THE late Jackson Mar was a remarkable citizen of Fiji, contributing in so many ways and arenas to making Fiji a better place, while inspiring others.
While Jackson had no formal academic qualifications, he understood more real accounting principles and applications than many accountants with degrees. He understood more economics and the need for fairness and justice than did many economists with degrees. He knew more legal principles and did more original legal research than many practitioners of law.
This was not just idle theoretical knowledge. Jackson put all this knowledge into practice in the five decades he worked so successfully in the major banking and tourism companies all over the Pacific.
He also put that knowledge passionately into just causes like that of the 2012 Pensioners (including him and others in the core group) who were robbed by the Voreqe Bainimarama-Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum Government in 2012.
Jackson was a devout Catholic and worked assiduously in social issues like Catholic education, inspiring other fellow Catholics.
He was not just a case of “all work and no play”: he played bowls and served in social clubs which recognised his contribution with life memberships.
Friends have little doubt that one of the quiet pillars of Jackson’s life and family was his wife of 60 years, Shirley (nee Richmond) a well-known person in the community.
Jackson was not just the 2012 Pensioners’ bati (or Warrior) but a true son of Fiji in every sense of the word.
The world is a poorer place with the passing of this diligent man of great integrity, but his life shall not be in vain.
Another kai-Tooraki
I was surprised to find out in the last few days that Jackson had been born in Toorak (like me) and lived in Spring Street just around the corner from Lionel Yee’s home in Amy Street (where I also lived in my childhood).
This Toorak was not the elite suburb of the same name in Melbourne but the poorer streets of Suva that comprised, the block around Suna Cama’s café, stretching up to Marks Park the CWM Hospital, Brown Street, down Amy Street to Dudley School and up to Bangasau and the housing estates, and down to Marist Primary and Suva Street.
Jackson went to Marist St Columbas and Marist Brothers’ High School, as also did Lionel Yee, Vijay Naidu, Daniel Fatiaki and Wadan Narsey.
Jackson did not come from a wealthy family, but new migrants from China and he struggled to build himself up in the world through his own efforts without the benefit of government scholarships that he would have readily received had he been born ten years later.
A family man
Probably a key moment in Jackson’s life was when in 1965 he married Shirley Richmond who was secretary to the General Manager of Bank of Baroda (Lautoka branch) where Jackson also once worked.
The young Jackson was no social slouch: Shirley Richmond was a former Miss Sugar in 1963.
According to one very senior corporate person who knew Jackson and his family well, they were an ideal couple, well respected in society and friendly to all. Shirley was also a social worker. They were active members at Mt Saint Mary’s Church at Martintar Nadi.
Jackson was a multi-faceted man who recently made a great submission to the Education Commission calling on Government to respect the right of religious schools to teach religion and the right to hire and fire employees.
He also recently made a sensible submission to the Commission for the Reform of the Electoral Laws and Electoral system.
Jackson and Shirley nurtured their children to be good citizens and educated them enough to be able to hold responsible positions in businesses in Fiji and globally.
Just a glimpse of some of the numerous children, grandchildren of Jackson and Shirley as in the photo, indicates clearly the incredible multi-racial character of their family mataqali – Chinese, Indian, iTaukei, Part European, Samoan, and many more. A mataqali who Jackson loved to cook for even in the last few months we knew him.
The family reared by Jackson and Shirley Mar is a glorious symbol of the new Fiji, worlds away from the racist diatribes of who is “Fijian” and who is “vulagi”. There are many such Fiji families all over the world, as I can also vouch seeing the Indian, Chinese and European heritages of my several grandchildren.
A sterling working career
While Jackson did not have the opportunity to go overseas to university, that may have been a blessing in disguise. Instead he attended a whole host of short practical courses in management and financial analysis which he clearly absorbed.
Jackson started work as a humble ledger and bills clerk at the Bank of New South Wales (now Westpac). He then moved to a series of jobs with Bank of Baroda, South Pacific Hostings Ltd., and Pan American Airways.
He eventually found his niche in the tourism industry as a Group Accountant with Fiji Resorts Ltd (Shangri-La Hotels) who were owners and operators of The Fijian Resort and Fiji Mocambo Hotel.
Jackson then spent long periods of time working for various well-known tourism enterprises who I list here to indicate he was not a “flash in the pan”: The Regent Fiji Resort (1976 to 1982); The Regent Fiji (1982 to 1996).
In this period he clearly developed his spreadsheet skills in accounting, which he applied to the 2012 Pensioners’ Case.
Jackson then worked for a year and half as a lecturer at the Pacific International Hotel Management School in New Plymouth (NZ). He taught not just financial management skills, but also practical hotel management.
