Did you notice anything different about the news coverage of the recent unrest in Honiara?

Those fast-breaking stories on Australia’s television, radio and online networks were not presented by Australian journalists but by Solomon Islanders professionally reporting from the frontlines of the riots.

There wasn’t a journalist on the ground from Australia, New Zealand or anywhere else except the Solomon Islands.

• READ MORE: Other Solomon Islands crisis reports

International journalists, known in the industry as “parachuting” journalists, are the ones who normally drop in for a few days at the height of a breaking disaster or catastrophe.

Often with little knowledge or background of the story. (Foreign correspondents are different — they’re experts in their field).

Parachute journalists arrive off the streets of the nearest major city in a developed country and hire a local journalist as a fixer. The parachute journalist uses all the local’s expertise and knowledge to file reports, getting the credit while the local fixer receives none.

The fixer probably doesn’t get paid much either.

Covid-19 border restrictions
What happened in Honiara was different because covid-19 border restrictions meant foreign journalists couldn’t get into the Solomon Islands.

The local media stepped forward and did a brilliant job. They were fast and highly skilled.

The situation on social media was a master class in how to cover a major international breaking story.

As the looters rampaged through Honiara over three days, the local media team worked together pooling resources, videos, and facts, often running from danger as they were stoned and chased from the front line by angry looters.

The ABC’s locally engaged journalist Evan Wasuka’s television story for ABC News, complete with stand-up in the streets of ravaged Honiara, led the 7pm bulletin across Australia. His live crosses kept ABC audience informed over several days.

Veteran freelance journalist Gina Kekea filed for outlets all over the world, including Al Jazeera and the BBC. She was quoted by major news outlets, including CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.

Sports journalist Elizabeth Osifelo pitched in as a breaking news reporter to cover the fastmoving destruction. You might have heard her excellent discussion with Geraldine Doogue on ABC Saturday Extra.

Media pack freelancers
Many of the media pack were freelancers who worked together to cover the story, some had covered previous unrest.

But for young journalists like Job Rongo’au filling for Z FM Radio station, it was their first experience in covering a riot and a scary one.

Rongo’au said the protesters tried to grab his mobile phone, but he managed to run away to safety to file his extraordinary photos and videos that were shared on Facebook by thousands.

He said his work went viral on social media and was used by Al Jazeera, Reuters, ABC, and many others — and on ZFM Facebook

The ABC’s former Pacific correspondent, veteran Sean Dorney told me he thought Evan Wasuka’s 7pm television story was “terrific”.

Dorney said he was impressed by the stories from the Solomon Islands media. He said he thought that all the Australian news media could learn a lesson from this about the talent that exists in the Pacific media.

In the developing world, the trend of local staff stepping forward is known as “localisation”.

Local staff step forward
It’s an unexpected result of the closure of international borders because of covid-19. For the past 18 months Australian advisers and consultant have been unable to travel to the Pacific to work on humanitarian projects.

Local staff have successfully stepped forward to manage projects in their place. There are many who hope this will continue after international borders reopen.

Dorney said he is sure Australian training and support delivered to Pacific journalists over the past 20 years by journalists including himself, Jemima Garrett, and me contributed to the high-level skills displayed in Honiara.

Sue Ahearn is a journalist and media consultant specialising in the Pacific and Asia. She is the creator of The Pacific Newsroom, and co-convenor of the industry group Australia Asia Pacific Media Initiative. She worked for the ABC’s international service for 20 years and is currently studying Pacific development at the Australian National University (ANU). Republished with permission.

October 2021 was a horror month for Facebook as the headlines screamed “Facebook under fire” which started with the social media behemoth suffering an outage for several hours.

Then it had a whistleblower — American data scientist Francis Haugen — who accused the company of:

• prioritising growth over user safety;
• bowing to the will of state censors in some countries;
• allowing hate speech to burgeon in other countries;
• ignoring fake accounts that may influence voters and undermine elections;
• allowing the antivaccine message to proliferate; and
• having algorithms that fuel noxious behaviour online.

Add to that, a major impending problem of capturing a young audience who are flocking elsewhere and turning their backs on the oldest social media platform which was founded in 2004 by Harvard students Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes.

• READ MORE: Facebook profits top $9bn amid whistleblower revelations
• Other Pacific Newsroom reports
• The Pacific Newsroom

Even so, its success as the leading platform is undeniable with it announcing a $9 billion quarterly profit in October with a massive 3 billion users.

It was the access to smartphones when they were offered in the Pacific and technology that drove Facebook’s popularity to largely receptive devotees. The uptake of the social media platform in French Polynesia (72.1 percent penetration by 2020), Fiji (68.2 percent, Guam (87.8 percent), Niue (91.7 percent), Samoa (67.2 percent) and Tonga (62.3 percent) made it a no-brainer for Sue Ahearn, founder of the highly credible The Pacific Newsroom page to use the platform.

Measured success
The success of The Pacific Newsroom page can be measured by the site garnering in excess of 40,500 members most of who can participate actively by contributing to the page.

Ahearn is no stranger to the Asia-Pacific region. An Australian journalist for more than 40 years, 25 at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), who originally hails from Martinborough in New Zealand, she was drawn to set up the page primarily because of misinformation that tends to flourish in the Pacific news.

