of underlying societal issues in the country that the nation can learn from and build back better.”

Meanwhile, an Air Kiribati crew are stranded in Honiara after arriving hours before the conflict started on Wednesday.

Pilot Captain Salote Mataitini said she was concerned at the escalating unrest in the country.

Mataitini and a colleague had only arrived in Honiara from Tarawa when the protests began.

She said their flight to Brisbane later that day was cancelled but they are now both safe in a hotel.

“I guess as a pilot you are really calm in stressful situations, I guess once I get back to Tarawa I will think about this experience.”

The Air Kiribati crew will leave Honiara in two weeks.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Fiji’s opposition MPs who were arrested after their criticism of a government land bill say they will not be intimidated or silenced.

Police have since released several leaders of the opposition who were arrested late Sunday.

One of those arrested, the National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad, said he was wanted in relation to his party’s criticism of government moves to amend the iTaukei Land Trust Act in Parliament in recent days.

• READ MORE: Former Fiji prime minister detained by police over Land Bill comments
• WATCH VIDEO: ‘Gutless Fiji government lacking courage and compassion’

After two hours of questioning, he was later released, telling RNZ Pacific that it felt like an attack on Fiji’s democracy.

“We don’t blame the police. This is coming from the government. They are using police to oppress the opposition’s political leaders, and that’s not the way democracy works.”

Prasad said the government failed to consult the public properly over the bill, and there are now calls to withdraw it because it is seen as abusing the rights of indigenous landowners.

“We are elected members of Parliament. Our job is to continue to speak and we are not going to be intimidated by such tactics by the government to silence the opposition who have an important contribution to make in the process of any lawmaking in the country.”

Accused of ‘malicious act’
Another leading opposition MP, Lynda Tabuya, was also taken into custody and accused of a “malicious act” by police for her social media posts about the Land Bill.

She said she was accused of a malicious act by police for criticising the government’s moves to push through an indigenous Land Bill.

Critics claim that an amendment removes a protection provided via the iTaukei Land Trust Board which was set up to protect indigenous landowners’ rights.

Tabuya had given a blunt message to Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama via social media:

“We are sick and tired of all the bullying and fear mongering. We are sick and tired of all the death and destruction allowed on your watch because of your recklessness,” she said.

“We are sick and tired because you don’t give a damn. You don’t give a damn about iTaukei, you don’t give a damn about human rights.”

The Fiji government and police have been approached for comment, but there has been no response for an interview.

However, over the weekend – before the arrests were made – Bainimarama did speak out for the first time condemning his opposition leaders on Facebook.

“These are a bunch of urban elite who are nothing but stirrers. Only a few control the show, and they become the gatekeepers of what is right and what is wrong.”

Bainimarama defended the government’s planned amendment to land legislation.

“Even this amendment makes ultimately iTaukei land a lot more attractive. It removes bureaucracy without undermining any of the protections. We should not be concerned about a piddly thing such as this when we should all be happy about it.”

Meanwhile, Acting Police Commissioner, Rusiate Tudravu said his officers were not questioning the politicians for the purpose of intimidation, but as a pro-active means to find out the truth.

He was reported in local media as saying not everyone who was brought in for questioning would be charged.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

I wasn’t invited to the inaugural Vanuatu media awards a couple of weeks ago. Nor was I asked to participate.

Instead, I spent the weekend preparing the final draft of the Media Association of Vanuatu’s Code of Ethics and Practice. I am proud to say it was adopted by the MAV executive last Friday.

If I had been there, and if I had been asked to say something, this is what I would have said (seriously: when did I ever wait for someone to ask me for my opinion?): Journalism isn’t just a profession; it’s a public service. It consists of sharing, broadcasting or publishing information in the public interest.

• READ MORE: The Media Association of Vanuatu FB page

That’s the first paragraph in the new preamble of an updated Media Code of Ethics and Practice.

This code is integral to our work. It guides us from day to day. It tells us what we must do, what we should do, and what we should aspire to. It will help us serve the community better.

By describing how we should report the news, it helps us to decide what is news, and what’s not.

I agreed to help with this final draft because I know how important it is to think carefully about these things. Agonising over each word of this code has been an invaluable process for me. It’s taught me new things. It’s reinforced others. And it’s led me to do the one thing required of every reporter:

Challenge assumptions
Challenge every single assumption.

Reporting starts with asking questions. Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Socrates, one of humanity’s most famous inquiring minds, reportedly said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

The professional journey of every reporter begins with that phrase.

The Media Association of Vanuatu awards 2021. Image: MAV

In that spirit of examination, I want to take a moment to consider where we are as a media community, where we’ve come from, and where we need to go.

Vanuatu’s media can congratulate themselves for a number of things:

Our populace has a more nuanced and subtle understanding of the law and governance than many others. We joke about bush lawyers, but our interest in the law — and respect for it — is a product of how we in the media portray it.

We are bound to defend and protect the truth. The truth is the seed we sow. And from that seed, we reap a better democracY.

— Dan McGarry

Understanding politics
The same is true of our understanding of politics and Parliamentary procedure. Vanuatu follows Parliament the way some nations follow football. Our society is more engaged with the process of government than a great many others. The media plays a role in that, and we should be proud of it.

The status of women has advanced by leaps and bounds, both in media industry, and in society at large. Of course, the lioness’ share of the work has been done by two generations of fearless women who have campaigned tirelessly, selflessly to improve their lot.

But we have been there to mark their progress, to celebrate their wins, and to shine a light on the countless obstacles that still impede their progress.

The number of prosecutions and convictions for spousal abuse, sexual violence and other gender-based crimes is rising. These crimes are still happening far too often, but we can fairly say that the new, tougher sentences being handed out are a result of an awareness that we helped raise.

Our nation’s environmental awareness has been assisted greatly by the media. Again, we aren’t the ones saving the planet, but we are celebrating the people who do.

By giving space to the wisdom of kastom and the knowledge of science, we can exercise our right and our duty to protect this land.

The list of our achievements is long. I’m grateful that we finally found time to recognise and celebrate them. We have much to be proud of, and we should take this moment to applaud ourselves for a job well done.

About our failures
Now… let’s talk about our failures.

The Code of Ethics requires that we be frank, honest and fair. It also instructs us not to leave out any uncomfortable facts just because they don’t fit the narrative. But we cannot ignore the fact that we could do much, much more, and we could do far, far better.

Fear still dominates and diminishes us. Don’t pretend it’s not there. And don’t you dare tell me it hasn’t made you back off a story. Every single press conferences reeks of faltering confidence.

We’re all guilty of it. Every single one of us. Back in 2015, I made sure my ABC colleague Liam Fox was in the room when Marcellino Pipite announced that he had exercised his power as Acting Head of State and pardoned himself and his cronies.

I made sure he was there because I knew he would ask the one question that mattered: “Aren’t you just trying to save your own skin?”

I’m grateful to Liam for stepping up. But now I wish I’d been the one who had the courage to ask.

We have to find a way past our fear, and we can only do that together. If we all enter the room ready to ask hard questions, it’s easier for each one of us to quit wishing we could and just do it.

Stand up for each other
We have to learn to stand up for each other. Ten years ago, media pioneer Marc Neil-Jones was savagely assaulted by a minister of state.

That bullying act of injustice upset me deeply. It’s also what inspired me to take Marc’s place when his health forced him to step aside.

But what upset me even more was the failure of the media community to say one thing, and say it clearly: Violence against the media is never OK.

Never.

The only way we can be sure that those days of violent intimidation are past is if we hold that line, and condemn any act of coercion or violence loudly and in one voice.

To this day, I’m ashamed that we didn’t do at least that much for Marc.

Where is Marc’s lifetime achievement award? How much longer are we going to ignore his bravery, his leadership? Is his courage and determination going to be forgotten?

Not by me, it won’t.

Standing up to threats
I know how hard it is to stand up to disapproval, verbal abuse, threats of violence, abusive language, rumours, lies and prejudice. I know how hard it is to stand up to my own peers, to take it on the chin when I find out I’m wrong, and to refuse to bend when I know I’m right.

I’ve learned this lesson: They can take your job. They can take your livelihood. They can stab you in the back. They can grind you down. They can attack your dignity, they can shake your confidence.

But they can’t change the truth. Because it’s not my truth, or yours, or theirs.

You can find another place to work. You can find other ways to ply your trade. You can bear up under pressure, even when nobody else believes you can. You can learn to carry on.

You can do all of that, if you’re faithful to the truth. The truth is what we serve, not the director, the producer, the editor.

The truth is our republic. We have a duty to defend it. All of it. Not just the bits that please us. All of it. All the time. Even when it costs us. Especially when it costs us.

We are bound to defend and protect the truth. The truth is the seed we sow. And from that seed, we reap a better democracy.

Holding power to account
Democracy unchallenged isn’t democracy. The people can’t rule if they can’t ask questions.
This principle underpins the media’s role in keeping democracy healthy, and rebuilding it when it’s under threat. The role of the media is to hold power to account.

In Vanuatu, this basic idea needs to be better understood by the government and the governed alike. We can do this by helping journalists better understand their role, and helping them get what they need to fulfil that role more effectively.

The revised Media Code of Ethics and Practice is a milestone on that road. But it’s meaningless if we don’t stand by it.

To my media colleagues, I say: Forget your jealousies, your rivalries. Reject pride, collusion and corruption wherever you see it, even in yourself. Especially in yourself.

Stand with MAV. Uphold this code, and we will stand together with the truth. Because the truth is our republic.

Dan McGarry is former media director (pending an appeal) of the Vanuatu Daily Post / Buzz FM and independent journalist and he held that position since 2015 until the government blocked his work permit in 2019. His Village Explainer is a semi-regular newsletter containing analysis and insight focusing on under-reported aspects of Pacific societies, politics and economics.

Samoa’s judiciary sent a powerful message today to the other two branches of the country’s democracy amid a political crisis branded by critics as an attempted coup by the outgoing government that has held power for four decades.

Chief Justice Satiu Simativa Perese along with all members of the Samoan judiciary walked up to the doors of the Fale Fono (Parliament House) expecting the 17th Parliament to convene this morning, as ruled by the Supreme Court yesterday afternoon, reports Samoa Global News.

Just minutes before 9.30am the Samoan judiciary, escorted by Police Commissioner Su’a Fuiavailiili Egon Keil, walked in solidarity from the courthouse at Mulinu’u towards Parliament House.

• READ MORE: RNZ updates on the Samoa crisis

A large crowd seated inside tents gave a loud cheer as the judiciary walked past them towards the front doors of the assembly, reports Samoa Global News.

The Chief Justice reached out his hands to open the doors. Finding them locked, he turned, paused for a second, and then made his way back through the crowd towards the courthouse.

Every member of Samoa’s judiciary walked in solidarity behind Chief Justice Satiu as the people of Samoa looked on.

“The symbolic stance to follow the rule of law taken by the judiciary sent a strong message to the other two pillars of Samoa’s democratic government — that they stand by the rule of law, enacted by Parliament, set down by the courts, and implemented by the executive,” reports Sina Retzlaff for the Samoa Global News.

FAST members and hundreds of invited guests arrived well before 9am at Mulinu’u and sat under a tent in front of Parliament House, awaiting the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly.

The Supreme Court had ruled that a proclamation to suspend the opening of Parliament was unlawful.

The court had also ruled that a previous proclamation by the Head of State directing Parliament to convene as required by Samoa’s Constitution within 45 days of an election — today Monday, May 24 – was still legal.

The Supreme Court had also directed that copies of the judgment be immediately delivered to the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, together with the Attorney-General and the Head of State.

The majority FAST party — with 26 seats to the 25 of the incumbent Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) — described the caretaker government’s actions this morning in locking it out of Parliament as “tantamount to a coup,” reports RNZ Pacific.

However, a swearing in ceremony was held later today in the tent outside Parliament, with Li’o Papalii Masipau being sworn in as the new Speaker. He delivering a general speech about what it meant to be a member of Parliament.

Fiame ‘sworn in’ as PM
Prime Minister-elect Fiame Naomi Mata’afa was sworn in at the ad hoc convening of Parliament to become Samoa’s first woman prime minister.

“This would have been a beautiful moment, had it not been for the legal issues at play,” tweeted journalist Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson.

Prime Minister Elect Fiame Naomi Mata’afa taking her oath in the ad hoc convening of Parliament as Prime Minister of Samoa in a tent outside of a locked Parliament.
This would have been a beautiful moment, had it not been for the legal issues at play. pic.twitter.com/MAb5bHe4yp

— Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson (@lagipoiva) May 24, 2021

Another prominent journalist, Michael Field of The Pacific Newsroom, commented “calling yourself prime minister is one matter. But will the Pacific Forum neighbours recognise her as prime minister (see Biketawa Protocol) and will Australia and NZ?

“Or will everyone leave it for Samoa to sort out?”

