Kamisese Mara
Encyclopedia
Ratu
Sir Kamisese Mara, CF, GCMG
, KBE (May 6, 1920 – April 18, 2004) is considered the founding father
of the modern nation of Fiji
. He was Chief Minister
from 1967 to 1970, when Fiji gained its independence from the United Kingdom
, and, apart from one brief interruption in 1987, the first Prime Minister
from 1970 to 1992. He subsequently served as President from 1993 to 2000.
, the son of Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba
, head of the chiefly Vuanirewa
clan, and his first wife Lusiana Qolikoro, who was related to Tonga
n royalty and was also descended from an English
missionary. Mara's title, Ratu, which means "Chief," was hereditary; as the hereditary Paramount Chief of the Lau Islands, he held the titles of Tui Lau
, and Tui Nayau kei Sau ni Vanua ko Lau
. He succeeded to the Tui Nayau title in 1969, following the death of his father in 1966; he was later installed as Tui Lau, inheriting the title left vacant by his cousin¹ Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna
, who had died in 1958.
Mara was educated first at Sacred Heart College, Auckland
then attended Knox College
, Otago University
in New Zealand
, where he studied medicine (1942 to 1945). He never finished his medical course, because his great-uncle and mentor, Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna (who was then regarded as Fiji's paramount chief), seeking to groom him for future leadership of the nation, arranged for him to study history at Wadham College
, Oxford University
in the United Kingdom. Mara was distressed to abandon his medical studies, but, dependent on Ratu Sukuna for financial support, followed his orders without question, and graduated with an M.A.
in 1949. In 1961, he returned to the United Kingdom to pursue postgraduate study at the London School of Economics
for a Diploma in Economics and Social Administration, which he was awarded in 1962. In 1973, his old alma mater, Otago University, awarded him an honorary doctorate of laws (LL.D).
Following his graduation from Oxford University, Mara returned to Fiji and married Ro Litia Cakobau Lalabalavu Katoafutoga Tuisawau, better known asRo Lady Lala Mara, on September 9, 1950. Her title, Ro
, is also hereditary and is held by Rewan chiefs; like her husband, Lala Mara was a chief in her own right, as the Roko Tui Dreketi
(Paramount Chief) of Burebasaga
and Rewa. The marriage was initially opposed by Mara's family, as Adi Lala was from a rival dynasty with which the Mara clan had a history of strained relations. The marriage proved to be a happy one, however, and in stark contrast to the prevalence of divorce among many of Mara's relatives, it lasted for more than 53 years. They had three sons and five daughters, two of whom have pursued political careers of their own. Their eldest son, Ratu Finau Mara, was a Cabinet Minister
and parliamentary
leader of the Fijian Association Party
from 1996 to 1998, when he resigned to take up a diplomatic posting. Their second daughter, Adi Koila Mara Nailatikau, has also followed in her father's footsteps and has served her country as a career diplomat and politician. She was Minister for Transport and Tourism in 1999 and 2000, and served in the Fijian Senate
from 2001 to 2006.
). In 1959, Mara was appointed to the Executive Council
, and in 1963 was given responsibility as Leader of Government Business and Member for Natural Resources (officially an advisor to the Governor, but in reality roughly equivalent to a modern cabinet minister
). In 1964, he was received into the Great Council of Chiefs
, which at that time was empowered to appoint two members to the Legislative Council
. In 1966, he founded the Alliance Party, which, supported overwhelmingly by the ethnic Fijian and European communities (but not by most Indo-Fijians), won a majority of the seats in the 1966 election
. In preparation for independence, the United Kingdom introduced the Westminster (Cabinet) system
of government to Fiji in October 1967. The Executive Council was transformed into a modern Cabinet, and its members, who had hitherto been answerable only to the colonial Governor, were made fully responsible to the legislature. Mara was named to the new position of Chief Minister.
One problem that threatened to delay independence was the failure of ethnic Fijians
and Indo-Fijians to agree on a post-independence Constitution
. Ethnic Fijians, including Mara, wanted a communal franchise, with parliamentary seats reserved for the different ethnic groups, who would vote on separate electoral rolls. It was believed that this would protect indigenous Fijian rights. Mara also considered that it was in Fiji's interests to avoid direct competition between political candidates from different ethnic groups, fearing that it would lead to social and political upheaval. Most Indo-Fijians rejected this proposal, believing that it would prevent them from obtaining a legislative majority, even though they numbered more than half of the population, and demanded that all Parliamentary seats should be elected by universal suffrage from a common voters' roll. In April, 1970, Mara and Sidiq Koya
, leader of the mainly Indo-Fijian National Federation Party
, met in London
and negotiated a compromise. Fijians and Indo-Fijians would be represented equally in the House of Representatives, with 22 seats each; a further 8 seats would be set aside for Europeans and other minorities. About half of the representatives from each ethnic group would be elected only by members of their particular race, while the other half would be elected by universal suffrage. Following this agreement, Fiji became independent on 10 October, 1970.
of 1972. Internal divisions within the ethnic Fijian electorate led to the narrow defeat of his Alliance Party by the Indo-Fijian dominated National Federation Party (NFP) in the election of March 1977
. He tendered his resignation as Prime Minister, but the NFP splintered three days later in a leadership dispute, and a constitutional crisis
developed. The official representative of Queen Elizabeth
, Governor-General Ratu Sir George Cakobau
, ended up calling on Mara to form a new government. Although unquestionably constitutional, the Governor-General's actions were controversial. Many Indo-Fijians were outraged at what they saw as a deliberate cynical move on his part to keep the government of Ratu Mara, his fellow-chief (and distant cousin) in power at all costs. A subsequent election
to resolve the impasse in September that year, however, appeared to vindicate Cakobau, when the Alliance Party won a record 36 seats out of 52.
The Alliance Party's majority was reduced in the 1982 election
, but with 28 of the 52 seats, Mara retained power. Despite the loss of eight seats, the popular vote for the Alliance Party rose to 51.8% - an all-time record. Part of the reason for this paradox lay in the distribution of the vote: the gains in the popular vote occurred mostly because of a swing of almost 10% in the 11 "communal" seats reserved for, and elected exclusively by, Indo-Fijians, but 24% of the Indo-Fijian vote was insufficient to translate into parliamentary seats, and therefore did not effectively offset small but very significant losses in ethnic Fijian "communal" seats. It was therefore a bittersweet election for Mara.
Convinced of the need to include Indo-Fijians in the government, he proposed a "government of national unity" - a grand coalition with the National Federation Party. The NFP, however, rejected the offer and remained in opposition. In the election of 1987
, Mara was finally defeated by a multiracial coalition led by Dr Timoci Bavadra. His retirement was to be short-lived, however. Two military coups
led by Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka seriously undermined the social and economic stability, and the international prestige, of Fiji. Mara was recalled to head an interim administration, with a view to restoring Fiji's international reputation and rebuilding the country's shattered economy. In 1992, he handed over power to an elected government.
