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Ieremia Tabai

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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.

The workers union Botaki ni Karikirakean Aroia Taan Makuri led a strike in 1980. It turned violent, and hundreds of workers lost their jobs.[16] One assemblyman, Bwebwentaratai Benson, passed a motion condemning how Tabai's government handled the strike. This motion was interpreted as a motion of no confidence in Tabai's government, but it failed with 11 votes in favour of the motion and 22 votes against it.[17] The 1982 parliamentary election in March and April became a competition between Tabai's government and the unionists. Of Tabai's nineteen allies in parliament, seven lost their re-election campaigns.[17]

The 1982 presidential election took place on 4 May.[17] Tabai's allies in the National Assembly gained enough support from independent members to put Tabai and former Vice-President Teatao Teannaki on the ballot, while the unionists aligned with Ratieta's allies to nominate him along with unionist Etera Teangana. Taibai's broad popularity among voters made him a clear favourite to win, and he was re-elected with 48.7% of the vote. His ally Teannaki received 28.5%, further indicating popular support for Tabai's government.[18]

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's government introduced a bill in December to correct a salary discrepancy for six statutory officers, but the opposition challenged it as a means to attack Tabai politically. Tabai responded by tying it to confidence in his government and putting it to a new vote. Tabai's slim majority failed him, and the bill was defeated with 15 voting in support and 20 voting in opposition, meaning that new elections were triggered.[19]

The 1983 parliamentary election was held on 12 and 19 January 1983, and it brought Tabai a net increase of two supporters in the National Assembly. Tabai and Teannaki were again nominated for the ballot in the subsequent presidential election, this time with Harry Tong and Tewareka Tentoa.[20] Tabai disliked the political conflict, and it is rumoured that he considered not running until he was talked out of it.[21] He won re-election with 49.6% of the vote.[20] Roniti Teiwaki criticised Tabai for only appointing allies to his new cabinet instead of working with the opposition.[21]

Tabai was a member of the National Progressive Party 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. 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.[22]

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".[23]

In 1999 he was fined for trying to establish an independent radio station in Kiribati, which he described as "censorship".[24] 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.[25] 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 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. ^ Van Trease 1993, pp. 52–54.
  17. ^ a b c Van Trease 1993, p. 54.
  18. ^ Van Trease 1993, p. 55.
  19. ^ Van Trease 1993, p. 56.
  20. ^ a b Van Trease 1993, p. 57.
  21. ^ a b Van Trease 1993, p. 59.
  22. ^ "Kiribati" (PDF). Pacific Island History Poster Profiles. Queensland University of Technology. p. 13. Retrieved 28 July 2022 – via QUT ePrints.
  23. ^ It's an Honour
  24. ^ "Pacific Media Watch". Retrieved 27 January 2008.
  25. ^ "Kiribati president returned at general election, likely will form new government", Associated Press (International Herald Tribune), August 23, 2007.

References[edit]

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