Caretaker Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi condemned the swearing in, claiming it was a “coup” and he threatened legal action, reports RNZ Pacific.

“How does this make us look in front of other Pacific countries?” he asked.

“How does this make us look in front of our people in American Samoa? They used to look at us with respect, now we are seen as fools.

“They have disrespected the dignities of the chiefs and leaders of their districts, with their actions today.

“That was a joke, a joke. Oh my, where have we ever seen a Speaker sworn in – in a tent? shameful.”

Last month, I wrote on Facebook that the resumption of my blog Grubsheet for 2021 was being postponed out of consideration for the national effort to assist the victims of tropical cyclones Yasa and Ana.

I made the observation that it was not the time for politics but for supporting the authorities to get help to those who needed it most. The inspiring sight of the estimable Inia Seruiratu leading the cyclone relief effort in the north with the help of the equally inspiring Australian servicemen and women from HMAS Adelaide was regrettably short lived.

Because it didn’t take long in the public consciousness for politics as usual to rear its ugly head. So much so that I no longer feel bound by my earlier decision.

• READ MORE: The Graham Davis blog Grubsheet is here
• AG ‘clears the air’ on Singapore medical trip – The Fiji Times

I apologise that this article is so political and – at more than 6000 words – is so long, indeed the longest I have ever written in these columns. But it is my last one for some time and I have a lot to say. I also apologise that it is so personal, some might say self-indulgently so. But I have a lot to get off my chest.

We have just had a parliamentary session dominated by almost everything other than the needs of cyclone victims or the hundreds of thousands of people suffering because of the covid-induced economic crisis. It was a spectacle that has triggered widespread community dismay and resentment at the apparent lack of empathy of fat-cat MPs and especially those on the FijiFirst government benches.

Much of the nation that isn’t on the public teat is in deep distress. Yet as they struggle to find shelter, put food on the table, worry about disease outbreaks, cope with chronic interruptions to their power and water and make their way through Mumbai-style traffic jams over canyon-sized potholes, they find the public discourse dominated not by their concerns and challenges but the same old political valavala (fighting) and point scoring.

Despite the unprecedented national crisis, it was business as usual in the Parliament, led by the ever-preening Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. Fresh from his “Gestapo-like” deportation of the USP vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia, the AG was more than usually testy and belligerent.

Economic crash
Perhaps he has given up even trying to manage the economic crash that has engulfed the nation. He is routinely seen signing fresh documents committing Fiji to further borrowing and portraying them as “strategic partnerships” rather than the loans and indebtedness that they are.

One might reasonably have imagined the AG to be focussed exclusively on managing the economic firestorm and the challenges raging on every front. Yet there he was at a USP Council meeting helping his “Uncle Mahmood” resolve a crisis that he alone created and has done unprecedented damage to Fiji’s relations with the region.

How does it all “put food on the table?”, as the Prime Minister used to ask about every diversion before he too lost the plot. It doesn’t. But for the AG, winning at all costs is what matters.

The articulate guy in the turban demanding accountability at USP got in his way and had to go, whatever the political fallout.

As I’ve noted before, crash through or crash is the customary approach. Except that it’s much more likely to be crash on Wonder Boy’s horizon when the voting public finally get their say.

What did a weary nation make of the sight of impeccably-dressed MPs trading barbs and insults, the Speaker boasting about his unique ability to do his job and their elected representatives leaving the chamber laughing and joking with each other in the face of their collective suffering?

No-one ever asks them, of course. Yet one thing is certain. A reckoning looms at the ballot box come election time. There’s an ever-yawning gulf between the haves and have-nots in Fiji – those living on government borrowings and those with no means of support.

‘Assisting’ Fijians
The government policy of “assisting” Fijians by allowing them to draw on their retirement savings – one of the most cynical exercises in spin I have ever witnessed – means that some 60,000 Fijians and counting now have zero balances in their Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) accounts. Another crisis is already in the making – vast numbers of retirees with no means of support.

Yet there’s something just as disheartening that poses an equally serious threat to social cohesion and national unity. In my many years observing Fijian politics, I have never witnessed such a disconnect between the political elite and their struggling constituents.

There has been no concession at all to appearances, let alone the substance of relative privilege. The political elite continue to speed around in their blacked-out Prados, trailed by their attendants and security guards, attending all manner of functions at which the food and drink is plentiful and fawning is invariably the currency of maintaining favour and influence.

While outside on the streets, the burgeoning ranks of prostitutes and beggars – including children pleading for food – bears testament to the other face of Fiji. Unadulterated, pitiful despair. Away from the capital, increasing destitution, hunger and homelessness reflect a society that no longer seems to care or certainly doesn’t care enough.

The only genuine Bula Bubble in Fiji is the one inhabited by the political and social elite. For much of the rest of the population, the bubble burst a long time ago.

It could and should have been a time when the government forged a national programme of collective resilience – a back-to-basics grassroots movement led by the state in which shelter, food production and public health became the sole priorities. Instead, the government can’t even keep the power and water on, is consumed by hubris, obsesses about the unimportant and those charged with enforcing the law engage in all manner of criminal activity.

The list of police offences detailed recently – everything from theft and assault to perverting the course of justice – is a sure sign of a nation in big trouble. The AG admitted as the cyclone crisis unfolded that he had only $3.5 million dollars on hand for the relief effort until the foreign cavalry arrived.

Astonishingly, while $38 million a month is being allocated for aircraft leases and loans, there’s barely enough in the government’s contingent emergency funds to buy a couple of prestige houses in Suva.

FijiFirst lost the plot
With its obsession with seemingly everything but the immediate needs of ordinary Fijians, the FijiFirst government appears to have almost totally lost the plot. It isn’t just the chronic spin, media manipulation and continual protestations of “no crisis! Nothing to see here!” We now see normally straight-shooting ministers like Jone Usamate obliged to give misleading answers in the Parliament.

Usamate said Fiji had withdrawn Ratu Inoke Kubuabola as its candidate to lead the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) out of deference to its Pacific neighbours when the truth is that it was to save the Prime Minister’s face when his handpicked candidate got little or no support.

Once again last week, Voreqe Bainimarama read out a speech written for him by Qorvis and the AG praising the AG and expressing his full support for him. Yes, Prime Minister, we know. You will both go down together, maybe not at the same election but sometime. And it has already happened in the estimation of those who once had high expectations of you but whose confidence you have since lost.

For its part, a cowering media – aside, of course, from the oleaginous flatterers at the CJ Patel Fiji Sun and the AG’s brother’s FBC – is starting to get creative. Creatively subversive.

Did you notice that almost every photograph of the Prime Minister in The Fiji Times during the parliamentary sitting had him laughing uproariously with ministers like Faiyaz Koya and others around him?

Yes, it’s the image of the local Nero fiddling while Rome burns. Laughing in the face of a nation’s suffering. A big joke.

All up, I can’t recall a more depressing parliamentary week. And if it is to be business as usual in the bear pit of Fijian politics, I certainly no longer feel constrained by sensitivity to resume some serious mauling of my own. So here goes.

Read the full Graham Davis article on his blog Grubsheet under the title “Kangaroo court and off I hop”. This shortened commentary is republished with permission. Fiji-born Davis is an award-winning journalist turned communications consultant. He was the Fiji government’s principal communications advisor for six years from 2012 to 2018 and continued to work on Fiji’s global climate and oceans campaign up until the end of the decade.

Terrorism, political extremism, Donald Trump, social media and the phenomenon of “cancel culture” are confronting journalists with a range of agonising free-speech dilemmas to which there are no easy answers.

Do they allow a president of the United States to use their platforms to falsely and provocatively claim the election he has just lost was stolen from him?

How do they cover the activities and rhetoric of political extremists without giving oxygen to race hate and civil insurrection?

• READ MORE:  To stay or cut away? As Trump makes baseless claims, TV networks are faced with a serious dilemma
• No, Twitter is not censoring Donald Trump. Free speech is not guaranteed if it harms others
• Charlie Hebdo: the pen must defy the sword, Islamic or not

How do they integrate news-making social media material into their own content, when it is also hateful or a threat to the civil peace?

Should journalists engage in, or take a stand against, “cancel culture”?

How should editors respond to the “assassin’s veto”, when extremists threaten to kill those who publish content that offends their culture or religion?

The West has experienced concrete examples of all these in recent years. In the US, many of them became pressing during the Trump presidency.

Lying and endangering civil peace
When five of the big US television networks cut away from former President Trump’s White House press conference on November 6 after he claimed the election had been stolen, they did so on the grounds that he was lying and endangering civil peace.

Silencing the president was an extraordinary step, since it is the job of the media to tell people what is going on, hold public officials to account, and uphold the right to free speech. It looked like an abandonment of their role in democratic life.

Against that, television’s acknowledged reach and power imposes a heavy duty not to provide a platform for dangerous speech.

Then on January 6 – two months later to the day – after yet more incitement from Trump, a violent mob laid siege to the Capitol and five people lost their lives. The networks’ decision looked prescient.

They had acted on the principle that a clear and present danger to civil peace, based on credible evidence, should be prioritised over commitments to informing the public, holding public officials to account and freedom of speech.

This case also raised a further dilemma. Even if the danger to peace did not exist, should journalists just go on reporting – or broadcasting – known lies, even when they come from the president of the United States?

Newspaper editors and producers of pre-recorded radio and television content have the time to report lies while simultaneously calling them out as lies. Live radio and television do not. The words are out and the damage is done.

So the medium, the nature and size of the risk, how the informational and accountability functions of journalism are prioritised against the risk, and the free-speech imperative all play into these decisions.

Similar considerations arise in respect of reporting political extremism.

The ABC’s Four Corners programme is about to embark on a story about the alt-right in the US. Having advertised this in a promotional tweet, the ABC received some social media blow-back raising the question of why it would give oxygen to these groups.

The influence of the alt-right on Western politics is a matter of real public interest because of the way it shapes political rhetoric and policy responses, particular on race and immigration.

To not report on this phenomenon because it pursues a morally reprehensible ideology would be to fail the ethical obligation of journalism to tell the community about the important things that are going on in the world.

It is not a question of whether to report, but how.

The Four Corners programme will not be live to air. There will be opportunity for judicious editing. Journalists are under no obligation to report everything they are told. In fact they almost never do.

Motive matters
Whether the decision to omit is censorship comes down to motive: is it censorship to omit hate speech or incitement to violence? No. Because the reporter doesn’t agree with it? Yes.

Integrating social media content into professional mass media news presents all these complexities and one more: what is called the news value of “virality”.

Does the fact something has gone viral on social media make it news? For the more responsible professional mass media, something more will usually be needed.

Does the subject matter affect large numbers of people? Is it inherently significant in some way? Does it involve some person who is in a position of authority or public trust?

Trump’s use of Twitter was an exploitation of these decision-rules, but did not invalidate them.

Social media is also the means by which “cancel culture” works. It enables large numbers of people to join a chorus of condemnation against someone for something they have said or done.

It also puts pressure on institutions such as universities or media outlets to shun them.

How voiceless can exert influence
It has become a means by which the otherwise powerless or voiceless can exert influence over people or organisations that would otherwise be beyond their reach.

There are those who are worried about the effects on free speech. In July 2020, Harper’s magazine published a letter of protest signed by 152 authors, academics, journalists, artists, poets, playwrights and critics.

While applauding the intentions behind “cancel culture” in advancing racial and social justice, they raised their voices against what they saw as a new set of moral attitudes that tended to favour ideological conformity.

In the aftermath of the police killings of black people in 2020 and the law-and-order response of the Trump administration, “cancel culture” began to affect journalism ethics. Some journalists on papers such as The Washington Post and The New York Times began taking public positions against the way their papers were reporting race issues.

It led to a lively debate in the profession about the extent to which moral preferences should shape news decisions. The riposte to those who argued that they should, was: whose moral preferences should prevail?

This was yet another illustration of the complexities surrounding free speech issues arising from the social media phenomenon, the Trump presidency and the combination of the two.

Terrorism added contribution
Terrorism has also added its contribution. Over the decade 2005-2015, what became known as the Danish cartoons confronted journalists and editors with life-and-death decisions.

In 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten (Jutland Post) published cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammed. It was a conscious act of defiance against “the assassin’s veto”, violent threats to free speech by Islamist-jihadis.

In 2009, a Danish-born professor of politics wrote a book, The Cartoons that Shook the World. Yale University Press, which published it, refused to re-publish the cartoons after having taken advice from counter-terrorism experts about the risks.

In November 2011, the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo published an issue called Charia Hebdo, satirically featuring the Prophet as editor. The real editor was placed on an Al-Qaeda hit list and in January 2015, two masked gunmen opened fire on the newspaper office, killing 12 people, including the editor.

The world’s media were confronted with the decision whether to re-publish the cartoons again in defiance of “the assassin’s veto”. Some did, but most – including Jyllands Posten – did not.

