Blue Ribbon Campaign (Fiji) - Other Politicians and Chiefs

Other Politicians and Chiefs

• Former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has taken a measured position in relation to the government's proposed commission. On 19 May 2005, Rabuka said that the objective of the commission should not merely be to grant amnesty and compensation, but to uncover the truth about who was involved in the coup, directly or indirectly. "It should be able to get to all those who were behind the coup and not only us who were widely accused of taking part. It should be able to reveal those who planned it, financed it and executed it," Rabuka said. The prospect of amnesty, he said, might encourage some individuals to come forward who might otherwise be unwilling to talk.

• Joe Vala Cakau, a former publicity director for the Fijian Political Party, said the bill, which would promote unity among all of Fiji's communities, was long overdue. In a statement on 23 May, he said persons on trial or in prison for coup-related offenses were also victims in their own way. "I am sure that most people would like to get on with their lives and forget about the past," Cakau said.

• Ratu Amenatave Rabona Ravoka, a senior chief from Bua Province, said on 28 May that "every right thinking person should support the bill." He said that forgiveness was an important part of Fijian culture. He supported the compensation provisions of the legislation also. "A lot of people may have lost more than what the compensation can cover," he said, "but at least the Government was able to recognise their hurt and loss."

• Nationalist Vanua Tako Lavo Party General Secretary Iliesa Duvuloco said on 10 June that his party strongly supported the bill, and announced plans for a march through the streets of Suva. Leaders of the Nationalist Party have been imprisoned for coup-related offences. He was joined on 8 July by Soane Nakuna and Soane Tobewaqiri, both unsuccessful candidates for the party in the parliamentary election of 2001. People opposed to the bill did not know the true meaning of reconciliation, they said. "These people should go and read the Gospel according to Matthew from chapters five to seven if they want know the true and correct interpretation of reconciliation," Tobewaqiri said. He said the Fiji Law Society, which strongly opposed the bill, was a stumbling block to reconciliation. He also said that chiefs involved in the 2000 coup may have had the best of intentions, saying that they had a right to leadership.

• Ratu Aca Soqosoqo, a Kadavu chief, said in a parliamentary submission on 15 June that despite his initial reservations, he supported the bill. He had prayed over it, he said, and was convinced that it was "from God," and that all Christians should support it. "If you're a Christian support this Bill," he said. "It is from God.

• Senator Adi Litia Cakobau (one of nine Senators nominated by the Prime Minister) announced a campaign on 19 June to educate the people on the bill. The Fiji Institute for Research and Education (FIRE), which she leads, would embark on a leaflet campaign. The leaflets, titled Na Dodonu ni Taukei ("The Rights of Indigenous Fijians") would promote the bill as safeguarding the rights of the Fijian people as owners of the land, she said. She complained that laws dating from colonial times made it difficult for ethnic Fijians to protect their landowning rights, a situation she said contravened Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Besides Cakobau, FIRE includes Senator Asesela Ravulu, who is also a Professor at the University of the South Pacific, and Mere Samisoni, a businesswoman.

• The Vugalei Landowners Association, which includes members from the districts of Bau, Vugalei, Tai Vugalei, Naitasiri, Viria and Nausori, gave guarded approval to the legislation on 28 June. Vugalei chief Ratu Netava Tagi said that despite reservations about some of the amnesty provisions, the association supported the legislation in principle. He said that those responsible for the upheaval of 2000 should face the brunt of the law, but that those who had followed them should not be punished. "We believe that those who had followed those inside the Parliamentary complex should not be punished because they were just followers who knew nothing about the law," Tagi said.

• Jale Baba presented the parliamentary submission of the ruling United Fiji Party (SDL), of which he is the Director, on 30 June. He said that amnesty was constitutional and should be an integral part of the justice system. This bill would, he said, "allow the people of Fiji to hear and come to terms with the truth of the events that led to and followed the May 2000 crisis." He said it was not true that the bill's purpose was to keep the coalition government intact, and accused the opposition Fiji Labour Party, which opposes the bill, of having done the same thing when it tried to broker a coalition deal with the Conservative Alliance (a nationalist party, a number of whose prominent members have been convicted of coup-related offences). Baba denied that the amnesty provisions of the 1990 and 1997 Constitutions had contributed to the 2000 coup, and doubted that harsher penalties would have deterred it, saying that there were countries which executed coup-plotters but still had coups.

While supporting the legislation, Baba denied on 26 October that it was reflective of SDL policy. It was a government initiative, he said, not a party one, and would not affect their support base.

• Former Parliamentarian Timoci Silatolu, currently serving a life-sentence for his role in the coup, said at a court appearance on 8 July that he was in favour of the bill, and was seeking permission from prison authorities to deliver a submission to Parliament's Justice, Law and Order committee, which is looking into the legislation. "I believe the Bill is within the ambits of the Constitution and I fully support it," Silatolu said.

• Senator Apisai Tora harshly criticized the Military on 23 August for opposing the legislation. He said that the Military was playing politics and not following democratic procedure, and he took a dim view of military teams visiting villages to campaign against the bill.