Letter From Suva
That Growing Voice of the Islands
And the Fiji election winner is ... how about local expert commentators? Amidst all the Fiji pre-election hype and post election publicity, there was an interesting trend.
This was the growing pool of local experts being used by Fiji¹s news media to provide comment and analysis and contribute immensely to public understanding.
They were there talking confidently and constantly on radio and TV. They were writing eloquently for the newspapers. They were ready to stand up and be counted when the country needed people willing to provide such expertise.
They swept aside some of the usual expatriate "instant experts" down on the University of the South Pacific campus in particular.
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These local commentators showed there's no lack of home grown talent in the Fiji Islands. A round of applause for all those who helped give insight into what was happening and what it meant. Some of the most prominent were:
- Dr Ahmed Ali - one of those people who just about everyone has a view on.
But love him or hate him you¹ve got to respect his knowledge, his capacity
to analyse and explain key issues and his strength in giving views that are
not always popular. Dr Ali was one of the first locals to lecture at USP,
leaving in 1982 to enter politics. Since then he¹s been a government
minister, top civil servant, diplomat and policy adviser. He brought all
this great experience to his media commentary on the elections and the
events surrounding them. Fiji gained from this.
- Dr Wadan Narsey - another local University of the South Pacific academic
who has also done his time in politics. Dr Narsey teaches economics. He has
long had links with the local news media. Over the years he has helped build
public understanding of complex economic issues with his columns in the
local papers. He brought this expertise to the elections and provided a
valuable economic context to it all.
- Dr Esther Batiri Williams - USP's librarian, a former education
commissioner and a constant quiet achiever. What did it all mean to the
people? Dr Williams is not one for self promoting posturing on the Internet.
Instead she sent out teams of young researchers to find out what was going
on around Fiji, out in the villages as rural communities as well as in the
towns and cities. Her people were outside polling stations everywhere
patiently waiting to interview people. Her research helped the daily news
media provide an interesting insight into things that concerned Fiji's
people most.
- Dr Steve Ratuva - this USP sociologist used to be a clever hand with sharp
cartoons. Now he's got a doctorate to his name and he's proving just as
sharp with informed words. He's the new face of expert local commentary from
down at USP.
- Sitiveni Rabuka - like Dr Ali he¹s someone who is not afraid to take a
position that might not make him popular. This former coup leader and prime
minister has always been comfortable with the news media. In 1999 when
Mahendra Chaudhry became prime minister this was one of the problems. Fiji
(and overseas) journalists had become used to the ease of dealing with PM
Rabuka. Suddenly they were confronted with PM Chaudhry, with his bodyguards
pushing journalists away and hostility to any real questioning. Rabuka
wasn¹t standing in these elections. So he became a valuable addition to the
media commentary teams, his real life experiences complementing the
commentary.
- Tomasi Vakatora - former senior civil servant, long time politician,
businessman and a member of the Reeves Constitution Review Commission. He
brought all his years of experience in politics to his seat on the Fiji TV
panel of experts. Also not afraid to speak his mind even if it wasn¹t a
popular view.
- Jon Apted - a good example of how you should never judge someone by their
looks. This Suva lawyer might look youthful. But he has lots of experience
and expertise. He's a former Supervisor of Elections and secretary of the
Reeves Constitution Review Commission and permanent arbitrator. His election
comments helped people quickly understand some of the legal complexities of
it all.
- Richard Naidu - A former journalist (including his early times with this magazine) now a successful lawyer in a law firm where there's quite a few sharp minds. He¹s become a media celebrity in his own right with his ability to quickly explain complex issues. Fiji hasn't quite gone the way of some other countries where the instant "soundbite" is everything, especially for TV. But he'll be the expert Fiji's TV industry turns to when this happens... because of his ability to keep it quick, simple, interesting and understandable.
Fiji's elections showed again that the Pacific Islands does not need to have expatriate academics dominating with their opinions.
In Papua New Guinea there's a similar pool of local expertise and talent providing informed commentary and analysis. People like Divine Word University journalism academic Kevin Pamba and veteran of national affairs Sir Paulias Matene are two that come to mind immediately.
A round of applause to them all, the true voices of the islands. Now all we need is a few more women.
