Pio Iowane Wong is a Fijian politician of Fijian and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

descent. He served in the Cabinet from 2004 to 2006 as Minister for Local Government,

Housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether i ...

, Squatter Settlement, and

the Environment The natural environment or natural world encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses t ...

. In the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

held in September 2001, Wong, a former

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

officer with the rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

, won the Serua Navosa Open Constituency for the

Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua The United Fiji Party ( fj, Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua, SDL) was a political party in Fiji. It was founded in 2001 by Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase as a power base; it absorbed most of the Christian Democratic Alliance and other conse ...

(SDL), defeating Adi Kuini Speed, who had held the seat for many years. (Wong had previously contested the seat, unsuccessfully, as an independent candidate in the

parliamentary election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

of 1999). He was appointed Minister for Local Government, Housing, Squatter Settlement, and Environment in 2004. The SDL did not nominate Wong for another Parliamentary term. He stood as independent candidate in the 2006 general election and was defeated.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Fijian people of Chinese descent People educated at Marist Brothers High School, Fiji I-Taukei Fijian members of the House of Representatives (Fiji) Fijian soldiers Government ministers of Fiji Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua politicians Fijian people of I-Taukei Fijian descent Ethnic minority members of the House of Representatives (Fiji) Politicians from Nadroga-Navosa Province {{fiji-politician-stub