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SWAN Song piece: 'Open censorship of one, hidden censorship of many'

18/4/2016

19 Comments

 

"This will be my last article for the Fiji Times, as I pursue professional work in Australia. I thank Hank Arts (publisher), Fred Wesley (editor), Sailosi Batiratu, and the many other Fiji Times staff who have facilitated my media contributions over the years.  I also thank the Fiji Times readers who have expressed appreciation for my articles." - Narsey:

'As occurred after the 1987 and 2000 military coups, there is also today an emigration of many educated and skilled people. Sadly, that category now includes me, even though no comfortable refuge abroad will ever be the “home” that Fiji has been and will always be in my heart.'

PictureNarsey
By Professor Wadan Narsey

Just living in Australia for a few months and watching television, makes you see clearly, how the Fiji public is so badly denied by the poverty of Fiji media offerings and silent censorship

There are wonderful Australian media programs such as Q and A, Insiders, Catalyst, Landline, Insights, Foreign Correspondent, Four Corners, to name just a few, not even mentioning the many specials every week on ABC and SBS.

Just in the last two months alone, Landline explored how an Australian sugar cane farmer, successfully intercropped with rice, to pander to his Vietnamese wife.  Another intercropped with sunflowers for the seeds and oil, and mung beans (which Fiji farmers have also tried on a very small scale).

But what really stands out are the many robust public policy debating programs with sharp neutral hosts such as Q and A (Tony Jones) or Insider (Barry Cassidy) or Insights, where Opposition MPs or politically neutral commentators are given equal weight to that of Government voices. Often, intelligent studio audiences are allowed to comment or give their verdict on particular utterances with applause or sceptical silence, Of course, we all remember that once upon a time, Fiji television also had similar very robust programs, such as Close Up, but sadly, no more. Despite the ending of open censorship by the government, an invidious silent self-censorship is denying the Fiji public access to “alternative voices”.

My personal individual experience of censorship by the premier university, by the Fiji media and by Fiji Bureau of Statistics is only the tip of the iceberg of a much wider “silent censorship of many” that is taking place in Fiji, without protest.

The one rare exception is The Fiji Times whose survival as an independent newspaper must be defended, or the public “won’t know what they have got, till it is gone”.

Open and hidden censorship

In the past, media censorship was quite easy to prove: censors were physically present in the newsrooms, expatriate newspaper publishers were being expelled, large fines or jail terms were being handed down by courts, and ominous warnings were given to certain media organizations. Today’s censorship is not obvious, simply because no journalist and media organisation or educational institution and academic, will publicly own up to “self-censorship”.

But it is abundantly clear that there is an loud absence of dissenting voices from forums such as Close Up, 4 The Record, Talk Business, and the many talk back shows on radio and TV. My personal absence from these programs is noted by many just as it is obvious to go me, given my undoubted prominence in previous years. But also absent from the Fiji media are other “dissenting” voices like Opposition Members of Parliament or critical NGO leaders, while voices sympathetic to government are given maximum exposure. What is missing in government or public circles is any adherence to the dictum attributed to Voltaire (or Evelyn Beatrice Hall ) “I disagree with your views- and I will defend to death your right to express them”.

The one bright media light in Fiji, is The Fiji Times, which continues to serve the public as a channel for alternative views and as a proper watchdog on the government of the day, despite operating financially on a less than level playing field. It saddens me that the Fiji  public continues to show total apathy to the censorship of individuals or blatant unfairness with taxpayers’ advertising funds shown to The Fiji Times, the proven most popular print media in Fiji.

Censorship from USP

This individual has been a senior USP economist, former parliamentarian and well known media commentator, yet there is no public comment on his continued censorship by the premier university. The observant public have known, without any comment, that despite my three decades of service, USP asked me to resign in 2012, alleging financial pressure from the Bainimarama Government.

Then in 2013, USP refused to allow the Faculty of Business and Economics to host the launching of my FBS Report on the 2008-09 Household Income and Expenditure Survey, the 2008-09 Poverty Report, and the associated policy workshops for civil servants, NGOs and other stakeholders, which were eventually carried out in Suva, Labasa and Nadi (in co-operation with FNU).

In 2013, an invitation by USP Journalism Students Association to speak at USP for World Media Freedom Day was withdrawn on the orders of the vice chancellor. This economist has been excluded from several panel discussions in his area of expertise, organized by USP departments, while expatriate professors (like Saunders and Robie) have been welcomed and given great publicity. One Economics Department panel discussion on the Fiji Government’s reissue of a $500 million dollar bonds (to which I had been invited) was cancelled by the vice chancellor with no protest from the academics.

