Fiji political blogs: truth or slander?

Since the 2006 coup, I have tried to chronicle the rapidly changing world of blogs in Fiji as they start up, shut down, climb to great heights, and then fall out of the spotlight. My comments even garnered some unwanted attention from the Human Rights Commission Director who, paradoxically for a human rights officer, seemed to be arguing against freedom of speech. While the interim government ended its public affairs assault on blogs some months ago, there are still intrigues to explore in Fiji's blogosphere.

In recent weeks, one of the top news stories in the Fiji press has been the mystery of the interim government minister who has been accused of tax evasion. The interim government and the police claim that this individual has been cleared of all wrong-doing and refuses to reveal his or her identity. At least one of Fiji's political blogs, however, has openly published the identity of the accused minister. Of course there is no proof. If there was concrete proof, the international press would certainly be publishing this name, even if the Fijian press practices self-censorship.

As I wrote over nine months ago,

Clearly, some of the remarks in Fiji's anonymous political blogs regarding members of the interim government are libelous. Fiji's Defamation Act and supporting Common Law allows for an injured party to ask the court to instruct an Internet Service Provider to turn over records relating to a customer who has published defamatory remarks.
[Blocking anti-military blogs may harm military, Digital Fiji, May 14, 2007]

We will have to wait an see if anyone is willing to put their name and some evidence behind this accusation, otherwise it remains simply the unfounded finger-pointing of anonymous individuals with a clear anti-government political agenda.

Photo by: TW Collins

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