James Ah Koy

Sir James Michael Ah Koy, KBE, CF (Chinese: 何志美; born November 30, 1936[1]) is a Fijian businessman, politician, and diplomat.

He is Executive Chairman of Kelton Investments, the IT service provider Datec Group Ltd., Honorary Consul of the Republic of Georgia to Fiji and a board director of forty-six companies.

In 1991–1993, he led a legal challenge to the law requiring all multiracial people to register on the General Electors' roll, which at the time enrolled all Fijian citizens who are neither indigenous nor of Indian or Rotuman ancestry.

He subsequently succeeded getting the law amended to give multiracial people the option of registering on either the General Electors' roll or on an ethnic role (Fijian, Indo-Fijian, or Rotuman) on which any of their ancestors would have been entitled to enroll.

His appointment came about at a time when the members of the Kadavu Provincial Council were desperate for a way to salvage their province's financially troubled shipping company, the Bulou ni Ceva.

"Coups, murders, rapes, violence, brutality, burglaries, incest, rebellion, homosexuality and other forms of social ills and criminality are a product of a generational curse happening mostly in the indigenous Fijian community,".

Speaking on the floor of the Senate on 26 August 2004, he caused an uproar when he declared that Fiji would be "continually cursed" by God for its failure to stand with Israel in United Nations resolutions.

He alleged that sources close to her family had told him she had suffered a fatal heart attack after hearing the distressing news that her son-in-law, Ratu Epeli Ganilau, was to be dismissed (under pressure from the government) as Chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs, "the last straw" after her husband's death three months earlier.

In a Senate debate on 1 March 2004, fellow-Senator Apisai Tora called Ah Koy a "Chinaman," a term generally considered a pejorative.

On 28 June 2005, Ah Koy declared his total opposition to the government's controversial proposal to establish a Reconciliation and Unity Commission, with the power (subject to presidential approval) to compensate victims and pardon perpetrators of the 2000 coup.

In July 2005, the Head of State of Samoa, Malietoa Tanumafili II, honoured Ah Koy with the Papalii chiefly title, in recognition of his contribution to the economy of Pacific Island nations.

Ah Koy, who was described by the Fiji Times as "speechless and lost for words" when he received the award, spoke of the importance of contributing to the economies of other countries, employing local people, and obeying their laws.

On 7 February 2006, Ah Koy announced his intention to contest the upcoming parliamentary election, for his old House of Representatives seat as an independent candidate.