Yutaka Miller Gibbons (17 January 1944 – 4 November 2021) was the

ibedul Palau has several traditional chiefs of its States of Palau, 16 states. A factor that resulted in the decline of chiefly authority in Palau was the introduction of State governors of Palau, elected governors, called upon in the Constitution of P ...

Koror Koror is the state comprising the main commercial centre of the Republic of Palau. It consists of several islands, the most prominent being Koror Island (also ''Oreor Island''). It is Palau’s most populous state. History In the oral tradition of ...

from 1973 until his death in 2021. He was also an anti–nuclear weapons activist and political candidate.

Early and personal life

Gibbons was born in Palau in 1944. He was of English, Chinese and royal Palauan descent. His younger sister Gloria Salii holds the title of

bilung Bilung () is a township in Biru County, Tibet Autonomous Region of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of c ...

which the female counterpart of ibedul and makes her the highest ranking female chief in Palau. His brother John C. Gibbons was

governor of Koror The governor of Koror is the head of government of Koror in the Republic of Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau c ...

and his other brother Alexander Merep succeeded him as ibedul.

Career

He worked as a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

cook before becoming

paramount chief A paramount chief is the English-language designation for a king or queen or the highest-level political leader in a regional or local polity or country administered politically with a Chiefdom, chief-based system. This term is used occasionally ...

and his sudden departure to become a member of nobility shocked members of his unit at the

Presidio of San Francisco The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former U.S. Army post on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, and is part ...

as well as others he had earlier served with in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. Gibbons recalled his captain shaking his hand and saying "why didn't you tell us who you were?". When he arrived in Palau, he spent 30 days in isolation except for daily sessions with his instructor. He was then inducted as Ibedul in ceremonies that included washing his hands in turtle blood which he stated was for purification. Being Ibedul of Koror gave him authority over a large part of

Babeldaob Babeldaob (also Babelthuap) is the largest island in the island nation of Palau. It is in the western Caroline Islands, and the second largest island (after Guam) in the Micronesia region of Oceania. Palau's capital, Ngerulmud, is located on Babel ...

, the largest island in Palau. He was opposed to the presence of American nuclear weapons in Palau. In 1979, a constitution was approved that prohibited the use, testing, storage or disposal of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in Palau. He won the

Right Livelihood Award The Right Livelihood Award is an international award to "honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob vo ...

in 1983. He ran for

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

in the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

and

1996 Palauan general election General elections were held in Palau in 1996 to elect a president, vice president, Senate and House of Delegates. The first round of the presidential election took place on 24 September, whilst the run-off election and the election for the House o ...

. In 1997, he approved the new flag of Koror. In August 2004, he had to pay $92,754.89 in damages to attorney Mathew Johnson and his wife for assaulting Johnson, though he was later granted a full pardon by President Thomas Remengesau. In December 2016, he sued the Governor of Koror

Yositaka Adachi Yositaka "Yosi" Adachi (born ) is a Palauan politician. He was the Governor of Koror for 3 consecutive terms from 2006 until 2018 when he stepped down due to the term limits imposed by the constitution of Koror. Career In December 2016, Minister ...

for allegedly prohibiting him and the Koror House of Traditional Leaders from performing their roles and functions by eliminating Gibbons' designated parking space at the new Koror State Capital Complex and cutting off the phone and the internet of the traditional leaders. He died in a Taiwanese hospital on November 4, 2021 at the age of 77. Following his death there was an

ibedul succession dispute There was a Order of succession, succession dispute following the death of Yutaka Gibbons, the ibedul of the state of Koror, Palau, on November 4, 2021. Gibbons' younger siblings, rechucher-ra-techekii Alexander Merep and bilung Gloria Salii, both ...

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbons, Yutaka 1944 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Palauan politicians 20th-century United States Army personnel Ibeduls of Koror People from Koror Palauan anti–nuclear weapons activists Palauan chefs Palauan politicians of Chinese descent