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If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?
Alice in Wonderland.
This posting traces the origin of a petition, its validity, and its unquestioning acceptance by RadioNZ and other media outlets.
Fiji: A call for democracy by NZ blog NoRightTurn
"Fiji's people have been fairly meek and accepting in the face of three years of military rule - but not any longer. On Friday, they submitted a petition to the military regime calling for the restoration of democracy and elections by the end of the year. It was backed by over 680,000 people - more than 80% of the country's population. It will be interesting to see how the regime responds to this. With that level of mass opposition, its not as if they can arrest everyone (besides the obvious problem of numbers, the soldiers may not be willing to arrest their families). OTOH, unless the people are willing to turn their mass opposition into colour-revolution-style mass protests, then the regime may not in fact have to do anything." Link.
Now read on to see where this nonsense came from.
RadioNZ reports, without prior enquiry, question or comment, that a petition "said to have the support of more than 600,000 people" has petitioned Bainimarama to hold elections this year. Link.( See other RadioNZ links below.) And Coupfourpointfive has followed suit.
I presume their "source" was one of the interlinked anti-government blogsites, most probably Matavuvale or Tears for Fiji. Do not be surprised to see this incredible story next mentioned in the international print media.
The informant and main petitioner was Suliasi Daunitutu of Queanbeya, NSW, who is linked to the Australian FijiDemocracyNow movement. Suliasi said the petitioners, most presumably living in Fiji, "are afraid to express [their views] openly, so it's being done through various political parties ... Leaders of the Fiji Labour, SDL and National Federation Party..."
So. This is a petition based on past party membership lists not individuals who have signed in their own right or given parties to sign on their behalf. The lists were apparently given by these parties to Suliasi and then handed by him to Bainimarama! I certainly wouldn't like to belong to a political party, or any other organization, which was so free with its membership list. And if Bainimarama is as vindictive as Suliasi would claim, he isn't doing his petitioners any good by giving him their names and addresses. The petition is immediately suspect on these grounds.
It is also suspect on the number of petitioners claimed:
600,000 by RadioNZ; 685,936 by Suliasi, the main petitioner. How does he come even close to his 600,000 made up mainly of those on the party lists? The adult population at the 2007 census was only 518,000, and the combined first preference votes given to these three parties in the 2006 election totalled under 240,000. I doubt that more than a few of these voters were registered members of the party for which they voted. Further, it cannot be presumed that voting for these parties four years ago would result in similar numbers voting for them today, or the same voters being opposed to what Bainimarama has been trying to achieve since 2006. Voting for a party is a limited mandate. Mine does not assume it can speak on my behalf on all issues. But if all 240,000 "signed" the petition, a further 440,000 former Fiji citizens and other people living overseas would also need to sign to reach 686,000!
Did it not occur to someone in RadioNZ that 600,000 is more more than the total adult Fiji population of 518,000 recorded in the 2007 census, approximately one-third of whom were too young to vote? Or did they consider the daunting task of getting at least 360,000 Australians and New Zealanders to sign to get even close to their 600,000? Such a massive petition would have reached the ears of the media. Why have we not heard of it until now?
Digging deeper, Suliasi's petition was in support of a petition by Vilisi Naduka of Caubati in Nasinu who first came to public attention when in October 2008 he parked his car across the road at Nabua, Suva, in protest against the Coup. Suliasi says the petition was handed to Bainimara last Friday afternoon but Visili says he posted it after praying at the Methodist Church and presenting a copy to the Church President, not that the discrepancy really matters other than raising the question of what else Suliasi may have got wrong.
I have written a book, The Essential Research Skills, on research and survey methods and in my assessment the petition methods -- and I am being generous -- are highly suspect and the numbers, unless hundreds of thousands signed overseas, are meaningless. Even then, it is what the people in Fiji want, not those living overseas.
On Suliasi an assessment is more difficult. His conviction, passion and loyalty to the "old regime" and the SDL party are not in doubt, but there seems to be something dangerous and unreal about the following statement that accompanied the petition as announcement in the blog TearsforFiji :
We will wait, Suliasi says, for Bainimarama's response "and in the meantime, we will be putting a second part of the fight in motion. While I cannot disclose the nature of the actions we will take as yet, I can tell you that we will intensify our efforts and we are confident of voluntary support, if the response to the petition is anything to go by. I hope that the fight will now be of a more extreme degree, because the Regime will not be giving us our freedom cheaply. That said, I will remind one and all, they (military) have blood on their hands, and if we don't liberate the country for our children, then, we are guilty of the same offence.
