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This
Week In Pacific Politics
In a letter sent to the President of Kiribati (an island in Micronesia), Teburoro Tito, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) protested against the refusal to grant accreditation to Michael Field, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist based in New Zealand. The organisation asked the president to go back on his decision and to grant accreditation to the journalist so that he could cover the Forum of Pacific countries Summit. Robert Ménard, general secretary of Reporters Sans Frontières, asked the president of the Republic of Kiribati to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which among other things protects freedom of expression. According to the information collected by Reporters Sans Frontières, at the beginning of September the government of Kiribati refused to grant accreditation to Michael Field, AFP journalist, for the Forum of sixteen Pacific countries Summit, on Tarawa Island (the main island of the archipelago) in October 2000. In December 1999 this journalist was banned and forced to leave the Island, after an article about problems of insalubrity in Tarawa. JOURNALIST BEATEN AS POLICE CLASH JAKARTA: Tahar, a journalist from the Berita Kota newspaper, has been beaten by two members of Indonesia's military police after finding himself in the middle of an altercation between the military police, out partying after hours, and a local policeman. Tahar had been sent out to cover a death by overdose story in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi, in the early hours of Sunday morning, 3 September 2000. He met Senior Inspector Mardjuki, Commander of the Panakkukang police precinct at the station and the two arrived at the scene around 3am local time. The scene was only a short distance from the police station and the two headed back around 4 am, passing along the way the Kawanua Mas, a local night spot. Mardjuki told Tahar that he had warned the owner to close as the club's licence only ran to 2am before arriving at the scene of the overdose. When Mardjuki attempted to enter the building, two members of the military police came out suddenly. The two in question were later revealed to be Captain Marpaung and Second Lieutenant Edward of the military police attached to the Wirabuana VII military territorial command, which covers the island of Sulawesi. "We're friends of David's [the night spot owner]," said Marpaung. At that stage, Tahar dismounted his Vespar but stood on the sidelines. The two military police officers, the owner, Mardjuki and Tahar then proceeded to the police station. Tahar waited outside as the four argued in Mardjukiâ's office. "We're like one force, that's not how you're acting," Marpaung reportedly told Mardjuki. As tempers flared, Tahar poked his head in, asked to photograph them and quickly snapped them in action before receiving an answer. Naturally, the two military [police did not accept this and set on the reporter, beating him and destroying the camera with the offending photo. Taharâ's walkie talkie and press card were also taken in the assault. "You're a cat shit journo. I'm not afraid, go ahead and write about this," Marpaung yelled. Mardjuki attempted to stop the assault by warning the two against attacking journalists but they did not stop until satisfied. Mardjuki phoned the district Commander asking for backup and 10 members of the Makassar central police arrived shortly after. Marpaung also called his junior offices and it became evident that the two were on duty at the time. Tahar also attempted to call a fellow journalist but was prevented from doing so by Marpaung. When the additional police arrived, Marpaung continued his tirade which was answered with equal ferocity from the back up. Marpaung then drew his gun and challenged one officer to a duel. "We have nothing more to say, step forward if you're brave enough," Marpaung yelled. The other 9 officers then drew their weapons. The two military police then realised they were in over their heads and retreated to another room in the precinct. Shortly after, 8 military police officers arrived and Marpuang proceeded to deny beating Tahar. "Who beat you?" Marpaung said. Seeing things had settled down somewhat, Tahar insisted that the two be held responsible and that they return his walkie talkie and press card. The highest ranking military police officer then attempted to persuade Tahar against exacerbating the situation and David, the owner of the bar, offered Tahar money to drop the issue. Tahar, however, was adamant that the 2 military police own up. "The chief of the precinct is my witness!" said Tahar, vowing to take the matter to the men's superiors. The assault has been condemned by the Makassar branch of the Independent. COALITION NAMES MINISTERS IN ALLEGED CONSPIRACY SUVA: Three ministers in Fiji's military-backed interim administration have been implicated in an alleged conspiracy to illegally overthrow the People's Coalition government of deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry. While a wide-ranging Chaudhry interview with BBC television's "Hardtalk" host Tim Sebastian revealed that he believed the military was "compromised" and a risk for any future elected government, the Coalition was holding a press conference in Suva