Addressing a special meeting of the Great Council of Chiefs on 28 July, Naivalu said that the Methodist Church supported the bill for the sake of the country's chiefs. He said that reconciliation and forgiveness were an integral part of Fijian culture, and should be upheld. ""We support the Bill as it provides a restorative justice system which has more in common with Pacific cultural practices of dispute settlement, reconciliation and forgiveness,"" he said. He cautioned that retributive justice would not heal the nation's wounds. ""While the retributive justice system and imprisonment may have served the purpose of punishing offenders, it will not lead to healing and reconciliation,"" Naivalu said. While acknowledging that some chiefs had been convicted and imprisoned on coup-related offenses, he insisted that ""they were acting in accordance with their prescribed role according to customary practices.""