The law must take its course

Friday, January 23, 2009

WHEN the court handed down the ruling on ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase's challenge to the legitimacy of the current administration, this newspaper made its stand quite clear.

No matter what our individual feelings on the case, the judgment must be respected.

For those who did not agree with the collective wisdom of the judges, we pointed out that there were appropriate avenues within the judicial system to seek redress.

In essence we pointed out that for the system of justice to work in this country - and in any other nation - the people must follow the system of laws which exist for their protection.

To work outside this system only serves to undermine the workings of effective governance and brings about a threat to law and order.

The Fiji Times has and will continue to champion transparency, accountability, integrity and the pursuit of the truth.

That is why, when we were summoned before the courts on charges of contempt, we took the matter seriously and co-operated in every possible way. We promptly admitted our guilt and apologised.

That was the honourable path to take for a newspaper which for 139 years has attempted to ensure that Fiji is a place where all people can live together as a united nation.

This was the only path we could take after attempting to hold administrations - present and past - to public scrutiny in the pursuit of good governance.

We are always prepared to be judged by the rules we apply to the leaders of government, community, industry, unions and sport.

To take any other path would have been an exercise in hypocrisy.

Yesterday we were judged and found wanting by the system which exists to protect and uphold the laws of the land.

We accept our guilt and will endeavour never to appear before the courts again.

This newspaper will be the first to accept that the judiciary must exist in any real democracy.

It will also defend the rights of our people to an independent judicial system.

We must point out, however, that we do not necessarily agree with all of the judgment, and we do not agree with the penalties imposed on us by the judgment.

There are avenues open to this newspaper to appeal and we will pursue these vigorously, as is our right.

The judgment raises a number of issues which relate directly to free speech. If only for this reason, we must deal with these issues, in the interests of our readers and the media industry.

Just as we have counselled the parties in the Bainimarama v Qarase case, we at The Fiji Times must air our differences with the Court in the proper way. Meanwhile, we must respect the judgment.