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Great Council Of Chiefs
The Great Council of Chiefs ''(Bose Levu Vakaturaga'' in Fijian) was a constitutional body in Fiji from 1876 to March 2012. In April 2007, the council was suspended, due to an unworkable relationship with Frank Bainimarama, leader of an "interim government" that came to power through military coup in December 2006. It was formally disestablished by decree in March 2012. It was different from the House of Chiefs, a larger body that includes all hereditary chiefs, although membership of the two bodies overlapped to a considerable extent. The Great Council of Chiefs in its most recent form was established under Section 116 of the now-defunct 1997 Constitution, but it actually predated the Constitution by many years, having been established by the British colonial rulers as an advisory body in 1876, two years after Fiji was ceded to the United Kingdom. Institutional history The Council was established in 1876 under the governorship of Sir Arthur Gordon. The decision was taken fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fijian Language
Fijian (') is an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian family spoken by some 350,000–450,000 ethnic Fijians as a native language. The 2013 Constitution established Fijian as an official language of Fiji, along with English and Fiji Hindi and there is discussion about establishing it as the "national language". Fijian is a VOS language. Standard Fijian is based on the speech of Bau, which is an East Fijian language. A pidginized form is used by many Indo-Fijians and Chinese on the islands, while Pidgin Hindustani is used by many rural ethnic Fijians and Chinese in areas dominated by Indo-Fijians. History Phonology The consonant phonemes of Fijian are as shown in the following table: The consonant written has been described as a prenasalized trill or trilled affricate . However, it is only rarely pronounced with a trilled release; the primary feature distinguishing it from is that it is postalveolar, , rather than dental/alveolar. The sounds and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sitiveni Rabuka
Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka, (; born 13 September 1948) is a Fijian politician who has served as Prime Minister of Fiji since 24 December 2022. He was the instigator of two military coups in 1987. He was democratically elected as Prime Minister of Fiji, serving from 1992 to 1999, and again in 2022 leading a three-party coalition. He also served as Chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs from 1999 to 2001, and later as Chairman of the Cakaudrove Provincial Council from 2001 to 2008. Rabuka was elected as leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party in 2016, succeeding Leader of the Opposition Ro Teimumu Kepa, who publicly disapproved of Rabuka's nomination to replace her. He was appointed as the leader of the Opposition to Parliament in 2018, following the 2018 election defeat. He was the only nomination for the position and his nomination was moved by Ro Teimumu Kepa and seconded by Biman Prasad. He was ousted as SODELPA leader by Viliame Gavoka in a leadership contest. R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ovini Bokini
Ratu Ovini Bokini Ratu (3 November 1944 – 15 January 2009) was a Fijian chief and political leader. Bokini, who held the chiefly title of '' Tui Tavua'', succeeded Ratu Epeli Ganilau as Chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs on 21 July 2004, and was re-elected to this post for a full three-year term on 27 July 2005. A formal gathering of mostly traditional chiefs chosen by the country's 14 provincial councils, along with some appointees of the national government and the Council of Rotuma, the Great Council of Chiefs functioned as an electoral college to select Fiji's President, along with 14 of the 32 members of the Senate. Informally, the Council advised the Fijian government on every aspect of political life. Although not mandated by the Constitution, the chairman's role was therefore a very influential one. During late April 2007, all members of G.C.C were suspended by the Interim Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama. The suspension included the chairman, Ovini Bokini and a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simione Kaitani
Simione Kaitani is a former Fijian politician. He was previously a Cabinet Minister from 2001 to 2006, serving initially as Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation, and later as Information Minister. He resigned these portfolios in favour of Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu on 20 September 2005, but remained in the Cabinet as a Minister without portfolio. Following the general election of 2006, he was appointed Leader of the House, and as such was responsible for the conduct of government business in the House of Representatives. He remained in this position until the military coup that overthrew the government on 5 December 2006. Kaitani was first elected to the House of Representatives as an independent candidate to represent the Lomaiviti Fijian Communal constituency in the general election of 1999, and later joined the Christian Democratic Alliance (VLV). The VLV disintegrated in the political realignment that followed the coup, but Kaitani joined the newly formed Soqosoqo Du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jope Seniloli
''Ratu'' Jope Naucabalavu Seniloli (14 June 1939 – 28 June 2015) was a Fijian chief who held the title of Turaga Taukei Naua and who served as Fiji's vice-president from 25 March 2001 to 29 November 2004, when he was forced to resign following his conviction for treason on 6 August 2004, and the rejection of his appeal early in November. Appointment and subsequent trial Seniloli was appointed vice-president in 2000 as an apparent gesture of appeasement towards the supporters of the 2000 coup which deposed the lawfully elected government of President ''Ratu Sir'' Kamisese Mara and Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry. The 6 August 2004 verdict found Seniloli guilty of unlawfully proclaiming himself President during the coup, and of illegally swearing in cabinet ministers, including George Speight, the chief instigator of the coup, as Prime Minister. Seniloli's lawyer, Mehboob Raza, maintained that he had done so only "under duress," at gunpoint, a defence rejected by High Cour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Local Government In Fiji
Fiji is divided administratively into four divisions, which are further subdivided into fourteen provinces. Each province has a provincial council. Administrative divisions Fiji is divided administratively into four divisions, which are further subdivided into fourteen provinces; the self-governing island of Rotuma and its nearby islets lie outside any of the four divisions. Each division is headed by a ''Commissioner,'' appointed by the Fijian government. The divisions are basically agglomerations of provinces and have few administrative functions of their own, but serve to foster cooperation among the member provinces for providing services. Provinces Provincial council Each province has a ''provincial council'' which may make bylaws and impose rates (local taxes), subject to the approval of the Fijian Affairs Board, a government department. The board must also approve the appointment of the ''Roko Tui'', or executive head of the provincial council, who is usu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cakaudrove Province
