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| Gloria Salii | |
|---|---|
 Salii in 2010 | |
| Bilung of Koror | |
| Reign | 1975 – present |
| Born | 1950or1951(age 73–74) [1] |
| Spouse | Michael Littler |
| Issue | James Lebuu Littler |
Gloria Salii (born 1950 or 1951) is the bilung of Koror which is the female counterpart of ibedul and highest ranking female chief title in Palau. [1] [2]
She became the bilung in 1975. [3] After the death of her older brother High Chief (ibedul) of Koror Yutaka Gibbons, there was a succession dispute between Salii, on behalf of her son James Lebuu Littler, and her brother Alexander Merep. [4]
Her family are of English, Chinese and royal Palauan descent. [1] She is married to Michael Littler, an administrator in the Palauan educational system and their son was born in 1978. [1] She is the brother of the former ibedul of Koror Yutaka Gibbons, Governor of Koror John C. Gibbons and the current ibedul Alexander Merep. [4]
Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific. The republic consists of approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caroline Islands with parts of the Federated States of Micronesia. It has a total area of 466 square kilometers (180 sq mi), making it one of the smallest countries in the world. The most populous island is Koror, home to the country's most populous city of the same name. The capital Ngerulmud is located on the largest island of Babeldaob, in Melekeok State. Palau shares maritime boundaries with international waters to the north, the Federated States of Micronesia to the east, Indonesia to the south, and the Philippines to the northwest.
Palau was initially settled around 1000 BC.
The politics of Palau take place in a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Palau is both head of state and head of government. Palau currently has no political parties and is a de facto non-partisan democracy although there is no law preventing the formation of political parties.
Koror is the state comprising the main commercial centre of the Republic of Palau. It consists of several islands, the most prominent being Koror Island. It is Palau’s most populous state.
Kuniwo Nakamura was a Palauan politician who served as the President of Palau from 1993 to 2001. He had earlier served as Vice President of Palau from 1989 to 1993, under Ngiratkel Etpison.
The Supreme Court of Palau is the highest court of Palau. Article X of the Constitution vests the Supreme Court with judicial power and provides for its operation and jurisdiction. The Supreme Court is divided into a Trial Division and an Appellate Division. Cases are adjudicated by a single justice in the Trial Division and appeals are heard by panels of three different justices in the Appellate Division. The Trial Division of the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over all civil matters over $10,000 and criminal matters not assigned to the Court of Common Pleas and adjudication of land interests. The Supreme Court also handles disciplinary and other special proceedings. The Supreme Court consists of Appellate and Trial Divisions. Chief Justice, Oldiais Ngiraikelau, and Associate Justices John K. Rechucher and Fred M. Isaacs are currently serving in the former division, while Presiding Justice, Kathleen M. Salii and Associate Justice Lourdes F. Materne serve in the latter one. Other judges are invited to sit on an as-needed basis as Associate Justices Pro Tem or Part-Time Associate Justices.
Roman Tmetuchl was a Palauan political leader and businessman. He grew up in Japanese-controlled Palau and joined the Kempeitai, the Japanese secret police, during World War II. After the war, he became the leader of Palau's Liberal Party. He worked in the Congress of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands from 1964 to 1978 and advocated for Palau gaining a separate status from the rest of Micronesia. He became governor of Airai and engaged in three unsuccessful Palauan presidential campaigns. As a businessman, Tmetuchl led several construction projects for his business holdings and for the Palauan community, including the Palau International Airport and a Seventh-Day Adventist clinic.
Chinese have been settling in Palau in small numbers since the 19th century. The early settlers consisted of traders and labourers, and often intermarried with Palauan women. Their offspring quickly assimilated with the local populace and generally identify themselves as Palauan. In recent years, Palau has seen a growing expatriate business community from Taiwan, after Palau established formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1999.
The sport of baseball is widely played in Palau, having been introduced by the Japanese during their occupation of the island nation. The highest level of league play in Palau in represented by Palau Major League (PML), which is overseen by the Belau Baseball Federation. The country is represented in international play by the Palau national baseball team.
Diplomatic relations are maintained between Japan and Palau, a small island country in the western Pacific Ocean that was once a Japanese colony. There is a Japanese embassy on the Palauan island of Koror and a Palauan embassy in Tokyo.
Ulai Trudy Otobed is a Palauan physician. In 1965 she became the first Micronesian woman to qualify as a doctor. Also a table tennis player, she won a gold medal in the sport at the 1963 South Pacific Games and was national champion of Fiji in three categories.
Yositaka "Yosi" Adachi is a Palauan politician. He was the Governor of Koror for 3 consecutive terms from 2006 until 2018 when he stepped down due to the term limits imposed by the constitution of Koror.
Francisco Bares Gibbons is a Palauan politician. In January 2018, he became the youngest Governor of Koror. He previously held the position of Vice Speaker of Koror.
John "Johnny" C. Gibbons was a Palauan politician. He was the Executive Administrator of Koror from 1985–1997 before serving as the first Governor of Koror from 1998–2006. He was the Minister of Justice from 2009–2013.
Yutaka Miller Gibbons was the ibedul of Koror from 1973 until his death in 2021. He was also an anti–nuclear weapons activist and political candidate.
Palau has several traditional chiefs of its 16 states. A factor that resulted in the decline of chiefly authority in Palau was the introduction of elected governors, called upon in the Constitution of Palau which came into effect on 1 January 1981.
The following lists events that happened during 2021 in the Republic of Palau.
The following lists events that happened during 2022 in the Republic of Palau.
Alexander Merep is the High Chief (ibedul) of Koror in the Republic of Palau.
There was a succession dispute following the death of Yutaka Gibbons, the ibedul of the state of Koror, Palau, on November 4, 2021. Gibbons' younger siblings, rechucher-ra-techekii Alexander Merep and bilung Gloria Salii, both initially claimed the title, but Salii would later relent her claim in favour of her son, James Lebuu Littler. Merep was accepted as ibedul by the traditional chiefs of Koror and the Council of Chiefs, although Salii maintains that her son is the ibedul.
The title BILUNG, which she assumed in 1975 and still holds at present,
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