We are not alone

Gene Catrambone,

Bangkok, Thailand

Regarding your article, ‘We Are Not Alone…’, your argument about safeguarding national land would be valid had the Land Sales Act not been ‘retrospective’ in nature.

Though it is the prerogative of every sovereign government to write its own rules, the Land Sales Act, however, its ‘retrospective’ component makes it, in the tradition of the rule of law, unequivocally illegitimate: A person should never be made to suffer in law (criminal or civil) for an act which was not unlawful when committed or contracted.

Retrospective legislation destroys the certainty of law, is arbitrary and is vindictive, invariably directed against identifiable persons or groups (like us foreign land owners). Such laws undermine many characteristics of the rule of law.

A fair and simple correction to that error would be to amend the Act so as to be truly prospective; simply make purchases following the date the law was enacted in 2014 subject to the law. That is only fair and reasonable, and I am sure you would agree. Without knowing the law, how can one reasonably make an informed decision before making a major investment? We had complied with all existing laws at the time of purchase and trusted that the Fijian Government would honour our purchase agreement. Imagine if you woke up tomorrow morning to find that the property you owned was subject to a new law that forced you to build a home at a cost twice it’s current value, and you were forced to rebuild and incur the added expense or face exorbitant fines and imprisonment! Well, I’m sure you wouldn’t be very happy about it, yet that is exactly what we face. Put the shoe on the other foot and you will understand our case. So, I am requesting that you rewrite your article in support of the repeal of the retrospective component of the Land Act only.

It will resolve the issue and help regain the respect of the foreign community that was lost when the laws enactment.