ANXIOUS FIJI MAINTAINS SURFACE CALM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SUVA 000152

SIPDIS

PASS TO EAP/ANP AND INR/EAP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/24/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM FJ
SUBJECT: ANXIOUS FIJI MAINTAINS SURFACE CALM


1. (C) Summary: Two weeks after the abrogation of its
constitution, life largely continues as normal in Fiji.
Beneath the surface, many Fijians remain fearful and angry
over the recent events. Some Embassy contacts warn of civil
unrest in the upcoming months, but most discount the
likelihood. The de facto government,s campaign of
intimidation against the press and human rights groups
continues with censors in newsrooms and implied threats of
arrest for dissenters. No one has yet been charged with an
offense under the Public Emergency Regulation (PER),although
two journalists and the Fiji Law Society president have been
detained. The de facto government has found it difficult to
re-establish the upper courts of Fiji,s judiciary due to the
reluctance of lawyers to accept senior judicial positions.
Local leaders of opposition political parties, diplomatic
missions, the business community, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and academia overwhelmingly support
continued U.S. engagement as one of the few remaining avenues
for influencing Bainimarama and his cohorts. End summary.

FIJI REMAINS CALM ON THE SURFACE
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2. (U) Two weeks after the abrogation of Fiji,s
constitution, day-to-day life continues much as it did before
the issuance of the Public Emergency Regulation. People go
to work, children go to school, public service continues
without interruption, restaurants and the movie theater are
open, sporting activities are well attended, and resorts
welcome tourists, albeit in somewhat fewer numbers than
before Abrogation. What few police or military checkpoints
exist are not new, and no incidents have occurred to suggest
a breakdown of public order. An American visitor to Fiji
commented that he would not have known anything unusual was
occurring had he not been told. Some Embassy contacts
insist, however, that beneath this semblance of calm, many
Fijians are scared and angry.

TROUBLE ON THE HORIZON?
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3. (C) In separate meetings with Embassy officers, retired
army colonel and former Ambassador to China Jeremaia
Waqanisau and SDL Party Director Peceli Kinivuwai gave
worrisome predictions of future unrest. They said that it
takes time to organize in Fiji, but we should expect to see
some action over the next few months. Waqanisau informed us
that a think tank associated with the Methodist church is
compiling derogatory information on what the de facto
government has been doing and plans to disseminate it to the
provinces next month He predicted that this information
would spark civil unrest among ethnic Fijians that could
become violent. Kinivuwai warned that something would happen
and indicated it could be as early as mid-May. He would not
say exactly what was being planned. He did claim it would be
peaceful, but massive. Waqanisau suggested that Land Forces
Commander Pita Driti might rise up and overthrow Bainimarama,
adding that Driti had sent a civilian emissary to him to
discuss possible actions and immunity. However, Kinivuwai
said it was more likely that someone outside the military
would lead the counter-coup, possibly a retired Colonel.

(OR JUST MORE OF THE SAME?
--------------


4. (C) Most Embassy contacts in the business community,
academia, media, and NGOs discount the idea that there will
be any civil unrest. They say Fijians are too respectful of
authority, too intimidated or just too complacent. For
example, one of the most influential traditional chiefs in
the country, Ro Tememu Kepa of Rewa, Paramount Chief of the
Burebusanga Confederacy, which covers a third of Fiji, called
on Charge Pruett April 24 to discuss issues important to Rewa
in the context of recent events. A former minister in the
deposed Qarase government and an outspoken critic of
Bainimarama,s interim government, Ro Tememu said she wanted
no part in any street demonstrations, should they occur. She
said she had heard talk a &big bang8 would come, but to her
relief Fiji has not experienced even a &little bang.8 She
welcomes Fiji,s national Methodist convention in August as a
positive event that might help to distract the disaffected.
Asked about the rumors in Para 3, Ro Temumu replied that she
hoped the Methodist Church would refrain from taking a
political role. (Comment: Ro Temumu,s statements seem to
confirm similar statements by Qarase to Congressman

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Faleomavaega on April 19, in which the deposed prime minister
favored a return to dialogue rather than resort to street
protests. End comment.) Ro Temumu observed that Fijians are
anxious because, unlike transparent democracies, dictatorial
regimes are capricious and unpredictable.

