Snippets: Police Brutality; ACP and Vanuatu Support; Fiji Live; Corruption Comment; I Sometimes Get it Wrong; My Biases

(o) Brutal Assault on Fellow Police Officer
In what looks like an initial revenge assault followed up by sheer police brutality, Police Officer Raj Shavendra Prasad was so badly beaten up by assailants, including senior police officers, during the weekend of 16-17 May, that he spent six days in hospital. Coupfourpointfive understands that he has received a letter terminating his police appointment and, despite a magistrate ordering the assault be investigated, no investigation has yet been made by the police. For a full account and disturbing photos of Prasad's injuries, click here.

The incident has nothing to do with the political situation or with race (both Fijian and Indo-Fijian officers were involved in the assault) but in not insisting the incident be made public and in abolishing the Fiji Human Rights Commission, Government must assume some responsibility. The abolition of the FHRC means there is now no avenue for complaint against government servants unless a complainant can afford to take his or her case to court. Government can ill afford such a situation to continue if if wishes to "win the hearts and minds." In this case, Prasad should be granted leave on full pay and the senior officers allegedly involved should be suspended until the case is fully investigated. If found guilty, they should be dishonourably dismissed from the service as an example to others -- and as evidence that this Government means business when it talks about justice. P.S. June 10 2009. Coupfourpointfive reports the officer has been reinstated. No explanation was given.

(o+) Bainimarama at ACP Meeting, Appeal Supported by Vanuatu
Radio Fiji reports that PM Bainimarama addressed the 89th ACP Council of Ministers on Thursday. He told the Council of the necessity of Abrogating the 1997 Constitution following the Appeal Court ruling on April 9th. There was no other way of continuing the reforms "supported by a maajority of Fiji's population" encapsulated in the People's Charter for Change, Peace and Progress. He again called on ACP and the EU to assist Fiji "to bring about a lasting resolution to the political situation in Fiji and support the implementation of the necessary reforms for the welfare and economic wellbeing of the people." [See "Background Material", left column, for his full address.]

The PM's statement was supported at the Council by the Foreign Minister for Vanuatu, Bakoa Kaltongga, further demonstrating that not all members of the PI Forum support the inflexible "do this or else" approach of Australia and New Zealand in dealing with the Fiji situation. PI Forum countries who have called, or who more recently have called, for dialogue with Fiji include PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Tonga.

(-) Fiji Live Off- and On-line
This on-line news service mysteriously went off-line yesterday, to resume today with no explanation offered. Bloggers think the situation was caused by Government censors who objected to photos Fiji Live had published of an incident involving a bomb scare hoax in Suva. Fiji Live is the one service that has continued to supply some news of politically-related incidents since the mainstream media, and particularly the Fiji Times, objected to censorship as authorised under the Emergency Regulations.

My own view is that Government is exceedingly unwise to persist with tactics that can only encourage the spread of rumours to which it cannot respond. Some accommodation with the media is urgently needed.

(o-)My Recent Posting on Corruption
Readers are urged to read comments to postings by clicking the very small "comment" at the bottom of each posting. Special attention is drawn to Jon's valuable comment on my recent corruption posting.

... and I Sometimes Get it Wrong, and I'm Baised
Readers are also reminded that the symbols (+, -, o, etc., see Notices at the bottom of the page) indicate pro-, anti-, neutral positions towards the Interim Government. This is the only blog to signal likely bias, and one of the few to publish informative, reasoned commentary, on the Fiji political situation. But, of course, I don't always get it right, and I'm limited in my ability to check the validity of all sources.

I also have my own biases. I sometimes give the Bainimarama team the benefit of too many doubts. I think NZers, our politicians and media, have too little knowledge of the Pacific. And I think NZ's policy is misguided and unhelpful, because it is too inflexible; it gives succour to the Fiji Government opponents, driving Bainimarama even deeper into a corner, and its influence internationally has helped cause a worsening of the situation in Fiji.