Fiji also bans Methodist choir contests

The regional choir contests were due to be held next Sunday after the Church agreed not to hold a full choir festival in Suva, the capital.

“But now the government has revoked a permit for area festivals to be held,” Radio Australia reported Wednesday.

“The Methodist Church, formerly viewed as sacrosanct and the Church that almost every ethnic Fijian was by default born into, is under siege, with a government-ordained New Methodist Church established as its rival,” it reported.

Last month, the Methodist Church leaders cancelled the annual conference after the interim government banned the conference, held annually for about 160 years, for fear of more arrests.

Several Church leaders were arrested and are out on bail. When they appeared in the court on 11 August, they pleaded not guilty to participating in a church standing committee meeting in contravention of the public emergency regulations. A pre-trial hearing is set for September 24 and the full trial for November 19.

Though the conference was called off by the Methodist Church it is going ahead with a combined annual solevu fundraising by pledges, which usually brings in almost one million Fijian dollars (U.S. $600,000), crucial for the church's finances and choir competition, scheduled for 19 August.

But at the last minute, the report said, the authorities withdrew permission for that as well, saying people with political intentions had been influential in planning the choir competition.

Meanwhile, the authorities have granted approval for the New Methodist Church, a rival institution established recently by former Air Pacific employee Atu Vulaono, to hold a crusade at the national sports stadium, which holds up to 20,000 people.

The Rev Kerry Enright, of Uniting World, the overseas branch of Australia's Uniting Church which includes the Methodists told Radio Australia, “We believe the Fijian government is out to cripple the Methodist church in Fiji.”

The Methodist Church is the biggest and most influential church in Fiji, with over 80 per cent indigenous Fijians being members.

The Fiji Methodist Church has been at odd with the government since the military seized power in a bloodless coup in December 2006. Its grip on the country was strengthened in May when President Josefa Iloilo abolished the constitution after a panel of senior judges ruled that the army government is illegal.

Commodore Frank Bainimarama heads an interim administration that, despite strong international objections, has since ruled out democratic elections before 2014.

Commodore Bainimarama says he plans to stamp out official corruption and enhance the rights of Fiji's ethnic Indian minority before elections can be held.

An intolerance of dissent and widespread censorship of the media have led critics to describe Fiji's military strongman as a dictator.