Ieremia Tabai

Ieremia Tienang Tabai (modern spelling: Tabwai; born 16 December 1949) is an I-Kiribati politician who served as the first president of Kiribati, after being the youngest ever chief minister of the Commonwealth of Nations 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.

Early life
Tabai was born in Nonouti in 1949.

Tabai attended college at St Andrew's College, Christchurch, before going to Victoria University of Wellington where he received a degree in commerce. He returned to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, married with a woman from and worked one year as an accountant at the Treasury. He married a woman from the Ellice Islands.

Beginning his political career, Tabai inherited the politics of Reuben Uatioa. Tabai was elected to represent Nonouti in the House of Assembly during the 1974 general election. He became the leader of the opposition the following year, rising as a strong critic of Naboua Ratieta's government and his proposal to create a defence force. Tabai presented himself as a common man and an advocate for the outer islands. Part of his image was based on his rejection of elitism and protocol. He often rode the bus, and he was known to ride his bicycle to the shops without a shirt or shoes.

The voters saw Ratieta as biased toward northern, Catholic, anti-union demographics, so Tabai's southern, Protestant heritage contrasted him with Ratieta.

Tabai fought in favor of traditional Gilbertese culture, helped to publicise the complaints of village copra growers, and criticized what he saw as a disproportionate amount of government expenditure on Tarawa over the other islands.

Tabai led an active campaign against the Ratieta administration, critical of the its focus on urbanization at the expense of the outer islands and its decision to create a defence force. He attracted support by using broadcastings of parliamentary debates and by visiting many of the outer islands. The primary theme of Tabai's campaign was that the Ratieta administration was out of touch with the needs of the outer islands and their people. After the election, Tabai felt that local issues determined elections more than the national issues that he considered only relevant to South Tarawa.

When the House of Assembly approved a constitutional amendment to establish a popularly elected chief minister, Tabai and three of his allies all ran against Ratieta, preventing Ratieta from qualifying for the four-candidate ballot. Accepting that any of them could be chief minister, Tabai and Roniti Teiwaki agreed not to campaign around the nation as they were already well-known relative to the other two.

The election for chief minister was held on 17 March 1978, and Tabai won with 55.6% of the vote. Like all of the candidates, he received strong support from the district he represented. The more central location of his district mitigated North–South polarisation, and he received one third of the Catholic vote despite being a Protestant in a religiously divided country. He also received the largest share of the union vote. The youngest candidate of the election, Tabai was only 27 years old when he took the office; although elder status was a significant qualifier in Kiribati, voters prioritised his understanding of government. Tabai later said that his university education, a rarity among the Gilbertese people at the time, gave him an electoral advantage.

Chief minister
Tabai carefully balanced his ministry picks when organising his government, ensuring that there was representation for the north, central, and south regions, for both Catholics and Protestants, and for unions. He chose Teiwaki as his Vice-President.

As chief minister, Tabai was responsible for negotiating the independence of Kiribati. He travelled to London and Washington D.C. in June 1978, leading a delegation that included two ministers, two expatriate civil servants, and two advisers from the Commonwealth Secretariat. Here he negotiated arrangements for financial support from the United Kingdom to support the country as the resource making up the majority of its economy, phosphate, was depleted. Also discussed were access to the colonial government's reserve funds, the legal status of Banaba, and American claims in the region.

As negotiations dragged into October and November, Tabai declared that he would not waver in his opposition to an autonomous Banaba, saying that the Gilbert Islands had the "absolute right to proceed to independence with its territorial integrity intact". He argued this point during the constitutional convention at Marlborough House in November and December. Tabai agreed to an international commission in May 1979 in Suva to address the new constitution and the Banaba issue, further delaying independence. Kiribati achieved independence on 12 July 1979, and Tabai's position of chief minister was renamed president of Kiribati.

1979–1982
With an independent nation, Tabai considered it essential that his government could inform the people how the government worked and to get them accustomed to democracy. He was faced with the prospect of managing an incredibly poor economy between several distant islands, dependent on a foreign nation for its funding. Financial independence became a core ideal motivating the policies of Tabai's government. It moved toward a subsistence economy, and it cut funding for public services which included the operation of only a basic primary health care system. Tabai opposed the development of a tourism industry, fearing that the small island nation could be overwhelmed by a surge of wealthy tourists. His efforts to promote development and quality of life in the outer islands through the construction of schools and government administration proved unsuccessful.

Shortly after becoming president, Tabai attended the 1979 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Lusaka, where he was the youngest world leader to ever attend a Commonwealth meeting. In 1979 Tabai was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) by Queen Elizabeth II.