The necessary limits of free speech
Free speech is an indispensable civil right under assault from all these forces. But none of the philosophers whose names we immediately associate with free speech have claimed it to be absolute.

The social media platforms, having for years proclaimed themselves extreme libertarians, have in recent times begun to recognise this is indefensible, and strengthened their moderating procedures.

Some of Australia’s senior politicians seem baffled by the issue.

When Twitter shut down Trump’s account, acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack did not seem to know where he stood, saying in one breath it was a violation of free speech to shut down Trump while in the next that Twitter should also take down the false image of an Australian soldier slitting the throat of an Afghan child.

And he is a former country newspaper editor.

This was followed by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s remark that he was “uncomfortable” with the Twitter decision. He quoted Voltaire as saying something Voltaire never said: the famous line that while he disagreed with what someone said, he would defend to the death his right to say it. It was a fabrication put into Voltaire’s mouth by a biographer more than 100 years after his death.

Voltaire, Milton, Spinoza, Locke and Mill, to say nothing of the US Supreme Court, have not regarded free speech as an absolute right.

So while the media face some extremely difficult decisions in today’s operating environment, they do not need to burden themselves with the belief that every decision not to publish is the violation of an inviolable right.

By Dr Denis Muller, senior research fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Indonesia’s West Papua province has again been recorded as having the worst democracy index in the republic, reports CNN Indonesia.

This year (2019), the West Papuan Democracy Index (IDI) was 57.62, even dropping lower from 2018 when it was 58.29 points.

Based on data from the National Statistics Agency (BPS), West Papua has the lowest score and is in last position – below South-East Sulawesi with a score of 65.21 points.

[Pacific Media Centre editor: West Papua in the Pacific is generally taken to mean the combined mainly Melanesian region of two provinces – Papua and West Papua.]

Following next is Papua province with a score of 62.25 points, North Sumatra with 67.65 points, West Sumatra with 67.69 points, Maluku with 68.22 points, West Java with 69.0 points and Jambi province with 69.76 points.

The BPS Democracy Index categorises the level of democracy as being good, moderate and poor. A Democracy Index score under 60 is classified as a poor democracy while a score of 60-80 represents a moderate democracy and a score above 80 is a good democracy.

Among all 32 provinces in Indonesia, West Papua was the only province with a poor Democracy Index.

BPS head Kecuk Suhariyanto said that there were seven provinces in Indonesia that were categorised as good.

Two provinces improve
“In 2018 there were only five provinces, in 2019 there are seven provinces with a category of good. From five there have been two additions making seven, namely Riau Islands and Central Kalimantan provinces,” he said during an online press conference.

Suhariyanto said Jakarta was the top rated province with a score of 88.29 points followed by North Kalimantan Utara with 83.45 points and Riau Islands with 81.64 points.

This is followed by Bali with 81.38 points, Central Kalimantan with 81.16 points, East Nusa Tenggara with 81,02 points and Yogyakarta Special Province with 80,67 points.

Nationally, Indonesia’s Democracy Index rose slightly to 74.92 in 2019. Last year in 2018 it was recorded at 72.39 points. As a whole, Indonesia’s democratic score is still categorised as moderate.

Nevertheless, looking at this in detail there are six indicators which still rated poorly in the index.

Namely threats of or the use of violence by the public which obstructs freedom of expression with a score of 57.35 points followed by the percentage of women elected as members of provincial parliaments (DPRD) with a score of 58.63 points.

This is followed by violent demonstrations or labour strikes with a score of 34.91 points, regional regulations imitated by DPRDs with a score of 46.16 points, DPRD recommendations to the executive with 16.70 points and finally efforts to provide budgetary information by regional government with a score of 53.43 points.

The Democracy Index is assessed based on three main aspects, namely civil freedoms, political rights and democratic institutions. Each of these three aspects has 11 variables and 28 indicators which are used to make an assessment.

Decline in civil freedoms
Although there was a 4.92 point increase in political rights and a 4.48 point increase in democratic institutions, there was a 1.26 decline in civil freedoms. The score for civil freedoms based on the IDI for this year stood at 77.20 points.

“The index for civil freedoms in 2019 was 77.20. A slight decline compared with the position in 2018 and its respective category is moderately [democratic]”, said Suhariyanto.

Civil freedoms were assessed using four variables with freedom of assembly and freedom of association scoring 78.03 points, a decline of 4,32 points compared with 2018.

Freedom of expression, which stood at 84.29 points, declined by 1.88 points, freedom of belief scored 83.03 points, rising by 0.17 points compared with 2018 and freedom from discrimination scored 92.35 points, rising by 0.58.

If looked at in detail, there was a step back in the indicators which covered threats of or the use of violence by government agencies which obstruct freedom of expression, assembly and association, and the threat of or use of violence by social organisations related to religious teachings.

Next, actions or statements by government officials which were discriminative in terms of gender, ethnicity or other vulnerable groups and or which restricted the freedom to worship.

Meanwhile improvements were found in the indicators covering the threat of or use of violence by the public which obstructed freedom of expression, assembly and association and or on the grounds of gender, ethnicity or other vulnerable groups.

Discriminatory regulations
There were also improvements in written regulations which restrict freedom of worship and religion and or which discriminate against gender, ethnicity or other vulnerable groups.

In the aspect of political rights, two variables were assessed. The breakdown was the right to vote and be elected which scored 79.27 points, rising by 3,5 points, public participation in decision making and government supervision which scored 56.72, rising 2.44 points.

Although this was still categorised as poor.

In terms of democratic institutions, five variables were assessed. The breakdown was free and fair elections which scored 85.75 points, declining by 9.73 points followed by the role of regional parliaments (DPRD) with a score of 61.74, a rise of 2.82 points.

Then the role of the political parties which scored 80.62 points, a decline of 1.48 points followed by the role of regional government bureaucracy which scored 62.58 points, a rise of 6.84 points and the role of an independent judiciary which scored 93.66 points, a rise of
2.94 points.

This abridged translation by James Balowski of IndoLeft News is based on two articles by CNN Indonesia published on August 3. The original title of the first article was “Indeks Demokrasi Papua Barat Paling Buruk, Jakarta Terbaik”. The title of the second article was “Kebebasan Sipil Turun, Indeks Demokrasi Indonesia Naik.”

Australia’s ABC has revealed the Australian Federal Police (AFP) recommendation regarding the Afghan Files investigative journalism report is for the Commonwealth DPP to consider charging journalist Dan Oakes for his role in the leak.

The revelation has prompted a renewed call by the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom (APJ) for a media freedom law.

ABC’s managing director David Anderson said in a statement “The Afghan Files is factual and important reporting which exposed allegations about Australian soldiers committing war crimes in Afghanistan.

READ MORE: The Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom and what it campaigns for

“Its accuracy has never been challenged.”

Peter Greste, AJF’s spokesperson, said Australia urgently needed a Media Freedom Act.

“Australia is the only Five Eyes nation that has similar levels of national security protections, but no press freedom protections written into our legal code,” he said.

“To find balance between these two fundamental pillars of democracy, we urgently need a Media Freedom Act.

“The Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom has been calling for a Media Freedom Act since May 2019, three weeks before the AFP’s raids on Annika Smethurst’s home and ABC’s Ultimo offices.

“The news that an Australian journalist who reported in the public interest is now at risk of being prosecuted by the Commonwealth DPP is a plain example that we need to strike this balance urgently, or risk further damaging our democracy.”

The AJF promotes press freedom and the right of journalists to report the news in freedom and safety. This includes working with Australian governments to ensure legislation supports press freedom.

The alliance also campaigns in the Asia-Pacific region, wherever journalists are censored, threatened, imprisoned or killed.

• Possible prosecution of journalist must be dropped – MEAA

The Vice-President of Timor-Leste’s National Parliament, Maria Angelina Sarmento, has been physically removed from a plenary session after she tried to claim the president’s chair.

The chamber erupted into farce yesterday as members of parliamentary President  – or Speaker – Arão Noé Amaral’s CNRT party blocked Sarmento and fellow deputy Luís Roberto from seizing control of the chamber.

The shouting and disorder began when members of the governing bloc of PLP, FRETILIN and KHUNTO entered the chamber, soon after 10 o’clock.

READ MORE: Amid the coronavirus crisis, Arão calls to shut down Parliament 

WATCH: Live video feed of new parliamentary fracas

CNRT members stepped up to the president’s table to block Sarmento, Roberto and their party allies from taking the president’s chair.

“We can give the chair [to the vice-president], but it should be according to the law; don’t come and just seize [it],” CNRT member José Virgilio said, as he guarded the seat.

Tatoli news agency then witnessed the members push Ms Sarmento out of the room. The CNRT members later allowed the two deputies to take their own seats, but continued to block them from the president’s chair.

In a press conference yesterday morning ahead of the plenary, Amaral accused Sarmento – from the rival PLP party – of violating the constitution in a “grab” for power.

“As President of the National Parliament, I want to denounce an attempt by Vice-President Angelina Sarmento to remove [me],” he said. “This act by Angelina Sarmento violates the constitution, parliament rules and the law.”

The role of the parliamentary president has been the subject of a bitter dispute across a number of parties.

The governing bloc of FRETILIN, KHUNTO and PLP want Amaral removed from his post.

Last week, the three parties drafted a letter, signed by a majority of Parliament members, accusing him of “abuses of power”.

However, CNRT and its parliamentary allies are fiercely resisting the move. Amaral has instead insisted President Francisco Guterres Lú-Olo dissolve Parliament and call elections.

President Lú-Olo is a leading figure from rival FRETILIN party, and has clashed with CNRT since the beginning of the 8th Constitutional Government in 2018.

CNRT, led by charismatic former president Xanana Gusmão, has been in a standoff with the president since the last elections in 2018: initially over his decision to reject some of the party’s ministerial nominations; but more recently, because Guterres declined to support CNRT’s bid to take over the government.

The crisis has come while the country has been dealing with the coronavirus crisis, but Timor-Leste has been declared covid-19 free after all 24 active cases have recovered.

The Pacific Media Centre republishes Tatoli articles with permission.

By Neil Joshua N. Servallos in Manila

The University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines, which has the biggest and oldest journalism school, has released a statement supporting television broadcaster ABS-CBN, adding its voice to the growing clamour against a petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor-General to shut down the country’s largest media network.

“We are one with [ABS-CBN] in their commitment to continue their service to the Filipino people and the global community,” UST said in the statement posted on the university’s social media accounts.

“ABS-CBN has won numerous awards for its entertainment, news, and public service programs at the USTv Students’ Choice Awards. We offer our prayers for the network to be able to renew its franchise,” it said.

READ MORE: Campus publications call for autonomy, protection of press freedom

UST journalism faculty members have released a statement calling Solicitor-General Jose Calida’s petition “a deadly virus inflicted upon citizens, with pandemic consequences on the people’s right to know”.

“The country is better off with ABS-CBN than without it. Our democracy needs a press that is free from the pressures wantonly exerted by those in power,” the statement read.

Calida filed a quo warranto petition on February 10 in a bid to revoke the ABS-CBN franchise a month before its expiration, claiming the network was engaging in highly abusive practices.

Calida faulted the TV network for getting money from foreign investors and circumventing the ban on foreign ownership of mass media, illegally charging subscribers to a digital channel, and illegally transferring the franchise of mobile unit ABS-CBN Convergence Inc.

The UST journalism faculty urged the House of Representatives and the Senate to ignore Calida’s quo warranto petition and to approve ABS-CBN’s franchise application “post-haste”.

Neil Joshua N. Servallos is a reporter with The Varsitarian. The Journalism programme in the Faculty of Arts and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Manila, Philippines, collaborates with the Pacific Media Centre.

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has finally resigned.

O’Neill told Parliament today he had tendered his resignation to the Governor-General this morning.

“Mr Speaker, I want to inform this honourable house that at 9.45am this morning, I delivered to His Excellency the Grand Chief Sir Robert Dadae, the Governor-General of Papua New Guinea, my letter of resignation so we can deal with this matter once and for all. Once and for all,” O’Neill said.

READ MORE: Crisis? What crisis? A new PNG prime minister might not signal much change

He has been in the role since 2011, but lost his strong majority in Parliament after mass defections from his government in the past month.

O’Neill’s formal resignation today came as he was facing a likely confidence vote brought by the opposition after he had appeared to backtrack on an earlier commitment to step down this week.

Leading opposition MPs today praised the Prime Minister for listening to the people by stepping down to allow new leadership.

‘Cry of our people’
“By your resignation today, you beat me and beat many of us and outclassing many of us to the view some of us have of you that you are power hungry. Today you showed that you still have the heart to listen to the call and cry of our people,” said opposition MP James Marape.

The resignation paves the way for a parliamentary vote for a new Prime Minister.

