Henry Roger Justin Lewis | |
---|---|
20th Attorney General of Fiji | |
In office 1963–1970 | |
Monarch | Elizabeth II |
Governor | Sir Kenneth Maddocks Sir Derek Jakeway Sir Robert Sidney Foster |
Preceded by | Ashley Greenwood |
Succeeded by | John Falvey |
6th Solicitor General of Fiji | |
In office 1956–1963 | |
Monarch | Elizabeth II |
Governor | Sir Ronald Garvey Sir Kenneth Maddocks |
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara (from 20 September 1967) | |
Preceded by | Ashley Greenwood |
Succeeded by | Donal McLoughlin |
Personal details | |
Born | [1] Staffordshire,England [2] | 6 December 1925
Henry Roger Justin Lewis (born 6 December 1925) was a British lawyer who served as Solicitor General of Fiji from 1956 to 1963, [3] and as Attorney General of Fiji from 1963 to 1970. [4]
Lewis participated in the Marlborough House conference chaired by Eirene White in July 1965,to discuss constitutional reforms. The Fijian delegation consisted of six ethnic Fijians (Ratu Sir George Cakobau,Ratu Sir Edward Cakobau,Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau,Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara,Josua Rabukawaqa,and Semesa Sikivou),six Indo-Fijians (Dr. A. D. Patel,Sidiq Koya,James Madhavan,C. A. Shah,Andrew Deoki,and C. P. Singh),and six Europeans (John Falvey,Ronald Kermode,John Moore,John Kearsley,Fred Archibald,and Cyril Aidney) [5] The Governor,Sir Derek Jakeway,and Lewis himself,as Attorney General,were designated separately. They were joined by a nine-member British delegation. [6]
RatuSir Kamisese Mara,was a Fijian politician who served as Chief Minister from 1967 to 1970,when Fiji gained its independence from the United Kingdom,and,apart from one brief interruption in 1987,as the first Prime Minister from 1970 to 1992. He subsequently served as president from 1993 to 2000.
The Alliance Party, was the ruling political party in Fiji from 1966 to 1987. Founded in the early 1960s,its leader was Kamisese Mara,the founding father of the modern Fijian nation. Widely seen as the political vehicle of the traditional Fijian chiefs,the Alliance Party also commanded considerable support among the Europeans and other ethnic minorities,who,although comprising only 3–4% of Fiji's population,were over represented in the parliament. Indo-Fijians were less supportive,but the Fijian-European block vote kept the Alliance Party in power for more than twenty years.
Brigadier-General RatuEpeli Nailatikau,is a Fijian chief who was President of Fiji from 2009 to 2015. He has had a long career in the Military,diplomatic service,and government. From 2001 to 2006 he served as Speaker of the House of Representatives –the lower and more powerful chamber of the Fijian Parliament. He was also the chairman of the Parliamentary Appropriations Committee and of the House Committee. On 8 January 2007,he was appointed the interim Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade;he was moved to the post of interim Minister for Provincial Development and Multi-Ethnic Affairs in September 2008. In October 2008,he became Indigenous Affairs Minister "and effectively Great Council of Chiefs chairman". On 17 April 2009,he was appointed Vice-President by the military government.
The prime minister of Fiji is the head of government of the Republic of Fiji. The prime minister is appointed under the terms of the 2013 Constitution. The prime minister is the head of the Cabinet and appoints and dismisses ministers.
Siddiq Moidin Koya was a Fijian politician,Statesman and Opposition leader. He succeeded to the leadership of the mostly Indo-Fijian National Federation Party (NFP) on the death of the party's founder,A. D. Patel,in October 1969,remaining in this post until 1977. He later served a second term as leader of the NFP,from 1984 to 1987.
RatuSir George Kadavulevu Cakobau was a Fijian statesman and athlete. A great-grandson of Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau,the paramont chief of Bau who had unified all the tribes of Fiji under his reign in the mid-1800s,Ratu Sir George held the traditional titles of Vunivalu of Bau and Tui Levuka and thus was considered by many as Fiji's highest-ranking traditional chief. Ratu Cakobau was appointed Governor-General of Fiji in 1973,becoming the first indigenous Fijian to serve as the viceregal representative of Elizabeth II,Queen of Fiji.