That crisis came on May 19, 2000, with the Fiji coup of 2000
. Gunmen led by George Speight
forced their way into Parliament
and kidnapped the Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry
, several Cabinet ministers, and a number of parliamentarians. Speight declared himself Prime Minister, and ordered Mara to step aside as president. Mara refused to negotiate with the plotters, and decided instead to dismiss the kidnapped government and assume emergency powers himself. His move backfired, however. In what politicians called "a coup within a coup," Ratu Mara was whisked away on the naval ship Kiro on May 28, where he was allegedly approached by a group of present and former military and police officers and ordered to suspend the Constitution. When he refused, ("If the Constitution goes, I go," he defiantly declared) the group, including the army commander, Commodore
Frank Bainimarama
, former Prime Minister and 1987 Coup Leader Sitiveni Rabuka, former military commander Ratu Epeli Ganilau
(a son-in-law of Mara's), and a former Police Commissioner Isikia Savua
, are alleged to have asked for, and possibly forced, Mara's resignation. He was subsequently taken to his home island of Lakeba
in the Lau Islands. For the 80 year-old President, who was seen as the father of the country and had led it, in one capacity or another, for more than 40 years, it was an anticlimactic end.
The military regime that took over appointed Ratu Josefa Iloilo, who had been Mara's Vice-President, to succeed him on 13 July 2000. After the coup had been quashed, the Supreme Court ruled on 15 November that year that Mara's replacement was unconstitutional and ordered his reinstatement, but Mara, wishing to spare the country further constitutional trauma, officially resigned, with his resignation retroactive to May 29, 2000.
On April 29, 2001, Mara publicly accused the police chief, Colonel Isikia Savua and former Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, of instigating the coup. In what was to be his last public interview, Mara claimed that George Speight - who was then in custody and has since been convicted of treason - was only a front, Mara told Close-Up on Fiji Television
that he confronted Savua and Rabuka two days after the coup about their possible involvement. "I could see it in their faces," said Mara, emphatically rejecting their denials.
Mara told the programme that within half an hour of Speight's forcible occupation of the Parliament, Rabuka had telephoned Government House (the official residence of the President) to offer to form a government.
Mara said that he was shocked to learn that the Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit
of the Army had been involved in the coup. He alleged that they took George Speight to Parliament, and that their senior officers supplied them with weapons, blankets, and food. Mara also declared that the Counter Revolutionary Warfare officers who joined Speight's coup had trained on a farm owned by Rabuka. Excerpts of this interview were broadcast on 29 April 2001; the full interview was not broadcast until 29 April 2004 - while his body was lying in state in preparation for his funeral.
Whether Mara's resignation was in fact forced has been the subject of a police investigation since May 21, 2003, when the Police Investigations Department confirmed that they had opened an investigation into the events surrounding his departure from office. Mahendra Chaudhry, the deposed Prime Minister, has publicly supported Mara's version of events, and has further alleged that Mara was blackmailed with a threat to kill his daughter, Tourism Minister Adi Koila Nailatikau, who was one of the hostages. Commodore Bainimarama has defended his role in the incident saying it was "necessary" at the time, and that Mara's resignation was, in fact, voluntary and that he had refused offers of reinstatement. Mara's daughter, Adi Ateca Ganilau (wife of Ratu Epeli Ganilau) appeared to support Bainimarama's claims in a statement on 10 January 2005, saying that her father had resigned and had refused to return because he was upset by the abrogation of the Constitution. "He did not agree with the abrogation of the Constitution. That was probably why he refused to return to office. It was not that the military pressured him to move out," Ganilau said. She called for a thorough investigation into the abrogation of the Constitution, and for those who were legal advisers at the time to be answerable for their actions.
Police have said they have faced "many challenges" in their investigation, finding many officers uncooperative. On 30 April 2004, the Fijian police said they were closely examining the recording of Mara's last interview, in an attempt to uncover new leads. Police spokesman Mesake Koroi declared that there was a lot of hearsay and rumours in circulation that would not stand up in a court of law. "Unfortunately we are hitting a brick wall in our investigations at the moment," Koroi said. On 2 May 2005, however, Commodore Bainimarama agreed to make a statement to the police about his own role in Mara's resignation. Police Commissioner
Andrew Hughes
said that no charges could be brought against Commodore Bainimarama unless it could be proved that he had actually forced the President to resign. On 5 January 2006, Hughes said that Mara's departure from the Presidency was one of seven major cases the police were still working on.
production. Between 1970 and 1987, the sugarcane crop more than doubled, from under 250,000 metric tons to 502,000. The sugar industry continues to be the mainstay of Fiji's economy, and more than 90 % of Fiji's sugar is exported. Mara's government led the way in negotiating special preferential marketing agreements with nations importing Fijian sugar, through the Lome Convention
.
industry. Today, pine plantations, virtually nonexistent 40 years ago, cover close to 480 square kilometres throughout the Fiji Islands, and there is an ongoing programme to further expand area in all parts of the country. Fiji now derives more than $40 to 50 million a year in foreign exchange earnings from its forestry sector. Of this total, more than half is from pinewood chips exports. This industry now provides a substantial and increasing source of income to those in rural areas, including especially the indigenous Fijian landowners.
, both associations of Pacific nations, of which Fiji was a founder member.
Yet another significant Mara achievement was his contribution to the negotiations that led to the signing of a new United Nations International Law of the Sea Convention in 1982.
On the global stage, Mara was known for his strongly pro-American views. He supported visits to Fijian ports by nuclear-armed United States warships and submarines. He was a close ally of U.S. President
Ronald Reagan
. Mara was also known for his support for Taiwan
. Although he did not officially recognize the Republic of China
, he never hid the fact that his true sympathies lay there, and the Taipei
regime, in gratitude, helped to finance the publication of his memoirs.
Over the years, Mara received many honours from around the world. In addition to his knighthood (a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
(KBE), awarded in 1969), his honours from Queen Elizabeth II included the Meritorious Service Decoration, the Officer of the British Empire (1961), Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (1983), Chancellor of the Order of Fiji, Companion of the Order of Fiji, and Knight Grand Cross of the Pian Order with Star (1995). He was also a member of the Privy Council
in London beginning in 1973. Recognitions from other governments included being made a Grand Master of the Order of the National Lion in Dakar
, Senegal
in 1975, and the Order of Diplomatic Service Merit of South Korea
in 1978. He was also a Knight of the Most Venerable Order of St John of Jesuralem
, and became Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific
at Suva, which was founded with the support of his government. In 2000, Island Business Magazine named him Pacific Man of the Century, in recognition of his pivotal role in the founding of the South Pacific Forum.
apartheid system. Mara defended his role in the post-coup era of 1987 to 1992, arguing that he was doing the best he could in circumstances that he could not fully control, and that it had seemed better at the time to connive in the writing of a discriminatory constitution than to risk civil war at the hands of ethnic Fijian extremists. In 1996, he publicly apologized to the Indo-Fijian community for his role in the drafting of the 1990 Constitution. Mahendra Chaudhry, the leader of the Indo-Fijian community who in 1999 became Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister, said that he did not agree with, but understood, Mara's reasons for acting as he did, and accepted his apology for having done so. Other opponents, both Indo-Fijian and ethnic Fijian, were less forgiving, however.
