Sir Rabbie Langanai Namaliu, GCL, CSM, KCMG

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....

 (born 3 April 1947) is a Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

 politician. He served as the fourth Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 1988 to 1992 as leader of the Pangu Party

Pangu Party

The Pangu Party or Papua and Niugini Union Pati is a political party in Papua New Guinea.It was founded in 1968 by Michael Somare, who served as prime minister of Papua New Guinea as the leader of the Pangu Party from 1972 to 1980 and from 1982 to 1985...

. As a former prime minister of Papua New Guinea he is a member of the Imperial Privy Council since 1989 (as in Australia there is no Papua New Guinea Privy Council) and as such styled "The Right Honourable

The Right Honourable

The Right Honourable is an honorific prefix that is traditionally applied to certain people in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Anglophone Caribbean and other Commonwealth Realms, and occasionally elsewhere...

."

Biography

An ethnic Tolai

Tolai

The Tolai are the indigenous people of the Gazelle Peninsula and the Duke of York Islands of East New Britain in the New Guinea Islands region of Papua New Guinea...

, Sir Rabbie comes from East New Britain

East New Britain

East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea, on the north-eastern part of the island of New Britain and it also includes the Duke of York Islands. The capital of the province is Kokopo, not far from the old capital of Rabaul, which was largely destroyed in the 1994 volcanic eruption...

. He was educated in Papua New Guinea and in Canada, at the University of Victoria

University of Victoria

The University of Victoria, often referred to as UVic, is the second oldest public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It is a research intensive university located in Saanich and Oak Bay, about northeast of downtown Victoria. The University's annual enrollment is about 20,000 students...

 in Victoria

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. Prior to his political career he was an academic in the field of political science at the University of Papua New Guinea

University of Papua New Guinea

The University of Papua New Guinea was established by ordinance of the Australian administration in 1965. This followed the Currie Commission which had enquired into higher education in Papua New Guinea...

.

Before becoming prime minister, he served as foreign minister for the first time, from 1982 to 1984, by this time beginning his long alliance with Michael Somare

Michael Somare

Sir Michael Thomas Somare, GCL, GCMG, CH, CF, KStJ, MP was Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 2002 to 2011; he had previously been Prime Minister from independence in 1975 until 1980 and again from 1982 until 1985. Somare's first two terms were as a member of the Pangu Party, but he then...

, who was prime minister at that time and served as foreign minister while Namaliu was prime minister. He was appointed foreign minister in 2002, as part of the National Alliance Party

National Alliance Party (Papua New Guinea)

The National Alliance Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea. It was founded in 1995 by Bernard Narokobi, Moi Avei, Bart Philemon and Masket Iangalio, who invited Sir Michael Somare to lead them to the 1997 elections after he had been sacked as leader of the Pangu Party.National Alliance...

 government of Michael Somare

Michael Somare

Sir Michael Thomas Somare, GCL, GCMG, CH, CF, KStJ, MP was Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 2002 to 2011; he had previously been Prime Minister from independence in 1975 until 1980 and again from 1982 until 1985. Somare's first two terms were as a member of the Pangu Party, but he then...

. He served as foreign minister until 12 July 2006 when he became finance minister during a cabinet reshuffle. Sir Rabbie subsequently lost his seat of Kokopo Open at the 2007 Election

Papua New Guinean general election, 2007

General elections were held in Papua New Guinea from 30 June 2007 to 14 July 2007.For the first time, the election did not use first past the post , but rather Limited Preferential Voting, in which voters number...

, but hasn't ruled out a future return to politics. He lost his cabinet post when the new government, again led by Somare, took office in August 2007.

He is a widower and has two grown sons.