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The Fiji Times » OPINION: The identities of our fellow Fijians
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The Fiji Times » From the Editor-in-Chief s desk: Your September 24 briefing
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Opposition MPs calls rejected for Electoral Registration of Voters Amendment Bill to be referred for public consultation
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Last modified on Tue 3 Aug 2021 23.07 EDT
Fiji has experienced escalating political tensions over the past fortnight, with opposition politicians arrested, extra police deployed across the country and fierce political debate, amid concerns the tensions could lead to civil unrest and violence.
What is this all about?
The tensions stem from a contentious land bill that the Fijian government has just passed. Critics of the bill claim the changes will remove power from landowners. The government maintains that the amendments are purely administrative.
The bill has been hugely unpopular, with the opposition presenting a petition signed by more than 30,000 people (out of a population of just short of 1 million) to parliament last week, and there are concerns the move could trigger chaos in the politically divided Pacific country.
Richard Naidu
28 July, 2021, 3:56 pm
Economy Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum while delivering the 2021-2022 National
Budget last night. Picture: PARLIAMENT OF FIJI/SUPPLIED
Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has issued a very long, 30-paragraph defence of the iTaukei Land Trust (Amendment) Bill.
But I am not sure he has really got to the point.
The aim of the law change, he says, is to speed up the backlog of mortgage consent applications at the iTaukei Land Trust Board. Once this is done (he seems to suggest) investment will flow, and the value of iTaukei land leases will increase; and this will be great for landowners.