Fiji’s cabinet has approved a bill to repeal a repressive media law that requires prison terms and fines for content deemed contrary to the national interest, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said on Wednesday.
The removal of restrictions on the press was a campaign promise of Rabuka, who formed a coalition government after national elections in December. Fiji was the lowest ranked Pacific island country in a world media watchdog’s Press Freedom Index last year.
“The nation is looking forward to this, it was part of our (election) promise,” Rabuka told reporters. “Yesterday the cabinet approved the introduction of a bill to repeal the Media Development Act 2010. The bill will repeal the Act in its entirety, not amend it, repeal it.”
The removal of the media law would be a welcome development for press freedom in Pacific island countries at a time when the Chinese government, which tolerates the media only as a dutiful mouthpiece, competes with the United States for influence. in the region.
China’s foreign minister at the time, Wang Yi, largely prevented Pacific island media from directly covering a June 2022 tour of 10 Pacific island nations. Meanwhile, the Papua New Guinea government has outlined a plan for changes to the country’s media industry that critics say would restrict press freedom.
Rabuka said that media freedom and freedom of expression are the “oxygen of democracy,” allowing people to hold their government to account.
“I am proud to be here today to make this announcement that was key to our electoral platform and a demand that I heard echoed in every part of the country that I had visited,” he said.
Rabuka’s electoral victory ended the 16-year rule of the prime minister Frank Bainimaramaa former military chief who rose to power in a 2006 coup. The media law, imposed by decree in 2010, allows prison sentences of up to two years for content authorities deem contrary to the public or national interest.
It was not immediately clear when parliament would vote on the repeal bill.
The fate of the media bill could be a litmus test of Rabuka’s commitment to repairing Fiji’s democratic credentials.
Rabuka, a former soldier, led two coups in 1987 aimed at reasserting the political power of indigenous Fijians, but now casts himself as a reformer intent on righting what he sees as the Bainimarama government’s mistakes.
Fiji was ranked 102nd out of 180 countries in the 2022 Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders, a drop from 55th in 2021.
The advocacy group’s report says the media law, as well as the threat of sedition charges, have fueled a climate of fear and self-censorship in the Fiji media.
Stanley Simpson, director of Fiji’s Mai TV, said Rabuka’s announcement marked an emotional moment.
“We had this hammer hanging over our heads, so nice to see the hammer removed,” he said in a Twitter post.
BenarNews, an online news service affiliated with Radio Free Asia, produced this report.