The New Zealand government said it was watching the unfolding political developments in Papua New Guinea closely.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the situation in PNG iwas still developing, and as such New Zealand would continue to monitor it.

However, she said it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.

Australian PM criticised
Meanwhile, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been criticised for his reaction to the announcement by former PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill that he would stand down this week.

Morrison praised his counterpart as a great friend and partner.

However, a former PNG Prime Minister, Sir Mekere Morauta, said the praise was inappropriate, unhelpful and discourteous.

Sir Mekere claimed it echoed how the Australian government interfered in PNG’s 2017 election by supporting O’Neill.

• This article is published under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.
  
• More PNG stories

Papua New Guinea’s opposition says it is withdrawing its motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, but is likely to lodge a new one soon.

Also, former Finance Minister James Marape is withdrawing as the opposition’s choice for alternative Prime Minister, paving the way for a new nomination for the role.

Marape and other opposition MPs announced the withdrawal of the motion at a press conference today in Port Moresby.

READ MORE: Marape accuses PNG government of ‘sabotage ploy’ to delay vote

The motion, which was lodged with Parliament’s Speaker two weeks ago, had earlier been expected to progress to a confidence vote against O’Neill early next month.

The brief sitting of Parliament two weeks ago saw the opposition’s numbers recently bolstered by the defection of Marape and 23 MPs from the coalition government.

However with 50 MPs, the opposition was still six MPs short of a majority in the 111-seat Parliament.

Back to drawing board
The grouping has opted to go back to the drawing board, with an eye to submitting a new motion of no confidence within coming weeks.

The offer of an alternative Prime Minister is on the table, according to Marape and other MPs.

Sinasina-Yonganugl MP Kerenga Kua said Marape took the initiative to withdraw his name with consensus of the two dozen MPs who left government with him, and the other 26 already in opposition.

“James Marape himself asked the opposition caucus to withdraw his nomination as alternative candidiate and put the position back on the table again, in the hope that any other contenders from the government side who want to put their name up can consider coming across with their number,” Kua explained.

In his response to the withdrawal, the Prime Minister issued a scathing statement, accusing Marape of grandstanding and making misleading claims amid “crumbling support”.

“This is a desperate and last-ditch attempt, in the public arena, that is aimed at trying to convince leaders to support his ambitions,” O’Neill said.

However, after the recent exodus from his People’s National Congress (PNC) party, the Prime Minister is facing the biggest threat to his leadership in seven years.

Bad governance
MPs who have resigned since last month have accused O’Neill of exerting too much control on state departments, overriding the authority of ministers, and of allowing bad governance to fester.

Kerenga Kua said the opposition appealed to MPs in the government to join their group for discussions over a new look government.

This was echoed by Marape who cited his original reason for resigning as Finance Minister last month and leaving O’Neill’s ruling party.

“So I resigned as minister not to be Prime Minister but to be part of a new government that can chart a new future for our country with honesty and giving our people new sense of purpose and direction away from the path O’Neill has been leading us,” Marape said in a statement.

“I encourage those many Prime Ministerial candidates and good free thinking leaders presently with O’Neill to detach and join us.

“The offer of alternate Prime Ministership is on the table.”

While Marape did not give any direct reasons for standing down as the nominee, being implicated together with O’Neill in a recent Ombudsman report on a controversial state loan did not help his cause.

According to O’Neill, his former close ally was making a confused attempt to lure support for his personal ambitions to change the government.

“His suggestion of looking for candidates for possible nomination as an alternative Prime Minister is unnecessary, and not good for the country,” O’Neill said.

“Leadership nominations are not something to be passed around like a football to leaders who have no vision for the country or any policy agenda.”

Mood for change
However, Kua said there was a mood for change throughout country, and that MPs were increasingly taking note. According to him, nomination as alternative Prime Minister was not being directly offered to leaders still in the government coalition.

“The system that we have agreed to is for the leadership to be decided by consensus. It’s back on the table,” he said.

“Those people who want to participate in the selection process have to come in and participate in it.”

He said that the opposition grouping would ultimately hold an exhaustive secret ballot, to democratically select the nomination for alternative Prime Minister.

From there, a new motion of no confidence against O’Neill could be lodged, which the opposition would likely look to do in the coming sitting of parliament which starts in a week’s time.

This article is published under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

The Papua New Guinea Prime Minister’s call to “crack down” on social media has created immediate controversy, with politicians and journalists calling it unconstitutional.

Peter O’Neill made the announcement on Monday following a cabinet reshuffle, saying that social media spreads false and misleading information, reports the PNG Post-Courier.

Governor of Oro province Gary Juffa said the Prime Minister’s call “threatens to destroy the very fabric of the freedom of the people which is enabled by the constitution,” Papua New Guinea Today reports.

READ MORE: Marape accuses PNG government of ‘sabotage ploy’ to delay vote

“The constitution provides for the people to have the right to be free, they also have the freedom to express, their opinions, beliefs, religion, ideas and information.

“Even the US President is subject to false news and does not attempt use that as a reason to control social media in the USA.”

Consolidating support
The announcement comes at a time when O’Neill is consolidating support in an attempt to defeat an impending vote of no confidence against him.

Papua New Guinea Today also reported O’Neill justifying the announcement:

“Fake news is destroying our country. Recently we had a young person killed in Boroko. So this must be put to an end.”

In a blog written on Monday, PNG columnist Sylvester Gawi defended social media, writing that the person killed in Boroko “was a result of undertrained and under resourced police force that continually discharged firearms without any accountability”.

He also claimed that the proposed crackdown on social media was “adopted from Communist China” and undermined the role of democracy.

He wrote that the prime minister had delayed tabling an Independent Commission Against Corruption Bill.

“Be a leader. Table it Mr Prime Minister,” he wrote.

“If you really wanna (sic) listen to people of Papua New Guinea than you will start by having faith in our people. Stop relying on foreign advisors who control your cabinet to court house and in public space.

“We know who you are, you are a real neo-colonialist preying on our people. It’s time for change, we are taking back PNG from your Chinese and Australian friends.”

O’Neill said the cabinet would review social media platforms when it convenes tomorrow.

• PNG plans crack down on social media

New Caledonia’s anti-independence parties have retained their slim majority in the 54-member Congress made up of members from the French Pacific territory’s three provincial assemblies.

After Sunday’s provincial elections the anti-independence parties have 28 Congress seats, reflecting their continued dominance in the more populous Southern province.

However, the other two provinces, Kanak-governed North and the Loyalty Islands, saw a clean sweep by the pro-independence camp, cementing the sharp political divisions within New Caledonia.

LISTEN: Walter Zweifel reports from Noumea for RNZ Dateline Pacific

Transcript
The two big winners emerging from the provincial elections are two newcomers, the Future in Confidence coalition and the Pacific Awakening Party.

The Future in Confidence coalition was formed out of three rival anti-independence parties after last November’s independence referendum.

Pacific Awakening, emanating from the anti-independence Wallisian and Futunian community, won three seats to give the pro-French camp 28 seats versus the 26 secured by the pro-independence parties in the Congress.

Sonia Backes, who leads the anti-independence coalition, was on television commenting on the election outcome:

“The Caledonians have suffered a lot in the last few years. They are expecting from us confidence at an economic level and in terms of security which we have to act on.”

Social policy
The Pacific Awakening party, which was formed just two months ago, is led by Milakulo Tukumuli who on election night restated his goals.

“I think, as I have said during my programme, it’s mainly about social policy, for New Caledonians the gap between the richest and poorest needs to be closed; that’s a priority.”

In the Loyalty Islands province, all 14 seats went to pro-independence parties.

In the 22-seat Northern province Assembly, the pro-independence Uni/Palika list of the incumbent president Paul Neaoutyine came first, narrowly ahead of the pro-independence UC-FLNKS list led by Daniel Goa.

The big loser is the anti-independence Caledonia Together Party, which was the biggest party in both the southern province and the Congress.

Its representation in Congress was more than halved.

The president of the Southern province, Philippe Michel, conceded that there has been a realignment after the November referendum.

‘Historic crisis’
“There has for one been an historic crisis in the nickel sector which had not been seen any time before during the Noumea Accord. It had affected the economy and caused difficulties in the country.”

For the Future in Confidence, remaining French has been a key campaign platform election, which resonated with voters in the Southern province.

The balance between pro and anti-independence parties is largely unchanged yet the split into these two camps is further entrenched.

It is a given that the next referendum on independence from France will be called by the new Congress which will sit for the first time next week.

Congress is also due to elect an 11-member collegial government for a five-year term.

Under the collegial system enshrined in the Noumea Accord, the government seats will be shared among the parties in proportion to their strength in Congress.

• Among the elected provincial councillors in the Northern province was a former journalist and Radio Djiido news editor, Magalie Tingal Lémé.
• This article is published under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.
• Other New Caledonian news

Pacific Media Centre’s Southern Cross radio programme special on Pacific elections this week.

Media freedom in Melanesia will be the focus of the next edition of Pacific Journalism Review in partnership the Melanesian Media Freedom Forum with academics and journalists invited to submit papers on the subject.

The research journal will focus on the political and socio-cultural challenges and constraints for a free press in Melanesia.

This will follow a special double edition due to be released this July.

READ MORE:Pacific media freedom and news ‘black holes’ worsen for World Press Freedom Day

PJR editor and director of the Pacific Media Centre Professor David Robie welcomed the opportunity to partner with the forum for the conference in November.

“Media freedom is tracking downwards at the moment and we need a challenging forum like this to clear the air over threats to the region,” he told Pacific Media Watch.

“Also, those courageous journalists in the region who are holding the line need to be celebrated for their work and this will be a tremendous opportunity to uphold media freedom.”

Papers can include but are not restricted to human rights journalism in Melanesia, gender and identity, environmental or climate change journalism, press freedom and the intersection between custom and indigenous knowledge in contemporary Fourth Estate practice.

Other topics
Other journalism topics will be publish as usual in themed editions of the journal.

The deadline for submissions is January 20, 2020.

Pacific Journalism Review is also encouraging presenters to take part  in the Melanesian Media Freedom Forum in Brisbane on November 11/12, 2019.

Co-organised by Griffith University and the Melanesian Media Freedom Group, the forum will give priority to presentation on media freedom in the region, but also welcomes presentations on social justice, human rights, environmental and climate change reporting in the Melanesian media.

Forum co-organiser and director of the journalism programme at Griffith University, Dr Kasun Ubayasiri said the time was right for practitioners, academics and media freedom activists to come together to discuss the changing media landscape in Melanesia.

“We are hearing about increasing threats to media freedom in Melanesia from journalists, editors and media watchers across the sub-region,” he told Pacific Media Watch.

“There seems to be a spread in authoritarian attitudes, policies and practices by governments, often presented under the pretext of ensuring ‘stability’, and the apparent increase in intensity and frequency of threats seem to align with this shift in Melanesian politics.”

Incidents reported
Pacific Media Watch has reported on recent incidents involving such threats and policies in the region:

• Last week in Papua New Guinea, which may face a change in government this week, an opposition politician warned the country’s two foreign-owned daily newspapers that the new government would “deal” to them.
• In Indonesia, the government banned foreign journalists from covering recent electoral proceedings in West Papua.

Dr Ubayasiri, who is co-editing the next edition of PJR, said a free press was vital for a robust and healthy democracy and there was no logical reason to undermine it.

He said he had worked under media restrictions and censorship in South Asia as a former journalist.

“Media freedom is an issue very close to my heart.”

Chair of the Melanesian Media Freedom Group and MMFF co-organiser Dr Tess Newton Cain said she appreciated the challenges to a free media.

Difficult circumstances
“Based on my experience of living and working in Melanesia, I am very well aware of the difficult circumstances in which journalists and media outlets are operating.”

An expert on Melanesia, Dr Newton Cain said she hoped the forum would provide senior members of the industry with an opportunity to come together and address the challenges media freedom faced throughout the region.

Scholars are invited to submit 200-300 word abstracts for conference presentations.

The forum abstracts deadline is June 20, 2019.

• Pacific Media Watch reports on World Press Freedom Day

A Solomon Islands academic says the only body that can find a legitimate solution to his country’s current crisis is the National Parliament.

Senior politics lecturer at the Suva-based University of the South Pacific, Dr Gordon Nanau, said this following the unrest and rioting in Honiara yesterday by a large group of people angry over the outcome of the prime ministerial election in Honiara.

Manasseh Sogavare was voted into power at Parliament House for the fourth time yesterday after polling 34 votes, ahead of rival Matthew Wale whose 14 supporters boycotted the 50-seat Parliament.

READ MORE: 50 detained, 11 police injured during Solomon Islands riots

Angry mobs took to the streets yesterday afternoon, looting and causing damage to businesses, vehicles and both private and public properties, in protest against the election of Sogavare.