Jackson then went back into the tourism industry as a Manager at the Rarotongan Beach Resort in Cook Islands. Then back to Fiji at Mokusiga Island Resort (in receivership); then Denerau Villas Limited from 2004 to 2006.
He finally worked for Richmond Ltd (owners of Sofitel Fiji Resort Denerau from 2007 to 2010 when he retired.
Jackson’s sterling working career ought to be a lesson for all school leavers in Fiji, that there are no limits to a dedicated hardworking person, even without university degrees.
A tourism icon
Looking at Jackson’s fantastic record in the tourism industry it is clear what a profound role has been played by managers such as Jackson, without whom the Fiji tourism industry would not have grown and become the largest export earning industry that it is today.
The Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association might want to consider an annual award in Jackson Mar’s name.
But more to the point, anyone looking at Jackson’s record of working for different employers for long periods of time must wonder not just at Jackson’s passion and willingness to periodically move location with his family, but also the willingness of such prominent employers to hire him at the highest levels.
One clue may be seen in the following guide which Jackson Mar had on at the top of his Resume: “To act with honesty, integrity, diligence and loyalty to create value and achieve corporate vision, goals and business plans through good governance, appropriate organization structures, policies and risk management.”
I thank Chris Mar for sending me Jackson’s Resume.
When Jackson retired after a long and honest career paying his taxes and contributing to the Fiji National Provident Fund, he along with thousands of others, accepted the pension option offered by FNPF.
Then Jackson’s life was turned upside down by others with no integrity who also committed treason against the State and got away with it.
The Bainimarama Military Government in 2011, with the collusion of the FNPF Board and senior FNPF management, brutally broke the 2012 Pensioners’ contracts, including that of Jakson, by unilaterally reducing their pensions.
The robbery of the 2012 FNPF
Pensioners
To understand why Jackson went into mountains of financial analysis and research into legal issues,
it is important to understand what the FNPF robbery entailed: essentially the Bainimarama Government unilaterally reduced the monthly amounts that the FNPF had signed up to with the 2012 Pensioners on their 9NOP Forms at retirement.
Lawyer Dr Shaista Shameem (current Vice Chancellor of University of Fiji) took on pro bono the case of pensioner the late David Burness.
I was First Witness for Dr Shameem and wrote up the economic case for the late Burness, while I was in Kagoshima University on my sabbatical.
I also wrote numerous articles which were initially published in The Fiji Times, and then on the Blogs when censorship was imposed on Fiji. Jackson Mar was also an expert witness for Dr Shameem in the Burness case as was former FNPF Manager Lionel Yee, through a sworn Affidavit.
Sadly, while the case was being heard in the High Court, the Bainimarama Regime implemented a Decree to stop the case from being heard and then imposed another Decree throwing the case out of court, thereby denying the 2012 Pensioners their basic human right to go to court.
I kept on writing against the Bainimarama Government. In 2012 the Bainimarama Government blackmailed the USP Management into demanding that I resign. I lost valuable professorial income for ten years, which my contemporaries quietly enjoyed.
But a decade of my continued writings on the FNPF are all in a section on FNPF issues in my Volume 2 of Community Education book A Fair Go For All Fiji which can be downloaded for free from my personal website NarseyOnFiji (https://narseyonfiji.wordpress.com/).
n continue tomorrow
There also exists an incredible humbly written “Letter to the Editor” by Jackson Mar (the file I have is dated 21 June 2011) which is an eight page memorandum, virtually a tour de force analysis of FNPF’s problems at that time, including its investments locally and overseas, its annuity rates, its retirement policies, its Board structure and composition, and much more.
Also on record are two Ross McDonald emails (dated 9 June 2011 and 14 June 2011) to FNPF Board Chairman and the FNPF CEO Aisake Taito, who callously ignored all our voices of reason.
For the 2012 pensioners’ battles, there were three major issues which had built up by the time a new Government came in after the 2022 Elections came around which Jackson Mar addressed.
1. Could the FNPF have continued to pay the 2012 Pensioners at the contracted rates without endangering FNPF?
2. What did the FNPF owe the 2012 Pensioners by 2023 in terms of restoration of pensions and arrears?
3. Did the 2012 Pensioners have legal grounds to challenge what the Bainimarama did unilaterally in breaking our lawful contracts in 2011?
The core group
When the 2012 Pensioners renewed their battles for justice, a “core group” emerged to make submissions to the ministers and the FNPF. Many of them had already been active in opposing the robbery in 2011 and 2012, but Jackson was an active and intrinsic part.
The core group comprised Jackson Mar, Matt Wilson, Ross MacDonald, Professor Wadan Narsey, Professor Vijay Naidu, Dr Esther Williams, and Dewan Chand
The latest co-opted member is Ronnie Chang who the public will know for his frequent fiery letters to the editors of The Fiji Times and Fiji Sun.