Sitiveni Rabuka, who led the 1987 coup, surprised many in 1999 when he claimed in an autobiography that he had carried out the coups at Mara's behest. Mara retaliated by suing him for defamation. Mahendra Chaudhry said that he did not believe that Mara had been involved.
Not all of Mara's critics were Indo-Fijian. George Speight, a commoner (i.e., one of non-chiefly ancestry) who led the 2000 putsch accused Mara of selling the country out to Indo-Fijians, and of working to keep power in the hands of a coalition of Fijian chiefs and Indo-Fijian businessmen, at the expense of Fijian commoners.
to choose the President of the Republic, as well as 14 of the 32 members of the Senate; at the time of his death, he was the longest-serving member of the Council. He remained Chairman of the Lau Provincial Council, a position he had held concurrently with his national offices for many years.
Mara suffered a stroke
late in 2001 while visiting Port Vila
, Vanuatu
, with two of his longtime friends, businessmen Hari Punja
and Joe Ruggiero. He died in Suva on 18 April 2004, from complications arising from the stroke. His state funeral, led by Roman Catholic
Archbishop
Petero Mataca
, which was spread out over three days (28 to 30 April) saw an estimated 200,000 people - almost a quarter of Fiji's total population - line the streets to pay their last respects to the man they regarded as the father of the nation, in an outpouring of public grief not seen since the death of Mara's presidential predecessor, Penaia Ganilau, over a decade earlier.
, who had been his official secretary, claimed that it was the "height of hyprocisy" to have the armed forces, still commanded by the same officers who had unceremoniously deposed Mara from the presidency four years earlier, honouring him at his funeral now.
A one-year period of mourning for the late Chief ended on 13 May 2005, with the close of a series of ceremonies that started on the 9th. Those who had been observing mourning rituals symbolically changed from black clothes into their normal attire. (Members of the Mara family, however, said that they would continue to wear black for a further three months, until the period of mourning for his wife, Adi Lala, is over). Many thousands of people arrived in Tubou Village on the island of Lakeba to take part in the vakataraisulu ritual, which lifted taboos in place for the Mara family and the people of the Lau Islands. Mara's son, Ratu Finau Mara, who is widely expected to be named his successor as Tui Nayau, or Paramount Chief of the Lau Islands, was expected to participate in the vakataraisulu at the request of elders from Tubou and Levuka
, but for undisclosed reasons, remained in Suva. In 2004, he had attended his father's state funeral in Suva but not his private funeral in Lakeba. His younger brother, Roko Tevita Uluilakeba, was believed to be out of the country.
Addressing the Lau Provincial Council in Ratu Mara's honour, Fiji's current Vice-President, Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi
praised him as a man of vision and compassion, who hated lies and lived by the truth. He praised him as a committed Christian who practiced what he preached, and who did not differentiate between people but treated all men alike whatever their race or religion. Madraiwiwi called on Lauans today to follow Mara's example.
Another controversy was reported by the Fiji Times
on 8 January 2006. His family was displeased, his daughter |Adi Ateca Ganilau told the Times, that the same government that was working to release from prison persons convicted of offences related to the coup which deposed him, was also promoting an independent biography to be written by Australia
n academic Derrick Scarr, formerly of the Australian National University
. This was contradictory, she said. "On one hand they want to praise him but on the other they are working to free those people who ousted him through the Reconciliation Bill
," she said, referring to controversial legislation introduced by the Fijian government in 2005, aimed at establishing a Commission empowered to propose amnesty for coup-convicts. She reiterated her previously stated opposition to the release of coup-perpetrators, saying that he father would not have stood for it if he were alive.
Jioji Kotobalavu, the Chief Executive Officer of the Prime Minister's Department, rejected the criticism, saying that the government was not financing the book and that its involvement was limited to ensuring that Scarr had access to information sources. He considered that cooperation in the writing of the biography would be a fitting tribute to Ratu Mara, whom he called a great man. The Mara family should discuss any reservations with Scarr himself, Kotobalavu said.
matches for Fiji against Otago
and Canterbury
in Fiji's 1953/54 tour of New Zealand
. After scoring 44 runs against Canterbury he broke his arm, curtailing both his tour, in which he served as vice-captain, and first-class career.
In his two first-class matches Mara scored 64 runs at a batting average
of 21.33, with a high score of 44. A right-arm fast-medium
bowler, with the ball he took 8 wickets at a bowling average
of 17.12, with best figures of 4/77.
Mara also played 8 non first-class matches for Fiji from 1954 to 1956, with his final match for Fiji coming against the West Indies in Fiji's famous 28 run win over them, a match in which he captained
Fiji to victory.
, rugby
, golf
, athletics, and fishing. Mara is cousins with one of Fiji's famous cricketer's, I.L. Bula. He was a member of the Achilles Club
in London, the Defence Club in Suva, and the United Oxford and Cambridge Universities Club in the United Kingdom. Mara's character was described as a combination of the forthright and the diplomatic, the inflexible and the dexterous, the imperious and the tolerant . He was known as a strong, imposing personality, but with an ability to forgive his opponents. A convert to Catholicism, Mara wrote of his faith: "Certainly it has been the rock on which I have been able to rely in good times and in bad, and it is the lodestone of my life." He wrote an autobiography, The Pacific Way: A Memoir. Mara was survived by his wife, Adi Lala (who herself died on July 20 the same year), and by two sons and five daughters; one son predeceased him.
Ratu
Ratu is a title used by Fijians of chiefly rank. An equivalent title, Adi is used by females of chiefly rank.-Etymology:Ra is a prefix in many titles and Tu is simply "chief"...
Sir Kamisese Mara, CF, GCMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
, KBE (May 6, 1920 – April 18, 2004) is considered the founding father
Father of the Nation
Father of the Nation is an honorific title given to a man considered the driving force behind the establishment of their country, state or nation...
of the modern nation of Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
. He was Chief Minister
Chief Minister (Fiji)
Fiji's British colonial rulers established the office of Chief Minister in October 1967, along with the Cabinet system of government. This was part of an ongoing move to forge modern political institutions to prepare Fiji for independence, which was granted on 10 November 1970.The Chief Minister,...
from 1967 to 1970, when Fiji gained its independence from the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and, apart from one brief interruption in 1987, the first Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Fiji
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji is the head of government of Fiji. The Prime Minister was appointed by the President under the terms of the now-suspended 1997 constitution....
from 1970 to 1992. He subsequently served as President from 1993 to 2000.
Early life and education: 1920 to 1950
Ratu Sir Kamisese Kapaiwai Tuimacilai Uluilakeba Mara was born on 6 May 1920, in Vanuabalavu in the archipelago of LauLau Islands
The Lau Islands of Fiji are situated in the southern Pacific Ocean, just east of the Koro Sea. Of this chain of about one hundred islands and islets, about thirty are inhabited...
, the son of Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba
Tevita Uluilakeba III
Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba III was the 12th Tui Nayau and Sau Ni Vanua of the Lau Islands. He was also the father of the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, founding father of the modern nation of Fiji....
