Ieremia Tienang Tabai (modern spelling: Tabwai; born 16 December 1949) is an I-Kiribati politician who served as the first Beretitenti President of the Republic of Kiribati, after being the youngest ever Chief minister of the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the C ...

and then becoming the youngest ever head of State. During his presidency, he was described as being the most able leader of the Pacific island states.

Biography

He was born in

Nonouti Nonouti is an atoll and district of Kiribati. The atoll is located in the Southern Gilbert Islands, 38 km north of Tabiteuea, and 250 km south of Tarawa. The atoll is the third largest in the Gilbert Islands and is the island where the ...

in 1949, and went to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

to receive his education ( St Andrew's College, Christchurch and then the

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well kn ...

). He returned to the

Gilbert and Ellice Islands The Gilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean were part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. They were a protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a colony until 1 January 1976. The history of the colony w ...

, married with a woman from Ellice Islands and worked one year as an accountant at the Treasury. One year later, in 1974 general election, he was elected to the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony adm ...

of the

, representing

. In 1976, the

Gilbert Islands The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this n ...

, now separated from

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northea ...

a few months earlier, received self-government, and Tabai served as

leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

in a Westminster system dominated less by formal political parties than by loose coalitions of like-minded members. In this position, he regularly expressed criticism of the perceived centralist tendencies of Chief minister

Naboua Ratieta Naboua T. Ratieta (26 April 1938 – 12 June 1986) was an I- Kiribati politician who became the first Chief Minister of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in 1974. The Ellice Islands separated from the colony the following year, and he remained Ch ...

's government, expressing particular distaste for Ratieta's plans for an expensive defence department and the westernisation he was bringing to Kiribati. He fought in favor of traditional Gilbertese culture, helped to publicise the complaints of village

copra Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from co ...

growers, and criticized what he saw as a disproportionate amount of government expenditure on

Tarawa Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

Tabai became elected Chief Minister in March 1978, aged only 27, the youngest ever in the

. He demonstrated a talent for negotiation when he led his government in discussions with the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

over a financial settlement regarding the demands of the Banabans for compensation for the loss of their ancestral homeland of

Banaba BanabaThe correct spelling and etymology in Gilbertese should be ''Bwanaba'' but the Constitution of Kiribati writes Banaba. Because of the spelling in English or French, the name was very often written Paanapa or Paanopa, as it was in 1901 Ac ...

(Ocean Island), which had been devastated by

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

, and their demands that it become independent of Kiribati. In 1979 Tabai was made a Companion of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

(CMG) by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

, and became Beretitenti of the Republic of Kiribati at independence on 12 July 1979. He served not only as the last Chief Minister before independence, and he became Beretitenti by force of law — from 1979 until 1982, then from 1983 until 1991, with a short interruption from 1982 until 1983, serving the maximum number of terms allowed by law. He was first elected to the office of Beretitenti in April 1982, but he lost a vote of no confidence in December 1982, so he was then replaced by an acting president until his re-election in February 1983. His third and last term, from 1987 to 1991, has been subject to legal issue, because the

Constitution of Kiribati The Constitution of Kiribati is the supreme law of Kiribati, which was implemented in 1979. The constitution was subsequently amended in the years 1995, 2016, and 2018. The constitution established the principles of the Bill of Rights and the prot ...

limits to a maximum of 3 terms, but the High Court rejected the case for procedural reasons. In 1982, he received an

honorary knighthood In the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories, personal bravery, achievement, or service are rewarded with honours. The honours system consists of three types of award: *Honours are used to recognise merit in terms of achievement a ...

from the Queen - Knight Grand Cross of the

(GCMG). Tabai was a member of the National Progressive Party. As Beretitenti, he displayed a strong aversion to being dependent on aid, saying at one point the people were "better poor but free". During his administration, he signed a deal for

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max length: ...

with fishing authorities from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. The Soviets chose not to renew the deal, saying that the catch they gathered was not worth the licensing fee Tabai demanded. Under his administration, the government also placed its earnings from phosphate mining in a trust fund. The interest from the fund had been used to pay for development projects. After retiring from politics, Tabai served as Secretary-General of the

Pacific Islands Forum The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) is an inter-governmental organization that aims to enhance cooperation between countries and territories of Oceania, including formation of a trade bloc and regional peacekeeping operations. It was founded in 197 ...

from 1992 until 1998. He received the highest honor of Kiribati, the Kiribati Grand Order, in 1992. In May 1996 he was appointed an Honorary Officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...

, "for service to Australian-Pacific Islands countries relations, particularly as Secretary-General to the South Pacific Forum". In 1999 he was fined for trying to establish an independent

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

in Kiribati, which he described as "censorship". In 2000, he founded a newspaper, ''The Kiribati Newstar''. Tabai returned to politics and was re-elected to the Kiribati parliament, again representing Nonouti, in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

."Kiribati president returned at general election, likely will form new government"
Associated Press (''International Herald Tribune''), August 23, 2007. He retained his seat in the

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

, the 2015-16, and the 2020 elections. He is aligned with the Boutokaan te Koaua party, then Kamanoan Kiribati Party.

References

RNZ interview 2011: ''Sir Ieremia Tabai - Berititente'' [sic]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tabai, Ieremia 1949 births Living people People from Nonouti Presidents of Kiribati Members of the House of Assembly (Kiribati) Secretaries General of the Pacific Islands Forum National Progressive Party (Kiribati) politicians Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Honorary Officers of the Order of Australia People educated at St Andrew's College, Christchurch Victoria University of Wellington alumni