Cakaudrove is one of fourteen provinces of Fiji, and one of three based principally on the northern island of Vanua Levu, occupying the south-eastern third of the island and including the nearby islands of Taveuni, Rabi, Kioa, and numerous other islands in the Vanua Levu Group. It has a total land area of 2,816 square kilometers, with a population of 50,469 at the most recent census in 2017, making it the seventh most populous province. The only major town is Savusavu, with a population of 3,372 in 2007. Politics Cakaudrove has proved to be one of Fiji's most influential provinces. Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, Fiji's last Governor-General and first President, held the chiefly title of ''Tui Cakau'', with Cakaudrove as his traditional fiefdom. Former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is also from Cakaudrove. The present ''Tui Cakau,'' Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, is a Cabinet Minister and leader of the Conservative Alliance (CAMV), a nationalist political party with considerable support ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epeli Ganilau
Brigadier-General Ratu Epeli Ganilau, Military Cross, MC, Fijian honours system, MSD, (born 10 October 1951) is a former Fijian military officer and a retired politician. His career previously encompassed such roles as Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, Fiji Military Forces and Chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs, Chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs, ''Bose Levu Vakaturaga'' (Great Council of Chiefs). On 15 January 2007 he was sworn in as Minister for iTaukei Affairs, Minister for Fijian Affairs in the interim Cabinet of Fiji, Cabinet formed in the wake of the 2006 Fijian coup d'état, military coup which deposed the Laisenia Qarase, Qarase government on 5 December 2006. Early life Ganilau was educated at Wanganui Collegiate School, in New Zealand, from 1965. He later graduated from the University of the South Pacific and from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, England, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force Staff College. Military career He enlisted in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soqosoqo Ni Vakavulewa Ni Taukei
The Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT), occasionally known in English as Fijian Political Party, was a party which dominated the politics of Fiji in the 1990s and was the mainstay of coalition governments from 1992 to 1999. Origins The party was founded in 1990 as the political vehicle of the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC), with the declared goal of uniting all indigenous Fijians. A new constitution promulgated in 1990, following two military coups in 1987, abolished the "national" parliamentary seats elected by universal suffrage (which had comprised almost half the House of Representatives); all members henceforth were to be elected by enrolled voters on "communal" electoral rolls that were limited to specific ethnic communities, each of which had an allocated number of seats in the House (37 indigenous Fijians, 27 Indo-Fijians, 1 Rotuman and 5 General Electors (Europeans, Chinese, Banaban Islanders and other minorities). The end to multiracial voting resulted in a trend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chairman Of The Great Council Of Chiefs
The Great Council of Chiefs ''(Bose Levu Vakaturaga'' in Fijian) was a formal assembly of Fiji's senior hereditary chiefs (including Sitiveni Rabuka who led the 1987 Fijian coups d'état), along with some representatives of the national government and provincial councils, who may or may not be hereditary chiefs themselves. It also had a constitutional role in functioning as an electoral college to choose the President of the Republic, as well as 14 of the 32 Senators. Following the adoption of the ministerial system of government in 1967, the Minister for Fijian Affairs (the Cabinet Minister responsible for indigenous cultural and economic development) presided over the Great Council of Chiefs. This arrangement continued until the constitutional changes of 1999, when the Great Council chose its own Chairman for the first time. The Great Council was disestablished in 2012. The following tables list the Fijian Affairs Ministers from 1967 to 1999, and Chairmen of the Great ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2000 Fijian Coup D'état
The Fiji coup d'état of 2000 was a civilian coup d'état by hardline i-Taukei (ethnic Fijian) nationalists against the elected government of an Indo-Fijian Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry on 19 May 2000. This was followed by an attempt on 27 May by President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara to assert executive authority, and then by a military coup on 29 May by Republic of Fiji Military Forces Commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama. The coups resulted in the removal of the elected government and its replacement by an interim regime headed by Josefa Iloilo. In March 2001 the Court of Appeal of Fiji ruled that the coups and interim regime were illegal. An elected government was finally restored by the 2001 Fijian general election. Background The 1999 Fijian general election saw a resounding victory for the People's Coalition, a multiracial grouping of the Fiji Labour Party, Fijian Association Party, National Unity Party and Christian Democratic Alliance. The coalition won 54 of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brij Lal (historian)
Brij Vilash Lal , OF (21 August 1952 – 25 December 2021) was an Indo-Fijian historian who wrote about the Pacific region and the Indian indenture system. A harsh critic of the Bainimarama government, which originated in the military coup of 2006 and retained power in the 2014 elections, he lived in exile in Australia. Early life Lal was born in 1952 in Tabia, Labasa on the northern island of Vanua Levu, Fiji to illiterate parents. His paternal grandfather was a North Indian indentured sugar cane farmer in Fiji, known as a 'girmitya', - the focus of Lal's early academic research. He completed an undergraduate degree in history at the University of the South Pacific. He went on to do an MA (1976) at the University of British Columbia and a PhD (1980) at the Australian National University. Academic career Lal was professor of Pacific and Asian History at the School of Culture, History and Language at Australian National University from 1990 until his retirement in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