, head of the chiefly Vuanirewa
Vuanirewa
The Vuanirewa is the ruling tribe of the Lau Islands, a scattered group of more than a hundred islands and reefs along the eastern edge of Fiji.- Origins :...
clan, and his first wife Lusiana Qolikoro, who was related to Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
n royalty and was also descended from an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
missionary. Mara's title, Ratu, which means "Chief," was hereditary; as the hereditary Paramount Chief of the Lau Islands, he held the titles of Tui Lau
Tui Lau
Tui Lau is a Fijian chiefly title of recent history which was created during the time of Ma'afu and his conquests after Ma'afu was disclaimed as a Tongan Prince by his cousin King George Tupou I. Since the Vuanirewa consider Ma'afu as their own they therefore installed him as the 1st Tui Lau...
, and Tui Nayau kei Sau ni Vanua ko Lau
Tui Nayau
Tui Nayau is the title held by the Paramount Chief of the Lau Islands in Fiji and is synonymous with the title holders over lordship of these islands. When translated Tui Nayau means Lord of Nayau, an island north of Lakeba, the latter accepted by many to be the chiefly island in the Lauan...
. He succeeded to the Tui Nayau title in 1969, following the death of his father in 1966; he was later installed as Tui Lau, inheriting the title left vacant by his cousin¹ Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna
Lala Sukuna
Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, KCMG, KBE was a Fijian chief, scholar, soldier, and statesman. He is regarded as the forerunner of the post-independence leadership of Fiji...
, who had died in 1958.
Mara was educated first at Sacred Heart College, Auckland
Sacred Heart College, Auckland
Sacred Heart College is a secondary school in Auckland, New Zealand. It is a Catholic, Marist College set on of land overlooking the Tamaki Estuary in Glen Innes.- History :The college was opened in 1903 in Ponsonby, by the Marist Brothers...
then attended Knox College
Knox College, Otago
Knox College is a privately run residential college affiliated to the University of Otago in New Zealand, providing accommodation for primarily first and second year students, with a smaller number of postgraduates. The college is set in an landscaped site in Opoho on the opposite side of the...
, Otago University
University of Otago
The University of Otago in Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest university with over 22,000 students enrolled during 2010.The university has New Zealand's highest average research quality and in New Zealand is second only to the University of Auckland in the number of A rated academic researchers it...
in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, where he studied medicine (1942 to 1945). He never finished his medical course, because his great-uncle and mentor, Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna (who was then regarded as Fiji's paramount chief), seeking to groom him for future leadership of the nation, arranged for him to study history at Wadham College
Wadham College, Oxford
Wadham College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, located at the southern end of Parks Road in central Oxford. It was founded by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham, wealthy Somerset landowners, during the reign of King James I...
, Oxford University
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in the United Kingdom. Mara was distressed to abandon his medical studies, but, dependent on Ratu Sukuna for financial support, followed his orders without question, and graduated with an M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in 1949. In 1961, he returned to the United Kingdom to pursue postgraduate study at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
for a Diploma in Economics and Social Administration, which he was awarded in 1962. In 1973, his old alma mater, Otago University, awarded him an honorary doctorate of laws (LL.D).
Following his graduation from Oxford University, Mara returned to Fiji and married Ro Litia Cakobau Lalabalavu Katoafutoga Tuisawau, better known asRo Lady Lala Mara, on September 9, 1950. Her title, Ro
Ro (title)
Ro is a title used by Fijian chiefs in the Province of Rewa, as well as parts of Naitasiri, Namosi, and Serua. Both males and females are so styled; in other areas of Fiji, male chiefs are titled Ratu and female chiefs, Adi....
, is also hereditary and is held by Rewan chiefs; like her husband, Lala Mara was a chief in her own right, as the Roko Tui Dreketi
Roko Tui Dreketi
The Roko Tui Dreketi is the Paramount Chief of Fiji's Rewa Province and of the Burebasaga Confederacy, to which Rewa belongs.-Details on the title:...
(Paramount Chief) of Burebasaga
Burebasaga Confederacy
Burebasaga is the largest of the three confederacies that make up Fiji's House of Chiefs, to which all Fijian chiefs belong.-Composition of Burebasaga:...
and Rewa. The marriage was initially opposed by Mara's family, as Adi Lala was from a rival dynasty with which the Mara clan had a history of strained relations. The marriage proved to be a happy one, however, and in stark contrast to the prevalence of divorce among many of Mara's relatives, it lasted for more than 53 years. They had three sons and five daughters, two of whom have pursued political careers of their own. Their eldest son, Ratu Finau Mara, was a Cabinet Minister
Cabinet (Fiji)
Fiji has the Westminster system - executive authority is vested nominally in a President, but exercised in practice by a Cabinet of Ministers, presided over by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is formally appointed, but not chosen, by the President: the President must appoint as Prime...
and parliamentary
House of Representatives (Fiji)
The House of Representatives is the lower chamber of Fiji's Parliament. It is the more powerful of the two chambers; it alone has the power to initiate legislation...
leader of the Fijian Association Party
Fijian Association Party
The Fijian Association Party is a former political party in Fiji. It played a significant role in Fijian politics throughout the 1990s, but lost all of its seats in the House of Representatives in the parliamentary election of 2001....
from 1996 to 1998, when he resigned to take up a diplomatic posting. Their second daughter, Adi Koila Mara Nailatikau, has also followed in her father's footsteps and has served her country as a career diplomat and politician. She was Minister for Transport and Tourism in 1999 and 2000, and served in the Fijian Senate
Senate (Fiji)
The Senate of Fiji is the upper chamber of Parliament. It is the less powerful of the two chambers; it may not initiate legislation, but may amend or veto it. The Senate's powers over financial bills are more restricted: it may veto them in their entirety, but may not amend them...
from 2001 to 2006.
The making of a statesman: 1950 to 1970
After serving (from 1950) as an Administrative Officer in the Colonial Services, Mara was nominated to one of five seats on the Legislative Council reserved for ethnic Fijians in 1953. (There were ten other seats, five reserved for Indians and five for Europeans and other minorities; a further sixteen members were appointed by the colonial GovernorGovernor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
). In 1959, Mara was appointed to the Executive Council
Executive Council (Fiji)
The colonial Governors of Fiji relied on the Executive Council for advice on proposals for legislation which, after being discussed in the Executive Council meetings, came before the Legislative Council in the form of bills. In this way, the Executive Council was the chief policy-making body and...
, and in 1963 was given responsibility as Leader of Government Business and Member for Natural Resources (officially an advisor to the Governor, but in reality roughly equivalent to a modern cabinet minister
Minister (government)
A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....
). In 1964, he was received into the Great Council of Chiefs
Great Council of Chiefs (Fiji)
The Great Council of Chiefs is a now dormant 1997 constitutional body in the Republic of the Fiji Islands. In April 2007 the council was suspended, due to an unworkable relationship with Frank Bainimarama, leader of an "interim government" which came to power through a military coup in December 2006...
, which at that time was empowered to appoint two members to the Legislative Council
Legislative Council (Fiji)
The Fijian Legislative Council was the colonial precursor to the present-day Parliament, which came into existence when Fiji became independent on 10 October 1970.-The first Legislative Council:...
. In 1966, he founded the Alliance Party, which, supported overwhelmingly by the ethnic Fijian and European communities (but not by most Indo-Fijians), won a majority of the seats in the 1966 election
Fiji election of 1966
The general election to the Legislative Council of Fiji in 1966 was the last to be held before independence from the United Kingdom was granted in 1970. It was not the first election to be held under colonial rule, but it marked the first time that all adult citizens were allowed to vote....
