By Savea Sano Malifa

APIA, Samoa (Samoa Observer, April 18, 2010) - Whatever bait Tuilaepa is throwing Bainimarama’s way the latter is not biting.

So far, judging from the silence coming from across the ocean, the Fijian military strongman is taking no notice of Tuilaepa’s little trick.

What Bainimarama is probably thinking though is that the former is barking up a foreign tree which he has no right doing, or that Tuilaepa is trying to steal the limelight from him which is politically unheard of, so he’s not taking any of Tuilaepa’s blabbering seriously.

Instead Bainimarama is most probably thinking: This hour of glory is all mine; and I’m not going to share it with anybody, not even my Samoan buddy Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi.

If he wants the limelight he can darn well get it himself by becoming a man and declare to the world he’s a dictator too. Afterwards he can bask in the limelight for as long as he wants, and maybe that way he will stop telling everyone a lot of baloney. Anyway, that’s what we think Frank Bainimarama is thinking right now. And so he should. After last week’s brutal assault by Tuilaepa we cannot blame him.

Frank Bainimarama, the man who threw Fiji’s parliament out the window, abolished the judiciary, dumped the constitution, then ruled as a despot surrounded by armed soldiers, last week delivered his newest decrees; they are most likely to be his last.

He issued a directive aimed at throttling press freedom and the free flow of information in his country, by controlling the media and severely punishing editors and journalists who do not follow his dictates.

And then there’s the immunity decree aimed at legally protecting himseslf and his soldiers.

This one though seems to be an act inspired by paranoia and fear. Since he is the law in his country – parliament, police, military, judge, jury and executioner all in one - who is he protecting himself from? Who is he afraid of?

So let me say this loud and clear. Frank Bainimarama has made the biggest mistake of his life. He will not succeed. Even with his army of thugs surrounding him the pen is still mightier than the sword.

Besides, people everywhere do not fear dictators any more; fear has become an illusion, a spectre of hope that their self-respect and dignity are left alone, not tampered with. People want to think, conceive ideas, dream; they do not like the idea of their thoughts being shackled, or undermined in any way.

They want to express their opinions, views. They want open living; they want freedom to create, turn their dreams into reality; they are not animals who do not mind being shackled in cages and see their lives squander away in bondage; the people of Fiji will rise to this challenge; they will conquer this tyranny.

As for us here in our little paradise, we are not above reproach. So let us not try to deceive ourselves any more. Long before Frank Bainimarama and his thugs showed up our own government has been terrorizing the media in this country.

Think of the Publishers and the Printers Act 1992. Although this law was passed by Parliament, its intention was ill-conceived. It directs publishers and editors to reveal their sources of information to government leaders – MPs, cabinet ministers, heads of government departments – who claim they have been defamed by a newspaper.

In comparison, only the courts previously had the authority to order a newspaper to reveal its sources. We believe that’s the law they were practicing in most democratic countries then, and they are still doing so now. So that when the Publishers and Printers Act was passed Samoa ceased to be democratic.

Since it was designed to intimidate and frighten sources from leaking acts of political and bureaucratic corruption to newspapers, so that the free flow of information was under threat of being eliminated.

Then there was the "decree" passed by parliament where an amount of WST783,000 [US$311,000] was approved to pay for the "prime minister’s legal fees" in his private lawsuit against a newspaper.

Later another WST400,000 [US$159,000] was added since the first amount was not enough. Meanwhile the newspaper in question paid its own legal fees amounting to hundreds of thousands of Tala.

Incidentally, as if to justify getting public funds to pay for the PM’s legal fees, the government announced all the legal fees to be incurred by public figures who might sue newspapers for alleged defamation would also be paid for by public funds.

Then there were the massive lawsuits claiming defamation by the prime minister and other cabinet ministers. Later along came the ancient law of criminal libel which the Brits forgot to take with them when they abandoned this country.

It was meant to quell rebellion and treason in its colonies scattered around the world, but in 1998 it was used by the prime minister to sue a newspaper in an attempt to jail its editor; fortunately for the editor the lawsuit was discontinued.

Anyway, all these "decrees" showed up long before Bainimarama came along and caused our PM’s ire. And yet not a word critical of the Samoan government came from the government of Fiji at the time; they just kept their distance, remained friendly, maintained their respect as they went about the business of moving their country forward.

In Tuilaepa’s diatribe against Bainimarama last week, though, some points are too telling to ignore; for instance, he said, "If anything, the decrees are an admission of guilt. They can’t face the consequences of what they’ve done to their country. So they cloak themselves in immunity decrees."

Now that’s interesting. After our own constitution has been bludgeoned blue by the government – using its well-compensated and well-fed two thirds majority in Parliament - to suit its warped purposes, it’s hard to understand what our PM was thinking when he said those words.

And lastly Tuilaepa insisted all "democratic governments that want to tackle institutional corruption need a free, strong and robust media.

"You know they (Bani’s regime presumably) say they came to power to address presumed corruption in government. If anything, they should then strengthen the media.

"Give them the freedom to do their work. Not try to strangle it to death."

Well, aren’t those words sweet sounding to the ear? Bravo Tuilaepa! Well said! Now having made that profound and proud admission we believe he has no choice but to turn those words of his into reality.

He can do this by repealing the Publishers and Printers Act 1992, declare defunct that ancient British criminal libel law and remove it entirely from the country’s law books, and then having done all that, scrap all restrictive measures threatening to stifle press freedom and the free flow of information in this country.

And when all that is out of the way, the local media will sit down and plan how to bring the Pacific Island News Association (PINA) to Samoa, or form its own regional media association right here in Apia if it has to, and then work towards giving the people of this country the happiness they deserve.

Have a peaceful Sunday Samoa, God bless.

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