He went on to say "This fight cannot be won with mortal (sic!) strength, we need Divine intervention, for a complete and through (sic!) victory", before concluding with quotes from Jeremiah 28:10 and 11:
"Hananiah grabbed the wooden yoke from my neck and smashed it." [and] “The Lord says, this is the way he will smash the power Nebuchadnezzar (Bainimarama) has over the nation(s), and it will happen in less than two years."
Copies of the letter were sent to overseas missions in Fiji, the EU and UN, Forum Secretariat, ABC and RadioNZI and democracy and human rights groups. In Fiji, the list included the print media, Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi (who I think would be appalled by Suliasi's advocacy of "extreme" methods), Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu (who would not), Ro Adi Teimumu Kepa, Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre, President Methodist Church in Fiji, Mick Beddoes (UPP), Mahen Chaudhary (FLP), Raman Singh (NFP),Laisenia Qarase (SDL), and the Citizens Constitutional Forum (where Akuila would be as appalled as Ratu Joni). It will be interesting to hear which of these people and organizations associate with and disassociate from the petition and Suliasi's sentiments.
If readers need further confirmation of the unhealthy mix of ethno-Fijian nationalism, fundamentalist Old Testament Christianity and SDL politics in most anti-government blogs, or if the Fiji government needs further reason to extend the Emergency Regulations, Suliasi has surely provided it.
My advice to Government, however, would be to ignore Suliasi and his legion of ghostly petitioners. Just get on with the Roadmap, lift the Public Emergency Regulations ASAP, and ensure Fiji has truly representative elections in 2014.
My advice to RadioNZ, NoRightTurn, Coupfourpointfive and others who have published this nonsense? You have a responsibility to your readers to rein in your prior assumptions and check the credibility of your sources. Think about what they are claiming before you unwittingly become their vehicle of fabrication and deceit.
The number of people in Fiji who oppose the Bainimarama government is unknown and unknowable but only in Alice's dream world could it possibly come close to the number claimed. And you should have known this.
Crosbie Walsh
P.S. I see that the latest RadioNZ release has dropped the word "petition" and replaced it with "letter." I wonder why? Link.Radio NZ:
Political parties in Fiji
Letters to Fiji
16 comments:
@ Croz
Don't worry about it. The military council are far too smart for this people. There will never be an election this year or next year. Election will be held in 2014. Not even the re-establishment of diplomatic relationship between Fiji and New Zealand will change the election date set out by the RFMF. The modernizing of Fiji will persist, mark my word!!!
Well this risible petition is best left to Plato to summarise.
“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something”
@ Anonymous
Since when has Fiji ever had a real government? Not since 1987 except for one year in 1999. Even the SDL government was never a real one.
The current leadership under Bainimarama shows a style of real leadership better than both the government of Rabuka and Qarase. It's even cleaning up the mess left behind by the crooks, thugs, murderers, deceivers,etc who wnet on a so-called campaign as a party representing the indigenous Fijians. Bainimarama's government is doing a far better job of opening up the minds and eyes of the ordinary Fijians not to fear losing their land but instead use it for their own benefit as well as the nation of Fiji.
You know what? I have a feeling that the people of this country will demand that Bainimarama continue to lead Fiji by the time we go to election in 2014. That's because the result of his leadership will be well appreciated by every races in this country come election 2014. The only people who won't like it are those who were made penniless by the military takeover of Dec 2006 because their corrupt network that used to siphon away hard earned tax payer dollars have been dismantled and they are thrown in jail.
@ Croz
I understand you're a fair man Croz .
But providing links to the Tears for Fiji blog inherently increases their search engine optimization (SEO).
To not increase their SEO from your site just mention the site don't provide the link.
Cross linking increases their ranking on google (and other Search engines) which they won't reciprocate with your website blog.
But to be fair I would say just mention their blog and the title and people can search the website themselves.
YOu're a fair man man Croz but its your website and its upto you.