. In preparation for independence, the United Kingdom introduced the Westminster (Cabinet) system
Westminster System
The Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system of government modelled after the politics of the United Kingdom. This term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
of government to Fiji in October 1967. The Executive Council was transformed into a modern Cabinet, and its members, who had hitherto been answerable only to the colonial Governor, were made fully responsible to the legislature. Mara was named to the new position of Chief Minister.
One problem that threatened to delay independence was the failure of ethnic Fijians
Fijian people
Fijian people are the major indigenous people of the Fiji Islands, and live in an area informally called Melanesia. The Fijian people are believed to have arrived in Fiji from western Melanesia approximately 3,500 years ago, though the exact origins of the Fijian people are unknown...
and Indo-Fijians to agree on a post-independence Constitution
Constitution of Fiji
The 1997 Constitution of Fiji was the supreme law of Fiji from its adoption in 1997 until 2009 when President Josefa Iloilo purported to abrogate it. It was also suspended for a period following the 2000 coup d'état led by Commodore Frank Bainimarama....
. Ethnic Fijians, including Mara, wanted a communal franchise, with parliamentary seats reserved for the different ethnic groups, who would vote on separate electoral rolls. It was believed that this would protect indigenous Fijian rights. Mara also considered that it was in Fiji's interests to avoid direct competition between political candidates from different ethnic groups, fearing that it would lead to social and political upheaval. Most Indo-Fijians rejected this proposal, believing that it would prevent them from obtaining a legislative majority, even though they numbered more than half of the population, and demanded that all Parliamentary seats should be elected by universal suffrage from a common voters' roll. In April, 1970, Mara and Sidiq Koya
Sidiq Koya
Siddiq Moidin Koya was a Fijian Indian politician and Opposition leader. He succeeded to the leadership of the mostly Indo-Fijian National Federation Party on the death of the party's founder, A.D. Patel, in October 1969, remaining in this post until 1977...
, leader of the mainly Indo-Fijian National Federation Party
National Federation Party (Fiji)
The National Federation Party is a Fijian political party founded by A.D. Patel in November 1968, as a merger of the Federation Party and the National Democratic Party...
, met in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and negotiated a compromise. Fijians and Indo-Fijians would be represented equally in the House of Representatives, with 22 seats each; a further 8 seats would be set aside for Europeans and other minorities. About half of the representatives from each ethnic group would be elected only by members of their particular race, while the other half would be elected by universal suffrage. Following this agreement, Fiji became independent on 10 October, 1970.
Prime Minister of Fiji: 1970 to 1992
With independence, the office of Chief Minister was renamed Prime Minister, but its functions were substantially unchanged. Mara retained power in the first post-independence electionFiji election of 1972
General elections were held in Fiji between 15 and 29 April 1972, the first since independence from the United Kingdom in 1970. They were characterised by the lack of rancour between racial groups, typical of the 1966 general election and the 1968 by-elections.The result was a landslide for the...
of 1972. Internal divisions within the ethnic Fijian electorate led to the narrow defeat of his Alliance Party by the Indo-Fijian dominated National Federation Party (NFP) in the election of March 1977
Fiji election of 1977 (March)
General elections were held in Fiji between 19 March and 2 April 1977. A split in the ethnic Fijian vote, which saw 25 percent defecting to Fijian Nationalist Party of Sakeasi Butadroka, an extremist organization which advocated the "repatriation" of Indo-Fijians to India, led to the narrow defeat...
. He tendered his resignation as Prime Minister, but the NFP splintered three days later in a leadership dispute, and a constitutional crisis
Fiji constitutional crisis of 1977
Fiji's parliamentary election of March 1977 precipitated a constitutional crisis, which was the first major challenge to the country's democratic institutions since independence in 1970....
developed. The official representative of Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, Governor-General Ratu Sir George Cakobau
George Cakobau
Ratu Sir George Kadavulevu Cakobau, GCMG, GCVO, OBE was Governor General of Fiji from 1973 to 1983. A great-grandson of Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau, the King of Bau who had unified all the tribes of Fiji under his reign in the mid-1800s and subsequently ceded the islands to the United Kingdom in...
, ended up calling on Mara to form a new government. Although unquestionably constitutional, the Governor-General's actions were controversial. Many Indo-Fijians were outraged at what they saw as a deliberate cynical move on his part to keep the government of Ratu Mara, his fellow-chief (and distant cousin) in power at all costs. A subsequent election
Fiji election of 1977 (September)
Early general elections were held in Fiji between 17 and 24 September 1977, following the impasse of an earlier election that had been held in March...
to resolve the impasse in September that year, however, appeared to vindicate Cakobau, when the Alliance Party won a record 36 seats out of 52.
The Alliance Party's majority was reduced in the 1982 election
Fiji election of 1982
General elections were held in Fiji between 10 and 17 July 1982. The paradoxical results were both a triumph and a setback for the Fijian Alliance Party of the Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. The Alliance captured an unprecedented 51.8 percent of the popular vote - the first time that it...
, but with 28 of the 52 seats, Mara retained power. Despite the loss of eight seats, the popular vote for the Alliance Party rose to 51.8% - an all-time record. Part of the reason for this paradox lay in the distribution of the vote: the gains in the popular vote occurred mostly because of a swing of almost 10% in the 11 "communal" seats reserved for, and elected exclusively by, Indo-Fijians, but 24% of the Indo-Fijian vote was insufficient to translate into parliamentary seats, and therefore did not effectively offset small but very significant losses in ethnic Fijian "communal" seats. It was therefore a bittersweet election for Mara.
Convinced of the need to include Indo-Fijians in the government, he proposed a "government of national unity" - a grand coalition with the National Federation Party. The NFP, however, rejected the offer and remained in opposition. In the election of 1987
Fiji election of 1987
General elections were held in Fiji between 4 and 11 April 1987. It was historic in that it marked the first electoral transition of power in Fijian history...
, Mara was finally defeated by a multiracial coalition led by Dr Timoci Bavadra. His retirement was to be short-lived, however. Two military coups
Fiji coups of 1987
The Fiji coups of 1987 resulted in the overthrow of the elected government of Fijian Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra, the deposition of Elizabeth II as Queen of Fiji, and in the declaration of a republic...
led by Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka seriously undermined the social and economic stability, and the international prestige, of Fiji. Mara was recalled to head an interim administration, with a view to restoring Fiji's international reputation and rebuilding the country's shattered economy. In 1992, he handed over power to an elected government.
President of the Republic: 1993 to 2000
Following the military coups of 1987, Fiji had severed its links with the Monarchy and become a republic, with a President and two Vice-Presidents chosen by the Great Council of Chiefs. Following his retirement as Prime Minister, Mara was elected to the Vice-Presidency in June 1992, and became Acting President soon after, when the ailing President Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau was incapacitated. He assumed the office of President officially when Ganilau died on 16 December of the following year. Modelled on the Monarchy, the presidency filled a largely honorary role, but was nevertheless vested with important reserve powers, to be used only in the event of a national crisis.That crisis came on May 19, 2000, with the Fiji coup of 2000
Fiji coup of 2000
The Fiji coup of 2000 was a complicated affair involving a civilian putsch by hardline Fijian nationalists against the elected government of a non-native Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, on 19 May 2000, the attempt by President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara to assert executive authority on 27 May, and...