“It came to me about four years ago when the ABC cut back on all of its coverage of the Pacific, and I could see there was a big gap there,” she says.

“The ABC was only providing a small service and there was a lack of interest in most of the Australian media. You could see the technology was changing, how the information was flowing from the region was changing.’’

The apathy for a thirst for Pacific knowledge has had a profound effect on insularity in the media, especially in Australia and New Zealand, although the Public Interest Journalism Fund is attempting to address that in some way in New Zealand.

“I wish I knew, Sean Dorney, Jemima Garrett and all of the Pacific journalists just can’t fathom why is there so little interest in our region among the Australian media,’’ says Ahearn.

“It doesn’t make sense. There tends to be three or four journalists that cover the region and try to convince news outlets to run their stories or send reporters, and that has become very difficult.”

Only Pacific correspondent based in Pacific
Natalie Whiting of the ABC and the recipient of the Dorney-Walkley Foundation grant 2021 is the only journalist from Australasia who is based in the Pacific. She is stationed in the Papua New Guinean capital of Port Moresby.

“In New Zealand, that’s not a problem and New Zealand does good coverage of the Pacific. New Zealand has a much closer relationship with the Pacific,” Ahearn says.

However, Michael Field in Auckland, a page administrator and a veteran of the Pacific who went to journalism school with Ahearn, had qualms about the coverage out of New Zealand.

“The thing that really bugs me is that only Radio New Zealand (RNZ) seems to be doing Pacific news. For example, you’d pick up the (New) Herald and see who’s covering the hurricane out in Fiji only to see it is a re-run of a RNZ story,” says Field.

“It bothers me. The Herald should have had a different angle on the story, RNZ a different angle, The Dominion Post would be different and there would be work for stringers in the Pacific. Now that is not the case because RNZ takes up everybody else’s work and runs it that way,

“I guess that is the reality of it now, but it seems the voice of the Pacific these days is state radio.

“Call me old fashioned, but I’d be too embarrassed to run a story quoting another media organisation, and if you had to do it you’d do it grudgingly. We are starting to fail in the coverage of the region,” he says.

Success stirs amazement
The success and growth of The Pacific Newsroom as an organic, quasi news agency akin to Reuters, Agence France Press (AFP) or Australian Associated Press (AAP) in a tiny way, has caught Ahearn by amazement.

“I am surprised because we have a lot of engagement, some stories get 80,000 or 90,000 engagements so there is a lot of interest in it, and I think it fills a huge niche.

She speaks about the talanoa concept of The Pacific Newsroom.

“It’s like a town square where people can meet, share stories and talk about what is happening. Michael (Field) and I spend an enormous time on this project and we’re basically volunteers, we’re not being paid or making any money from it,” she says.

Nor would she entertain the thought of applying for funding either in New Zealand or Australia, preferring instead to maintain their editorial independence.

“Mike and I have discussed this, and we think one of the main attractions of our site is it is not monetised, that it is a voluntary site, there are no advertisements on it, we try and keep it independent, and we are both at the stage in our lives where we’re not working fulltime in the media,” Ahearn says.

“We’ve got time to spend doing this as a public interest, we really enjoy doing it too, it’s a lot of fun.

Many great stories
“There are so many great stories in the Pacific that need to be amplified to the world.

“Things are happening with technology and it’s giving a much stronger voice to the Pacific whether it’s on climate change or fishing or other important issues and that is why it is going to get stronger and stronger,” Ahearn says.

Among the stories that gained the site momentum was the University of the South Pacific (USP) having its vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia at the centre of controversy during his first term when Fiji government and educational officials tried to oust him from office in the so-called USP saga, eventually unceremoniously deporting him in a move widely condemned around the Pacific.

“The big story which moved us along was the USP saga last year, for quite political reasons which had to do with the players, we were leaked all the reports and people could see if it got a certain amount of information on Pacific Newsroom that things might happen, and it did,” Field says.

“More recently we’ve had the same with the Samoan elections where a number of players wanted to be interviewed directly; the former Prime Minister (Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi) seemed to have some misinformed view that we are more powerful than we are. We cope with that so it is constantly moving thing.”

Another worrying development were the libel laws in Australia where last month the court ruled publishers to be liable for defamatory comments.

“The libel laws, it’s another tension and another thing we’ve got to watch. We watch it like a hawk (as moderators) and that is not to characterise the particular audience we’ve got,” Field says.

‘Shooting your mouth off’
“Shooting your mouth off seems to be regarded in much of the Pacific as a God-given right — ‘why you trying to stop me from saying this’, we just delete people now. We tried saying to people right at the beginning we didn’t need expletives, swear words and all that stuff, and we were going to take them down.

“It is learning experience, moderating a site like Pacific Newsroom can be hard, depressing work and sometimes there’s a lot of people that sort of feel they have to say something even though it is a complete nonsense, and it is hard yakka that sort of stuff,’’ Field says.

On the flip side of it were the tangible rewards that make it all worthwhile.

“I can remember one particular point where we were tracking a superyacht that was tripping around Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga; there were people from quite remote village areas of these countries that would send us pictures saying, ‘here is a picture of the yacht that has just passed my village ‘. Whereas back in the day you tried to get a shortwave radio operator to tell you what happened three weeks after the event.

