Watch out for politicians who spin lies to try to impress voters
Politicians who claimed the 2018 General Election was rigged, linking it to a conspiracy theory about a Pakistani company, NADRA (National Database & Registration Authority), should hang their heads in shame for lying to the Fijian people.
Today, on page 7 of the Fiji Sun, an independent overseas media group, specialising in investigative journalism, has once and for all, set the record straight.
AAP FactCheck, an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network, shot the voterigging allegation to smithereens
The claim was false, it said, after exhaustive investigations. An Indian-based Hindu news outlet, the Hindu Post, made the false claim that the 2018 election was “conducted” by a Pakistani company, referring to NADRA.
The post was shared widely and designed to incite religious conflict between the Hindus and Muslims in Fiji in the run-up to the December 14 election. It was directed towards Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, FijiFirst general secretary, a Muslim, who was accused of engaging in jihad against Hindus with the help of Pakistan through NADRA.
He has since refuted the article, saying categorically there is no jihad in Fiji.
As we learn from AAP FactCheck, the Hindu Post article was false. Before AAP FactCheck came out with its findings, rumours and speculations about the Pakistani connection in the Muslim versus Hindu tensions were already swirling around in Fiji, spun by some Fijian politicians for political gains. It is now thought that the Hindu Post had been fed this lie by some Fijian politicians obsessed with toppling the FijiFirst Government in this election.
It is this kind of lie that voters must be wary of. Right now there are several conspiracy theories doing the rounds.
Voters should demand evidence. If the claims are based on hearsay, they should ignore them. More importantly, they cast aspersions on the character and integrity of the perpetrators.
Do voters want the politicians in question to represent them in Parliament? Can they trust them to run a Government and govern the nation for the next four years? These are pertinent questions.
Some politicians are running with the slogan: “win at all cost” – they can lie just to get them across the line. They sugar-coat their statements to impress the voters. This is a sign of desperation and they will stop at nothing to woo the hearts of the people. Voters do not deserve to be misled by misinformation spread by some politicians.
Those responsible for spreading the vote-rigging and Pakistani connection claim in and outside of Parliament need to put their hands up.
They must admit they were wrong, apologise to the people and not repeat the same mistake. It means they need to verify their information before they go public the next time.
Once they say it, it is difficult to retract it. On this note, it would be interesting to see if the politicians in question are brave enough to acknowledge their error publicly. Astute politicians will admit when they are wrong.
It is true that desperate politicians will resort to misinformation because they have nothing else better and interesting to offer to the people.
It stems from this notion of freedom of expression in a privileged setting like Parliament where MPs can say anything they want to say without getting into trouble with the law.
It has given some politicians the idea that it is okay to lie.
It is not acceptable to lie inside or outside of Parliament. Voters expect their parliamentary representatives to be men and women of good standing – who are truthful and honest - they are not only legislators. They set the standards for the people to follow whether it’s compliance with the law or just basic human decency. They lead the charge.
So much time and energy have been expended in this election in talking about issues that are of no consequence to the plight of our people.
They should have been directed at finding solutions to lighten their burdens of coping with rising living costs.