Nelson Delailomaloma is a Fijian former civil servant, politician, and Cabinet Minister.
Delailomaloma is a former civil servant, who has previously worked as director of youth education [1] and Commissioner of the Eastern Division. [2] In 1985, he was the first director of Fiji's newly-formed Department of Tourism. [3] He later served as permanent secretary for trade and commerce [4] and as director-general of the Fiji National Training Council. [5]
Following the 2000 Fijian coup d'état he was appointed Minister for Education in the interim government of Laisenia Qarase. [6] He held office until an elected government took power in September 2001.
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about 1,100 nautical miles north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about 110 are permanently inhabited—and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The most outlying island group is Ono-i-Lau. About 87% of the total population of 924,610 live on the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in the capital city of Suva, or in smaller urban centres such as Nadi or Lautoka. The interior of Viti Levu is sparsely inhabited because of its terrain.
Mahendra Pal Chaudhry is a Fijian politician and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party. Following a historic election in which he defeated the long-time former leader, Sitiveni Rabuka, the former trade union leader became Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister on 19 May 1999, but exactly one year later, on 19 May 2000 he and most of his Cabinet were taken hostage by coup leader George Speight, in the Fiji coup of 2000. Unable to exercise his duties, he and his ministers were sacked by President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara on 27 May; Mara intended to assume emergency powers himself but was himself deposed by the military leader, Commodore Frank Bainimarama.
Tupeni Lebaivalu Baba was a Fijian academic, politician, and Cabinet Minister. A founding member of the Fiji Labour Party, he served as a Cabinet Minister in the government of Timoci Bavadra until removed from office by the 1987 Fijian coups d'état, and then one of the two Deputy Prime Ministers in the government of Mahendra Chaudhry until removed from office by the 2000 Fijian coup d'état. After splitting with Choudhry in the wake of the coup, he founded the New Labour Unity Party to contest the 2001 election, but failed to win a seat in Parliament. He unsuccessfully attempting to re-enter politics at the 2006 election under the banner of the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua, and again at the 2014 election as part of the Social Democratic Liberal Party.
Josaia Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama is a Fijian former politician and naval officer who served as the prime minister of Fiji from 2007 until 2022. A member of the FijiFirst party, which he founded in 2014, he began his career as an officer in the Fijian navy and commander of the Fijian military. Despite being suspended from Parliament, he served as the opposition leader from 24 December 2022 until 8 March 2023, when he resigned and was replaced by Inia Seruiratu.
Poseci Waqalevu Bune was a Fijian civil servant, diplomat, politician and Cabinet Minister. He served as chair of the Public Service Commissioner, secretary to the Prime Minister, and as Fiji's permanent representative to the United Nations, as well as a Cabinet Minister in the governments of Mahendra Chaudhry and Laisenia Qarase, and in the military regime of Frank Bainimarama. Bune died of prostate cancer on 22 November 2023, at the age of 77.
Kenneth Vincent Zinck is a former Fijian trade unionist, politician and Cabinet Minister, who served as Minister of Labour in the government of Laisenia Qarase from 2001 to 2006. In the aftermath of the 2006 Fijian coup d'état he sought political asylum in Australia.
Jioji Kotobalavu is a former Fijian civil servant who served as chief executive in the Prime Minister's office under five Prime Ministers. He now works as a lecturer at the University of Fiji.
Sakiasi Iliesa Bakewa Butadroka was a Fijian politician noted for his strident ethnic nationalism. Originally elected to the House of Representatives as a member of the ruling Alliance Party in the parliamentary election of 1972, he was expelled from the Alliance for his public attacks against the presence of Persons of Indian origin (Indo-Fijians) in Fiji. He had introduced a parliamentary motion calling for a resolution stating: "That this House agrees that the time has arrived when Indians or people of Indian origin in this country be repatriated back to India and that their travelling expenses back home and compensation for their properties in this country be met by the British Government." The motion was unanimously rejected.
Lieutenant Colonel Jonetani Kaukimoce was a Fijian politician, who served in the House of Representatives from 1992 to 2006. From 1992 to 1999 he stood under the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT) banner. In the parliamentary election of September 2001 he won the Tamavua Laucala Urban Fijian Communal Constituency, for the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua Party (SDL).
Albert Royle Henry was the first Premier of the Cook Islands and the founder and first leader of the Cook Islands Party (CIP). First elected Premier in August 1965, he was unseated in the aftermath of the 1978 election after an electoral petition found he had committed electoral fraud. He was later stripped of his knighthood. In 2023 he was posthumously pardoned.
Richard Naidu is an Indo-Fijian journalist, constitutional lawyer and opponent of the 2006 Fijian coup d'état. He is a former director of Transparency International Fiji.
Satendra Nandan is an Indo-Fijian academic, writer, and former politician. He is one of Fiji's leading writers.
Narsi Raniga is a Fiji Indian who has held senior civil service posts in Fiji and has also been a member of the House of Representatives of Fiji.
Sir Moti Tikaram, KBE, CF was an Indo-Fijian judge, civil servant, and football administrator. He was the first Fijian appointed to be a magistrate, and the first appointed as a judge of the High Court of Fiji. From 1972 to 1987 he was Fiji's first ombudsman. He later served as President of the Fiji Court of Appeal.
The Republic of the Fiji Islands was the first Pacific Island country to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, in 1975. China established an embassy in Fiji in 1976, and Fiji opened its embassy in China in 2001.
RatuManoa Rasigatale is a Fijian historian, journalist, musician, television personality and former politician. He is a former member of the Senate of Fiji and represented Rewa.
The chief justice of Samoa is the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Samoa. The qualifications and powers of the office are governed by Part VI of the Constitution of Samoa and the Judicature Ordinance 1961. The position is currently held by Satiu Simativa Perese.
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.
"Isa Lei" is a traditional Fijian farewell song.
Tufuga Samuelu Atoa OM was a Samoan civil servant, educator, and sports administrator. He was chair of Western Samoa's Public Service Commission and managed Western Samoa's team at the 1996 Summer Olympics.