“The Pacific is now full of people with smartphones and with good connections so we can cover everything in the Pacific,” Field says.

As for the credibility of the site, Field declined an approach from a major mainstream New Zealand media company that sought copyright and permission to use the material that was published.

Then there was the young journalist from another mainstream media company who asked Field for a contact in relation to a Vanuatu story, telling Field that they all shared their contacts in the newsroom. Needless to say, he went away disappointed and empty-handed.

Ancient settler societies
Just how well The Pacific Newsroom is regarded in the Pacific is summed up eloquently by history associate professor Morgan Tuimaleali’ifano of the USP who tells it with a Pacific panache.

“Apart from Australia, New Zealand, Tokelau, Hawai’i, Guam, American Samoa, West Papua, Rapanui, and the French territories (New Caledonia, Uvea and Futuna, Tahiti), the nature of independent and self-governing Pacific societies is that they are ancient settler societies steeped in conservatism,” Tuimaleali’ifano says.

“While their constitutions have absorbed Western influences, imperial laws, Christianity, fundamental freedoms/rights, monetary capitalism, they remain steeped in ancient systems of governance based largely on hereditary hierarchies.

“Two worlds co-exist with the constitutional democratic model heavily influenced by kinship patterns of thought and behaviour. Within kinship hierarchies, there exists diverse governance structures and no two villages share the exact governing structure,” he says.

“Equally important are the constitutions and parliamentary legislation. These law-making institutions together with the judiciary are constantly evolving as they must with changing circumstances and best practices.

“It is within these social dynamics that journalism provides the Fourth or Fifth Estate to maintain an even keel on the Pacific’s growth as a viable region of nation-states.

“The Pacific Newsroom plays a vital role, of mirroring the changing Pasifika people needs and commenting on sensitive matters that many may find unsavoury difficult and overwhelming to articulate within ultra-conservative societies.

‘Without fear or favour’
“Without fear or favour, The Pacific Newsroom and its sister networks provide a critical service for a multi-faceted Pasifika struggling to reconcile and reshape a new consciousness for Pasifika.

“These include the enduring issues of regional identity and solidarity and unity within the context of relentless ideological and geopolitical power plays.”

As associate professor and head of journalism at USP Shailendra Singh in Suva, who continues to strive to keep his students well abreast in journalism under draconian media laws in Fiji, says:

“It is indeed a success story, due to a large following, because of media restrictions in Fiji. Users from Fiji especially feel more comfortable expressing themselves on this page.

“The page is prudently and professionally moderated, so it is respectable. The page uses information from credible news sources. (Independent sources like Bob Howarth on Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste; former Vanuatu Daily Post publisher Dan McGarry; current Pacific Island Times publisher Mar-Vic Cagurangan; and photojournalist Ben Bohane, until he returned to Australia from Vanuatu; as well as David Robie‘s Asia-Pacific Report which is a huge contributor to the page).

“I promote USP journalism students’ work on Pacific Newsroom. It is exemplary of how Facebook can support democracy.”

A vital source of information in the covid era. You get a cross-section of news and views on one platform. It is definitely the most popular virtual “kava bar” in the Pacific.

• Browse The Pacific Newsroom

The Pacific Newsroom – the virtual ‘kava bar’ news success story #ThePacificNewsroom #AsiaPacificReport @shrek45 #mediafreedom #independentmedia @RSF_inter @RSF_AsiaPacific @sueahearn @MichaelFieldNZ @ShailendraBSing @wansolwara @USPWansolwara https://t.co/9m7DJ0DUq6 pic.twitter.com/QIJUlvsbFu

— David Robie (@DavidRobie) November 5, 2021

Sāmoa’s defeated prime minister Tuila’epa Sailele has fired a verbal blast at Aotearoa New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, saying she had been blinded by an obsession to ensure a female prime minister led the Pacific nation.

He also attacked Aotearoa Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta and the governing New Zealand Labour Party, saying they had interferred in the political affairs of independent Sāmoa.

In a lengthy and strange statement Tuila’epa also suggested The Pacific Newsroom had been part of what he terms a “bloodless coup” by Prime Minister Faimē Naomi Mata’afa and her Faʻatuatua i le Atua Sāmoa ua Tasi (FAST) Party.

• READ MORE: Other Samoan elections drama reports
• Tuila’epa criticises FAST legal adviser Taulapapa

The Human Rights Protection Party-issued statement said Tuila’epa was deeply disappointed over the New Zealand government role.

“This blind obsession with the advent of a woman PM for the first time in Samoa’s political history has blinded Prime Minister Ardern’s judgment in the exercise of caution when it comes to Samoan politics, which is always fraught with a deep and complex culture — that much more lies beneath the surface,” the statement said.

“In brief, the change of government on 23 July 2021 completed a bloodless coup, with the judiciary taking the lead.”

Tuila’epa described as “mind boggling” how Mahuta carried out “numerous verbal negative attacks” on him in the media. Her comments amounted to interfering with the government’s policies and he had taken that up with New Zealand High Commissioner Trevor Matheson.

‘Unprecedented haste’
Tuila’epa said he also discussed the New Zealand government’s “unprecedented haste to congratulate the FAST government leadership despite the alarms we had raised”.