. Gunmen led by George Speight
George Speight
George Speight , occasionally known as Ilikimi Naitini, was the principal instigator of the Fiji coup of 2000, in which he kidnapped thirty-six government officials and held them from May 19, 2000 to July 13, 2000...
forced their way into Parliament
House of Representatives (Fiji)
The House of Representatives is the lower chamber of Fiji's Parliament. It is the more powerful of the two chambers; it alone has the power to initiate legislation...
and kidnapped the Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry
Mahendra Chaudhry
Mahendra Pal Chaudhry is a Fijian politician and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party...
, several Cabinet ministers, and a number of parliamentarians. Speight declared himself Prime Minister, and ordered Mara to step aside as president. Mara refused to negotiate with the plotters, and decided instead to dismiss the kidnapped government and assume emergency powers himself. His move backfired, however. In what politicians called "a coup within a coup," Ratu Mara was whisked away on the naval ship Kiro on May 28, where he was allegedly approached by a group of present and former military and police officers and ordered to suspend the Constitution. When he refused, ("If the Constitution goes, I go," he defiantly declared) the group, including the army commander, Commodore
Commodore (rank)
Commodore is a military rank used in many navies that is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. Non-English-speaking nations often use the rank of flotilla admiral or counter admiral as an equivalent .It is often regarded as a one-star rank with a NATO code of OF-6, but is not always...
Frank Bainimarama
Frank Bainimarama
Commodore Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, CF, MSD, OStJ, Fijian Navy, known commonly as Frank Bainimarama and sometimes by the chiefly title Ratu , is a Fijian naval officer and politician. He is the Commander of the Fijian Military Forces and, as of April 2009, Prime Minister...
, former Prime Minister and 1987 Coup Leader Sitiveni Rabuka, former military commander Ratu Epeli Ganilau
Epeli Ganilau
Brigadier-General Ratu Epeli Ganilau, MC, MSD, is a Fijian soldier and statesman, who currently heads the National Alliance Party of Fiji. His career has previously encompassed such roles as Commander of the Fiji Military Forces and Chairman of the Bose Levu Vakaturaga...
(a son-in-law of Mara's), and a former Police Commissioner Isikia Savua
Isikia Savua
Isikia Rabici Savua was a senior Fijian diplomat, who had a distinguished career in the Military and police forces before taking up his last post as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations on 4 March 2003.- Career :Savua spent 18 years in the Fijian army, which he joined on...
, are alleged to have asked for, and possibly forced, Mara's resignation. He was subsequently taken to his home island of Lakeba
Lakeba
Lakeba is an island in Fiji's Southern Lau Archipelago; the provincial capital of Lau is located here. The island is the tenth largest in Fiji, with a land area of nearly 60 square kilometers. It is fertile and well watered, and encircled by a 29-kilometer road. Its closest neighbors are Aiwa...
in the Lau Islands. For the 80 year-old President, who was seen as the father of the country and had led it, in one capacity or another, for more than 40 years, it was an anticlimactic end.
The military regime that took over appointed Ratu Josefa Iloilo, who had been Mara's Vice-President, to succeed him on 13 July 2000. After the coup had been quashed, the Supreme Court ruled on 15 November that year that Mara's replacement was unconstitutional and ordered his reinstatement, but Mara, wishing to spare the country further constitutional trauma, officially resigned, with his resignation retroactive to May 29, 2000.
On April 29, 2001, Mara publicly accused the police chief, Colonel Isikia Savua and former Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, of instigating the coup. In what was to be his last public interview, Mara claimed that George Speight - who was then in custody and has since been convicted of treason - was only a front, Mara told Close-Up on Fiji Television
Fiji Television
Fiji Television Limited is Fiji's television network. It was founded on 15 June 1994 as the first permanent television broadcasting network in the country, although television had previously been introduced temporarily in October 1991 to broadcast the Rugby World Cup as well as Cricket World Cup....
that he confronted Savua and Rabuka two days after the coup about their possible involvement. "I could see it in their faces," said Mara, emphatically rejecting their denials.
Mara told the programme that within half an hour of Speight's forcible occupation of the Parliament, Rabuka had telephoned Government House (the official residence of the President) to offer to form a government.
Mara said that he was shocked to learn that the Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit
Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit (Fiji)
The Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit or CRWU was the common name for the First Meridian Squadron, the unit's formal name, which had been disbanded in 2000...
of the Army had been involved in the coup. He alleged that they took George Speight to Parliament, and that their senior officers supplied them with weapons, blankets, and food. Mara also declared that the Counter Revolutionary Warfare officers who joined Speight's coup had trained on a farm owned by Rabuka. Excerpts of this interview were broadcast on 29 April 2001; the full interview was not broadcast until 29 April 2004 - while his body was lying in state in preparation for his funeral.
Whether Mara's resignation was in fact forced has been the subject of a police investigation since May 21, 2003, when the Police Investigations Department confirmed that they had opened an investigation into the events surrounding his departure from office. Mahendra Chaudhry, the deposed Prime Minister, has publicly supported Mara's version of events, and has further alleged that Mara was blackmailed with a threat to kill his daughter, Tourism Minister Adi Koila Nailatikau, who was one of the hostages. Commodore Bainimarama has defended his role in the incident saying it was "necessary" at the time, and that Mara's resignation was, in fact, voluntary and that he had refused offers of reinstatement. Mara's daughter, Adi Ateca Ganilau (wife of Ratu Epeli Ganilau) appeared to support Bainimarama's claims in a statement on 10 January 2005, saying that her father had resigned and had refused to return because he was upset by the abrogation of the Constitution. "He did not agree with the abrogation of the Constitution. That was probably why he refused to return to office. It was not that the military pressured him to move out," Ganilau said. She called for a thorough investigation into the abrogation of the Constitution, and for those who were legal advisers at the time to be answerable for their actions.
Police have said they have faced "many challenges" in their investigation, finding many officers uncooperative. On 30 April 2004, the Fijian police said they were closely examining the recording of Mara's last interview, in an attempt to uncover new leads. Police spokesman Mesake Koroi declared that there was a lot of hearsay and rumours in circulation that would not stand up in a court of law. "Unfortunately we are hitting a brick wall in our investigations at the moment," Koroi said. On 2 May 2005, however, Commodore Bainimarama agreed to make a statement to the police about his own role in Mara's resignation. Police Commissioner
Commissioner of Police (Fiji)
Fiji has a unified national police force, the Fiji Police, whose motto is Salus Populi.The Fijian Commissioner of Police title had been held by Australian police officer Andrew Hughes since 2003 but after the 2006 takeover of the Government the post has been reserved for a local.The Commissioner is...
