Samisoni Tikoinasau Speight is a 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...

an politician, who held Cabinet

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...

 office as Minister of State for Public Utilities and Reforms, to which he was appointed after parliametary election

Fiji election of 2006

The Constitution of Fiji requires general elections for the House of Representatives to be held at least once every five years. The latest election was held on 6-13 May 2006. Acting President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi issued a proclamation on 2 March, effective from 27 March, dissolving Parliament...

 of May 2006. Previously, he was Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources from 2005 to 2006. Like many 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...

, he rarely uses his surname

Fijian name

Naming conventions in Fiji differ greatly, both between and within ethnic groups in Fiji. Indigenous Fijians have a set of cultural practices which today are more loosely followed, and to some extent blended with elements of European culture with regard to names...

.

Tikoinasau is the son of former Cabinet Minister Sam Speight and the older brother of 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...

, who led a rebellion

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...

 which toppled the Indo-Fijian-led Chaudhry

Mahendra Chaudhry

Mahendra Pal Chaudhry is a Fijian politician and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party...

 government in May 2000.