He claimed there had been an “unprecedented and immediate grant of aid funding in excess of NZ$14 million, (publicly broadcast by government) almost immediately after the appointment of the FAST government by our Court of Appeal — albeit the first grant of its kind since the last 40 years of HRPP’s government.”

It was unbelievable and reflected New Zealand’s “bad judgment”.

Tuila’epa found evidence of conspiracy in The Pacific Newsroom’s July 13 interview with FAST lawyer Taulapapa Brenda Heather.

He called her “the de facto FAST Head of State”. In that interview, the September 20 summoning of Parliament was mentioned, and Tuila’epa saw this as significant: “Was this also an indirect notice through to Wellington?”

He said members of Parliament had yet to receive notices on the date.

The new government this month appointed five New Zealand judges to hear cases, and Tuila’epa said this was unavoidable but raised the question of who was to pay.

‘Unhealthy developments’
“With all these unhealthy developments, we believe the Labour government was fully aware of the nature of Samoa’s political impasse through the constant flow of reports from the NZ High Commission office in Apia,” Tuila’epa said.

“Given the years of experience of the complexity of Samoan politics, through our association of over 107 years and a Treaty of Friendship, what can NZ do to help a former Trust Territory rather than openly supporting a government that is so tainted by numerous irregularities?”

Tuila’epa said he was issuing a call to the United Nations, the Commonwealth and all friendly governments “for any legal remedies to sort out the legal mess we are in, before this country of peace loving Samoan citizens degenerates to anarchy”.

Michael Field is an author and co-publisher of The Pacific Newsroom. He is also a specialist on Sāmoa. This article is republished with permission. Asia Pacific Report collaborates with The Pacific Newsroom.

Sāmoa’s defeated prime minister is plotting civil unrest that will climax when a new Legislative Assembly holds its first meeting next month since April’s elections, says leading lawyer Taulapapa Brenda Heather-Latu.

She and her husband George Latu act for the election winning Faʻatuatua i le Atua Sāmoa ua Tasi (FAST) Party led by Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa.

FAST defeated the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) and its leader and former premier Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi who now refuses to accept the result.

• READ MORE: NZ reaffirms support for Samoa’s Fiame, as Tuila’epa grumbles
• Samoa welcomes five temporary judges from NZ
• Other Sāmoan democracy reports

Failing to win in the courts, Taulapapa said he was building up to a crescendo of unrest for the September 20 parliamentary opening.

She said he could be stopped by jailing him on serious charges which could include treason.

Taulapapa said there was currently HRPP intimidation of judges and lawyers, a police force unable to stop it and sabotage within the Tuila’epa controlled civil service, all aimed at returning the defeated prime minister to office.

Taulapapa had, up until 2006, worked extensively with Tuila’epa when he was prime minister for 23 years.

Parallel with Trump
In a Zoom meeting with The Pacific Newsroom, Taulapapa drew a parallel between Tuila’epa’s election defeat and that of last November’s defeat of US President Donald Trump.

Tuila’epa’s failed efforts to overturn Sāmoa’s election have left him vulnerable: “He lost the elections, he’s lost in court, and sadly the only thing I think that is left, is to create civil unrest and that is absolutely what he is doing now,” Taulapapa said.

“It is almost Trump, the Pacific edition….

“Even more so because on Monday he called all members of HRPP to go to Mulinu’ū when parliament is convened on September 20 … there can be only one reason to do that….”

She said Tuila’epa had the opportunity to end the turmoil.

“If he does not do that voluntarily then what will end this will be, being imprisoned.”

Events were moving fast.

‘Building up to a crescendo’
“It is building up to a crescendo and I am not sure what that will be but it is definitely building up to something happening. We have got him doubling down, we have him on TV1, which is the HRPP channel, every night now and he is also coming on the Good Morning Show. He has really ramped it up since the decision came out and plans for more rallies and marches.”

An example of his strategy, and the risks, came last week when Tuila’epa led a HRPP group to Savai’i. They were resisted by locals who objected to their presence on the island.

“My big concern now,” Taulapapa said, “is that he is actively creating civil unrest which if you contrast that with the four months waiting for court decisions, people were patient and were respectful of the court, and now after the decision has come out, you have a leader creating this stuff, four months after the general election.”

Plotting illustrated the desperation of a 76-year-old man who was not getting the message that he had been defeated.

“It isn’t anything more than that… There is a reason you shouldn’t don’t stay so long. It’s true power corrupts but also corrupts your judgment… he basically will not accept the fact that he lost the elections.”

Taulapapa Heather-Latu has been a prominent legal figure in Sāmoa since 1997 when she was appointed Attorney-General under HRPP Prime Minister Tofilau Eti who was succeeded by Tuila’epa the following year.

She gained a vivid insight into HRPP corruption when, with George Latu, she prosecuted two cabinet ministers and one of their sons for the 1999 assassination of Works Minister Luagalau Levaula Kamu.

Acting for FAST
Following criticism from Tuila’epa, she resigned in 2006 and set up her own law firm and this year has been acting for FAST. This gave her a decisive role on May 24 when Fiamē and her party were locked out of Parliament by HRPP Speaker Leaupepe Toleafoa Fa’afisi to prevent them being sworn in as MPs.

Under Taulapapa’s direction, a swearing in ceremony was instead staged in a tent outside parliament, subsequently recognised in the Court of Appeal.