“The only body that can find a legitimate solution to the current situation is the National Parliament of Solomon Islands. If the Prime Minister decides to step down based on his own judgment or that of his colleagues in the House, it will be up to Parliament to determine the candidate with majority support to become prime minister,” Dr Nanau said.

“Again, the process for such a change must be through Parliament. Solomon Islanders must not allow lawlessness and criminal activities to dictate who becomes prime minister.

Convene Parliament
“Parliament must be allowed to convene soon and have a government formed to discuss the current situation.

“This also calls for the 14 MPs who walked out of Parliament to show leadership and allow parliamentary processes to be effected. This is the only way to find a legitimate solution to the current impasse.”

The Pacific Casino Hotel at Kukum, where Sogavare and his Democratic Coalition for Advancement stayed in the lead up to the election, was also looted and damaged by the angry mobs.

The burning and looting continued in the eastern part of the capital last night, which saw the Oceanic Marine Building at KGVI hit by a flare and the looting and rampage of a recently opened shopping complex.

Local police used tear gas to disperse crowds in China Town and again last night in East Honiara to control the crowds.

Reports also suggested that a few innocent people were tear gassed in their own homes as rioters randomly ran into their areas to get away from police.

Sogavare’s win caused an upset as people allegedly saw this as a continuation of the former government and took to the streets to call for a change in the government leadership. The protests after the announcement slowly developed into rioting and unrest, amidst heavy police presence.

USP students call for calm
Solomon Islands students at USP in Suva have called on fellow citizens in Honiara to stay calm and not to take the law into their own hands.

Solomon Islands final-year law student Eddie Babanisi, who is currently based at USP’s Laucala campus, said there were processes in place to address grievances relating to the election outcome.

“I call on the young people to stop what they are doing now. Please stand down and listen to the police and authorities’ call for calm,” he said.

“They have just elected respective leaders into Parliament and they should take this up with their leaders to take up through relevant channels, instead of staging riots.

“Whatever happened yesterday was a parliamentary procedure to choose our leaders and the public has no right over what the National Parliament has decided in electing the new prime minister.”

Bachelor of Commerce final-year student Sophie Kwaomae, who is also from Solomon Islands, said the protests and riots might not be staged just for political reasons.

“The reality is that these young people running around causing havoc don’t have anything better to do but to wait for opportunities to loot and damage the city,” she said.

“Majority of them seem to have horded from squatter settlements into town. The real reasons for this might not be political, but also social, such as unemployment and the poverty stricken conditions they live in every day, thus the motivation to stage such actions to vent their frustration. These are the very issues that the incoming government must prioritise.”

USP campus closes
In light of the unrest by recent political events, USP vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia said all USP campuses on Solomon Islands would be closed until further notice.

He said students and staff were urged to remain at home and adhere to security advisories issued by national authorities.

“Our prayers are with you all and the nation at this time, for a peaceful and safe outcome to these events,” he said.

The prime ministerial election continued yesterday morning despite a High Court injunction for the election to be postponed.

The postponement was proposed to make way for the full hearing of the validity of the nomination of Sogavare for prime ministership last Friday.

However, Governor-General Sir Frank Kabui exercised his constitutional powers to ensure the election ensued.

Talking to the crowd outside the National Parliament soon after his election, Prime Minister Sogavare said they were listening to what people were saying.

“I want to assure this nation that we are listening to what people are saying. We have heard from various squatters and various groups, who have made very important statements.

“These have not fallen on deaf ears. We will take them into consideration when we work on the government’s new policies.”

‘Rule of law’
In a short video released after the election, Matthew Wale, the Leader of the Grand Coalition whose 15 members abstained from voting yesterday and walked out during election proceedings, said the laws of the country must be upheld.

“While the Grand Coalition recognises the authority of the Governor-General to preside over the meeting, under the National Constitution of our country, the group felt that the decision of the High Court injunction orders directing the Governor-General to postpone the meeting of members that was convened at 9.30am, should have been adhered to,” he said in the clip.

“The Grand Coalition believes that our legal processes must be respected. We believe that the order and directions of the High Court were reasonable, given the significance of the submissions.

“The walkout, therefore, is for the sake of the rule of law. The Governor-General did not abide by the direction to differ the meeting, a direction of the High Court. No one is above the law including his excellency.”

Rosalie Nongebatu of the Solomon Islands is a final-year journalism student at USP’s Laucala campus. She is also editor of Wansolwara, the USP Journalism Programme’s student training print and online publications. This article is republished as part of USP and the Pacific Media Centre’s journalism education partnership.

RNZ Pacific reports that an uneasy calm has returned to the capital while Sogavare rejected accusations his past governments have “failed” Malaita over project implementation.

More reports, pictures on ABC Pacific Beat

Significant damage was caused at the Pacific Casino Hotel and many vehicles were also damaged.

These crowd marches were illegal and investigating police are expected to arrest more suspects.

Five Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) and four Correctional Services officers were injured and needed medical attention, the Star reports.

Commissioner Matthew Varley called on residents to stay home unless it was “extremely necessary” to avoid further trouble.

Police operation
“I have ordered a large police operation to conduct more high visibility patrols across Honiara tonight and police will stop anyone that is causing trouble around the city,” he said.

“People engaged in disorderly conduct will be searched and dealt with.

“I have also ordered a number of road blocks and checkpoints to be put in place to reduce traffic in the city.”

Commissioner Varley said: “This is necessary to ensure we maintain security across Honiara tonight. The RSIPF will not take any chances when it comes to public safety.

“If you are a law abiding citizen, then you have nothing to fear.

“Police are in control and we are continuing to respond to any incidents of disturbance around the city.

“But anyone who is planning to carry out any illegal activity can expect police to deal with you sternly.”

Swift action
The Police Response Team (PRT) officers and riot squad officers have been ordered to take swift action against anyone using violence.

“I urge all law abiding citizens to stay at home tonight and stay off the streets,” Commissioner Varley said.

“We need peace in our families, our communities and in our nation.”

Reports from RNZ Pacific and the Solomon Star.

A quick count conducted by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies and Cyrus Network indicates that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has been reelected to the presidency in Indonesia, with the Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin ticket winning 55.8 percent of the vote against Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno’s 44.2 percent.

“Today we can conclude that Pak Jokowi and Pak Ma’ruf Amin is ahead of Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno based on our quick count results,” CSIS executive director Philips Vermonte said.

“The position will not change.”

READ MORE: A thousand Indonesias at stake in one election

In contrast, challenging retired general Prabowo Subianto claimed he had “already won“.

Prabowo claimed victory hours before quick-count surveys officially ended, in a repeat of a similar declaration he made in the 2014 presidential race – which he lost.

He claimed a “real count” from more than 320 polling stations had placed him in the lead with 62 percent of votes.

He added that he had consulted statistics experts who said the figure would “not differ much” from the final count.

‘We have already won’
“We will avoid taking any unconstitutional actions because we have already won,” Prabowo told the media at his residence in South Jakarta.

Melanesian leaders of the two easternmost provinces of Papua and West Papua had called for a boycott of the election and demanded independence.

For the quick count, the pollsters surveyed 2002 polling stations across the country’s 34 provinces.

As at 5:03 pm last evening, local time, data from 86.7 percent of the polling stations surveyed had been received. The margin of error from the quick count is 1 percent.

A quick count conducted by Jakarta-based pollster Charta Politika also shows similar results with Jokowi-Ma’ruf winning 54.3 percent against Prabowo-Sandiaga’s 45.7 percent, with 83.8 percent of 2000 polling stations surveyed.

The results were in line with the most recent polls, which showed Jokowi holding a comfortable double-digit lead over the Gerindra Party chairman.

Karina M. Tehusijarana is a Jakarta Post journalist.

• Al Jazeera coverage of the Indonesian elections
• Violence-wracked West Papua region calls for independence
• Other Asia Pacific Report Indonesian election stories

Independent and returning MPs dominate the line-up for Solomon Islands new Parliament with all the results in from last week’s election.

Nearly three-quarters of MPs have retained their seats, including the Prime Minister of the last two years, Rick Hou.

The 50-seat Parliament has 14 new MPs and two women.

Lanelle Tanangada and Freda Soriacomua are among the 36 MPs who retained their seats.

LISTEN TO RNZ PACIFIC DATELINE

Twenty-one MPs standing as independents have been elected, making up nearly half the Parliament, while the two largest of the eight parties voted in have just eight seats each.

Most constituencies recorded voter turnouts of more than 80 percent.

The Electoral Commission and international observer groups have commended the country for a peaceful election.

Observers also noted some discrepancies such as voters having difficulty finding their names on polling day.

This article is republished under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

• Police beef up elections security in Gizo
• Other Solomon Islands election stories

The Commonwealth observer group has commended the commitment of the people of Solomon Islands to participating peacefully in last Wednesday’s national election.

In a preliminary statement released over the weekend, its chairperson, former Vanuatu prime minister Sato Kilman, said the group acknowledged the efforts of the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission to conduct the election under the country’s new Electoral Act which was brought in just the year before.

Kilman said his group observed some positive aspects of the process and also identified areas that could be improved to enhance the country’s democratic process.

One example of this was the group noted the out-of-constituency voter registration arrangements saw complaints raised about the lack of clarity around the definition of an “ordinary resident” and where citizens can register to vote.

Complaints were also received about the lack of out-of-constituency voting arrangements for those working in essential services areas such as hospitals and those who have had to travel outside of their constituency for work purposes.

The group praised the security operation for the election and acknowledged the logistical support from Australia and New Zealand both to police and electoral authorities.
Solomon Islands election result board

It, however, noted on polling day that several voters were unable to find their names on the lists at polling stations.

Ballot box inconsistencies
They also noted inconsistencies in the way ballot boxes were sealed and labelled and some voting screens needed to be more carefully positioned.

Accessibility to polling stations was also quite difficult in some locations although the group noted where this was the case polling agents did their best to assist the elderly and people with disabilities.

Counting was still underway when the Commonwealth observer group releases their statement but they said there were several areas that could be worked on to improve the efficiency of the count.

Other areas which the group said it would cover in more depth in its final report were concerns about incumbent MPs using Constituency Development Funds in their campaigning, supporting more aspiring women politicians to contest as only 26 out of the 333 candidates were women.

It also made some observations on the limit on campaign funding set out under the country’s new Electoral Act.

This article is republished under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

Two women have been elected out of the 25 female candidates who contested last week’s Solomon Islands general election, officials have declared.

They are Lanelle Tanangada of Gizo/Kolombangara and Freda Tuki of VATUD constituencies who are re-elected members of the 10th Parliament.

There were no new female candidates elected in this general election.

A total of 25 female candidates contested 21 constituencies.

Three women contested the Central Honiara constituency, two each in North Guadalcanal and Vatud and one each for Gizo/Kolombangara, Shortlands, Gela, Central Guadalcanal, West Guadalcanal, Northwest Guadalcanal, Temotu Pele, Central Kwara’ae, Malaita Outer Islands, North Malaita, West Kwaio, East Honiara, West Honiara, West Makira, East Makira, Maringe Kokota, North Choiseul and South Choiseul constituencies.

• Other Solomon Islands election stories

Former Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has been returned for his sixth term in Parliament after retaining his East Choiseul seat in Wednesday’s general election as incumbents dominated the early declared provisional results.

Sogavare, the outgoing finance minister, was one of seven MPs in the last House who has secured his seat so far, according to early results.

LISTEN TO RNZ’S KOROI HAWKINS

The other six are:

Dr Culwick Togamana – Maringe/Kokota

Charles Sigoto – Rannogga/Simbo

Dr Tautai Angikimua – Rennell & Bellona

Samuel Manetoali – Go/Bugotu

William Marau – Ulawa/Ugi

Nestor Giro – Central Makira

Early results released also saw three newcomers.

They are former Clerk to Parliament Clezy Rore, former Ministry of Finance permanent secretary Harry Kuma and Robertson Galokale, a former senior public servant working in the Treasury department.

Rore has caused the biggest election upset so far when he unseated Milner Tozaka, the outgoing Foreign Affairs minister, who lost the seat after serving two terms.

Tozaka is the parliamentary wing leader of the People’s Alliance Party in the last House.

Sandakabatu out
In North West Choiseul, Kuma polled 2948 votes to knock out Connelly Sandakabatu, who had held the seat for the last two terms.

In South Choiseul, Galokale ousted former MP Elijah Doromuala who came sixth.

Galokale is the managing director of the Takamako Holdings group of companies. He polled 999 votes, just ahead of Leokana Tozen with 965 votes.

Sogavare retained his seat after polling 1860 votes, more than a thousand ballots from the runner up Ezra Kukuti, who polled 755 votes.

In Ulawa/Ugi, Marau, the youngest MP in the last House, secured his second term by a landslide.

He received 1778 votes ahead of the former Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Melanesia, George Takeli, who polled only 476.

Fewer votes
The other six candidates who contested the seat collected an even fewer number of votes.

