Does this military regime need to be swept from office?
8 out of 10 Fijian citizens we spoke to, certainly thought so.


Now that we have left Fijian waters we feel free to comment on the military regine in Fiji. We had felt inhibited previously as we were told that another yacht that was critical of the regime was to be boarded by soldiers.

At face value things look OK here in Fiji, but you only need to scratch the surface to see that something is on the nose.
The newspapers are censored each and every day, especially the Fiji Times.
On the other hand the Fiji Sun seems to be the mouthpiece for the military regime.
In the face of this censorship, the Fijian people are using blogs to air their opinions.
It is worth checking out these blogs at:
http://www.coupfourandahalf.com/

By the way:
Budget - not an ethical investment
Budget car rentals is not that far from the yacht club in Suva. We hired a small car for the day and headed west for the coral coast.
On our return a staff member from Budget spent 15 intense minutes minutely going over the car, looking for any tiny scratch, chip, inspecting tyres for substitution, the roof for coconut dents. It was an over the top performance.
We later discovered that if he missed anything, the company deducted it directly from his wages.
Remember, that in Fiji, unskilled workers are paid about Fj$3.00 an hour, or about $1.65 Australian.
This type of bullying of workers flows from the regime's anti trade union legislation. The employers feel downright cocky.