yesterday calling for more arrests for treason. At present, 21 rebels including their leader George Speight are charged with treason. There has been no previous treason case in the Fiji Islands and the crime currently carried the death penalty on the statutes, although executions were effectively removed under the now abrogated 1997 constitution. On Fiji Television last night, Acting Police Commissioner Moses Driver confirmed that police were still investigating many other people over the May 19 insurrection and did not rule out the arrest of some chiefs. The Daily Post reported today that the office of the Director of Public Prosecution would hire a Queen's counsel to "strengthen their case against George Speight and his henchmen". According to the ousted Coalition ministers, a report in the Fijian language revealed the alleged role in a plan from the beginning of this year to overthrow the elected government. Information Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, Lands Minister Mitieli Bulanauca, and assistant minister in the Prime Minister's Office Adi Finau Tabakaucoro were implicated, according to media reports. Ousted Deputy Prime Minister Adi Kuini Speed described the revelations at the press conference as a "bombshell which is very shocking". According to the Fiji Sun, acting Coalition leader Dr Tupeni Baba opened the the press conference highlighting the documents which set out an "elaborate plan" by the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT) party of former coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka and a faction of the Vaetokani Lewenilotu Vakarisito (Christian Democratic Alliance) to topple the government. The report was repared by the SVT management board on January 14 this year. Tape recordings of the meetings were also gathered by the Coalition's intelligence unit, reported the Fiji Sun. Dr Baba said all evidence had been handed to investigating police. The report named Kubuabola, leader of the SVT and Opposition Leader in the ousted Parliament, and Bulanauca and Tabakaucoro, both also of the SVT, reported the Fiji Sun and Fiji Television. Others who were allegedly involved in the secret meetings included the former president of the Methodist Church, Rev Manasa Lasaro; and his colleagues from the VLV, Ratu Josaia Rayawa, Josefa Vosanibla, Pita Tukana and Aselemo Vakadranu. Named from the SVT in the Fiji Sun report were secretary Jone Banuve, Misaele Driubalavu, Vueti Logayau, Osea Serekeisoso and Joeli Naucabalavu. The Fiji Sun also reported Dr Baba as questioning why lawyer Rakuita Vakalalabure had not been questioned for his alleged role with the rebels. The document cited by the Coalition ministers recorded a meeting of January 14 in which the SVT and the faction of the VLV agreed on several objectives: * Abrogation of the multiracial 1997 constitution. * Adoption of a new constitution similar to the 1990 constitution which entrenched indigenous Fijian supremacy, but with more Fijian seats. * Recognition of Fiji as a "Christian state". (Almost half the population adhere to the Hindu or Muslim faiths). * Declaration of Sunday as a day of rest. The document also sought the overthrow of the Chaudhry government quickly before it "became too popular with the voters".
INDO-FIJIAN LEADERS WANT GOVERNMENT OF UNITY SUVA: Indo-Fijian leaders have defiantly rejected any move towards a review of Fiji's 1997 multiracial constitution and unanimously called for a "government of national unity" formed by elected members of the deposed Parliament. And they resisted threats by the military and police to call off their summit yesterday in a Nadi hotel, according to news reports. About 70 prominent leaders from political, social, religious and cultural groups met at the summit to discuss the crisis and possible solutions. The group included representatives of the major Indo-Fijian supported political parties, the Fiji Labour Party and the National Federation Party. The Sunday Post said the meeting formed a new umbrella Indo-Fijian group called the Fijian Indian Summit. Chairperson Dr Biman Prasad said the President, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, would be formally asked to ensure that a government of national unity be established without delay. The forum expressed "strong opposition" to the drafting of a new constitution, saying any amendment must be done within the framework of the 1997 document. The summit also called on all Indo-Fijians to boycott the military-backed interim administration's planned constitution review. "The summit is of the belief that no useful purpose would be served as far as Indo-Fijian participation is concerned in the proposed Constitutional Review Commission since this whole process appears to be a fait accompli," Dr Prasad said. "It calls upon all Fijian Indian organisations and individuals who may be invited to serve on the poposed constitution commission to decline participation." The Sunday Times said the summit went ahead in spite of threats by the military and police to stop it. The military's commanding officer in the west, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Manulevu, had warned earlier that the meeting would be stopped. "Initially, two police special branch officers and army personnel were not allowed into the meeting along with reporters," said the Sunday Times. "The police