Let's try to catch up a bit today. “The Civil Service, Statutory Organisations and all arms of Government involved in delivery of public goods and services will continue to function normally despite the abrogation of the 1997 Constitution,” says a Government of Fiji press release. These are the comments of Commodore J.V. Bainimarama, Prime Minister as he assured that there would be no disruption in the delivery of public goods and services and that to lives of people. Commodore Bainimarama said that there will be many changes brought about in the coming days and weeks, which will be all for the good of the people and the country as a whole. He said that the public need not worry about these changes as they are all meant to improve the delivery of public services through simpler processes, quick decision making and improved handling of enquiries and needs of ordinary members of the public. In response to an April 9 court ruling declaring the military backed government of Frank Bainimarama came to power illegally when he dissolved Parliament and deposed the government of Laisenia Qarase, the country’s President nullified the Fiji's constitution, fired the entire judiciary and appointment himself head of state and the armed forces. He then re-appointed Bainimarama and swore in his entire government. Bainimarama, Fiji's military leader, came to power in December 2006, he said, to clean up the corrupt Qarase government. He also wanted to replace what he saw as Fiji’s divisive, ethnic-based politics that pits political parties aligned with indigenous Fijians with parties aligned with the Indian ethnic minority, descendants of cane workers brought to Fiji by the British colonial rulers. It was Fiji's fourth coup since 1987, three of which took place to expand the political power of indigenous Fijians. Before the events of Easter weekend, Fiji had been under intense pressure from neighboring countries and governmental bodies to hold elections, as Bainimarama once promised. However, government supporters maintain that scheduling elections with Fiji's communal-based electoral system will merely perpetrate the country's track record of ethnic-based favoritism in governance. Bloggers of all stripes are now sifting through the debris of a completely changed political landscape – one that will see the Bainimarama government remain in power until at least 2014. One blogger has closed up shop for the time being. To another, the situation remains pretty much the same. From Oceanic: User Experiences from the South Pacific. The doomsday headline “Fiji military given OK to shoot civilians.” called out to me from UPI.com. I'm not sure what was more jarring, actually. Was it that fear-mongering, sensationalist headline or the fact that UPI.com's tag line is “100 years of journalistic excellence”? Some international media outlets use old video footage of the 2000 coup with soldiers in the streets carrying weapons. I don't believe a tiny “file footage” in the corner of the screen is fair, either. As an expat, I don't openly comment on any of the politics in the country and for obvious reason. I see positives and negatives in everything anyway and there is also enough noise out there from other sources. However, one of challenges Fiji will continue to face when not enabling open communications with the rest of the world are stories such as the sensationalist one above. I've received well more than a handful of emails and messages from friends in other parts of the world who appear to be getting warped views of what's happening in Suva. “Are you safe?”, understandably, is the most common question I hear and I still respond with the stock answer I have always used. “I feel safer here than on the streets of any big city in the world.” Fiji is a very safe country, even in the face of some rising “petty crime” which include home invasions and robberies. For tourists, though, this is not a risk and the news they are seeing on TV and the warnings from their governments are, frankly, blown well out of proportion. I'm not saying the situation isn't serious, though. It is serious, but things DO NOT feel unstable at all in Suva right now. Could this change? I suppose it could but I'd like to believe it won't. If I felt that there was a real danger, I would not be keeping my kids in school right now. Because it has no working framework of the constitution, Fiji's new government has ruled through a series of decrees, including the public emergency regulations, which gives extra search, seizure and detention powers to the police.