Comparisons between Tuila’epa and Trump have drawn protests from observers but Taulapapa said there was obvious similarity.

“You have someone who is the author of his own misfortune,” she said, pointing to Tuila’epa’s behaviour last year when he pushed three controversial but unnecessary bills through the Legislative Assembly.

The legislation was the Constitution Amendment Bill, the Land and Titles Bill and the Judicature Bill.

Tuila’epa chose to insult his then deputy, Fiamē, in the assembly and unnecessarily prolonged parliament late last year.

One result was that HRPP formally had 20 seats on Savai’i but following the elections 18 had gone to FAST.

‘Master strategist – so past it’
Tuila’epa was “prideful about being the master political strategist, and he is so past it,” Taulapapa said.

And within HRPP after the election defeat “absolutely no squeak from HRPP about accountability, why did we lose?” HRPP itself was “comatose and about to slip into oblivion.”

The defeated prime minister produced his own disaster: “He is belligerent, he is bombastic, he is abusive, so when he prolonged Parliament, instead of the normal 10 days, he prolonged it five weeks at the end of the year.

“Most old people have their radios on Parliament when it is sitting, and they were treated to five weeks of unmitigated abuse. For a lot of older people, like my aunties and uncles in Savai’i, they basically said … too much, too revolting, too yuk and time for a change.”

At the elections he let multiple HRPP candidates run against each other in electorates.

When the result initially came in as 26 HRPP and 26 FAST members he blundered again by claiming that a constitutional requirement on the number of women in the assembly had not been met. So he put another HRPP woman into Parliament.

“He goes to the nuclear option and the first one is to administratively add another MP and the second nuclear option was that he basically advised the Head of State (Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa) to call fresh elections …, got him to cancel the results of a general election, run a new one in two weeks but with a whole lot of changes that would limit your ability to vote,” Taulapapa said.

Multiple candidates
“And then he used that to get all his multiple candidates to resign, to withdraw.”

Then came a series of court cases in which rulings favoured FAST.

Tuila’epa and HRPP kept violating court rulings and, as the weeks rolled over, his members became more intimidating toward the courts and the judges. These actions have led to Tuila’epa facing contempt of court charges.

In the crime tariff, contempt can be a relatively light offence, and Taulapapa said there were considerations of bringing the more serious charge of scandalising the court.

At one point Tuila’epa accused Taulapapa and her husband of treason for the way they were acting for FAST and swearing in its members.

A treason charge has to consist of a series of overt acts which individually may not be a crime but which if proven can establish the offence of treason.

Possible treason pointers
Pacific Newsroom asked Taulapapa whether the defeated prime minister’s behaviour could point to possible treason: “Absolutely, absolutely. Currently FAST, our clients, filed contempt proceedings so they are live, they will be added to next week because there have been almost daily instances of calling the court crooked and everything.”

Taulapapa said she was not satisfied with the police force attitude which she characterised as detached and disinterested.

“When you are facing people that keep naming the judges on the appeal, keep naming lawyers involved particularly George and I, that keep putting their pictures on HRPP pages, then it suggests to me that he is inviting someone to do us harm.”

The former leader was burning bridges and no one was trying to restrain him.

“Everybody is a sycophant, everybody else is yes sir, no sir,” she said.

“There is a real element of the cultish leader where even people that were reasonable and respected members of our community are sitting around him, nodding and laughing, and that is disturbing. These are people who otherwise you believe would be reasonable and balanced and wise.”

In the last decade Tuila’epa would not accept advice and made appointments to office based on obedience and family association.

Debilitating behaviour
For Fiamē and FAST, the behaviour was debilitating.

“She is getting attacked from the outside, and then having problems establishing her government inside, in the public service.”

Many of the public servants were related to the defeated prime minister, including senior officials in Treasury, Revenue and the Audit Office. They are blocking FAST attempts to get the budget under control.

“So you have active, aggressive opposition from key officials.”

Fiamē had written to the HRPP appointed Attorney-General Savalenoa Mareva Betham about the abuses and challenges from HRPP on the judiciary, but nothing had come from her.

“I would absolutely call it sabotage.”

Taulapapa pointed to the Ministry of Revenue where, on Monday, the chief executive Matafeo Viali-Fautua’alii unilaterally introduced a 10 percent capital gains tax with no notice.

Major transactions
Suddenly major transactions were having 10 percent added on top of them, ranging from matai registration to large mortgage and land transfers. The new government was not consulted.

“That has caused incredible knock on effects commercially because, of course, people only got mortgages for a particular amount … but it also exposes the government to risk.’
Sāmoa society tended to move in a communal way and the three bills in parliament had seen a mass split from HRPP and a large block went to FAST which had risen rapidly.

In the process Tuila’epa was destroying his “great legacy of developments”.

Every day he was undermining his reputation, Taulapapa said.

“Yesterday he came on TV and said, ‘where the hell are New Zealand and Australia, why aren’t they doing something about how the judiciary has stolen Parliament’,” she said. “Well they did say something, they said congratulations on winning the elections.”

Taulapapa said there was a role in the current crises for Australia, New Zealand and multilateral bodies.

“We have never had a transition in our history, really, and so we need technical support so that we can bring in people like forensic auditors and former state services commissioners because there is going to be a need for reprogramming. Things are personal that is why I mentioned cults.

