Ateca Ganilau

Adi Ateca Ganilau is a Fijian public figure. She is best known as the daughter of the late Prime Minister and President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, and as the wife of National Alliance Party founder Ratu Epeli Ganilau.

Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bill

Ganilau is a vocal opponent of the government's controversial legislation to establish a Commission empowered to compensate victims and pardon perpetrators of the coup d'état which deposed her father from the Presidency in May 2000. The following quotes are from media statements she has made; unless otherwise stated, they are gleaned from the Fiji Times.

25 June, 2005

• "The hurt is still there. When my parents were alive it affected them just as much as it is affecting us today."

• "If the move to reconcile and compensate came from the coup perpetrators maybe, I would have given it some thought but coming from the Government is hard to accept."

• "It is like a forced idea and I wonder why they are pushing for it now?"

• "The hurt is still with us, something we do not openly discuss but this government has not attempted to include us in any of their reconciliation process."

24 July, 2005

• "Everything that happened prior to and during 2000 was premeditated, well planned with all the personal graffiti being churned out through government offices and business outlets ... ludicrous paraphernalia designed to malign the former President's family's character. Some members of the 2000 and current Senate were openly telling the public that the Government was going to be changed soon. So what was the Fijian cause all about?"

Ganilau, Ateca