In Central Makira Giro polled 3803 votes, ahead of Usumae Peter Thompson with 1,419.

In Gao/ Bugotu, Manetoali’s return for his fourth term in Parliament was a surprise.

Late last year, police arrested and charged Manetoali for alleged conversion of constituency funds.

The charge was a huge set-back to Mantoali’s election campaign and many doubted his chances of returning for another parliamentary term.

But on Wednesday, the people of Gao/Bugotu handed Mantoalia a resounding victory and a fourth term in Parliament.

He polled 2457 votes ahead of his runner up Adrian Toni, who received 1102 ballots.

Counting is continuing.

Ofani Eremae is a Solomon Star reporter.

In a report titled China’s Pursuit of a New World Media Order, the Paris-based global watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has investigated Beijing’s strategy to control information beyond its borders, a project that it says poses a threat to press freedom throughout the world.

China, ranked 176 out of 180 in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), is expanding its hold beyond its borders to impose its “ideologically correct” vocabulary, to deter any criticism of itself and to cover up the darker chapters in its history.

Less well known than the Belt and Road Initiative, but just as ambitious, this project poses a threat to press freedom throughout the world, says RSF.

READ MORE: China’s Pursuit of a New World Media Order

This is what RSF reveals in its investigative report entitled China’s Pursuit of a New World Media Order, available in French, English and Chinese versions on its website rsf.org

The NGO highlights the strategy deployed by the Chinese state to achieve its goals. These strategies include: modernising its international TV broadcasting, buying extensive amounts of advertising in international media, infiltrating foreign media… but also employing blackmail, intimidation and harassment on a massive scale.

“In the spirit of the Beijing regime, journalists are not intended to be a counter-power but rather to serve the propaganda of states,” said Christophe Deloire, secretary-general of RSF.

“If democracies do not resist, Beijing will impose its view and its propaganda, which is a threat for journalism and democracy.”

Training ‘critical thinking’ in Beijing
Over the past decade, China has invested massively in developing media capable of reaching an international public. And it has succeeded: state-owned CGTN broadcasts TV programmes in 140 countries and China Radio International broadcasts in 65 languages.

The regime has managed to convince tens of thousands of journalists in emerging countries – including from the Pacific – to go on all-expense-paid trips to Beijing to “train their critical mind” in exchange for favorable press coverage.

As for the Chinese diaspora media, many of which used to be critical of the regime, almost all have been bought out and disseminated into the propaganda apparatus of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Violence and intimidation
Beijing is also exporting its censorship and surveillance tools, including the Baidu search engine and WeChat instant messaging platform, and encouraging authoritarian states to copy its repressive regulations, a particularly effective strategy in Southeast Asia.

Beijing calls for intimidation and violence to silence dissidents, even in democratic nations. From freelance reporters to major media outlets, from publishing houses to social media platforms, no link in the news production chain is immune to the “invisible hand” of Beijing.

Even Chinese ambassadors no longer hesitate to openly denigrate press articles that question the official narrative of China, and often in rather undiplomatic ways.

Democracies are struggling to react in the face of these threats.

Pacific Media Watch works in partnership with Reporters Without Borders.

• Pacific journalists visit China

Fake news and hate speech are inundating Indonesia on and offline with the country’s general election just two months away and with presidential candidates Prabowo Subianto and incumbent Joko Widodo locked in a contest for the top spot.

Jokowi, as the president is known, remains clearly in the lead with as much as 20 percent of the voters picking him despite his being the target of torrents of fake news, according to several recent surveys.

The Prabowo team claims the race is closer based on internal surveys – which they decline to share.

READ MORE: Meet the fake news trolls who influenced the US and Indonesian polls for money

A survey by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) shows Jokowi and his partner, Islamic leader Ma’ruf Amin, with voter approval at 54.8 percent, while Prabowo and his running mate, businessman Sandiaga Uno, are well behind at 31.0 percent.

But in an example of the depth of misleading advertising, survey results of the Indonesian Telematics Society (Mastel) say nearly 45 percent of 1,116 respondents surveyed said they receive fake news and hoaxes every day.

Unfortunately, 30.3 percent of respondents say they have difficulty checking the truth of such reports, with more than 75 percent of respondents agreeing that false news can disrupt community harmony.

Political issues dominate the fake news transmissions, according to the survey, followed by misleading reports on religion and health.

Chat applications
They can take the form of photos, videos, and narratives, and are mostly distributed via social media (Facebook and Twitter) and chat applications such as Whatsapp.

Among Indonesia’s 265.4 million population, fully half or 132.7 million are internet users, based on research conducted by We Are Social, with almost all of them – 130 million – active social media users.

At least 192 million voters will select the president and their representatives in parliament simultaneously across the country on April 17.

The latest research by the social media monitoring site PoliticaWave found that hoaxes mostly target Jokowi.

“From the presidential elections in 2014 to 2019, it appears that Jokowi is a victim of political hoaxes,” said executive director PoliticaWave Jose Rizal at a press conference in Jakarta.

PoliticaWave also found that the numbers of hoax issues have been rising. The 10 biggest hoax issues relating to the 2019 election include a fake attack on activist Ratna Sarumpaet, who first accused the Jokowi camp of being behind it.

She later switched her allegiance to the president. Others deal with reports of very large government debt; allegations that several containers filled with ballots had been discovered as already cast for Jokowi; toll electronic transactions associated with debt to China; and fake e-KTPs from China.

Many accusations
Jokowi has been accused of being a member of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), of being a closet Christian, of using foreign consultants and of having a fake high school certificate.

Others include that 10 million workers from China have entered Indonesia; and that vice presidential candidate Ma’ruf Amin will be replaced by the former Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaya Purnama, who was arrested on trumped up blasphemy charges that played an integral role in his defeat.

“The ten biggest hoax issues are aimed at attacking Jokowi,” said Yose.

Claiming that he was fed up with accusations and hoaxes against him, Jokowi in recent speeches has sought to clarify the various negative allegations and to go after his political opponents.

In early February, he hinted – without mentioning specifically – a campaign team that carried out so-called “Russian propaganda,” a name that has gained increased currency with spectacular charges over Russian interference in the 2016 US election.

The term is construed as an accusation against Prabowo’s camp.

“The problem is that there is a campaign team that prepares Russian propaganda which is (marked) at any time to issue a blast of slander and hoax,” Jokowi said while addressing thousands of supporters in the city of Surabaya.

Foreign consultants
Jokowi accused the Prabowo camp of hiring foreign consultants, who he said were only oriented to victory without considering that their strategy could potentially divide society. He also criticised the opposition for often accusing him of being pro-foreigners even though they themselves used the services of foreigners.

“Their consultants are foreign consultants,” he said. “Then who is the foreign stooge? Do not let us be treated continuously by lies. Our people are smart, whether in the city or in the village,” he said.

Gerindra deputy chairman Fadli Zon denied the allegations.

“We do not use foreign consultants. We can’t afford to pay (foreign consultants),” he said.

Prabowo’s team responded by accusing Jokowi himself of using the services of a foreign consultant named Stanley Greenberg. The accusation was based on an article on a website stating that Stanley had been a consultant to Jokowi.

“A note for all these inquiries,” Greenberg responded publicly. “I have never worked for Mr Widodo in any way. The website you mention is not accurate nor affiliated with me in any capacity.

“Accurate information on our past clients is listed on my official website,” Greenberg wrote through his Twitter account @stangreenberg, attaching his official website.

‘Russian propaganda’
The controversy about “Russian propaganda” also provoked the Russian Embassy in Jakarta to comment.

“We underline that Russia’s principal position is not to intervene in domestic affairs and electoral processes in foreign countries, including Indonesia which is our close friend and important partner,” wrote the Russian Embassy through its official Twitter account @RusEmbJakarta.

But Jokowi’s special team of Cakra 19 said it was convinced that “Russian propaganda” was now being applied in Indonesia, by adopting what is known as “firehoses of falsehoods,” an operation used by Russian hackers between 2012-2017 in the Crimea crisis, the Ukrainian conflict and the civil war in Syria.

“In Russia, this modus operandi has emerged as long ago as the 1870s through the Narodniki movement. This movement was used to bring down the Russian Czar by continually raising negative issues,” said the chairperson of the Cakra 19 team, Andi Widjajanto in a written statement.

“Operation blast of slander aims to make lies defeat the truth. This operation wants to destroy public trust in political authorities, including the media,” said the former Cabinet Secretary and defense expert.

Prabowo’s campaign team, known as the National Winning Agency (BPN), has launched allegations that the Jokowi government has used legal means to get rid of political opponents ahead of the upcoming election.

“Now people who have the potential to gain votes in the BPN circle have begun to be crushed one by one,” Gerindra Party general secretary Ahmad Muzani said.

Hate speech
He charged that a musician-turned politician, Ahmad Dhani, and a cleric leading the Movement 212 – a group of conservative Muslims who held a series of demonstrations against former Jakarta governor Basuki – named Slamet Ma’arif had been the target of what he called “criminalisation”.

Dhani was sentenced to 18 months in prison at the end of January on a charge of hate speech. Ma’arif members are now suspected of a series of alleged campaign violations.

Several other names in Prabowo’s camp were also involved in legal cases or even jailed. Muzani claimed the police were quick to investigate cases involving Prabowo’s sympathizers but not with cases involving or suspected of involving Jokowi’s supporters.

“We have submitted many reports (to the police), but it seems that there is not enough evidence. Whereas when our party was reported, (it was said) there was enough evidence. This is no longer inequality, it is bias,” Muzani said.

Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko denied Muzani’s allegations, emphasizing that the government did not intervene in the legal process.

“That there are (BPN members) who are entangled in legal matters, look to yourselves. It may be something that is wrong (with themselves). So don’t always blame the government,” Said Moeldoko as quoted by kompas.com

• Jakarta media activist threatens to sue Facebook for shutting accounts

The role of women in every segment of society is vital and this is slowly been reflected through more women contesting political spaces in Fiji.

This year recorded the highest number of women contesting the country’s general election compared to previous elections – and also the highest number elected.

The new 51-seat Parliament includes 10 women, five in government and five in the opposition.

READ MORE: 2018 Fiji elections – the ‘fake news’ catchphrase of this ballot but beware

The highest polling woman, SODELPA’s Lynda Tabuya – a talented lawyer and former beauty queen described by media as a “breath of fresh air”, being the fifth highest of the successful MPs.

Speaker of Parliament Dr Jiko Luveni says this the success of women is “wonderful news” and she is expected to continue as Speaker.

A total of 56 women from all 6 political parties contested this year hoping to represent women and their issues in political debate.

Amelia Qalituraga, 40, of Banaras Lautoka, is delighted that more women stood for election despite politics being a male-dominated field in this country.

Grassroots support
While casting her vote last Wednesday, she expressed hope that women in Parliament would be able to help out women at grassroots level, especially over the minimum wage rate.

“Working as a cleaner at the rate of $2.70 an hour hasn’t been any easy for me and my family,” she says.

“Na veika ga keimami kerea jiko vei ira na marama era na curu I Palimedi me ra rogoci keimami kei na neimami gagadre,” she added. (The only thing we want from women representatives is to listen to our needs and voices.)

With the rise in sexual assault and rape cases victimising women, Qalituraga hopes that women in Parliament will be able to make a change.

“Na levu ni sexual assault kei na rape sa yaco tu ni kua, au sa vavinavinaka saraga ni na rawa ni rogoci na neimami gagadre.” (With the rise in sexual assault and rape cases against women, I believe that women in political spaces will be able to listen to our concerns now).

Krishneel Vikash Chand, a 21-year-old student at the University of Fiji, says “only a woman will be able to understand the needs of other women and their issues”.

“I think it’s good to have more women in politics because it gives women more empowerment,” he adds.

Better represented
Chand says the idea of women being part of the decision making process would allow women to be better represented and ensure their voices are heard.

Despite the positive response from most people about women competing in political spaces,  some prefer men to address their issues rather than women.

Madhuri Nair, of Field 40, Lautoka, likes the idea of women empowerment but prefers men to address women’s issues.

“I think it’s good that more women are participating in political spaces, however, I want men to solve women’s issues because sometimes women don’t think nicely.”

Despite the mixed responses from people around Lautoka, it is clear women at the grassroots level want their voices heard and issues to be addressed.

• Premila Kumar, Selai Adimaitoga, Veena Bhatnagar, Mereseini Vuniwaqa and Rosy Akbar are included in the 27-member FijiFirst-led government while Social Democratic Liberal Party members Lynda Tabuya, Ro Teimumu Kepa, Salote Radrodro, Adi Litia Qionibaravi and National Federation Party member Lenora Qereqeretabua are included in the 24-member opposition.

Koroi Tadulala is a final-year student journalist at the University of the South Pacific. This article is republished under the content sharing arrangement between USP’s Wansolwara student journalism newspaper and AUT’s Pacific Media Centre.