“There is almost a personal emotional attachment to this man,” Taulapapa said.

Michael Field is an author and co-publisher of The Pacific Newsroom. He is also a specialist on Sāmoa. This article is republished with permission.

Fiji stands on the edge of covid-19 disaster because some 50 navy officers blatantly broke quarantine rules to hold a funeral for another officer, The Pacific Newsroom has learned.

We have received accounts of the burial at Vunivivi Hill in Nausori while even Health Permanent Secretary James Fong last night acknowledged it had happened.

The navy’s behaviour is symptomatic of a wider arrogance at top levels in government, including former naval commodore and coup leader Voreqe Bainimarama.

• READ MORE:Fiji records 46 fresh covid cases – highest recorded in a day
• The Fiji Times: A warning – funerals are the common exposure factor

On June 6 last year he announced Fiji was “covid free” and that other nations, notably New Zealand, could learn from Fiji’s success which he attributed to “answered prayers, hard work, and affirmation of science”.

He then, accurately, added: “The healthy habits we’ve picked up the past months must continue.”

Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum turned out to be the weak link. He had been in Singapore for health care and to return home he used a Fiji Airways designated freighter flight, FJ1362 arriving April 10.

On the flight, in circumstances still to be explained, were two Fiji nationals who had been in India. They reached Singapore and while tested covid free there, once in managed isolation in Fiji, they were discovered to have an Indian variant of covid-19.

Soldier, cleaner and a funeral
Through a soldier, a cleaner and a funeral, it passed into the community and is now spiking, mainly in the Suva-Nausori area.

Sayed-Khaiyum, who like Bainimarama, has been little seen as the pandemic has grown, is opposed to lockdowns. He says they do not work in developing countries.

Consequently Fiji has resorted to less than effective lockdowns and a system of area controls. Suva-Nausori, for example, has three zones: Lami, Suva and Nausori. Travel between the three is supposedly tightly controlled and enforced by police and the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, of which the navy is a part.

Early last week a navy officer died of unknown causes. On Wednesday there was a funeral service at Vunivivi Hill in Nausori – in another cell and across the border from the main Walu Bay navy base in Suva.

Under covid rules funerals could be held, but limited to 10 mourners limited to families and from within the zone.

But many people saw the Navy break rules that day.

A witness told Pacific Newsroom: “More than 50 Navy officers found a loophole. They visited the funeral gathering in batches of 20.

‘They all drank grog’
“They all drank grog from the same tanoa and used the same bilo.”

Referring to a Navy statement earlier this week, in which Rear Admiral Viliame Naupoto said the virus was spread due to service on small ships, the witness said the outbreak did not occur in the officers’ ships.

“They spread it in the community.”

The obvious question was why when normal families were restricted, there were special privileges for Navy officers.

“They went from one containment area into another and came back spreading the virus.”

Opposition MP Niko Nawaikula said RFMF was limiting its isolation to two days, while everyone else had 14 days.

He quoted another, unnamed witness, to events at Vunivivi Hill involving Walu Bay officers: “First batch of 20 sit drink grog and socialize around same tanoa, one bilo the works. When the next 20 arrive then the first group leave to come to Walu Bay and the next 20 sit and drink grog.

Many more cases expected
“More and many more cases will be announced soon. What lockdown when two sets of rules for people. Same thing at [Queen Elizabeth Barracks].”

Another source asked who at Walu Bay issued more travel passes for Navy officers than were allowed to attend a funeral.

The events described here were Friday night confirmed by Dr Fong himself, although without the same detail.

“ Activities surrounding funerals appear to be the most troublesome spreader events, and this is an alarming situation,” he said.

“Everyone should recall that this latest outbreak gained momentum when one person who contracted the virus in the border quarantine area attended a funeral, yet funeral gatherings continue to be sources of spread.”

Without citing the Navy, Fong said: “Our investigations indicate that in some instances, funeral gatherings of 100 were split up into 5 so-called ‘bubbles’ of 20 persons.

‘We need good sense’
“Many of you will understand that this does not make sense. We need good sense in the common sense space.

“We need to stop twisting and turning our covid safe directives to suit our purposes.

“We need to treasure the memory of those we have lost and when more normal times return we can plan memorial events in which our loved ones are commemorated in a suitable way.”

A footnote: The Fiji military inflicted coups on the nation in 1987, 2000 and 2006.

As well as the army, the navy played key roles.

It is why Bainimarama insists on calling himself “Rear Admiral (Rtr)” even though he never quite qualified for the rank.

Republished from The Pacific Newsroom with permission.

Fiji’s Health Secretary Dr James Fong strongly attacked his country’s media for “reckless reporting” today, saying it could spark panic.

He gave no evidence of this.

Speaking at a press conference, Dr Fong announced tough measures to control the widening covid-19 community outbreak in Fiji.

• READ MORE: Fiji drops three places in RSF press freedom index over gagging critics
• Third covid-19 community case in Fiji

“We are still seeing media outlets bypassing official sources, publishing stories without the proper context and sparking panic among the public,” Dr Fong said.

“That sort of reckless reporting can set back this entire containment strategy. It puts lives in danger, driving people to make bad decisions with bad information.”

