Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has moved a motion for parliament to strongly condemn SODELPA MP, Mosese Bulitavu racist and derogatory statements about Indo Fijian and iTaukei women.
While tabling the motion, Sayed-Khaiyum says all members of the government side will speak on it.
Sayed-Khaiyum says the Leader of Opposition, Sitiveni Rabuka would know that after the 1987 coups, there was a move to have separate courts based on ethnicity and thankfully the idea was debunked. He says the issue then arose on what would happen if a iTaukei woman was raped and would ‘bulubulu’ (traditional forgiveness) be recognized by the court system. He also shared a story of a 9 year old girl who was raped by a 21 year old man and the men of the girl’s family had accepted the ‘bulubulu’. Sayed-Khaiyum says he was the prosecutor in the case and they went ahead with the trial although the Police at the time also recommended for the charges to be dropped as there was a ‘bulubulu’. He says the person was prosecuted successfully.
Sayed-Khaiyum also spoke about racial stereotyping, and gave examples including comments made by Sitiveni Rabuka after 1987.
He says governance of a state should be based on inclusiveness and common citizenry.
Sayed-Khaiyum says it is unfortunate that we now even have people justifying racial idioms.
He says idioms are also prejudice idioms.
Sayed-Khaiyum says the motion is not about creating divisions but it is about making sure we get rid of divisions and stereotypes. He says the motion is also about recognizing the fact that there are many injustices irrespective of which ethnic group we belong to.
Debate on the motion is currently underway.
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