Andrew Hughes
Andrew Hughes (police)
Andrew 'Andy' Hughes is a senior officer of the Australian Federal Police who, until recently, served as the Chief Police Officer for the Australian Capital Territory . The CPO position is similar to the role of Australian Commissioners of Police, that is, the chief executive of the ACT Policing...
said that no charges could be brought against Commodore Bainimarama unless it could be proved that he had actually forced the President to resign. On 5 January 2006, Hughes said that Mara's departure from the Presidency was one of seven major cases the police were still working on.
Evaluation
Ratu Mara is regarded as modern Fiji's founding father. He not only led the islands to independence from British rule, and served the country for many years thereafter, but accumulated impressive achievements in office. During his tenure as Prime Minister, Fiji's economic growth was extraordinary.Sugarcane industry
Under Mara's leadership, Fiji became a giant in sugarcaneSugarcane
Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...
production. Between 1970 and 1987, the sugarcane crop more than doubled, from under 250,000 metric tons to 502,000. The sugar industry continues to be the mainstay of Fiji's economy, and more than 90 % of Fiji's sugar is exported. Mara's government led the way in negotiating special preferential marketing agreements with nations importing Fijian sugar, through the Lome Convention
Lomé Convention
The Lomé Convention is a trade and aid agreement between the European Community and 71 African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries, first signed in February 1975 in Lomé, Togo.- History :...
.
Pine industry
Mara also founded Fiji's pinePine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
industry. Today, pine plantations, virtually nonexistent 40 years ago, cover close to 480 square kilometres throughout the Fiji Islands, and there is an ongoing programme to further expand area in all parts of the country. Fiji now derives more than $40 to 50 million a year in foreign exchange earnings from its forestry sector. Of this total, more than half is from pinewood chips exports. This industry now provides a substantial and increasing source of income to those in rural areas, including especially the indigenous Fijian landowners.
International achievements and honours
In the 1960s, Mara led a revolt by Pacific Islands delegates that brought about a restructuring of the South Pacific Commission. He also helped to launch the Pacific Islands Producers' Association and the South Pacific ForumPacific Islands Forum
The Pacific Islands Forum is an inter-governmental organization that aims to enhance cooperation between the independent countries of the Pacific Ocean. It was founded in 1971 as the South Pacific Forum...
, both associations of Pacific nations, of which Fiji was a founder member.
Yet another significant Mara achievement was his contribution to the negotiations that led to the signing of a new United Nations International Law of the Sea Convention in 1982.
On the global stage, Mara was known for his strongly pro-American views. He supported visits to Fijian ports by nuclear-armed United States warships and submarines. He was a close ally of U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Mara was also known for his support for Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. Although he did not officially recognize the Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
, he never hid the fact that his true sympathies lay there, and the Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
regime, in gratitude, helped to finance the publication of his memoirs.
Over the years, Mara received many honours from around the world. In addition to his knighthood (a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(KBE), awarded in 1969), his honours from Queen Elizabeth II included the Meritorious Service Decoration, the Officer of the British Empire (1961), Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (1983), Chancellor of the Order of Fiji, Companion of the Order of Fiji, and Knight Grand Cross of the Pian Order with Star (1995). He was also a member of the Privy Council
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
in London beginning in 1973. Recognitions from other governments included being made a Grand Master of the Order of the National Lion in Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
, Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
in 1975, and the Order of Diplomatic Service Merit of South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
in 1978. He was also a Knight of the Most Venerable Order of St John of Jesuralem
Venerable Order of Saint John
The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
, and became Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific
University of the South Pacific
The University of the South Pacific is a public university with a number of locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. It is an international centre for teaching and research on Pacific culture and environment. USP's academic programmes are recognised worldwide, attracting students...
at Suva, which was founded with the support of his government. In 2000, Island Business Magazine named him Pacific Man of the Century, in recognition of his pivotal role in the founding of the South Pacific Forum.
Criticisms
There were criticisms of his leadership, too, some of which he eventually acknowledged. Many Indo-Fijians criticized him for not doing more to thwart the 1987 coups which removed an Indo-Fijian dominated administration from office, and for giving his consent to a new constitution, drafted in 1990, which guaranteed indigenous Fijian supremacy and was widely regarded as racist, even drawing comparisons from some quarters with South Africa'sSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
apartheid system. Mara defended his role in the post-coup era of 1987 to 1992, arguing that he was doing the best he could in circumstances that he could not fully control, and that it had seemed better at the time to connive in the writing of a discriminatory constitution than to risk civil war at the hands of ethnic Fijian extremists. In 1996, he publicly apologized to the Indo-Fijian community for his role in the drafting of the 1990 Constitution. Mahendra Chaudhry, the leader of the Indo-Fijian community who in 1999 became Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister, said that he did not agree with, but understood, Mara's reasons for acting as he did, and accepted his apology for having done so. Other opponents, both Indo-Fijian and ethnic Fijian, were less forgiving, however.
Sitiveni Rabuka, who led the 1987 coup, surprised many in 1999 when he claimed in an autobiography that he had carried out the coups at Mara's behest. Mara retaliated by suing him for defamation. Mahendra Chaudhry said that he did not believe that Mara had been involved.
Not all of Mara's critics were Indo-Fijian. George Speight, a commoner (i.e., one of non-chiefly ancestry) who led the 2000 putsch accused Mara of selling the country out to Indo-Fijians, and of working to keep power in the hands of a coalition of Fijian chiefs and Indo-Fijian businessmen, at the expense of Fijian commoners.
Twilight years
Following his resignation, Mara retired to his native island of Lakeba. He continued to influence politics in Fiji, where democracy was subsequently restored, through his membership of the Great Council of Chiefs, which not only advises the government but also functions as an electoral collegeElectoral college
An electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations or entities, with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way...
to choose the President of the Republic, as well as 14 of the 32 members of the Senate; at the time of his death, he was the longest-serving member of the Council. He remained Chairman of the Lau Provincial Council, a position he had held concurrently with his national offices for many years.
Mara suffered a stroke
Apoplexy
Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding' in a stroke . Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state...
late in 2001 while visiting Port Vila
Port Vila
Port Vila is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. Situated on the south coast of the island of Efate, in Shefa Province, the city population at last was 29,356, an increase of 55% on the previous census result . This suggests a 2007 population of about 40,000 or around 65% of the province's...
, Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
, with two of his longtime friends, businessmen Hari Punja
Hari Punja
Mr. Hari Punja is a businessman and Chairman of Hari Punja Group of Companies. Hari Punja and Sons Limited is a very diversified company in Fiji.-Biography:...
and Joe Ruggiero. He died in Suva on 18 April 2004, from complications arising from the stroke. His state funeral, led by Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
Petero Mataca
Petero Mataca
Petero Mataca is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Suva, Fiji. After his education at St. John's College, Cawaci, he was ordained as a priest on 20 December 1959...
, which was spread out over three days (28 to 30 April) saw an estimated 200,000 people - almost a quarter of Fiji's total population - line the streets to pay their last respects to the man they regarded as the father of the nation, in an outpouring of public grief not seen since the death of Mara's presidential predecessor, Penaia Ganilau, over a decade earlier.
Legacy
Even in death, Ratu Mara stirred controversy. His state funeral was by no means universally popular, even among his close supporters. Claiming to speak for many of those who had been close to the late President, Joseph BrowneJoseph Browne
Joseph Browne is a Fijian civil servant, who was Official Secretary to the late President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, prior to Mara's possibly forced resignation during the insurrection which deposed the constitutional government in 2000...
