Citizens Constitutional Forum
Rev. Akuila Yabaki of the Citizens Constitutional Forum said that "the policy behind the bill should be offensive to right-thinking people," because it would be impossible to have reconciliation without including in the decision-making Indo-Fijians, who he said "bore the brunt of the coup." He also opposed the possible appointment of former Chief Justice Tuivaga to chair the commission. Tuivaga played a controversial role in recognizing the Interim Military Government that took power during the 2000 coup, and in an extra-constitutional reorganizing of the judiciary, a move that was later reversed.
Yabaki was joined by fellow CCF spokesman Jone Dakuvula on 21 June, who accused the government's coalition parties (the United Fiji Party and the Conservative Alliance) of violating their own election manifestos by sponsoring the legislation, which he said flew in the face of their election promises to uphold the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.
In a parliamentary submission on 27 June, Dakuvula declared that the bill, having already become a cause of division and dissent, would not promote reconciliation. The secrecy with which the bill was drafted, and the haste with which it was being pushed through parliament, contradicted the government's assertions that it was an instrument of reconciliation, he considered. He said that the bill gave victims no incentive to forgive, and that it did not require wrongdoers to express remorse or apologise. The bill's compensation provisions, he said, were completely inadequate. Too few would qualify for compensation, and it would be much more limited than what an existing court might award.
Forum spokesman Ponipate Ravulo told a public rally on 21 July that the consultation process on Unity Bill was being manipulated by the government to keep the public uninformed, and that "grassroots" people had not been involved. He said that the country could not afford another coup and therefore the bill should not be passed.
Yabaki reiterated his opposition to the bill on 5 February 2006.
Read more about this topic: Yellow Ribbon Campaign (Fiji)
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