Yellow Ribbon Campaign (Fiji) - Other Non-government Organizations

Other Non-government Organizations

• Dr Shaista Shameem of the Fiji Human Rights Commission said on 15 May that parts of the bill appeared to conflict with the Constitution.

• The Fiji Institute of Accountants released a statement on 27 May, saying that the proposal would "offer an escape for offenders from civil and criminal liabilities." The statement also expressed concern that the legislation was "sending the wrong message to young people because they will think that crimes committed with political motives can be quashed, especially if a government that supports their view is in power."

• Kallu Dhani Ram, General Secretary of the Kisan Sangh, Fiji's oldest farmers' organization, established in 1937, spoke out on 28 May, calling the legislation an "abuse of power." He said that while the proposed Commission would be empowered to compensate coup victims for personal assault and loss of property, there was no provision to compensate people for the emotional trauma they had suffered. Moreover, he disagreed with the use of taxpayers' money to compensate victims of the coup. "It is most unfair to compensate the victims of wrongs done by the offender from taxpayers money because it amounts to compensating the victim from his own money," he said.

The Kisan Sangh reiterated its opposition to the legislation on 7 July and again on 17 August, with Ram saying on both occasions that the bill would only aggravate tensions between the races, and would be a recipe for further coups in future. Even a wholly indigenous Fijian government would not be safe, he said.

• Economist Wadan Narsey said on 31 May that the estimated administrative cost of the proposed Commission would be F$6 million. This figure did not include compensation layouts. He questioned the wisdom of establishing the Commission at all, from the angles of both justice and economics. "Criminals could be granted amnesty, protected from civil or criminal charges, and given immunity from claims for fair compensation," he said. This would discourage investors. He also said that pardoning soldiers convicted of mutiny would demoralize the Military and undermine discipline.

• Former Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Gregory Allen accused the government of being more concerned about its own electoral survival than about the rule of law. In a press release on 8 June, Allen, now a senior lecturer in Transnational Crime Prevention at Australia's Wollongong University, said that the bill was "deceptively" labelled and that its true purpose was to pardon convicts and prevent further prosecutions of people involved in the 2000 coup. "Through this jurisprudential delusion, of course, the crime of treason simply ceases to exist," he said.

• William Parkinson of Communications Fiji Limited, a broadcasting company, said on 15 June that the government had left it too late to consult the public about the legislation. If reconciliation was the purpose of the bill, he said, the public should have a sense of ownership over it. The amnesty provisions would tear the nation apart, he said, rather than foster reconciliation.

• Samisoni Kakaivalu, editor of the Fiji Times, said that he supported the reconciliation provisions of the bill, but considered its amnesty provisions "destructive to promoting reconciliation." He also expressed concern that the bill had not been translated into Fijian, which meant that some people could not understand its contents.

• Dr Biman Prasad, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of the South Pacific, told the annual general meeting of the Fiji Institute of Accountants on 18 June that he considered the legislation to be a scapegoat, a political ploy on the part of the government to distract the public from the serious issues affecting the economy. He said that reconciliation would stand a far better chance of success if a climate of economic prosperity and social justice could be created, to improve the quality of life for the people.

• The Concerned Citizens Against the Unity Bill, a coalition bringing together many of the opponents of the legislation, organized a mass rally against the bill in Suva on 21 July. A week before the rally, Senator Felix Anthony, a spokesman for the coalition, accused the government of having misled the population, including the nation's churches, about the true purpose of the bill. "We firmly believe the Government is just giving one side of the Bill for the public to know about and that is not good," Anthony said. Coalition member Bernadette Ganilau, who is married to Ratu Rabici Ganilau, the younger brother of the National Alliance Party founder (q.v.), said that the legislation would only lead to hatred and violence rather than tolerance and accommodation. She said that the opponents of the bill had chosen the colour yellow for their campaign because it represented hope, life, and good sense. "Car and business owners, villagers and residents are encouraged to tie a yellow ribbon on their car, their boat, around a tree, on their door and anywhere it can be seen," Ganilau declared. She expressed the hope that parliamentarians would vote according to their conscience, rather than along party lines.

• Psychotherapist Selina Kuruleca told the parliamentary committee on 21 October that the amnesty clauses could cause severe widespread emotional distress in the future and could lead to "the erosion of accepted social norms of behaviour and the normalisation of violence with psychological consequences that can last beyond the Government lifespan."

• Maciu Navakasuasua, an explosives expert who served a three-year prison term on Nukulau Island for coup-related offences, spoke out against the legislation on 3 January 2006. Navakasuasua, who has since recanted his role in the coup and generated considerable media publicity with his allegations against high-profile citizens, said that the bill was politically motivated and would incur divine judgement. Speaking to the Fiji Sun, Navakasuasua praised Military Commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama for opposing the legislation, and said that justice must be done. "I was one of the coup planners and have served my time in prison," he said.