FIJI'S military appears to have shut down one of its most vocal critics an internet site that contained damaging allegations against army officers and members of the interim Government.
Access from within Fiji to the weblog, or blog in internet-speak, was cut yesterday morning, with people trying to view the site redirected to the internet search engine, Google.
The military admitted last week it was in talks with FINTEL, the company that governs Fiji's access to the internet, to close off access to the site, http://resistfrankscoup.blogspot.com/ and known to its supporters by the initials RFC.
The site contained, among other things, "revelations" of love affairs by senior military officers, allegations of disputes within the military ranks and claims of corruption by people associated with the interim Government.
It was also becoming increasingly militant, calling for action against the interim administration.
Two weeks ago Land Force Commander Colonel Pita Driti said the contents of certain blog sites were a concern to national security which had a bearing on the Public Safety Regulation which, he said, should not be 'disturbed'.
He named three blogs, resistfrankscoup, intelligensiya and fijishamelist as sites containing 'lies and agitation'.
Most sites appeared interlinked because the sentiments, structure, sentences, phrases and content were the same.
"They are all fighting for one cause and saying the same thing," said Col. Driti.
"All we are trying to say is the blog sites are full of lies and deception."
Yesterday military spokesman Major Neumi Leweni confirmed holding discussions with FINTEL on the matter of blocking blog sites.
FINTEL chief executive Sakaraia Tuilakepa confirmed an approach to close off the blogs.
He said the Home Affairs Ministry had asked about the possibility of blocking access to selected blog sites.
"FINTEL is assisting the Ministry of Home Affairs examine the most effective way of addressing their concerns," Mr Tuilakepa said.
"FINTEL had advised the Ministry of alternative options they could explore to address these concerns without compromising the national access to the entire internet network and without breaching the conditions of FINTEL's licence as the international gateway service provider."
Last night an information technology expert said it seemed the blog could not be accessed by internet users outside Fiji.
VT Solutions managing director Shailesh Sharma said after checking with a friend in Australia, he found the site was not accessible.
Mr Sharma said FINTEL may have been able to contact the host site administrator directly and convince them to close it down.
He said blocking the site from Fiji's end was not difficult but finding the people behind it could be a different matter.
"Tracing the bloggers can be easy and hard," he said.
"It's quite a task."
In a letter to The Fiji Times editor, University of the South Pacific Library Systems manager, Chris Hammond-Thrasher, said it would be a mistake to censor the blogs and might even harm the interim Government.
"In fact, in addition to curtailing the free flow of information on the Internet, which is something that I and many others cherish, blocking these blogs may actually harm the interim Government," Mr Hammond-Thrasher said.