Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara

Who is Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara?

Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara was the dominant figure in Fijian politics for much of the twentieth century. Born into the chiefly family of the Lau Islands and educated at Oxford and in medicine before turning to colonial administration and politics, he became Chief Minister of Fiji in 1967 and led the country to independence from Britain on 10 October 1970 as its first Prime Minister. He held that office almost continuously until 1992, apart from a brief interruption during the 1987 military coups, and later served as President of Fiji from 1993 to 2000. As Tui Lau, paramount chief of the Lau Islands, he carried both traditional and constitutional authority. In his first address to the United Nations General Assembly in October 1970, Mara introduced the concept of "the Pacific Way," describing a regional style of consensus, negotiation, and communal decision-making, a phrase that passed into wide use and became the title of his 1997 memoir. Mara was a founding figure of regional bodies such as the Pacific Islands Forum and remained a central voice in Pacific diplomacy until his death in 2004.

Sources: Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, The Pacific Way: A Memoir (University of Hawaii Press, 1997) · Wikipedia, "Kamisese Mara" · RNZ Pacific, "Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara" profile archive