The Rabuka government’s professed commitment to free expression has been exposed as a sick joke of Orwellian proportions as it works with the Meta corporation – the owners of Facebook – to shut down the accounts of Fijians trying to hold it to account for its increasing dysfunction and corruption.
Meta’s owner, Mark Zukerberg, has an estimated fortune of $F480- billion, according to Forbes magazine, that bible of the rich. And he has 480-billion reasons to be ashamed that he has allowed his minions to form a Faustian pact with Fiji to throw influential Fijian Facebook users off the platform.
To the hundreds of thousands of Fijian Facebook members: Do what you can to use Facebook to highlight this extraordinary assault on democracy and the public’s right to know. And punish Sitiveni Rabuka and Lynda Tabuya – his disgraceful handmaiden who is spearheading this partnership with Meta to shut down legitimate debate – by rejecting them altogether at the coming election.
You have the power, individually and collectively, to take a stand for free expression and your right to be aware of what your government is doing in your name. That right is being subverted by the Coalition at the most critical time – the lead-up to a national election in which the Fijian people will pronounce their judgment on almost four years of gross dysfunction and incompetence.
Lynda Tabuya is an amoral harridan at the centre of some of the nation’s most unprecedented scandals – the outrage of her “sex and illicit drug scandal” in Room 233 (the Prime Minister’s description, not mine) and her equally disgraceful action in making a pornographic video when she was co-Chair of the government’s Anti-Porn Task Force.
Tabuya succeeded in getting Grubsheet removed from Facebook when I detailed these scandals to my own 30,000 Facebook “followers” at the time. Now she is targeting others who have the temerity to bring her and her gruesome gaggle of wrongdoers to public attention and account.
Tabuya wants to be prime minister and has abandoned cabinet solidarity to joined the union campaign to press for a $3 an hour increase in the minimum wage simply to increase her vote. She knows, or should know, that it would destroy the Fijian economy as it reels from the aftershocks of Donald Trump‘s war against Iran. So she is actively sabotaging the nation’s economic welfare in her reckless pursuit of the top job.
Worse, she is a clear and present danger to Fijian democracy and must never be allowed to gain more power. And the proof of that is her unconscionable campaign to punish ordinary citizens for exposing her and her increasingly corrupt colleagues by linking up with Meta to silence their voices altogether.
One of those voices is that of Alexandra Forwood – the one- woman whirlwind who has become such a danger to the Coalition with her repeated revelations and allegations of wrongdoing in high places that she is being specifically targeted. Whatever you think of Alex Forwood – national heroine or serial pest – she has been highly effective and that’s why Sitiveni Rabuka and Lynda Tabuya want her shut down altogether.
The shocking scandal isn’t only a government that came to power promising free speech yet is delivering more repression than its predecessor. The bigger scandal is that Mark Zukerberg and Meta – who set up Facebook to encourage global engagement and debate – have joined forces with this repressive government in a conspiracy against free speech and the public’s right to know.
The world of Big Brother – the dystopian nightmare at the heart of George Orwell‘s novel, 1984 – has come to Fiji. How? By a small, failing Pacific government being given shelter from scrutiny by an even Bigger Brother in the form of a multi-billion dollar American corporation with a global reach that is prepared to target ordinary citizens on its behalf.
Be afraid, Fiji. Be very afraid.
Be afraid, world. Because you are next.
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Why the comparison with George Orwell’s 1984?
Take a look at the following synopsis from Google AI….
Er, make that Room 233, the room in the modern day Ministry of Love where Lynda Tabuya enticed her fellow minister, Aseri Radrodro, from his bed with the promise of “lots of weed” and Jack Daniels and got such a “brutal” rogering that she was struggling to walk the following day.
O sobo.
This is the freedom you all were clamouring for.
How are you enjoying it?
People wake up! Lynda Tabuya has lied repeatedly, used drugs, made porn videos, is one of the worst examples for the youth of Fiji , and she is being paid far too much by taxpayers. Is this the way we want the world to see us? She should be in jail!
Biman Prasad, exposed for non disclosure by Fiji Leaks, and currently under its scrutiny for ‘ FCCC publicationgate’ where he failed to declare conflict of interest and funding source, shares his 2 cents worth and proves that government’s support for media freedom and repeal of the media act was all a farce:
“Fiji moves closer to the campaign period, the National Federation Party Leader, Prof. Biman Prasad, has raised serious concerns about the growing spread of fake news, fake profiles, and online misinformation.
Speaking on the increasing misuse of social media platforms, Prof. Prasad warned that Fiji’s online space is likely to become “much nastier” as political tensions rise.
He stressed that political parties and leaders have a responsibility to communicate honestly and openly with voters, while avoiding the spread of misinformation and online manipulation.
Prof. Prasad noted that some individuals and groups are using fake profiles and doctored information to push political and personal agendas, often misleading the public by taking documents out of context and creating false narratives around them.
He also cautioned against giving credibility to anonymous bloggers and fake online accounts, saying this only encourages the continued spread of false and harmful content.
The NFP believes that despite the challenges posed by social media, the people of Fiji are sensible and capable of making informed decisions based on facts and truth.
At the same time, the Online Safety Commission has also warned about the growing normalisation of online cruelty, humiliation, and digital abuse, calling for greater accountability and responsibility in the online space.
The NFP remains committed to respectful political dialogue, transparency, and protecting the integrity of public discourse as Fiji approaches the election period.”
We don’t need lessons on anything from the Great Betrayer. He is now going on trial for corruption and there is evidently more evidence to come. Of course he wants the critics silenced. He would say all of this, wouldn’t he?