RNZ Pacific reports a third covid-19 case in the community in Fiji.

Dr Fong’s statement followed an earlier attack on the media by Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama who told the nation that unless covid information was on the Fiji government Facebook page, it was not accurate.

Draconian powers
Bainimarama’s government, since seizing power in a coup in 2006, has often adopted draconian powers to censor media and control journalists.

Dr Fong told reporters that the Ministry of Health was holding daily briefings to give the best available information.

“We don’t deal in rumours. We rely on facts, and the media must hold themselves to that same standard. Do not publish panicked nonsense for the sake of likes on Facebook or clicks on your website – the nation needs you to do better.”

Dr Fong, who is a gynecologist, took exception to media questions, telling journalists not to ask questions he has already answered.

“Some of you have been very insistent about asking questions we have already answered.

“Please, let’s keep this focussed on new information the public does not already know.”

Dr Fong’s often rambling presentation clearly raised the irritation of viewers as one widely circulated screen grab of his press conference illustrated.

The Pacific Newsroom reports are republished with permission.

As the fate of the University of the South Pacific remains on edge, a small leak of a personal file hints at what is wrong with the 50-year-old regional institution.

It is detail on Dr Angela Jokhan, until recently USP’s Head of Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment.

It’s unflattering: “…she has an unfortunate tendency to create conflict with her peers and to be extremely disrespectful”.

• READ MORE: Other USP saga reports
• USP chancellor condemns treatment of Pal
• The BDO report

Plainly a significant player in the organisation, Dr Jokhan is of greater significance now in Fiji having been appointed Fiji’s Permanent Secretary Education last October.

How she got the job, given her academic performance, raises questions. Answers point to her marriage to a wealthy land agent who happened to be an unsuccessful FijiFirst candidate for Parliament.

The couple have been strong supporters of Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

At the 12-nation USP, under former vice-chancellor Professor Rajesh Chandra, Dr Jokhan earned a significant salary and had her contract renewed in a less than transparent way, say institutional sources.

Complaint led to BDO report
Incoming vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia took up the post and, as is now well known, suspected matters were not right. His complaint to the USP Council led to the now infamous BDO report, initially revealed in The Pacific Newsroom.

Dr Angela Jokhan was mentioned 109 times in the BDO report.

Professor Ahluwalia called for reports on the various people and among them was one written by Professor Derrick Armstrong, the deputy vice-chancellor. Last year, he became acting vice-chancellor when the Fiji government moved to have Professor Ahluwalia fired.

When they were unsuccessful in that, they earlier this year just nabbed him in the middle of the night and deported him.

Professor Armstrong’s report on Dr Angela Jokhan has been leaked. Headed “Feedback on the Performance of Associate Professor Anjeela Jokhan as Dean FSTE” it is in several sections.

”Contribution made to support the University, the Vice-Chancellor and President and the Senior Management Team.
“Associate Professor Jokhan is a highly experienced manager and makes significant contributions to the University across a number of areas. In addition to her Faculty responsibilities she has also recently taken over temporary responsibility at the SMT level for the University’s ICT area. She pursues her responsibilities with vigour and has been fully engaged in a number of key areas and activities central to the University’s strategy and performance. She is a very active member of the University Senate. Her enthusiasm can from time to time lead to her being quite abrasive and dismissive of other points of view. She can be a very effective member of the SMT team but this is not always the case and she has an unfortunate tendency to create conflict with her peers and to be extremely disrespectful. She does have a tendency to insist that she is correct on an issue on the basis of her personal knowledge and long experience with the University, even when there is no evidence to support her viewpoint.

”Contribution to the Faculty/Department.
Associate Professor Jokhan runs her Faculty with a very firm hand. The Faculty is successful on a number of indicators and she has put together a good team of Associate Deans who ensure efficiency and consistency in the administration of Faculty procedures. The Faculty has led the University in a number of areas, for example in the development of apps and the granting of patents. The Faculty has also been very successful in achieving the international accreditation/recognition of programmes in, for example, Engineering and Computing. The research performance of the Faculty might be considered satisfactory overall but there has been very little success in achieving external funding for research and with some individual exceptions its performance would not be considered notable compared with Science Faculties elsewhere. With stronger academic leadership there would most certainly be opportunities for the Faculty to step up a gear. There have been many conflicts with Heads of Schools and with other staff. On occasions the Dean has taken actions with regard to staff members that have put the University at risk. She demonstrates considerable impatience with those with whom she differs. It would be hard not to be aware of the widespread grumblings and dissatisfaction within the Faculty over her management style.

”Leadership, Representation
“Associate Professor Jokhan does not have the rank of full professor and her personal research leadership is minimal. She is a biologist by academic background but in recent times has contributed to publications with her students and junior staff in the area of ICT enabled learning. However, she does not have an academic background in this area, nor does she have a strong profile. The absence of academic leadership is a significant deficit in the leadership one might expect from a dean. Her contribution is principally as a manager rather than as an academic leader.”

Also leaked is a spreadsheet itemising Dr Angela Jokhan’s academic publications and PhD supervision.

It’s rather modest for an academic who, as BDO said, was on a salary of F$450,000 (NZ$305,000) a year.

• Full report and documents at The Pacific Newsroom

Facebook’s ban on Australian news will cut off a vital source of authoritative information for the Pacific region, government and industry analysts have warned.