The public well know these core group names as they have written numerous articles in the media, sent numerous Letters to the Editor, and made formal submissions to the Prime Minister and other ministers, including a definitive memorandum “The Long Road to Justice” co-ordinated by Matt Wilson (with financial analysis by Jackson and myself), and draft remedial legislation (Daniel Fatiaki and Jackson Mar).
Jackson’s financial skills
When we renewed our battles for justice after the election of the Coalition Government, Jackson and I shared the detailed spreadsheets we had developed of the financial implications of the 2012 Robbery, bringing the data up to 2023.
I found to my amazement that like me, Jackson had gone through every FNPF Annual Report from 1975 right up to 2011. He showed (like me) that had the FNPF properly credited the Pension Buffer Fund (PBF) with interest from the beginning, they would have had far more in the PBF than what they claimed at the time they robbed the 2012 Pensioners with the lies that they could not pay the pensions at the rates that they had agreed upon in the Form 9NOP contracts.
Jackson and I also then brought the 2011 sums up to 2023 fully accounting for the compound interest rate on balances owed to the 2012 Pensioners.
Jackson used his accounting methods, while I used my economic analysis. Our final answers were within 1 per cent of each other, reassuring us that both sets of calculations were fundamentally accurate. The FNPF had no response to make to our calculations or to our Memorandum “The Long Road to Justice”.
Clearly, by halving the pensions in 2011, the FNPF made a massive profit which has compounded over the fourteen years since then, helping the FNPF to credit generous amounts to the members, including the record 8 per cent last year.
In the end, the FNPF Board Chairman (Daksesh Patel), faced with our statistics, could only say to me a year ago that the Board’s hands were tied by the Bainimarama Government’s Decrees 51 and 52.
The FNPF Board and Management also quietly allowed their 2011 Actuary (Rashbrooke) to publicly and mischievously defend the illegal 2011 breaking of contracts, knowing full well that an independent actuary (Tompkins) had warned in 2011 that while the FNPF could reduce future pensions, contract law would prevent the retrospective cutting of already signed pensions.
Jackson’s legal skills
For the core group’s recent submission to the Fiji Government, former chief justice Daniel Fataki with contributions by Jackson and us, expertly analysed Decrees 51 and 52 and gave nine solid legal reasons why these decrees were fundamentally unsound and unlawful.
These included the tragic history of these illegal decrees, their breaking of sacred contracts in law, their undermining of pensioners’ basic human rights to property and access to the courts for justice, the undermining of the courts and the judiciary, and the fact that these illegal decrees had never been approved by any elected parliament which the FijiFirst party controlled from 2014 to 2022. There were more fatal legal flaws pointed out by Justice Fatiaki.
So there is no better person to describe Jackson’s legal acumen and his contribution to the pensioners’ cause than the words of the former chief justice Daniel Fatiaki:
“Although untrained in the law, that was no barrier to Jackson’s dedication and commitment to the pensioner’s cause.
Not content with just pursuing restitution through political means and goodwill, Jackson overcame his unfamiliarity with the law by conducting his own legal research into a possible legal claim against FNPF.
His research identified several grounds for challenging unlawful Decrees including “ultra vires” (beyond powers) legislation; unlawful retrospective(back-dated) laws; and unjust and unconscionable ouster (denial of access to justice) clauses. All these elements are present in the infamous Decrees Nos.51 & 52 of the Bainimarama/Khaiyum Regime.
As someone who has spent a lifetime working in the law, I was impressed with Jackson’s industry and never-say-die attitude.
At his age Jackson was legally self taught. The results of his legal research far exceeds the abilities and skills of many qualified lawyers practising today.
Jackson became so adept at legal writing that he even drafted a Pension Restitution Bill for presentation to Cabinet. This was done in due course.
I find it amazing that that even while Jackson was recovering in bed from his recent surgery, he was still working on more legal research, despite being enormously tired by the surgery.
An email (8 August 2025) from Jackson to his friend Rick Rickman (The Pensioners Website) which Jackson forwarded to me said “Irreversible [irrespective] of whether the constitution is revoked, there are various legal avenues to get a case to court by bypassing ouster laws 173/174 and the ouster law in Decree 51. I have a few papers to [put] before the courts”.
Sadly it was not to be.
The light at the end of the tunnel
In 2024, there appeared a ray of hope for the 2012 Pensioners. In the 2024 budget, the Minister of Finance made provision to restore the pensions of those who had been forced to accept a reduced pension in 2012.