officers told the organisers that if the meeting was to proceed, they should sit in. "This was later agreed to." NZ MINISTER SUPPORTS BANNED JOURNALIST SUVA: New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff has called on Kiribati to lift its ban on Agence France-Presse correspondent Michael Field attending next month's Pacific Forum, according to news reports. Kiribati banned New Zealand and Pacific correspondent Field after he wrote last year of extensive pollution and sewage on the main island of Tarawa, where the 16-nation forum will be held. An AFP dispatch said a report by Field on a Chinese satellite monitoring base on Tarawa also apparently upset the government. Subsequently Kiribati declared Field an "undesirable immigrant" and a request that he be allowed to cover the Pacific Forum on October 27-30 was rejected by the forum's media coordinator Rikiaua Takeke on 5 September 2000. Field had been placed on a blacklist in Fiji following the 1987 coups although he did not report in the country at the time. This was lifted in 1997. He has also been banned from Tonga. According to AFP, Goff wrote to Kiribati President Teburoro Tito, urging him to reconsider the ban. A New Zealand Herald report on September 9 quoted Goff as saying: "I know Mike. He can be a journalist who doesn't worry too much about the sensibilities of the country or the peoples that he writes about. That is his right. "Obviously I respect the right of Kiribati to issue or not issue a visa to any individual. We ourselves have that right in this country, but we also quite strongly believe in the freedom of the press." In a letter to the Kiribati president on September 8, Pacific Media Watch said it was "dismayed" by the decision to ban Field. It said it was an "unfortunate precedent" to ban a journalist from the Forum. PMW reminded the Kiribati government of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guaranteeing freedom of expression and the free flow of information. It also urged Kiribati to lift the ban on Field. The Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres media freedom organisation also condemned the ban on Field. According to the NZ Herald, Field said: "For the record, the bans and the abuse are not something that keeps me awake at night. They are just part of the job."
GWALESE START INTERNAL REFUGEE CAMP IN THE
WEST Solomon Is: Displaced ethnic Guadalcanal people who fled the war-torn national capital of the Solomons, Honiara, are now building an internal refugee camp in the Western Solomons. Western Solomons shares a maritime border with the neighboring Melanesian country of Papua New Guinea and is about one and half-hours on domestic flight from Honiara. The refugee camp is built at the out sketch of the coastal village of Dunde in Munda on New Georgia Island, Western Solomons. Since the establishment of the camp in July, about ten families with about 40 displaced people had settled in the more than 100 square meters piece of land. The land has been voluntary given by a principal landowner of Dunde and since the refugees settled the area, they had built three thatched houses and pitched two plastic tents. A mother of five children, Patricia Fafale, 54, admitted that they were facing a lot of hardships in their effort to rebuild their lives in a "foreign" land. She said the biggest challenge for them now was restarting their lives with virtually nothing in the first ever refugee camp in the Solomons. Amongst the refugees were three mothers with about eight children who were still not aware of the whereabouts of their husband since they parted in a hurry on July. She revealed that they relied heavily on the community of Dunde village for water and food for survival. The refugees confirmed that the Solomon Islands Red Cross had initially supplied them with three plastic tents but since then they were still waiting for help. Attempts to get the SIRC for comment were unsuccessful yesterday. Mrs Fafale, one of the principal landowners of Choviri village at the Matanikau area in the outback of Honiara City, emotionally related how the Malaita Eagle Force (MEF) militia forced them to flee. She said armed MEF militia went to her village and torched all the houses and stripped down to the ground her family properties, including three permanent houses and a church building. At a nearby village opposite Choviri village, ethnic Malaitan militia also captured an elderly Guadalcanal man in front of his teenage children and wife and beheaded him. The MEF also carried out similar barbaric killings of two teenagers plus the daily torturing of youths from various villages surrounding Honiara forced many to flee leaving behind mostly women and children. Mrs Fafale said it was then that the Solomon Islands Red Cross came to their rescue and assisted them to flee Honiara through the Western Solomons ferry, MV Tomoko. On their arrival in the Western Solomons, more than half of the people who escaped on the same voyage out of Honiara decided to follow some of their friends. Mrs Fafale said the only thing that cushioned the many difficulties they were facing now was the generosity of the people of Dunde village. The whole community of Dunde, with a population of about 1000, had separated into six groups that supply the refugees with local food supply on daily basis. A Gualdalcanal leader and