• Other Fiji election stories

“Fake News” was the catch phrase of the 2018 Fiji Elections – the second democratic elections since Commodore, now Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama, carried out Fiji’s fourth coup in 2006.

That FijiFirst with 227,241 (50.02 percent) votes won the elections with just over half of 458,532 votes cast, giving it 27 seats, is testimony to how nervous it was going into the elections.

The Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) won 181,072 votes (39.85 percent), close to 40 percent of the vote and gets 21 seats in parliament, doing better than it did in 2014, while the National Federation Party completes the makeup with 33,515 votes (7.38 percent) and three seats in the 51-seat Parliament.

“SODELPA – It’s strong indigenous propaganda supported by some deliberate misinformation contributed to a much improved performance, compared with 2014,” said the pro-government newspaper Fiji Sun today in its analysis of the elections.

This was a quaint way of accusing SODELPA of indulging in fake news by the government’s self-confessed propaganda organ.

In his statement on winning the elections yesterday, published in the Fiji Sun, Bainimarama took the unusual step of accusing the other national daily newspaper, The Fiji Times, of colluding with the opposition in a thinly veiled attack on SODELPA.

“These same disruptive politicians of old, aided and abetted by The Fiji Times did not care to tell you the truth – the truth that iTaukei (Native) land is not only safe like never before under our Constitution but as total land holding has grown under FijiFirst,” he said in a statement.

‘Dishonest politicians’
“In fact it was only under the leadership of these same dishonest politicians that iTaukei land was actually and permanently alienated.

“Their lies and deception knew no boundaries, as individuals, whole communities and religious sentiments were slandered and belittled in an atmosphere of political deceit. They were willing to create economic chaos and undermine our economic future in their greed to win government,” Bainimarama said in his statement from New Zealand, where he was attending his brother Sevenaia’s funeral.

The 48-hour media blackout period – extended until Saturday, November 17, to allow for 22 polling venues to be opened for 7,458 people who were affected by floods – made it easy for social media trolls to make mischief.

At a press conference during the election, Ashwin Raj, the CEO of the Media Industry Development Authority (MIDA), admitted to being caught out by the ferocity of fake news and the social media.

In an interview with ABC’s Pacific Beat programme. Pacific Freedom Forum (PFF) co-chair Bernadette Carreon put her finger on the problem.

She said the vacuum left by the media blackout had led to fake news and misinformation being shared.

“The media is not allowed to publish any information regarding the election and so there have been reports of some fake websites coming up during the blackout and we call it fake news because it could potentially influence the voting,” she said.

Fact checking
“Media or the readers cannot fact check because the media is not allowed to air any news or information about the election process.”

That fake news dominated the media at the Fiji Elections Office (FEO) for more than two days was hardly surprising – as nothing could be reported on the campaign or the candidates.

It has been reported on Twitter that FijiFirst, from the financial declarations last month, spent $1.9 million on advertising and $80,000 on social media as of 30 September 2018. (See image)

However, the media blackout and fake news did not have any influence on the Monday before the elections when SODELPA leader Sitiveni Rabuka faced the High Court for the appeal by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) against charges of corruption which were initially dismissed.

The appeal was subsequently dismissed as well to loud cheers from his supporters.
The media scrum was a sight to behold as Rabuka emerged from courtroom victorious accompanied by his protégé Lynda Tabuya.

With more than 2000 people singing Fijian songs in harmony he was escorted down the steps of Parliament which backs onto the court house.

It appeared to be in defiance of the government which have for so long subdued the Fijian people and their natural exuberance.

Sigh of relief
It clearly signalled the portent of what was to come two days later in the elections, and one shudders to think of what could have happened that day had he lost the court case.

But, for now a collective sigh of relief in Fiji, relief that stability continues with murmurings of corruption, relief that a strong opposition is in place, and 10 women have made to Parliament making up 20 percent of the seats, but it bodes for uncertainty in the 2022 elections.

As Professor Jon Fraenkel from Victoria University of Wellington, a visitor and speaker at the University of the South Pacific, told the Australian Associated Press (AAP) on November 14.

“Many indigenous voters are wary of the endless polarisation and mind games of FijiFirst, and there is also considerable anti-Muslim sentiment targeted at the Attorney-General and his many appointees.”

A third term in government is difficult for any party and the warnings are already been written on the wall for FijiFirst – the people have spoken and will again.

Sri Krishnamurthi is a journalist and Postgraduate Diploma in Communication Studies student at Auckland University of Technology. He was attached to the University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme, filing for USP’s Wansolwara News and the AUT Pacific Media Centre’s Asia Pacific Report.

The courthouse media “scrum” when SODELPA leader Sitiveni Rabuka was cleared by the High Court last Monday to contest the 2018 Fiji general election two days later. Video: SK/PMC

Yesterday marked the end of the 2018 Fiji General Election.

It marked the end of a period that culminated in two weeks of intense campaigning.

In the heated battles, parties clung onto strategies they calculated would woo the important component in the election process — the voters.

However that panned out, campaigning reached unprecedented levels of attacks, some personal at times.

The attacks inched their way onto the various social media platforms, raising the profile of this particular election.

In the end though, before the writ for election was handed over by the chairperson of the Fijian Electoral Commission, Suresh Chandra, to the President of our nation, Jioji Konrote yesterday, the masses had spoken.

The FijiFirst party got 227,241 votes when the final results were tallied. Their highest votes were from the Western Division, accounting for 91,902 of their total count.

The Voreqe Bainimarama led-party received 65,901 votes from the Central Division, 34,291 votes from the Eastern Division and 31,073 votes from the Northern Division.

The party received 4074 votes through postal ballots.

The Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) polled the second highest votes in this year’s polls, making up 39.85 percent of the total votes cast with 181,072.

Their highest votes were from the Central Division where they collected 67,255 votes.

The Sitiveni Rabuka led-party gathered 43,813 votes from the Western Division, 35, 013 votes from the Eastern Division and 30,919 votes from the Northern Division. SODELPA received 4072 votes through postal voting.

The National Federation Party recorded 33,515 votes when the final results were released yesterday.

Out of this, 12,025 were from the Western Division, 10,941 from the Central Division, 5457 from the Eastern Division and 4336 from the Northern Division.

The Biman Prasad led-party received 756 votes from postal voting.

The results meant FFP came off with 27 seats of the 51-member Parliament, while SODELPA came off with 21 and NFP with three to make up the 24-member Opposition.

It was good to note that the new Parliament includes 10 women, five in government and five in the opposition. Congratulations certainly are in order for Mr Bainimarama and his party.

He has the huge task of bringing together a nation that has been split in this election.

His challenge would be to understand the needs of the 227,094 voters who did not vote for his party. For now, all battles must be put on the backburner for the good of the nation.

The challenge for individual voters is to cast aside differences, and unite for a common goal, to move our nation forward.

The masses have spoken.

They have given Mr Bainimarama and FijiFirst the mandate to govern for the next four years.

We must embrace that fact.

That is the beauty of democracy.

Republished from The Fiji Times, 19 November 2018.

It’s official. FijiFirst has narrowly won the 2018 general election in Fiji, raking in 227,241 votes (50.02 percent) from 2173 stations counted and securing a second four-year term in office.

FijiFirst dominated the polls in the later counting ahead of the Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) in an earlier tight contest. SODELPA finished in second place with 181,072 votes (39.85 percent).

The National Federation Party (NFP) finished in third place with 33,515 (7.38 percent) followed by Unity Fiji with 6,896, Humanity Opportunity Prosperity Equality with 2,811 votes and Fiji Labour Party (FLP) with 2,800 votes.

EARLIER REPORT: FijiFirst wins second four-year term

Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, FijiFirst leader, finished off on a strong footing, raking in 167,732 votes in the results by candidate tally.

“I’m proud to become your prime minister once again,” Bainimarama told FBC News from Auckland where he has been attending his brother’s funeral.

Ratu Sevanaia Laua Bainimarama, a jazz musician living in the Bay of Islands, died in the early hours of Tuesday morning – the day before the general election. He was aged 61.

SODELPA’s Sitiveni Rabuka came in second with 77,040 votes followed by Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum with 17,271 votes.

National Federation Party leader Biman Prasad finished off with 12,137 votes, followed by the leading woman candidate Lynda Tabuya with 8,795 votes.

Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem announced the results at the National Results Centre this afternoon after the final results were released on the FEO elections app.

Official results handover
The official elections results were then handed over to Electoral Commission Chairman Suresh Chandra.

“After receiving the results of the 2018 general election, the Electoral Commission will now retire and calculate the seat allocation for the 51 seats for the next term of Parliament,” Chandra said.

Wansolwara News reports the Electoral Commission later announced the allocation of the 51 seats in Parliament.

As anticipated, 27 seats will be taken up by the ruling FijiFirst Party, 21 seats to the Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) and three seats to the National Federation Party (NFP).

Below are the elected members of Parliament:

FijiFirst Party:
1. Voreqe Bainimarama
2. Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum
3. Alipate Nagata
4. Parveen Bala
5. Mahendra Reddy
6. Vijay Nath
7. Premila Kuma
8. Joseph Nand
9. Viam Pillay
10. Inia Seruiratu
11. Mereseini Vuniwaqa
12. Osea Naiqumu
13. Sanjay Kirpal
14. Alvick Maharaj
15. George Vegnathan
16. Semi Koroilavesau
17. Jone Usamate
18. Ashneel Sudhakar
19. Rohit Sharma
20. Selai Adimaitoga
21. Jale Sigarara
22. Ifereimi Waqainabete
23. Rosy Akbar
24. Alexander O’Connor
25. Vijendra Prakash
26. Veena Bhatnagar
27. Salik Govindra

SODELPA:
1. Sitiveni Rabuka
2. Lynda Tabua
3. Ro Temumu Kepa
4. Niko Nawaikula
5. Atonio Naiqama
6. Mosese Bulitavo
7. Anare Jale
8. Peceli Vosanibola
9. Viliame Gavoka
10. Jese Saukuru
11. Ratu Suliano Matanitobu
12. Simione Rasova
13. Mitieli Bulanauca
14. Ro Filipe Tuisawau
15. Inosi Kuridrani
16. Aseri Radrodro
17. Mikaele Leawere
18. Adi Litia Qionibaravi
19. Salote Radrodro
20. Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu
21. Tevita Navurelevu

NFP:
1. Biman Prasad
2. Pio Tikoduadua
3. Lenora Qereqeretabua

This article is republished under the content sharing arrangement between USP’s Wansolwara student journalism newspaper and AUT’s Pacific Media Centre.

Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s FijiFirst party has triumphed in the general election and will govern for a second four-year term after winning most votes

FFP polled 227,241 votes – just over half the total votes – followed by the Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) in second place with 181,072 votes (39.85 percent) while the National Federation Party (NFP) came third with 33,515 votes (7.38 percent).

SODELPA and NFP will again form the opposition for another four years.

Other parties gained less than the 5 percent threshold needed to gain seats in the 51-seat Parliament.

Wansolwara News reported earlier that it was understood that after the official handover of results from the Fiji Elections Office, the Electoral Commission would announce the allocation of seats in Parliament before the Writ of Election would be presented to President Jioji Konrote later today.

Fiji’s Supervisor of Elections has hit out at four political parties for making claims that the tabulation process for the provisional results of the 2018 General Election was “not transparent”.

Without mincing his words at a press briefing tonight, Mohammed Saneem urged leaders of the political parties – Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA), National Federation Party (NFP), Unity Fiji and Fiji Labour Party (FLP) – “not to play around with elections” and “be honest”.

Claims of a breach in the Protocol of Results process surfaced after a joint statement was sent to the Electoral Commission on Thursday alleging that political party agents and candidates were not shown documents from which the provisional results were posted on the national results tally during the tabulation process.

There were further claims from political parties that incorrect data was also recorded on the FEO App, particularly for votes recorded at the Namosi Village community hall for some of their party candidates.

Responding to these issues, Saneem presented original copies of votes recorded at that particular voting venue and openly compared those with the election records presented by party agents at that polling venue.

There were notable differences in the data collected.

“The parties claim that No. 571 on their record is zero; the Protocol of Results says 571 has one vote, the pink slip for 571 has one and the FEO App has one. For 591 (Biman Prasad), according to the parties, he has five votes.

According to the original, he has four votes, the pink slip has four votes and the FEO App has four votes.

For 688 (Bainimarama), their records say 36, the original pink slip says 96 and the FEO App has 96,” he explained to the media and representatives from the international multinational observer group.

“The Namosi Village community hall is a pre-poll station and that means counting for this station was actually done at the count centre (in Suva). We have evidence, properly justified and signed by agents and staff, nothing is being hidden.

Party records ‘incorrect’
“The records of those parties are extremely incorrect. They were highly inaccurate results projected here for the sake of publicity and this is why the FEO is urging all members of the public to rely on the FEO information as the most accurate for this general election.

