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The interim membership of Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs pose for a photo after the reinstatement of the premier indigenous institution on Bau Island. 24 May 2023 Photo: RNZ Pacific / Kelvin Anthony
An exiled Fijian human rights lawyer and former politician says the Great Council of Chiefs must acknowledge its past mistakes to prevent history from repeating itself.
The council is the pinnacle of indigenous affairs but has been accused of being a racist institution because of the positions taken by its membership over Fiji's four coups in 1987, the year 2000 and 2006.
Lawyer and former Fiji Labour Party leader, Aman Ravindra Singh, says the council must reinvent itself as an autonomous body serving all Fijians.
He told RNZ Pacific's Editor Koroi Hawkins he spoke with many chiefs over the 16 years that the council was abolished, about these matters.