Member of Parliament for East Central Guadalcanal, who also fled and now settled in Munda, Walton Naezon expressed sadness about the situation. But he expressed gratitude to the whole community of Munda and the rest of the Western Solomons for the sympathy and help they gave to the refugees. Mr Naezon said the biggest challenge for him as a leader, was to get appropriate authorities to seriously look into the flight of Guadalcanal people now taking refugee in the Western Solomons. He said unfortunately, the current government had been taking priorities in meeting the compensation demands of the MEF militia, which was now reached SBD$200 million. Western Solomons authorities yesterday confirmed receiving unofficial reports of the camp but admitted that the Red Cross has not informed them about the existence of the Guadalcanal refugees. Officials said the new camp was a sad reality of what displaced Guadalcanal people had now faced and the Solomon Islands Red Cross should be held full responsible for the people. The officials said the Western Solomons has expected the Solomon Islands Red Cross to take the leading role in assisting and providing the refugees with their immediate need. At present, the refugees had started gardening around the camp but it would take months for the garden to provide the much need food supply of the families. Since the flaring of the ethnic tension in June between the warring militia of Guadalcanal, the Isatabu Freedom Movement and MEF of Malaita Province, more than 1000 Guadalcanal people had fled Honiara and have now settled in various parts of Western Solomons. PLEA
FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM SUVA: Academic staff and a former leading professor have appealed to University of the South Pacific authorities to continue to safeguard academic freedom, the USP journalism newspaper Wansolwara reports. Ousted Fiji Deputy Prime Minister Dr Tupeni Baba, a former professor and registrar, said a university "ceases to be a university if staff and students are not given academic freedom". "There is always a role for scholars like those at USP to make a statement on whatever is happening. I hope the USP will continue to play this role," said Dr Baba. His comments were supported by the president of the USP Staff Association, Dr Biman Prasad, and other academic staff. "In times of crisis, it is important for academics to ensure that they continue to practise their freedom to comment and discuss events happening around them," said Dr Prasad. This followed a memo circulated to USP staff and students which was widely interpreted as a "gag" on public comment during the Fiji political crisis and a month-long closure of the Pacific Journalism Online training website. Senior literature lecturer Dr Som Prakash, who was arrested by Fiji soldiers after the 1987 coup, said academic freedom had its limits and needed to take the entire law and order situation into account. "When there is no law and order, who do you look to protect academic freedom?" he asked. "I'm all for academic freedom provided it is used sensibly,² Dr Prakash added. He was arrested a year after the 1987 coup for writing a critical review of Rabuka: No Other Way. Dr Prakash was held for a fortnight at the Nabua Barracks but holds no grudges against Sitiveni Rabuka, saying he should now be respected for showing "remarkable growth and a willingness to learn". He added that the university was in an awkard position in trying to maintain normality and being "fair to its regional status". "It has to walk a fine line between allowing academics freedom and stopping any moves that will disrupt the workings of the university," said Dr Prakash, who also edits the literary journal Dreadlocks. In a memo at the height of this year¹s political crisis, dated June 2, USP staff were advised to "refrain from making comments or statements of any kind whatsoever on the current situation in Fiji which might put the interests and work of the university at risk". Staff were also warned that failure to follow the instruction could "constitute misconduct". Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Rajesh Chandra told Wansolwara that USP believed it had "remained free to articulate its views in a non-partisan way". He said the university should be a place where there was an exchange of many critical views but not be used to attack policies in a "demonstrably political way". Dr Prasad said the closure of the PJO website had been an ³over-reaction² on the part of the USP. He said the USP administration should not encourage "self-censorship". PJO was closed on May 29 for security reasons in response to the crisis. It was reopened on June 28. Dr Prakash agreed with Dr Prasad, saying the university administration should have consulted journalism staff before deciding to close the website. On July 25, the School of Humanities board of studies passed a resolution expressing concern at the way the university administration had "handled, and continues to handle" issues over the political upheavals in Fiji and the Solomon Islands. In another resolution, the board said closure of the website was "unsound pedagogically" and endorsed the "outstanding and excellent training" of journalism students and their website.. nd to poverty. These foot-soldiers are mobilisi
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