The Fiji National University Student Association is calling on politicians to respect the youth and their voice.

In the latest twist of events, the FNUSA has labeled People’s Alliance Party leader, Sitiveni Rabuka’s statement on cyberbullying by a prominent member of his party as vague and in need of more clarification.

The FNUSA said in a statement that the youth require straightforward answers and the statement by Rabuka to the media does not address the specific incident they had raised.

When contacted, People’s Alliance Party General Secretary, Sakiasi Ditoka says they have just completed working on their media policy and how PAP members relate to the public.

Ditoka says they are clear on the fact that there are lines that are not supposed to be crossed adding that if these are violated by their members, appropriate measures will be taken.

“This is a due regulation that we have put in place and we are just tweaking it to see what works for us and what abides by international best practice and that’s where we are. But we certainly don’t condone any cyberbullying and I believe that our party leader, Mr Rabuka has stated those facts very clearly, I’m not sure what was vague about that. I believe that he very clearly said that we don’t condone that.”

The FNUSA also posed a number of questions to Rabuka on what action PAP will take on Lynda Tabuya for allegedly putting derogatory remarks and adding to the cyberbullying of a non-political youth activist and citizen and what measures will he take to protect youth voices from future derogatory attacks from his party members.

Speaking on behalf of the party, Ditoka put on the record that an inquiry will be made to get all the facts on what their newest member, Lynda Tabuya had allegedly posted before they can comment any further on the issue.

“We will have to get to the bottom of this, what exactly are the facts because sometimes the facts get lost in the heat of things, so we will make our own inquiry and see what exactly and we will make our decisions after that.”

He made it clear that PAP believes that everyone has the freedom of expression and this must be respected.

“We’ve told all our members that attacking other members of other parties is not going to be condoned at all. We don’t condone that at all. We believe in the freedom in exchange and the exchange of ideas that’s what we stand for and if someone comes in and starts going down that road and we will caution them and tell them that’s not what we do here in the party.”

FNUSA also labeled National Federation Party Leader, Biman Prasad’s name-calling and threats against the youth body as “dictatorial behavior”.

It says that it is not the student body but Prasad who has made false allegations against them by alleging that the FNUSA are “FijiFirst stooges”.

The FNUSA says the student body is a completely apolitical organization with members of all political views and all religious backgrounds, and this cyberbullying started with a statement regarding NCDs.

It is now demanding that Prasad show proof that they are “FijiFirst stooges” as he claims in his unwarranted diatribe against the youth body.

The statement says that Prasad further alleges that the FijiFirst party is using FNUSA as part of some tactical play which it labels as an utter lie and, once again demanding that the NFP leader show evidence of this.

FNUSA is urging Biman Prasad to do his job instead of threatening youth voices to silence them.

The student body has also highlighted that it is confused about the allegations NFP is talking about.

The FNUSA says they have never alleged that NFP or any political party is running fake accounts, but that fake accounts that support certain parties have been making derogatory attacks on the FNUSA President.

FNUSA is strongly urging Prasad to properly read and understand media releases before responding.

Meanwhile, attempts to get a comment from the National Federation Party Leader Professor Biman Prasad proves futile, maintaining that he will not speak to FBC.

“No I don’t talk to FBC sorry, yeah.”

However, Prasad continues to stand by their earlier statement that said the NFP does not create or promote fake social media accounts.

On its official Facebook Page, NFP requested to be provided names of accounts and the alleged bullying posts.

NFP says they were surprised to find out through the media about fake accounts that post pro-NFP content which was allegedly cyberbullying the FNUSA President.