On 15 September 2004, a source close to the government told the Australian Associated Press that George Speight, the chief instigator of the 2000 coup, currently serving life-sentence for treason, had had a change of heart towards the Indo-Fijian community following a religious conversion experience in jail, and that he wished to take part in the Fiji Week activities as a gesture of reconciliation.
The Fiji Labour Party of deposed Prime Minister Chaudhry boycotted the observances, claiming that they were a political ploy aimed at defusing the lingering post-coup ethnic tensions without addressing the real problem, that many of those responsible for organizing and funding the coup remain unidentified and at large.
Another critic of the ceremonies was Senator Adi Koila Nailatikau, the daughter of the late President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, who was deposed in the 2000 coup.
Bainimarama strongly criticized Senator Ratu George Cakobau for saying that citizens unhappy with the government-organized apology and reconciliation ceremonies should leave Fiji.
Bainimarama declared that Fiji belonged to all of its citizens, and that no one should feel intimidated by politicians who spit out racist remarks, adding that the Senator would be shocked to find that many of those who refused the apology were ethnic Fijians.
Refusing to be silenced, Bainimarama issued a further statement from Australia on 8 December 2004, condemning the inclusion in the government of persons implicated in the 2000 coup, saying that their presence justified his earlier criticism of the Fiji Week reconciliation ceremonies.