Party Policies
The United Peoples Party has been a vocal critic of the government's legislation to establish a Reconciliation and Unity Commission, a proposed tribunal with the authority (subject to presidential approval) to compensate victims and pardon perpetrators of the coup d'état which deposed the elected government in 2000. Calling the proposal a recipe for disaster which would create a "legal framework" to pardon, at will, anyone convicted of coup-related offence, party leader Mick Beddoes said on 16 May 2005 that it would lead to the prevalence of the law of the jungle and would licence any would-be political activist who wanted to engage in coups, to do so. He accused the government of pandering to its junior coalition partner, the Conservative Alliance, to which many of those convicted of coup-related offenses belong. On 14 June, the party announced the beginning of a Yellow Ribbon Campaign to promote a petition aimed at forcing the bill to be withdrawn, or at least significantly amended. On 17 June, Beddoes accused Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase of lying about widespread public support for the bill, claiming that the "small group of dissenters" that the Prime Minister said existed were, in fact, the minority who knew what the bill contained. He said that asking the Fijian people to support the legislation without making them aware of its contents was "a deliberate attempt to mislead the Fijian community."
Read more about this topic: United Peoples Party (Fiji)
Famous quotes containing the words party and/or policies:
“At the moment when a man openly makes known his difference of opinion from a well-known party leader, the whole world thinks that he must be angry with the latter. Sometimes, however, he is just on the point of ceasing to be angry with him. He ventures to put himself on the same plane as his opponent, and is free from the tortures of suppressed envy.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“We urgently need a debate about the best ways of supporting families in modern America, without blinders that prevent us from seeing the full extent of dependence and interdependence in American life. As long as we pretend that only poor or abnormal families need outside assistance, we will shortchange poor families, overcompensate rich ones, and fail to come up with effective policies for helping families in the middle.”
—Stephanie Coontz (20th century)