PM Rabuka: Fijians ‘no longer need to fear speaking their minds’

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says Fijians “no longer need to fear speaking their minds” as the country prepares for debate on the new Constitution.

In a statement yesterday, Mr Rabuka said people were now “free to express their views, debate the issues that matter to them, and say what they believe without looking over their shoulder.”

He said the Government could have retained the Media Industry Development Act (MIDA) when it came into power, which “politically” might have made life easier.

“But it would not have been right for Fiji or the legacy we wanted to leave behind,” he said.

MIDA was repealed in 2023, a move credited by media groups and press freedom watchdogs with contributing to Fiji’s rise in the World Press Freedom Index.

Mr Rabuka urged Fijians to “use this freedom responsibly” and to disagree “without bullying, humiliating, or deliberately hurting one another.”

Minister for Information and Climate Change Lynda Tabuya, speaking outside the Prime Minister’s Office after Cabinet, said Mr Rabuka’s message was linked to the coming release of the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) report.

She said Mr Rabuka, the only Cabinet member to have gone through a constitutional review process before, understood how the public and media could respond.

“He is encouraging all Fijians to have a say,” Ms Tabuya said.

She urged people to “rely only on reliable information” and to “fact check everything” as debate over the constitutional review develops.

On criticism of Government, she said: “We welcome it... if it is constructive and helpful.”