LOCAL PRESS INTIMIDATED
--------------


5. (C) The media remains functioning but muted under the
Public Emergency Regulation forbidding media criticism of the
presidentially-appointed regime. Fiji TV has shortened its
6:00 p.m. nationally televised news from one hour to 30
minutes. Censors from the Ministry of Information,s civil
service are posted in all major newsrooms. While it is clear
that many of these bureaucrats detest their assignments, in
these dismal economic times, they do what is asked to protect
their jobs. The press is cooperating begrudgingly and is
effectively providing self-censorship, but it remains
uncertain over just what may be printed and what is
impermissible. Even environmental articles get a
three-times-over scrutiny. Fiji TV has suspended &Close
Up,8 the weekly interview broadcast of subjects discussing
salient issues. The Fiji Media Council is hopeful that media
restrictions will ease with the lifting of the PER May 10.
(Comment: Embassy expects the de facto government to extend
media restrictions beyond the PER deadline. Even if current
sanctions are lifted at the 30-day mark, Post expects
vigorous self-censorship by the press to continue. End
comment). Many citizens turn to the Internet and a variety
of active blogs for information, many of which contain both
accurate and inaccurate comments and articles. Government
censors remain in Internet cafes, which have had their
opening hours restricted to business hours.
HUMAN RIGHTS A CONTINUING CONCERN
--------------


6. (C) Human rights organizations in Fiji are intimidated by
the de facto government, which they feel is hindering their
efforts to document human rights abuses. The Fiji Women,s
Rights Movement office was broken into 11 days before
Abrogation by unknown intruders who took only a digital
recorder containing interviews with victims of alleged human
rights abuses. A fire bombing attack on the house next door
occurred during the same period. Consequently, the
organization feels vulnerable and now claims to focus more of
its energies on improving security rather than continuing its
work. The organization,s executive director Virisila
Buadromo said there are reported incidents of police beating
suspects in the open because they now feel that the PER gives
them the authority to act with impunity. (Comment: Embassy
has no information to confirm these allegations and believes
that the police are mostly just following the orders of the
military. End comment.)


7. (C) Police have detained some members of the local press
and of organizations that have spoken out against the
abrogation. Fiji police aggressively questioned a young U.S.
citizen journalistic researcher for over an hour on April 17.
The U.S. citizen, who was in Fiji to research a story on
Fiji Water, went to a local Internet shop to read and respond
to emails. A government censor intercepted her emails and
misinterpreted a response to a colleague at Rolling Stone
magazine. The censor assumed the U.S. citizen to be a
journalist in Fiji in order to conduct surreptitious
political reporting. The censor summoned the Fiji police,
who took the U.S. citizen to the nearby central police
station for interrogation. Embassy officers met with the
U.S. citizen following her release from the police. She
returned safely to the United States on April 20 without
further incident. On April 24, police picked up a U.S.-Fiji
dual national and detained him under suspicion of
distributing material unfavorable to the regime until his
release April 24.


8. (SBU) Fiji,s Human Rights Commission was abolished with
the Constitution and has not been reinstated. Other
constitutional offices that have not been reinstated include
the Ombudsman and the Director of Public Prosecutions. With
the abrogation of the Constitution, laws are now made by
degree signed by the president and approved by the cabinet.
The abrogation of the Constitution and the absence of the
High Court leaves no avenue for constitutional redress or
hearing petitions for habeas corpus. While the lower court
now has nine magistrates (compared to 20 before the

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abrogation),the Chief Justice and judges for the High,
Appeal and Supreme Court have yet to be appointed. Fiji,s
law society president says that those who accept judicial
appointment now would be committing treason. However some
eminent lawyers disagree, saying that Fiji,s people deserve
competent people in the judiciary.
U.S. ENGAGEMENT ENCOURAGED
--------------


9. (SBU) Local leaders of opposition political parties,
diplomatic missions, the business community, nongovernmental
organizations and academia continually ask Embassy officers
to work in support of continued U.S. engagement with the de
facto government. With access to the regime by these
organizations and by historic regional partners Australia and
New Zealand effectively cut or closed off, the United States
remains the one major power in the region that can still
speak with and possibly influence Bainimarama and his
confidants. Newly-arrived British High Commissioner Malcolm
&Mac8 MacLachlan, during an April 23 call on Charge,
indicated his government intends to pursue a similar policy
of calibrated engagement with the de facto government, even
though he fully expects the Commonwealth to drop Fiji,s
membership.
PRUETT