FEATURE: Democracy asleep in Fiji

While Fiji's military regime is settling into its fifth year in power, political opponents are having a harder time gaining support within the country.

Campbell Cooney

Last Updated: Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:15:00 +1100

Pro-democracy fighters for Fiji have established strong campaign and lobby groups in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

But residents within Fiji are yet to show interest in the struggle for political reform against ruling military commander Frank Bainimarama.

There are some voices opposed to the Commodore and his actions, but widespread opposition is muted. Here are some reasons why:

Unique takeover

For a country that had already witnessed four coups in less than 20 years, Commodore Bainimarama's accession to power was nothing new.

But the Commodore's 2006 coup played out differently to that of his predecessors.

In 1987 Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka staged the first, followed by another one separated by only a few months and a third in 2000 led by businessman George Speight.

As opposed to the first three that happened quickly and with little warning, the 2006 military takeover was gradual and methodical.

In the months and weeks leading up to his declaration on December 5, he made it clear he intended to remove the then government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase from office.

Unlike the chaos witnessed in previous coups, Commodore Bainimarama also informed the press and made his military presence known by stationing soldiers throughout Suva.

And while Fiji's fourth coup is seen to have been driven by something different than the indigenous Fijian's nationalist concerns of the first three, The Asia Pacific Editor for the Australian Newspaper, Rohan Callick believes the lack of a strong home based opposition led to the current situation..

"The nationalistic anger which led to them was aimed at the country's Indo-Fijian population, which is descended from the indentured labour brought to the island nation over 100 years ago to work in the canefields," he said.

These factors - along with a strong military backing - made the Commodore a sizeable threat to his political opponent already weakened from civil disorder.

Silence

The self-appointed military regime retained its power by dissolving constitutional, judicial and civilian challenges to its authority.

The 2006 coup was sealed by a scrapping of the nation's Constitution after the Fiji High Court ruled the coup illegal in 2009.

The Constitution was then replaced by decree and emergency regulations, which still govern the country today.

All media remains censored and Radio Australia's two FM transmitters have been shut down.

Our Pacific correspondent, Sean Dorney became one of a long list of foreign journalists deported from Fiji since the Constitution was thrown out.

Censorship is now enshrined in a media industry decree that limits any criticism of the country's leaders and its decisions.

Uninformed

Because a large part of Fiji's population remains in rural and remote areas, access to global or local news sources or platforms of communication hinder the spread of information.

As rural Fijians lack TV or internet access, and large parts of the country are unable to find mobile phone coverage, local radio broadcast remains the main source of news.

But those broadcasters remain censored by the regime.

The President of the Fiji Freedom and Democracy Movement for Australia, Suilasi Daunitutu told Pacific Beat limited access to these communities has made it difficult to get the movement's concerns to a wide audience.