Fiji's doublespeak battle for hearts and minds played out through press

IT HAS been noted by some observers of the Fijian political crisis that the setting for George Orwell's dystopian nightmare 1984 was named Oceania.

The 13-day-old coup, which has become, at times, a bizarre PR battle, is rich with such parallels. The military takeover by army commander Frank Bainimarama has so far been bloodless, but the "newspeak" of Orwell's totalitarian state is beginning to emerge as the army cracks down on dissenters while still trying to win the hearts and minds of the people.

The coup has reached a stalemate, with the Great Council of Chiefs yet to endorse a president and, by proxy, the takeover. Ahead of the GCC meeting tomorrow that is hoped to broker a solution to the impasse, the military is boasting about the reduced crime rate while rounding up prominent citizens who have spoken out against Commodore Bainimarama and taking them to Suva's Queen Elizabeth Army Barracks for a "warning".

Robert Wolfgramm, editor-in-chief of the Daily Post, last Tuesday editorialised about the nation's loss of democracy and on Thursday was taken to the barracks, where his passport was confiscated and he was told he would be deported.

Wolfgramm, an indigenous Fijian-born Australian national, said that during a heated meeting with Commodore Bainimarama, the army commander told him, "Fiji doesn't need you".

Intimidation and threats to journalists aside, the heavy-handed censorship of the media expected at the start of the coup has not eventuated. The Fiji Times forced the army into an embarrassing backdown after it refused to go to print on the coup's first night, with the result that troops were removed from newsrooms.

"In some ways it was amusing," says Russell Hunter, editor-in-chief of the Fiji Sun. "They obviously don't know about deadlines because they turned up at 2am to try to