Professor Prasad stated clearly that “the military regime in 2011 unilaterally and illegally reduced the pension rates for many FNPF pensioners and broke the statutory arrangement and trust between the Fund and the pensioners. To deny justice, the Government enacted a law to restrict these pensioners from challenging this unfair treatment in the court of law”.
While this measure was welcomed by all the 2012 Pensioners, it was correctly pointed out by businessman Halabe that the financial responsibility should not be on taxpayers, but on FNPF which had benefited.
Despite this 2024 Government acknowledgement of the 2012 Robbery, there have been no measures to restore the pensions of those who were forced to accept lump sums or partial lump sums, nor the arrears of all groups of wronged pensions.
In a meeting with the (former) attorney-general Everett Leung (September 2024), he acknowledged that a “major injustice” had been done to the 2012 pensioners, but advised that if the pensioners took the matter to court, the litigation would wear them down. He advised that the best option for settling the longstanding dispute was through a political process.
The core group agreed with the former A-G. Unfortunately, Jackson did not agree with this approach and he passionately told us so.
Not on the same wavelength
There is little doubt that Jackson was not always on the same wavelength as his core group colleagues. He did not hide his disappointment with the “softly softly” approach of the core group direction and leadership which he challenged.
While he was totally disgusted with the ministers for their lack of response, he continued to write independently to them and to possible lawyers, of some worry to the core group.
My suspicion is that as a local accountant Jackson may have had unpleasant experiences with white colonial expatriates in the banking and tourism industry in the ’60s and ’70s, similar to what we local USP academics also experienced in the early ’70s. This may have affected Jackson’s strained relationship with some members of the core group.
But Jackson was also absolutely convinced by his legal research that the 2012 Pensioners’ case could be won in court even with the 2013 Constitution (and all its associated decrees) in place.
The core group did not agree with Jackson’s independent approach to lawyers, especially after the former A-G had made known his pessimistic views on the likely outcome of a legal challenge.
The core group had already been bitten because an overseas actuary who had been paid a few thousand dollars at Jackson’s instigation for verifying Jackson’s financial calculations, later changed his rReport for unknown reasons.
The core group was therefore quite wary of going for the legal option, especially when a political solution has always seemed to be around the corner.
Which is the current state of affairs with the Coalition Government waiting for the Supreme Court Opinion due next month on a number of constitutional questions, some directly impacting solutions to the 2012 FNPF Robbery.
Ironically the passing of Jackson may speed up the required Government response. Who knows, the core group may end up going down the legal path that Jackson advocated.
Tributes by the core group
Members of the core group were genuinely shocked and saddened by the sudden passing of Jackson who we all came to know so well over the last two years.
Ross MacDonald (corporate leader) says “I remember Jackson with gratitude, particularly as he was the catalyst to get our committee together, sharing with us his dedicated work over many years that is the foundation of all that we have done.”
Professor Vijay Naidu (Professor of Development Studies at USP) wrote: “Jackson was a person of integrity with a brilliant mind as well as the capacity to explain complex financial and legal matters in simple terms”.
Dr Esther Williams (former DVC at USP) wrote: “Jackson, was a champion of all pensioners, a fighter to the end ever caring, ever brave.”
Matt Wilson (Public Relations Adviser of long standing): “Jackson, you were with the pensioners to the end. Thank you from our hearts for your long selfless service, determination, sacrifice and vision. Go well now, Warrior.”
Ronnie Chang, close family friend of Jackson and Shirley (and the latest co-opted member of the pensioners’ core group) testified “Jackson served Fiji’s tourism industry, and beyond, with pride, honour and distinction spanning fifty two faithful years. For the pensioners’ cause, Jackson burnt numerous hours of midnight oil for all his detailed accounts; statistics; and legalities in law to present “his case”. He fought gallantly till the end.
Libby Reade-Fong noted: Jackson Mar’s personal and professional life was lived in accordance with his Catholic faith in which justice and fairness was the core of belief and action especially for the poor and marginalised, guided by Psalm 11:7, “The Lord is righteous, he loves justice”. I promise that as a devoted Catholic, I will not give up the battle, for the sake of Jackson and for those who have gone before him.”
What more can anyone say?
The ending is not the end
Jackson’s fellow-Catholic and legal colleague in the Core Group, Daniel Fatiaki said:
“Rest well dear colleague and friend and keep a watchful eye on us from your heavenly abode. In the words of the 8th beatitude: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”.
But we can all be sure that that the lives of the 2012 pensioners and their families, may well become better on earth, helped by Jackson’s passionate commitment to justice.
Mar reunion 2009 at Anchorage Resort. Picture: SUPPLIED
On their 50th anniversary – Jackson and Shirley Mar. Picture: SUPPLIED
