Jump to content

Ieremia Tabai

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ieremia Tienang Tabai
GCMG AO
1st President of Kiribati
In office
12 July 1979 – 10 December 1982
Vice PresidentTeatao Teannaki
Preceded byhimself as Chief Minister
Reginald James Wallace (as Governor)
Succeeded byRota Onorio (acting)
In office
18 February 1983 – 4 July 1991
Vice PresidentTeatao Teannaki
Preceded byRota Onorio (acting)
Succeeded byTeatao Teannaki
Personal details
Born (1949-12-16) 16 December 1949 (age 74)
Nonouti, Gilbert and Ellice Islands
(present day Kiribati)
Political partyNational Progressive Party
Boutokaan te Koaua
Kamanoan Kiribati Party
SpouseMeleangi Kalofia
ChildrenThori
ResidenceTarawa Palace Razidans
Alma materVictoria University of Wellington

Ieremia Tienang Tabai GCMG AO (modern spelling: Tabwai; born 16 December 1949) is an I-Kiribati politician who served as the first president of Kiribati, after being the youngest ever chief minister of the Commonwealth of Nations and then becoming the youngest ever head of State. During his presidency, he was described as being the most able leader of the Pacific island states.[1]

Biography[edit]

He was born in Nonouti in 1949, and went to New Zealand to receive his education (St Andrew's College, Christchurch and then the Victoria University of Wellington). He returned to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, married with a woman from Ellice Islands and worked one year as an accountant at the Treasury.[1] One year later, in 1974 general election, he was elected to the House of Assembly of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, representing Nonouti.

In 1976, the Gilbert Islands, now separated from Tuvalu a few months earlier, received self-government, and Tabai served as leader of the Opposition in a Westminster system dominated less by formal political parties than by loose coalitions of like-minded members. In this position, he regularly expressed criticism of the perceived centralist tendencies of Chief minister Naboua Ratieta's government, expressing particular distaste for Ratieta's plans for an expensive defence department and the westernisation he was bringing to Kiribati. He fought in favor of traditional Gilbertese culture, helped to publicise the complaints of village copra growers, and criticized what he saw as a disproportionate amount of government expenditure on Tarawa over the other islands.[2]

Tabai led an active campaign against the Ratieta administration, critical of the its focus on urbanization at the expense of the outer islands and its decision to create a defence force. He attracted support by using broadcastings of parliamentary debates and by visiting many of the outer islands.[3] The primary theme of Tabai's campaign was that the Ratieta administration was out of touch with the needs of the outer islands and their people.[4] After the election, Tabai felt that local issues determined elections more than the national issues that he considered only relevant to South Tarawa.[5]

When the House of Assembly approved a constitutional amendment to establish a popularly elected chief minister, Tabai and three of his allies all ran against Ratieta, preventing Ratieta from qualifying for the four-candidate ballot. Accepting that any of them could be president, Tabai and his ally Roniti Teiwaki agreed not to campaign around the nation as they were already well-known relative to the other two.[4] The election was held on 17 March 1978, and Tabai won with 55.5% of the vote.[6] The central location of his district mitigated North–South polarisation, and he received one third of the Catholic vote despite being a Protestant in a religiously divided country. He was only 29 years old when he took the office.[7]

As chief minister, Tabai was with the Kiribati delegation when independence negotiations began with the United Kingdom.[8] Here he negotiated arrangements for financial support from the United Kingdom to support the country as the resource making up the majority of its economy, phosphate, was depleted.[9]

After Kiribati achieved independence, Tabai considered it essential that his government could inform the people how the government worked and to get them accustomed to democracy.[10] He was faced with the prospect of managing an incredibly poor economy between several distant islands, dependent on a foreign nation for its funding.[11] Financial independence became a core ideal motivating the policies of Tabai's government.[12] It moved toward a subsistence economy, and it cut funding for public services which included the operation of only a basic primary health care system.[13] Tabai opposed the development of a tourism industry, fearing that the small island nation could be overwhelmed by a surge of wealthy tourists.[14] His efforts to promote development and quality of life in the outer islands through the construction of schools and government administration proved unsuccessful.[15]

In 1979 Tabai was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) by Queen Elizabeth II, and became Beretitenti of the Republic of Kiribati at independence on 12 July 1979. He served not only as the last Chief Minister before independence, and he became Beretitenti by force of law — from 1979 until 1982, then from 1983 until 1991, with a short interruption from 1982 until 1983, serving the maximum number of terms allowed by law. He was first elected to the office of Beretitenti in April 1982, but he lost a vote of no confidence in December 1982, so he was then replaced by an acting president until his re-election in February 1983. His third and last term, from 1987 to 1991, has been subject to legal issue, because the Constitution of Kiribati limits to a maximum of 3 terms, but the High Court rejected the case for procedural reasons.

In 1982, he received an honorary knighthood from the Queen - Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG).[2]

Tabai was a member of the National Progressive Party. As Beretitenti, he displayed a strong aversion to being dependent on aid, saying at one point the people were "better poor but free".[1] During his administration, he signed a deal for tuna with fishing authorities from the Soviet Union. The Soviets chose not to renew the deal, saying that the catch they gathered was not worth the licensing fee Tabai demanded.[1] Under his administration, the government also placed its earnings from phosphate mining in a trust fund. The interest from the fund had been used to pay for development projects.[1]

After retiring from politics, Tabai served as Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum from 1992 until 1998.

He received the highest honor of Kiribati, the Kiribati Grand Order, in 1992.[16]

In May 1996 he was appointed an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia, "for service to Australian-Pacific Islands countries relations, particularly as Secretary-General to the South Pacific Forum".[17]

In 1999 he was fined for trying to establish an independent radio station in Kiribati, which he described as "censorship".[18] In 2000, he founded a newspaper, The Kiribati Newstar.[2]

Tabai returned to politics and was re-elected to the Kiribati parliament, again representing Nonouti, in 2007.[19] He retained his seat in the 2011, the 2015-16, and the 2020 elections. He is aligned with the Boutokaan te Koaua party, then Kamanoan Kiribati Party.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Callick, Rowan. "STARVE TREK:Special comic edition". Archived from the original on 26 January 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
  2. ^ a b c "Rulers.org". Retrieved 27 January 2008.
  3. ^ Van Trease 1993, pp. 16–17.
  4. ^ a b Van Trease 1993, p. 18.
  5. ^ Van Trease 1993, p. 17.
  6. ^ Van Trease 1993, pp. 18–19.
  7. ^ Van Trease 1993, pp. 19–20.
  8. ^ Van Trease 1993, p. 20.
  9. ^ Van Trease 1993, p. 21.
  10. ^ Van Trease 1993, pp. 48–49.
  11. ^ Van Trease 1993, pp. 49–50.
  12. ^ Van Trease 1993, p. 50.
  13. ^ Van Trease 1993, pp. 51–52.
  14. ^ Van Trease 1993, p. 51.
  15. ^ Van Trease 1993, p. 52.
  16. ^ "Kiribati" (PDF). Pacific Island History Poster Profiles. Queensland University of Technology. p. 13. Retrieved 28 July 2022 – via QUT ePrints.
  17. ^ It's an Honour
  18. ^ "Pacific Media Watch". Retrieved 27 January 2008.
  19. ^ "Kiribati president returned at general election, likely will form new government", Associated Press (International Herald Tribune), August 23, 2007.

References[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ieremia_Tabai&oldid=1235013670"