“We will pause and provide the political parties that have got agents present here with the records from the results management system as well as the protocols of results and we will reconcile to make sure that everybody in the results centre has the same amount of data including the data on the app.

“I hope this settles the entire question about attempts to create doubt about the results.”

Saneem further clarified that the Fijian Elections Office had three verification processes before data is accepted into results software or results management system.

This article is republished under the content sharing arrangement between USP’s Wansolwara student journalism newspaper and AUT’s Pacific Media Centre.

• Fiji election poll observers give thumbs up

With the final results from 1715 (79 percent) of the 2173 polling stations now counted, who will form the next Fiji government is still too close to call, although the trend since earlier announcements — and the preliminary results announced on Thursday —  indicate a narrow win for FijiFirst.

As of 1pm today, FijiFirst had 49.93 percent of the vote, SODELPA 39.96 percent and National Federation Party (NFP) 7.36 percent. The other parties had a combined total of 2.74 percent, well below the 5 percent threshold to win a seat.

What has been most disappointing is the low voter turnout. The atrocious weather did not help but in itself is an insufficient reason.

READ MORE: Counting still going on with final result due Sunday

There are likely to be a mix of reasons but their relative importance will remain unknown. They could perhaps have chosen not to vote because they are happy with the status quo under FijiFirst.

They could have expected FijiFirst to win, so why bother? They could have been overwhelmed and confused by the many pressures to vote from FijiFirst and the pressures and rumours from the Opposition.

Or they could have thought the election result would not improve their lives whatever the outcome.

So what can we deduce from the results so far?

‘Work in progress’
Bainimarama’s FijiFirst seems likely to win 27 seats, SODELPA 20 and NFP 4 seats in the 51-seat chamber.

The aim of the 2013 constitution in abolishing race-based elections which favoured the chiefly Taukei appears to be a work “still in progress”. SODELPA is essentially a Taukei party with 43 of its 51 candidates Taukei, 4 Indo-Fijians and 4 Others.

NFP, a traditional Indo-Fijian party, had made serious efforts to be more multiracial. Nineteen of its 51 candidates are Taukei, 29 Indo-Fijians and 3 Others.

FijiFirst is the most balanced party with 26 Taukei, 23 Indo-Fijian and 2 Others. It even has two chiefs! But no paramount chiefs.

Two heads of Confederacies, Ro Teimumu Kepa (Burebasaga) and Naiqama Lalabalavu (Tovata), are SODELPA candidates. The Kubuna headship is at present vacant.

A Rotuman, Pasepa Lagi, out-polled Bainimarama and all other candidates in Rotuma.

A casual examination of voting by the type and location of polling station shows race and parochial interests to still be very evident.

Village voting
People voting in Taukei villages generally voted SODELPA, no doubt due to the influence of village heads (turaga ni koro). This pattern did not seem to be influenced by whether or not the FijiFirst government had spent money on local development.

So much for the social media and opposition claims that FijiFirst was buying votes. Those in (mainly Indo-Fijian) settlements voted FijiFirst or NFP.

In urban areas, voting also seemed to be greatly influenced by race, and to a lesser extent by economic wellbeing.

Three types of polling stations deserve special mention. Those located in military areas voted overwhelmingly for FijiFirst (which reduces the prospect of another coup); police areas were about equally divided between FijiFirst and SODELPA, and Corrections were predominantly SODELPA.

One further initial observation is the different distribution of candidate preferences.  Bainimarama was the first choice  with 36.8 percent for FijiFirst votes.

SODELPA’s Rabuka only accounted for 17 percent with other candidates scoring higher than with FijiFirst.

Interestingly, Ro Teimumu Kepa only won 1.2 percent of SODELPA votes.  This suggests more parochially-orientated voting for  SODELPA and perhaps what could be called more nationally-orientated voting with FijiFirst.

But individual SODELPA candidates may have been better known in particular locations.

The geography of how people voted in 2014 and 2018  by polling station would make a very good topic for a master’s thesis. There are certainly enough hypotheses to test.

Retired University of the South Pacific development studies professor Crosbie Walsh is a New Zealand-based academic. His articles are published by Asia Pacific Report with permission.

The ruling FijiFirst party has taken a narrow lead in the Fiji general election final results today ahead of the opposition Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) after 1401 of 2173 stations were counted.

As of 5am today and with 772 stations yet to be counted, FijiFirst has so far topped the results by party with 131,629 votes compared with SODELPA’s 115,150 votes.

The National Federation Party (NFP) trails in third place with 19,312 votes followed by Unity Fiji with 4239, Humanity Opportunity Prosperity Equality (HOPE) Party with 1725 votes and Fiji Labour Party with 1664 votes so far.

FijiFirst leader Voreqe Bainimarama has maintained a strong lead ahead of SODELPA’s Sitiveni Rabuka in the official results by candidates, raking in 97,352 votes so far compared with Rabuka’s 47,764 votes.

Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is in third place with 9840 votes followed by Biman Prasad on 6975 and Lynda Tabuya with 5170 votes.

Alipate Nagata has placed in the top 10 results by candidates with 4117 votes ahead of Niko Nawaikula with 3820, Ro Teimumu Kepa with 3571 votes and Mosese Bulitavu with 3561 votes so far.

Some notable changes so far with the final results include an increase in the number of stations being counted.

Provisional results and early counts from the final results were from 2170 stations. However, the Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem, has since clarified that there are now 2173 polling stations after the inclusion of three more polling stations to account for the postal ballots.

Voting today
Wansolwara’s Laisenia Nasiga reports that registered voters who cast their votes on polling day (Wednesday, November 14) at the 22 polling venues that were later adjourned as a result of bad weather will still have to vote today.

According to Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem, 7498 people were expected to cast their votes at these 22 polling venues.

“If a voter’s finger contains indelible ink, they will still be allowed entry into the polling venue to mark their ballot paper. The voter will then have to ink another finger,” Saneem told a press briefing in Suva yesterday.

“Any voter who has already voted at these locations will be allowed to vote again. All votes that were received from these places on Election Day will be cancelled. They will not be counted.

“We will be using freshly printed ballot papers as well as new ballot boxes to facilitate elections at these venues and voters can come and vote between the hours of 7.30am to 6pm.”

The final election result is expected tomorrow.

This article is republished under the content sharing arrangement of USP’s Wansolwara student journalism newspaper and AUT’s Pacific Media Centre.

• ‘Exercise your right to vote,’ says Saneem
• Final election result expected tomorrow

Official poll results for the Fiji 2018 general election are trickling in slowly as the Social Democratic Liberal Party leads the race by party after 527 of 2170 stations were counted.

SODELPA raked in 44,501 votes so far by party as of 6.27am today.

It was followed by FijiFirst with 37,469, National Federation Party with 5897, Unity Fiji with 1494, Humanity Opportunity Prosperity Equality with 552 and Fiji Labour Party trailling with 452 votes so far.

Leading the official results by candidates, FijiFirst leader Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama has maintained the top spot with 28,033 votes so far, followed by SODELPA leader Sitiveni Rabuka with 18,356 votes, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum with 2598, Lynda Tabuya with 2530 votes and NFP leader Biman Prasad with 2269 votes from the 527 stations counted so far.

Anare Jale follows closely behind with 2173 votes, Ro Teimumu Kepa on 1516 votes, Alipate Nagata with 1385 votes and Ratu Suliano Matanitobua with 1365 votes. Simione Rasova sits on 1124 votes, followed by Niko Nawaikula with 1073 votes and Peceli Vosanibola with 1020 votes so far, ahead of Mere Samisoni’s 1007.

Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem said they had started to release the final results tally on to the FEO App, which is compatible with mobile smartphones and can be downloaded from Google Play or Apple Store.

“There seems to be a misconception that this is a recount. Please note, it is not a recount but results that have now been physically transmitted to us from the polling places in protocol of results,” he said.

Data entry

“This data-entry process will continue until we have completed data entry from all the locations. So it is not a recount, it is data-entry starting from zero once again.

“There seems to be a misconception that the 584 venues would have to be recounted. No they will not be recounted. After 584 venues that were not included in the provisional results, there are three poll stations we are still counting, probably 360 or so venues that are yet to be counted, that is why the data this morning [yesterday] could not have all the information.

“Some 220 plus polling stations that did not transmit the results to us via mobile phone because some of those areas were in low-connectivity areas, and in some areas the staff directly transmitted the printout signed copy of the count results instead of calling us to let us know.”

Saneem said they would continue to update the FEO App with final results once counts were verified.

This article is republished under the content sharing arrangement of USP’s Wansolwara student journalism newspaper and AUT’s Pacific Media Centre.

The Fiji general election campaign blackout period is expected to end at 6pm tomorrow after the final votes are cast by 7498 voters at 22 polling venues that had to close on election day as a result of bad weather.

Final results tabulation was continuing today.

Initially, heavy rain and strong winds made 23 polling venues inaccessible to voters, prompting the Fijian Elections Office and Electoral Commission to announce the adjournment of voting in those affected areas on November 14.

READ MORE: Counting continues after Fiji poll

The closure of those 23 polling venues meant 7852 voters were unable to cast their ballots at the time.

As of yesterday, Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem said there were now 7498 voters yet to cast their votes at 22 polling venues.

He said any breaches to the Electoral Act regarding the blackout period would be reported to the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Saneem also clarified that the release of provisional results could potentially influence the decision of voters who have yet to cast their votes.

However, he said the release of the provisional results also showed how transparent the election process was.

Saneem also addressed concerns about voters whose day of worship fell on Saturday, the day set for the polling to commence for the adjourned polling venues, saying they were looking into this issue.

In response to a statement released by four political parties, namely Social Democratic Liberal Party, Fiji Labour Party, National Federation Party and United Fiji Party, claiming the tabulation process was not transparent as political party agents and candidates were not shown the documents from which the provisional results were posted on the National Results Tally, Saneem said those parties misunderstood the tabulation process.

“When they came for the (election) training we told them that tabulation on the provisional results would be done by mobile calls by our officials from the fields. In order to verify the process, we will be doing the data entry here and the parties can follow through from the field themselves,” Saneem said.

“The final result is where the parties are given the photocopies of the documents used for data entry.

“A printout is also given to them post-entry of the results. The provisional results, we’ve always said, would be phone call results entered directly into the system and updated as required by law so I think it is all a failure to understand the electoral process.”

Saneem said they could not speculate a specific time for the completion of counting but assured the public they “will do it as early as possible”.

This article is republished under the content sharing arrangement of USP’s Wansolwara student journalism newspaper and AUT’s Pacific Media Centre.

The Fiji Elections Office (FEO) has entered a new phase towards the results of the 2018 elections by stopping the release of progressive results this morning.

With the targeted 70 percent of the vote counted, the final data entry can now be input with the final results to be released once that has been completed, Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem said.

“We have reached that benchmark, but this does not mean that counting has stopped, this does not mean that we will be counting again, this does not mean that the results will only be for 70 percent of the polling places,” said Saneem.

READ MORE: Fiji’s Banimarama maintains commanding provisional lead

“So, the provisional results that we have been announcing all night are actual results from those polling places and we are stopping that this morning, because we have received up to 70 percent of the results and voters are now able to understand the dynamic of the results of the election.”

Saneem said votes had been counted at all polling venues where votes were cast yesterday, except at the 23 polling venues where polling had been adjourned because of inclement weather causing flooding.

The FEO were yet to receive the results from 224 polling stations while 1586 were counted by 7am this morning.

Saneem said there were valid reasons for not receiving phone calls with the results.

Materials packed
“The other thing is some presiding officers have directly packed their materials, so they did not call, that does not matter because we have reached our target of more than 70 percent for provisionals,” Saneem said.

“The total voters that we have received in those polling stations is 370,450 and with that we have now roughly 61 percent turnout in the Central Division, 53 percent in the Eastern Division, 59 percent in the Northern Division and 60 percent in the Western Division,” he said.

“We still have to receive pre-poll counting data which is about 360 or so polling station that are yet to be counted in pre-poll and the 224 that are have not sent us the provisional data.”

The final results will be used to allocate seats for the new Parliament.

When the provisional results were stopped, FijiFirst had a majority of 191,266 (51.63%), SODELPA had 140,963 (38.05%) and National Federation Party 27,769 votes, with all seemingly winning seats in the new Parliament.

Other parties have not reached the threshold of 5 percent to win seats.

Sri Krishnamurthi is a journalist and Postgraduate Diploma in Communication Studies student at Auckland University of Technology. He is attached to the University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme, filing for USP’s Wansolwara News and the AUT Pacific Media Centre’s Asia Pacific Report.

• Polling for 22 venues that needed to be suspended yesterday will now be carried out on Saturday from 7.30am to 6pm, the FEO announced.
• Other Fiji elections stories