, who had been his official secretary, claimed that it was the "height of hyprocisy" to have the armed forces, still commanded by the same officers who had unceremoniously deposed Mara from the presidency four years earlier, honouring him at his funeral now.
A one-year period of mourning for the late Chief ended on 13 May 2005, with the close of a series of ceremonies that started on the 9th. Those who had been observing mourning rituals symbolically changed from black clothes into their normal attire. (Members of the Mara family, however, said that they would continue to wear black for a further three months, until the period of mourning for his wife, Adi Lala, is over). Many thousands of people arrived in Tubou Village on the island of Lakeba to take part in the vakataraisulu ritual, which lifted taboos in place for the Mara family and the people of the Lau Islands. Mara's son, Ratu Finau Mara, who is widely expected to be named his successor as Tui Nayau, or Paramount Chief of the Lau Islands, was expected to participate in the vakataraisulu at the request of elders from Tubou and Levuka
Levuka
Levuka is a town on the eastern coast of the Fijian island of Ovalau, in Lomaiviti Province, in the Eastern Division of Fiji. It was formerly the Capital of Fiji. At the census in 2007, the last to date, Levuka town had a population of 1,131 , about half of Ovalau's 8,360 inhabitants...
, but for undisclosed reasons, remained in Suva. In 2004, he had attended his father's state funeral in Suva but not his private funeral in Lakeba. His younger brother, Roko Tevita Uluilakeba, was believed to be out of the country.
Addressing the Lau Provincial Council in Ratu Mara's honour, Fiji's current Vice-President, Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi
Joni Madraiwiwi
Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi is a Fijian lawyer, politician and was the Vice-President of Fiji from 2004 to 2006. He was sworn in on 10 January 2005, following his nomination by President, Ratu Josefa Iloilo and his subsequent approval by the Great Council of Chiefs on 15 December 2004...
praised him as a man of vision and compassion, who hated lies and lived by the truth. He praised him as a committed Christian who practiced what he preached, and who did not differentiate between people but treated all men alike whatever their race or religion. Madraiwiwi called on Lauans today to follow Mara's example.
Another controversy was reported by the Fiji Times
Fiji Times
The Fiji Times is a daily English-language newspaper published in Suva, Fiji. Established in Levuka on 4 September 1869, it is Fiji's oldest newspaper still operating....
on 8 January 2006. His family was displeased, his daughter |Adi Ateca Ganilau told the Times, that the same government that was working to release from prison persons convicted of offences related to the coup which deposed him, was also promoting an independent biography to be written by Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n academic Derrick Scarr, formerly of the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
. This was contradictory, she said. "On one hand they want to praise him but on the other they are working to free those people who ousted him through the Reconciliation Bill
Reconciliation and Unity Commission (Fiji)
The Reconciliation and Unity Commission is a proposed government body to be set up if the Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bill, which was introduced into the Fijian Parliament on 4 May 2005 is passed...
," she said, referring to controversial legislation introduced by the Fijian government in 2005, aimed at establishing a Commission empowered to propose amnesty for coup-convicts. She reiterated her previously stated opposition to the release of coup-perpetrators, saying that he father would not have stood for it if he were alive.
Jioji Kotobalavu, the Chief Executive Officer of the Prime Minister's Department, rejected the criticism, saying that the government was not financing the book and that its involvement was limited to ensuring that Scarr had access to information sources. He considered that cooperation in the writing of the biography would be a fitting tribute to Ratu Mara, whom he called a great man. The Mara family should discuss any reservations with Scarr himself, Kotobalavu said.
Cricket
Mara played two first-classFirst-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
matches for Fiji against Otago
Otago Volts
The Otago Volts are a first class cricket team representing the Otago Cricket Association, one of six major associations that make up New Zealand Cricket....
and Canterbury
Canterbury Wizards
The Canterbury Wizards are a New Zealand first class cricket team based in Canterbury, New Zealand. It is one of six teams that make up New Zealand Cricket and has been the most successful domestic team in New Zealand history...
in Fiji's 1953/54 tour of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. After scoring 44 runs against Canterbury he broke his arm, curtailing both his tour, in which he served as vice-captain, and first-class career.
In his two first-class matches Mara scored 64 runs at a batting average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
of 21.33, with a high score of 44. A right-arm fast-medium
Fast bowling
Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
bowler, with the ball he took 8 wickets at a bowling average
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...
of 17.12, with best figures of 4/77.
Mara also played 8 non first-class matches for Fiji from 1954 to 1956, with his final match for Fiji coming against the West Indies in Fiji's famous 28 run win over them, a match in which he captained
Captain (cricket)
The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player...
Fiji to victory.
Personal life
Mara's interests included cricketCricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, athletics, and fishing. Mara is cousins with one of Fiji's famous cricketer's, I.L. Bula. He was a member of the Achilles Club
Achilles Club
The Achilles Club is a track and field club formed in 1920 by and for past and present representatives of Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Members have won 19 Olympic Gold Medals , and held 38 World Records...
in London, the Defence Club in Suva, and the United Oxford and Cambridge Universities Club in the United Kingdom. Mara's character was described as a combination of the forthright and the diplomatic, the inflexible and the dexterous, the imperious and the tolerant . He was known as a strong, imposing personality, but with an ability to forgive his opponents. A convert to Catholicism, Mara wrote of his faith: "Certainly it has been the rock on which I have been able to rely in good times and in bad, and it is the lodestone of my life." He wrote an autobiography, The Pacific Way: A Memoir. Mara was survived by his wife, Adi Lala (who herself died on July 20 the same year), and by two sons and five daughters; one son predeceased him.
- †From 1967 - 1970, the Prime Minister's title was Chief Minister.
- ‡In Mara's time, the office of Vice-President was held simultaneously by two individuals; Mara's tenure coincided with that of Ratu Sir Josaia TavaiqiaJosaia TavaiqiaRatu Sir Josaia Tavaiqia was a Fijian chief who served as one of two Vice-President of Fiji from 1990 until his death in 1997. ....
(1992 to 1997)
External links
- Island Business magazine names Mara Pacific Islands Man of the Century
- Official death notice, tributes, and announcement of a state funeral (Heraldsun)
- A brief sketch of Ratu Mara's life (Daily Telegraph) (UK)
- Transcript of ABC Radio report of Mara's death
- Partial transcript of Ratu Mara's last interview, with Fiji Television, 29 April 2001
- The end of an era (Islands Business), May 2004
- Details Ratu Mara and his Life.
- Kamisese Mara on CricinfoCricinfoESPNcricinfo is believed to be the largest cricket-related website on the World Wide Web. Content includes news,articles, live scorecards,live text commentary and a comprehensive and searchable database called 'StatsGuru', of historical matches and players from the 18th century to the present...
- Kamisese Mara on CricketArchiveCricketArchiveCricketArchive is a website that aims to provide a comprehensive archive of records relating to the sport of cricket. It claims to be the most comprehensive cricket database on the internet, including scorecards for all matches of first-class cricket , List A cricket , Women's Test cricket and...