A Special Edition of the Journal of Pacific Studies on the 2014 Elections, excluded all writings by this academic (well known by the Special Editors), while pro-government non-academic outsiders were invited to contribute and did, uncritically. I am not the only victim of USP’s censorship of dissident academics.  It is on record, that the most senior member bar one, of the university management was strongly warned not to associate socially with a particular Member of Parliament (and former USP academic) or even with one of his friends, also a very senior academic at USP.

Several senior USP academics, not personally in favour with the university management are deprived of even Acting Headships, despite their proven experience, while inappropriate sympathisers are appointed.
The USP staff association fails to defend members’ legitimate rights, while USP students have been actively threatened and discouraged from responsible political activity. The once robust intellectual life at USP of both academics and students, has been severely eroded without any show of concern by the University Council or the academics or the students or the public.

Censorship by FBS

It is public knowledge that my FBS Report on the 2010-11 Employment and Unemployment Survey (Fiji Women and Men at Work and Leisure) completed in 2013, has still not been published because of the refusal of Cabinet, now interfering for the first time ever, with the functions of the FBS. This refusal to publish (also applied to other FBS Reports) denies the Fiji public essential and fascinating statistical results on gender gaps in employment, incomes, unpaid household work, and leisure activities like sports, kava drinking, watching television, and religious gatherings.

It is understandable that the FBS management cannot protest publicly, for fear of loss of their employment. But sadly, neither has there been any public protest from university academics, or NGOs (like FWRM, WCC, CCF, Transparency International) or professional organizations like the Fiji Institute of Accountants or Fiji Law Society, or social and religious leaders, who all should be interested in the statistical findings that are being censored by this dictatorial Bainimarama Government.

The public will not know that while the FBS has completed a 2013-14 Household Income and Expenditure Survey, this data is being processed now with World Bank assistance, some selective poverty results have been presented to the public in a less than clear way, while a local academic who did this work with them for the last seven years, has been completely shut out. The FBS, like many other government departments, is also undermining the national self-reliance that has been built up these last ten years, and resorting to expatriates once more, just as we see with expatriate Permanent Secretaries. The public is reminded that objective and freely disseminated statistics from FBS is vital for sensible and timely public policy decisions. Note that while the Report from the 2010-11 EUS has been supressed for three years, the FBS is in the process of conducting the next 2015-16 EUS, without the previous findings even being discussed.

The media censorship of one

After the 2009 abrogation of the 1997 Constitution, not just my articles but also many Letters to the Editor were not accepted for publication, by both Fiji Sun and Fiji Times., even when cc’d to the MIDA Chairman. Media programs such as Close Up, 4 The Record and Talk Business, and the many radio talk-back shows, have declined to invite this economist, who used to be ever-present on their programs before 2009.  Some honestly admit that their jobs would be at stake. On a rare positive note, just prior to the September 2014 Elections, the Fiji Times began to publish my Opinion pieces, but only after very costly and detailed vetting by its lawyers.

The Fiji public need to appreciate the Fiji Times owners (the Motibhai Patel family), the Fiji Times publisher (Hank Arts) and Editor (Fred Wesley) for their moral courage in producing a newspaper which remains the sole source of truly independent information in Fiji, and whose relative superiority has been independently verified by the Tebbutt Poll. Lest we forget, in recent years, newspapers have been fined heavily, some expatriate publishers have been expelled, while editors have been given harsh jail sentences.

A recent decision by Government denying Fiji Times fair access to taxpayers’ advertising funds, also drew no public comment from MIDA, the Commerce Commission, the Fiji Chambers of Commerce, or professional organizations like the Fiji Institute of Accountants and Fiji Law Society, or NGOs (like FWRM, WCC, CCF, Transparency International)  or social leaders, who all should be interested in ensuring that there is a robust competitive media environment.

It is obvious that if the Fiji public do not rise out of their cowardly apathy to defend the legitimate rights of the Fiji Times to taxpayers’ advertising funds, then sadly, “the Fiji public won’t know what it has got, till it is gone”. One day, they will also remember bitterly the words of Jawaharlal Nehru “Evil unchecked grows and evil tolerated poisons the whole system”.

Oppressed people do leave

As occurred after the 1987 and 2000 military coups, there is also today an emigration of many educated and skilled people.

Sadly, that category now includes me, even though no comfortable refuge abroad will ever be the “home” that Fiji has been and will always be in my heart.

