THE Miss Fiji Pageant returns this year after an eight-year hiatus, bringing renewed focus on empowerment, cultural pride, and the evolving challenges young women face in a digital age.
Speaking during the Research Interview Judging segment, Minister for Information Lynda Tabuya delivered an emotional and compelling address centred on the theme “Promoting Online Safety: Think Before You Click.”
Tabuya praised the pageant’s long-standing role in celebrating the beauty, talent, intelligence, and cultural identity of Fijian women.
She said that as a national event the pageant selected the country’s representative to the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant and was “a powerful engine for empowerment” promoting Fijian culture and women’s achievements while helping position Fiji on the international stage.
She pointed out the pageant had returned at a critical time.
With the theme “Think Before You Click,” she said, “its return could not have come at a more critical moment, as the challenges shaping our daily lives increasingly unfold online.”
Tabuya then spoke openly about her own experiences with online harassment.
“Online abuse is no longer a rare or distant threat. It sits in our phones, follows us into our bedrooms, interrupts our peace,” she said.
Last year, Tabuya was removed from her Cabinet post after hackers accessed her phone and shared sexually explicit messages and pictures of the minister on-line.
Tabuya explained that digital spaces where people study, work, build relationships, and express themselves are now often places for new kinds of violence.
“I am not here as a Minister or a politician, but as a woman who has bled publicly, who has been shamed publicly, who has cried privately,” she told the contestants.
Tabuya said she hoped her story would give “strength, not sympathy,” and help others facing similar challenges.
She warned contestants that public scrutiny is part of the journey and that they may face online criticism about their appearance, voices, or personalities.
“Do not be swayed by the voices behind the keyboard,” she urged.
“Write your own words, words that inspire, empower, and uplift.”
Tabuya concluded with a message of hope, reminding contestants that while the digital world can bring violence, it also brings power.
“Let us use it—not to shrink—but to rise, to speak, to lead, and to build a Fiji where our daughters inherit freedom, not fear,” she said.
Tabuya encouraged the contestants to embrace their pageant experience wholeheartedly, stating that the friendships, confidence, discipline, and advocacy skills they gain “are far greater than any crown or title.”
The Miss Fiji Pageant will continue this week at the Civic Centre.