RatuSeru Epenisa Cakobau was a Fijian chief,monarch,and warlord (Vunivalu) who united part of Fiji's warring tribes under his leadership,establishing a united Fijian kingdom. He was born on Natauloa,Nairai Island in Lomaiviti but spent his youth on Vanuaso,Gau,Lomaiviti,later returning to Bau to re-establish his Father's Ratu Tanoa Visawaqa reign. Ratu Epenisa Seru Visawaqa was given the name "Cakobau" meaning destroyer of Bau,in reference to his grandfathers' (Nailatikau) effort to first claim the tile from the people of Butoni and Lovoni,returned with most of his warriors from Vanuaso,Gau,Lomaiviti to coup the leadership in Bau then and later takeover his father's title;known after his father as the 6th "Vunivalu" or Warlord of Bau.
RatuSir Josefa Lalabalavu Vanayaliyali Sukuna was a Fijian chief,scholar,soldier,and statesman. He is regarded as the forerunner of the post-independence leadership of Fiji. He did more than anybody to lay the groundwork for self-government by fostering the development of modern institutions in Fiji,and although he died a dozen years before independence from the United Kingdom was achieved in 1970,his vision set the course that Fiji was to follow in the years to come.
Ratu is an Austronesian title used by male Fijians of chiefly rank. An equivalent title,adi,is used by females of chiefly rank. In the Malay language,the title ratu is also the traditional honorific title to refer to the ruling king or queen in Javanese culture. Thus in Java,a royal palace is called "keraton",constructed from the circumfix ke- -an and Ratu,to describe the residence of the ratu.
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.
Kubuna is one of the three confederacies that make up Fiji's House of Chiefs,to which all of Fiji's chiefs belong.
Sir Vijay Raghubar Singh,KBE was an Indo-Fijian lawyer and politician who held Cabinet office in the 1960s and 1970s. Vijay Singh served in Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara's government in a variety of positions,including Attorney-General,and was president of the Indian Alliance,a division of the ruling Alliance Party. He quit the party in 1979 following disagreement with Alliance leadership and later joined the opposition National Federation Party. Vijay Singh was involved in the restructure of the Fiji sugar industry and was a leading member of the Jaycees movement in Fiji.
Qoriniasi Babitu Bale was a barrister,a solicitor and a politician who served twice as Fiji's Minister for Justice and Attorney-General,most recently from 2001 to 2006,when he was deposed in the military coup of 5 December. Like many of Fiji's most influential leaders,Bale was a native of Levukana Village in Vanua Balavu in the Lau Islands.
Fiji was an independent state from 1970 to 1987,a Commonwealth realm in which the British monarch,Elizabeth II,remained head of state as Queen of Fiji,represented by the Governor-General. The state was the successor of the British Colony of Fiji which was given independence in October 1970 and it survived until the Republic of Fiji was proclaimed on 6 October 1987 after two military coups,at which time Queen Elizabeth II was removed as head of state,albeit,without any consent from the people of Fiji themselves.
RatuEpeli Nailatikau I was a Fijian Paramount Chief,who was posthumously made the Vunivalu of Bau.
Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba III was the 12th Tui Nayau and Sau ni Vanua of the Lau Islands. He was the father of Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara,founding father of the modern nation of Fiji.
Sir John Neil Falvey,KBE,QC was a New Zealand-born Fijian lawyer,who served as Attorney General of Fiji from 1970 to 1977. Previously,he had served as legal adviser to the Fijian Affairs Board.
The majority of Fiji's islands were formed through volcanic activity starting around 150 million years ago. Today,some geothermic activity still occurs on the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni. Fiji was settled first by the Lapita culture,around 1,500–1,000 years BC,followed by a large influx of people with predominantly Melanesian genetics about the time of the beginning of the Common Era. Europeans visited Fiji from the 17th century,and,after a brief period as an independent kingdom,the British established the Colony of Fiji in 1874. Fiji was a Crown colony until 1970,when it gained independence as the Dominion of Fiji. A republic was declared in 1987,following a series of coups d'état.