Proud Fijian, I'm tempted but the credibility of my blog amongst its wider readership means I must maintain a higher intellectual and moral ground than the anti-bloggers even if that means treating them with a respect they rarely deserve. Readers visiting their blogsites as a result of reading this posting will quickly see them for what they are.
Suliasi's list comprises of 95% of the phantom voters that got Qarase across the line in the last elections.
I think Fiji should have a census before the elections just to confirm the numbers.
After seeing who is behind No Right Turn I am not surprised that the petition story nonsense published by Radio NZ was then posted on NRT blog. The contact person is living up to what they call themselves "Idiot". At present the NZ government is deciding what the future holds for Radio NZ and whether the NZ taxpayer should keep propping it up. Last Thursday when Helen Clark was in town she batted for Radio NZ - criticizing the present government's call on Radio NZ.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10627121
Excerpt:
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark has waded into the debate over the future of Radio NZ, saying it is an important service that provides in-depth and specialised reporting.
"I'm a great believer in public radio," Helen Clark said in a brief visit to Wellington yesterday.
"I say that as someone who probably got quite a lot of my information from various public radio interview shows where subjects could be tackled in much more depth than they can be when they have to be constantly interrupted by ads."
No wonder Helen Clark and her government failed in diplomacy towards Fiji - she believed all that Radio NZ broadcast as in-depth and the truth!
The Radio NZ Board believes that if they are forced to make cuts it "would result in dumbing down our service and duplication of the commercial sector's populist model". http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10626877
After today's nonsense story, Radio NZ has shown that it is already dumbed down. As Croz said “Did it not occur to someone in Radio NZ that 600,000 is more than the total adult Fiji population of 518,000 recorded in the 2007 census, approximately one-third of whom were too young to vote?”
Now that is pretty basic readily available information for a journalist to find out about. Shame on Radio NZ for not checking out the petition story for accuracy and whether it is factual. An example of sloppy, lazy journalism paid for by the NZ taxpayer.
Surely Radio Nz or any credible news organisation are required to make reasonable enquiries before publishing this rubbish sold as news.
Some very basic questions would have highlighted serious flaws in the claims being made.
What reasonable enquiries are we allowed to make in Fiji. Try ringing for comment from any Government Department and first you have to answer a long list of who you are, what you intend to do with the information etc... Then they refer you to the bandmaster who is never available...
Independent Jurno - it took me under a minute to find out the Fiji 2007 Census statistics - all available online at Fiji Islands Bureau of Statistics - Official Statistics for Fiji:
http://www.statsfiji.gov.fj/
And for more in-depth information:
http://www.statsfiji.gov.fj/Census2007/census07_index2.htm
If I can find out this information from my home computer Radio New Zealand journalists could easily have done the same Google search.
Radio New Zealand has no excuse for their unprofessional reporting.
A big question mark has now appeared over the credibility and agenda of Radio New Zealand's reporting.
"The number of people that are represented in the support of the Nadaku family came to a total of 685,936"
Isnt this the entire Fijian population that remains or have they included their pets as well?
The easy answer in the real world would be to poll the population.
This however is illegal in Fiji.
It is no wonder that there is censorship of the press by the governemnt in Fiji. Imagine this being published by the press in Fiji.
Especially with the Fiji Times, the headlines would read "Almost 700,000 want elections this year".
The press cannot be relied on to be fair and reliable in their reporting. We cannot rely on retraction articles and apology as the damage is done.
An example is in today's Fiji times.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=140575
High standards are to be expected from the print media. But, once again, relatively isolated mistakes from the Fiji Times are held up for ridicule whilst equally pleasing ‘vignettes’ from other papers don’t get to see the light of day.
So, in the interests of fairness, this (as yet uncorrected) story from the Fiji Sun on 9 Feb 2010 (http://www.fijisun.com.fj/main_page/view.asp?id=34144)
"The boy died on Tuesday 2nd February after lying unconscious in the Colonial War Memorial hospital for two days.
He will be questioned once he is fully recovered…"
I’m sure he was…!
@ Jon
I was not being critical of the Fiji Times alone. (I am not from the Fiji Sun) This petition to have been newsworthy for Radio NZ shows the standard of reporting.
Journalists have an ethical obligation to check a story before publishing.
The retraction and apologies are usually somewhere in the corner of the daily tucked away in contrast to the position of the original "news" article.
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