Gutter level attacks could discourage people from going into politics: Candidates
Two candidates vying for SODELPA’s party leader say gutter level politics could scare people from participating. MP Viliame Gavoka and Deputy Opposition Whip Aseri Radrodro explain that social media has created the environment for it to thrive. But politicians should not be distracted by it and must concentrate on fulfilling their responsibilities. In this final installment of a weekly series on the party leader race, candidates were asked to respond to the question:
Is gutter level politics part and parcel of our democratic right of freedom of expression?
The other two candidates are incumbent Opposition leader Sitiveni Rabuka and ousted president Ro Filipe Tuisawau have not responded to any of the weekly questions all the candidates were asked. On Monday Mr Gavoka, Mr Radrodro, Mr Rabuka and Ro Filipe will be interviewed by a panel as the selection process gets underway. It is understood that University of Fiji veteran academic Tupeni Baba will chair the panel. The others are likely to be University of the South Pacific academic Esther Williams, public policy analyst Jone Navakamocea and former MP Semesa Karavaki.
Even the candidates do not know the panel membership other than what they have read in the Fiji Sun. Mr Gavoka’s and Mr Radrodro’s responses to the weekly topics have enhanced intellectual discussions on issues of national interest.
Here’s their final response in their own words: VILIAME GAVOKA
As politicians, we have to be prepared to cope with what is generally termed as ‘background noise’.
Every one of us is in politics with
a noble purpose, generally declared publicly through a manifesto outlining our policies and aims.
The manifesto places us on the high ground where we promote our policies and aims, and defend our position from those with opposing views.
It is delightful and uplifting when we stay on the high ground, freely promoting and defending our manifesto and allow the citizenry to decide with their votes.
But, more often than not, we are brought down to the lower ground by those not concerned with the content of the manifesto, but with issues less noble. These are generally surrogates of politicians, committed to creating distractions, and the ‘background noise’ we must learn to live with.
Many of us learn to ignore them, but sadly, the ‘background noise’ becomes very personal and scurrilous, affecting us and also our families.
And sadly also, some of us fail to rein in our surrogates, drawing fire from the other side, resulting in politics descending into the gutter.
The adage about living in glass houses and not throwing stones appears to escape many in politics.
Gutter politics obscure issues and cloud the thinking of the voter and in some cases paving the way for a mediocre politician into high office.
People have often wondered if the candidates for public office are indeed the best in class in any country. It is not always so. Many worthy, deserving and capable people fear gutter politics; fear that their reputations painstakingly built over the years, can be destroyed when contesting for public office.
The toll on the families are incalculable, especially children, with the relentless assault on their parents.
We are generally thick-skinned and can rise above gutter politics, but families are vulnerable and many throw in the towel. The country is all the worse for it.
Gutter politics is perhaps as old as mankind, but certainly became pronounced with democracy, with competing voices earning the freedom to decide on issues affecting us all. It thrived through many conduits, but now worse in ways unprecedented with social media.
Many countries have taken measures to rein-in the anti-social aspects of social media.
Gutter politics is categorised as bullying and laws have been passed to discourage it.
Emulating Australia, we have enacted laws and set up the Online Safety Commission Fiji, which resolves online abuse such as online bullying.
It notifies the Cybercrime Unit of cases of bullying, but we appear tentative in enforcing the law; we should be forceful.
That said, gutter politics will always exist in some form and we should learn to live with it, combating it where we can, but staying focused on the noble call of politics.
ASERI RADRODRO
The civil and political rights of individuals include the rights to life , freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly . They are all covered under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
On the domestic front, Fiji has
committed itself through its national legislations to the same aspirations of freedom of political participation as well as the values of freedom of expressions.
Whilst Fiji may be a young democracy, its national laws have long promoted the responsible use of our rights and freedoms.
There is no absolute right to freedom of speech nor to freedom of political participation. We all work and live and participate within certain requirements and limitations.
Defamation Act
Defamation Act, Cap 34 has long existed in Fiji since 1971 where slander is libelous if found to be incorrect, damaging to a person’s reputation with a possibility of causing losses to the individual.
With the existence of social media platforms, the level of scrutiny and engagement of public and private individuals is almost a no bar zone. There are now increasing concerns of cyberbullying and cyber-attacks on people. Many perpetrators use fake profiles. The attacks can be very damaging to victims.
In my personal opinion, politicians now face the full brunt of vilifications and attacks on their personal and private lives. However, politicians like me have to take this as part of the work that we have signed up for. Whilst many are on social media platforms not everybody believes the vilifications that are available online. In 2014 and in 2018 there were so many attacks against me online and fake profiles called for my rejection by the electorates. My win in both elections is an indication that ordinary citizens know the value of truth when they receive it. Not everybody is gullible. They know political factions and cyberbullies.
On the flip side the work of the Online Safety Commission needs to be supported and enhanced particularly in the area of civic education and advocacy.
In the absence of slanderous material been captured in the Crimes Act, people can only pursue redress through civil courts, but for me it does not resolve the issue. The root cause of the problem is people thinking that whatever utterances they make is a right for them if they make it in their personal space. Increasing the number of fake accounts concealing their true identities is a problem that has mushroomed in Fiji.
They purport to correct the so called main stream media misinformation and claims to represent the interest of the people.
The question is how much do we allow this as a nation?
Recently in the Solomon Islands, the Government introduced a bill to ban Facebook because of what it termed to be increasing abusive language and character assassination. Is that the right way to go? Does that go against the grain of freedom of expression?
Do such drastic measures have to be implemented for people to learn and know their limits? Or shall we act responsibly knowing that social media has a place in our society and has many uses that are of benefit. Social media is known to have its uses in societies, especially where there are increasing controls by Government and people have rejected outright their suppression. For instance the Arab Springs is one such movement that started using social media platform. However, it becomes confusing when intra groupings within political parties take swords to each other. The question then arises: What are they fighting for?
Slandering and vilification on social media are continuing in their current form for many years to come. In fact it is now a global issue and something that politicians will have to deal with. They need to toughen up and accept that public scrutiny is going to be part and parcel of their political journey. Politicians who now wish to participate in the public domain will have to prepare themselves for these kind of slanderous attacks and vilifications disguised as freedom of expressions.
Sadly this may be a reflection of the society we live in today and the kind of democracy that we have.