[This will be my last article for the Fiji Times, as I pursue professional work in Australia. I thank Hank Arts (publisher), Fred Wesley (editor), Sailosi Batiratu, and the many other Fiji Times staff who have facilitated my media contributions over the years.  I also thank the Fiji Times readers who have expressed appreciation for my articles.

Professor Wadan Narsey
Adjunct Professor (James Cook University and Swinburne University).
Melbourne


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19 Comments
Aj
19/4/2016 01:15:57 am

Its so sad to learn that Dr. Wadan has migrated. What other option did he have? He stood for principles. I am sure he will be back when the khaiyum raaj ends on Fiji

Reply
Rajend Naidu
19/4/2016 02:10:12 am

Editor,
Dedicated Activism
Environmental activist Leng Ouch's dedicated two decade long undercover work to shed light on the extend of illegal logging in Cambodia has been recognised by the Goldman Environment Prize.( BBC 18/04).
Ouch gathered evidence, often pretending to be a labourer, to highlight how land concessions were being abused and forcing communities from their homes. His outspoken criticism of the government led to fears for his safety, forcing him into hiding.
One of the driving forces for the rampant deforestation which has decimated the nation's forests and landscape is the demand from nations like China for high value hardwoods such as Siamese rosewood that can fetch US $50,000 for a cubic metre.
Ouch is aware of the dangers of being an environmental campaigner in Cambodia. Winning a globally prestigious environmental prize does not remove the danger. In March Berta Caceras - a 2015 Gold Prize Winner - was killed by a gunman in Honduras .
She had been a vocal campaigner against a project to build a massive dam across the Gualcarque River.
Activism is not tolerated by those in power and by vested interests.
Many understand that. Hence the silence. Only a rare breed will fight on regardless of the threats .
In Fiji that breed has become an endangered species as Narsey points out in this piece.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Reply
Ali
19/4/2016 02:32:21 am

Kindly requesting for ur email as I want this document to be posted it's about Fnu I tried looking for the but not able to

Reply
Fijileaks Editor to Ali
19/4/2016 07:48:41 am

Its
[email protected]

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Welcome Home
19/4/2016 06:19:20 am

It is easy to castigate people living under severe daily stress for acts of self-censorship. It ought never to be done unless one is sharing or has known the precise or very similar circumstances. Notwithstanding this, change for an improved climate will never come without disclosure and the discarding of cultural 'tabu'. This must extend into the family domain and it must include sexual relationships and behaviour. Without freedom of expression and a free media this will not come about. We must applaud each and every well-intentioned effort to tell the stories that MUST be told. They are told daily in the Courts of Fiji with the evidence given in person by brave persons assisted by a judiciary which has sole interest in ascertaining the facts in a search for justice. Good Men and women of the highest integrity are required to assist this process. The Fiji Police Force must fulfil its role to the highest level of integrity while also ensuring that WPCs are provided with the necessary training, skills and capacity to support female victims of crime at all times. If women victims of rape and sexual assaults ask for a Woman Police Officer to be with them, this must be done.

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Vili
19/4/2016 12:08:28 pm

You all over the place bro. I cannot follow your logic path.

What you smoking bro?

Bahut fa'at-gheya

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BHAIRO
19/4/2016 07:23:50 am

Professor sahib, Fiji is better without you. We know you have come to end of work life, sickly, weak and impotant. Now you can happily become another unemployed burden on Aust Tax Payer.

Your goodbye is clever way of saying all my economic theories are coming into practice that what we say here in Australia a BLUGGER.

Happy bugging and fade in thin air.



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Chiku
19/4/2016 08:09:26 am

Lairo, Fiji's loss is Australia's gain. The Professor will be an asset to Australia with his wealth of experience as an honest academic. He of course is not the first nor the last to take his talent elsewhere. Fiji's best and brightest are today dispersed all over the world, thanks to the coups in Fiji. You have any idea of the number of experienced high school teachers who have left the country and are doing fantastically well in their adopted country? And, just look at the line of young talented and well qualified people at the foreign embassies in Fiji wanting to get out...
Bhairo, go sit on a dairo!

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Samjha
19/4/2016 09:35:43 am

Bhaira bhaiya can you tell us why nearly five decades after Independence Fiji still needs to hire expatriates as permanent secretaries in its civil service?
Could it because of the brain drain?

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Anti-Bhairo
21/4/2016 09:52:52 pm

Childish insults coming from a childish supporter of the regime. That is sadly all what a lot of people in Fiji can do when they have an argument. They have never learn to think, and that is the result. A country full of dumbies and unattractive to intellectuals.

