Allan S. M. Marat

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(born 28 September 1954) is a

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He served as Minister for Justice and Attorney General in Prime Minister

Michael Somare Sir Michael Thomas Somare (9 April 1936 – 26 February 2021) was a Papua New Guinean politician. Widely called the "father of the nation" (), he was the first Prime Minister after independence. At the time of his death, Somare was also the lo ...

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

from August 2007 to May 2010. In May 2010, he publicly stated that major mining projects in the country brought little benefit to local communities, workers or businesses. He also "questioned legislation affecting the Ombudsman Commission". Prime Minister Somare consequently asked him to resign immediately, which he did. As a consequence of his resignation, Marat informed the Prime Minister that his

Melanesian Liberal Party The Melanesian Liberal Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea. The party won 2 out of 109 seats in the 2007 General Election. Following the 2007 Election, it initially supported Prime Minister Michael Somare's government, as Party leader ...

would "cut ties" with the government. He was replaced as Attorney General and Justice Minister by Ano Pala. He has also served previously as Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Governor-General. In August 2011,

Peter O'Neill Peter Charles Paire O'Neill (born 13 February 1965) is a Papua New Guinean politician who served as the seventh Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 2011 to 2019. From 2002 until the present he served as Member of Parliament for Ialibu-Pan ...

became Prime Minister in the wake of a parliamentary

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

in the government of Acting Prime Minister

Sam Abal Samuel Tei Abal (born 26 June 1958) is a Papua New Guinean politician. Abal, who previously served as Foreign Minister from August 2007 to December 2010, became the Deputy Prime Minister of the country in a cabinet reshuffle by Michael Somare o ...

(standing in for Somare while the latter was hospitalised for a heart condition). O'Neill appointed Marat as his Minister for Justice, and Attorney General. In November, as the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

prepared to hear a case on the legitimacy of the O'Neill government, Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah ordered the suspension of Chief Justice Sir

Salamo Injia Sir Salamo Injia is a retired Judge and former Chief Justice of Papua New Guinea. Injia was knighted in 2006 and appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea in 2008, succeeding Mari Kapi. In 2018, Sir Gibbs Salika replaced ...

, as Injia was facing charges of "breaching a contempt order, and mismanaging court finances". The government said Injia's removal had nothing to do with the pending case on the government's legitimacy. The Supreme Court responded by ordering Namah's arrest, and that of Allan Marat. He was, for a time, leader of the

People's Progress Party The People's Progress Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea. It was founded on 11 November 1969 by Julius Chan and Warren Dutton, forming a caucus of eleven members of the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea. Following independ ...

, until he was ousted from that position in October 2003. He is now a member of the

. He was the first Papua New Guinean to obtain a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. His thesis was on the "official recognition of customary responses to homicide in Papua New Guinea". Marat was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours for "service to law, the national government and the

East New Britain East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea, consisting of the north-eastern part of the island of New Britain and the Duke of York Islands. The capital of the province is Kokopo, not far from the old capital of Rabaul, which was largely des ...

community".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marat, Allan Living people Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the University of Oxford Members of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea 1954 births Government ministers of Papua New Guinea Deputy Prime Ministers of Papua New Guinea People's Progress Party politicians Melanesian Liberal Party politicians