Across the Pacific, thousands have found their access to news blocked, or severely limited, after the tech giant wiped all news on the platform in Australia in response to proposed legislation that would require Facebook to pay for content from media groups.

The ban’s impact is especially acute in Australia’s region.

• READ MORE: Why Google is now funnelling millions into media outlets, as Facebook pulls news for Australia
• Facebook under fire over move to ‘bully democracy’ in Australia
• Google’s and Facebook’s loud appeal to users over the news media bargaining code shows a lack of political power
• Facebook has pulled the trigger on news content — and possibly shot itself in the foot
• Facebook back at negotiating table with Australia
• Facebook move reinforces need for a News Media Bargaining Code
• JERAA demands Facebook stop blocking Australians from receiving news

Across the Pacific, thousands of people are on pre-paid data phone plans which include cheap access to Facebook. Those on limited incomes can get news through the social network, but cannot go to original source websites without using more data, and spending more money.

The region’s largest telco provider, Digicel, with a presence in Fiji, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu, offers affordable mobile data plans with free or cheap access to Facebook.

In Australia, news from Pacific sites also appeared to be blocked, a significant impediment for diaspora communities and seasonal workers.

From Australia, The Guardian visited the Samoa Observer, Vanuatu Daily Post, The Fiji Times, and Papua New Guinea’s Post-Courier. None had visible posts.

Significant expatriate communities
Samoa, Vanuatu, Fiji and PNG all have significant expatriate communities in Australia.

Dr Amanda Watson, a research fellow at the Australian National University’s Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, and a researcher in digital technology use in the Pacific, said there was widespread confusion across the Pacific about the practical ramifications of Facebook’s Australian news ban.

“There has not been any clear, accessible and accurate information put out for Facebook users or anything particularly targeted at Facebook users in the Pacific that has explained parameters of this decision,” she said.

Watson said that for many in the Pacific, Facebook was the entry point to, and even the extent of, the internet.

“Facebook is the primary platform, because a number of telco providers offer cheaper Facebook data, or bonus Facebook data. Many Pacific Islanders might know how to do some basic Facebooking, but it’s questionable if they would be able to open an internet search engine and search for news, or go to a particular web address.

“There are technical confidence issues, and that’s linked to education levels in the Pacific, and how long people have had access to the internet.”

Bob Howarth, country correspondent for Timor-Leste and PNG for Reporters Sans Frontières media freedom watchdog, and the former managing director and publisher of PNG’s Post-Courier, said “the Facebook ban on Australian news pages will have a significant impact on Pacific users, especially many regional news providers”.

Sharing breaking news
“As someone who regularly checks literally dozens of Facebook pages, especially in PNG and Timor-Leste, many use the Australian pages for sharing breaking news and a source of ideas and angles for their own news reporting.”

Articles reposted from Australian news sources are often used in the Pacific to rebut misinformation being spread on Facebook, Dr Watson and Howarth said.

“One very popular page in PNG seems to attract more than its fair share of long-longs [an ill-informed person in pidgin] opposing vaccination as the covid pandemic quietly spreads daily,” Howarth said.

The founder of The Pacific Newsroom, Sue Ahearn, told The Guardian the internet had revolutionised communications across the Pacific – historically a region where communication had been difficult – and enabled the instantaneous sharing of news and information that had previously taken weeks or months.

“Facebook and social media are not the be all and end all but they are vital as sources of information. Radio and TV and newspapers remain important, but technology has really woken up the Pacific.

“People are able to share material right around the region and Facebook is the key platform for that.”

Ahearn said the dissemination of accurate and impartial news was vital to countering misinformation across the region.

Misinformation in PNG
“For instance, there is so much misinformation in PNG on covid – people say ‘I don’t believe Melanesians can catch covid’ or ‘I don’t believe what the government says about vaccines’. It’s really important that that misinformation can be countered, and articles from Australian sources are valuable for that.”

Ahearn said the Pacific Newsroom Facebook page had been “overwhelmed” with responses to the Facebook Australian news ban.

“From people all around the world: Fijians in South Sudan, Tongans in Utah, Pacific Islanders are everywhere, and they are telling us they are not seeing anything out of Australia.”

Australia’s Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Zed Seselja, has labelled Facebook’s actions “disappointing”, and argued the tech giant was “impeding public access to high-quality journalism in Australia and across the Pacific”.

“In many Pacific countries Facebook is the primary avenue to access legitimate Australian news content, and for many Pacific Islanders, Australian news is a key source of reliable, fact-checked, balanced information,” he said.

William Easton, the managing director of Facebook Australia and New Zealand, said Australia’s proposed media bargaining law had misunderstood the nature of the relationship between the platform and news publishers, and had forced the tech company into restricting news in Australia.

He said the company had chosen to block news “with a heavy heart”.

“Unfortunately, this means people and news organisations in Australia are now restricted from posting news links and sharing or viewing Australian and international news content on Facebook. Globally, posting and sharing news links from Australian publishers is also restricted.”

Sheldon Chanel is a Suva-based journalist reporting for The Guardian’s Pacific Project supported by the Judith Nielson Institute. This article was first published by The Guardian here and it has been republished with the author and The Guardian’s permission.