The "burden on Aust Tax Payer", you mean the man who will spend his well-earned Fiji money in Australia? It is impossible to migrate to Australia without having qualifications/money/age. Fiji is losing, Australia is gaining. Simple.

You will be punished one day.

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Tomasi
19/4/2016 07:39:20 am

Thank you Prof Narsey. I just cannot fully express my gratitude and admiration for all that you stood for and your very high standards. I wish you were our Finance Minister or some similar portfolio. Fiji needed you but sadly, you were not given the opportunity to serve your country fully the way you had wanted. Many of us will remain grateful to you and people like you. For me personally and my family, we wish to thank you so much. As one of our outstanding teachers, you excelled. You inspired and motivated us to reach for the stars. As a friend, you were one of the most trusted, intelligent and respected. We wish you and your family God's blessings. Please note we shall continue the struggle. Someday soon, when we have removed the evil cabal that currently rules our nation, we will ask you to return home to your people and friends. Then, we will work together to rebuild Fiji to become that wonderful home for all its people under a system of Government that truly reflects our sacred values, ethical principles and love for God and for one another. God bless you and your family my friend. You are one in a million, a true national treasure. Thank you.

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Vili
19/4/2016 12:33:52 pm

Vinka Tomasi & Chiku.

Wadan is is a good man, we all know that.

Now that Dr Ropate Qalo has passed on, I am wondering whether the other i'taukeis with a PhD etc at the USP will help fill the void by his departure?

We all know that they are all lazy people enjoying their sinecure.

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raj
20/4/2016 03:38:46 am

Well said Tomasi...U be sadly missed in Fiji

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Pita
19/4/2016 12:30:22 pm

Any view contrary to that of the new Fiji orthodoxy promoted by Bainimarama and the Military Council has to be superseded at all cost. You can't have Professor Narsey removing the scales from peoples' eyes with his perceptive analysis. Welcome to the new Fiji

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Fiji First Party
19/4/2016 01:23:34 pm

Thank you Professor Wadan for years of your views (censorship or not) past and future, many of which may not have pleased the Socialists and also the powers who be but you said and sometimes over-said, what needed to be said.

Go well Guru, Fiji will remain stronger in your heart and may God look after you and your family and hoping you continue blogging.

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Orisi link
19/4/2016 09:30:06 pm

Well, as for me personally, I am going to miss a voice of reason. It is a big loss to the Fijian people who, sadly, don't even realise it. As Dr. Narsey had aptly quoted, “Evil unchecked grows and evil tolerated poisons the whole system”. And to add on to that, "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything". But then, first we should be able to stand to even be able to stand for anything. Farewell Sir. I have always been proud of you for everything you stood for even though I do not know you personally. You are one of the very small number of people in the history of Fiji who are brave enough to stand for something through the years of our turbulent history. May God bless bless you and your family abundantly.

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Tomasi Koroi
19/4/2016 10:08:13 pm

Wadan has been a gem. The heading is misleading - this cant be the swan song. While this is the last for the Fiji Times, I am confident that Wadan will keep writing on matters that interest him, be it from Australia. We dont always agree with Wadan. But that is the nature of the beast called "intellectual". They are supposed to think outside the box, to stir thoughts, to get our minds racing on what is and what can be. The business of healing the economy is critical; as a healer of a different sort, I empathise with Wadan, and can almost touch his frustrations when the remedies we think will heal are not adopted by powers that run the processes. But we continue healing. I know Wadan will continue writing. So, carry on Wadan.

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Tomasi
20/4/2016 03:18:29 am

Thank you folks. Your comments are sincerely appreciated. Thanks Victor for your dedication and commitment to a just cause. Just as happened to you, now Wadan. I hope he will have the time to continue speaking from NZ.

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Dekho
21/4/2016 05:31:20 am

Narsey is being nice to the Fiji Times because of his special standing with them. But he exaggerates the quality of journalism coming out of the Fiji Times in the post coup regime. The difference between the Fiji Times and the Fiji Sun is that the Fiji Sun is a complete sellout. It willingly became a regime mouthpiece and propaganda paper which shamelessly abdicated its journalistic duty to the Fijian people. The Fiji Times was beaten into submission. The Fiji Times has been cowered into self- censorship. The upshot is that the Fijian public has been left without an effective Fourth Estate. That is the reality of the mainstream media in Fiji under Bainimarama and Khaiyum's rule. No amount of sugar coating can hide that fact. That's the reason for the popularity of the blog sites Fijileaks , C4.5 etc.

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