The workers union Botaki ni Karikirakean Aroia Taan Makuri led a strike in 1980. It turned violent, and hundreds of workers lost their jobs. One assemblyman, Bwebwentaratai Benson, passed a motion condemning how Tabai's government handled the strike. This motion was interpreted as a motion of no confidence in Tabai's government, but it failed with 11 votes in favour of the motion and 22 votes against it. The 1982 parliamentary election in March and April became a competition between Tabai's government and the unionists. Of Tabai's nineteen allies in parliament, seven lost their re-election campaigns.

The 1982 presidential election took place on 4 May. Tabai's allies in the House of Assembly gained enough support from independent members to put Tabai and former Vice-President Teatao Teannaki on the ballot, while the unionists aligned with Ratieta's allies to nominate him along with unionist Etera Teangana. Taibai's broad popularity among voters made him a clear favourite to win, and he was re-elected with 48.7% of the vote. His ally Teannaki received 28.5%, further indicating popular support for Tabai's government.

1982–1983
In 1982, Tabai received an honorary knighthood from the Queen - Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG).

Tabai went into his next term without a majority in the House of Assembly. His government introduced a bill in December to correct a salary discrepancy for six statutory officers, but the opposition challenged it as a means to attack Tabai politically. Tabai responded by tying it to confidence in his government and putting it to a new vote. Tabai's slim majority failed him, and the bill was defeated with 15 voting in support and 20 voting in opposition, meaning that new elections were triggered.

The 1983 parliamentary election was held on 12 and 19 January 1983. and it brought Tabai a net increase of two supporters in the House of Assembly, bringing him a majority with 19 of 32 assemblymen. Tabai and Teannaki were again nominated for the ballot in the subsequent presidential election, this time with Harry Tong and Tewareka Tentoa. Tabai disliked the political conflict surrounding him, and it is rumoured that he considered not running until he was talked into seeking re-election. He won re-election with 49.6% of the vote. Teiwaki criticised Tabai for only appointing allies to his new cabinet instead of working with the opposition.

1983–1987
Tabai incited condemnation from Western nations and neighbouring island nations in March 1985, when he began negotiations with the Soviet Union over fishing rights. In exchange for US$1.5 million, he gave Soviet trawlers access to Kiribati's fishing zones for one year. Tabai justified the decision as a means for Kiribati to be self-sufficient and forgo British financial support. The political dispute fell along religious lines, as the Bishop of Tarawa condemned the agreement and rallied Catholics against it as a deal with a godless nation, while Protestants generally supported it. By August, the agreement was signed and the backlash intensified. The opposition presented a motion of no confidence, but it failed with 15 supporting and 19 opposing, prompting Tong to create a rival opposition party, the Christian Democratic Party. Once the agreement was in place, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States began pouring money into the region through financial support and rival fishing rights agreements. The agreement was not renewed, as Kiribati and the Soviet Union were unable to agree on terms.

Tong filed a legal challenge against Tabai as the 1987 presidential election approached, arguing that Tabai's tenure as chief minister counted as a presidential term, which would mean he had reached his three-term limit and would be ineligible to run again. The court ruled that Tong had no legal standing to request an injunction against Tabai, as candidates had not yet been nominated for the ballot and Tong was therefore not an electoral opponent of Tabai. In the 1987 parliamentary election, Tabai was re-elected in the first round of voting. Tong filed a new injunction after they were both nominated on the presidential ballot, but he dropped out before the ruling, so the court found that he again lacked standing against Tabai. Tabai was re-elected as president with 50.1% of the vote, but the opposition gained a larger share than in previous elections, in part because of lingering resentment among voters over the Soviet fishing agreement.

1987–1991
Without a majority in the House of Assembly, Tabai depended on a coalition with the independent assemblymen.

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.

Tabai successfully ran for re-election to his seat in the House of Assembly in the 1991 parliamentary election, but he was term-limited and not eligible to run for re-election in the 1991 presidential election. Instead, he leveraged his popularity to campaign for his allies, who labelled themselves the National Progressive Party. Teannaki was put on the ballot as the National Progressive Party's preferred candidate, and he campaigned on a continuation of Tabai's policies. Teannaki succeeded Tabai after winning 46.3% of the vote, demonstrating continued support for Tabai's government. In a 2004 interview, Tabai admitted that he was relieved when his time as president ended.

Post-presidency
After retiring from politics, Tabai served as Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum 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, "for service to Australian-Pacific Islands countries relations, particularly as Secretary-General to the South Pacific Forum".

Tabai requested a license to run a radio station in 1998, but the government did not provide him one. He received a fine in regard to the radio station in 1999, which he described as "censorship". Instead, Tabai founded a newspaper, The Kiribati Newstar, in 2000. The radio license was granted in 2002 after he took the government to court.

Tabai was re-elected to the House of Assembly in the 2002 parliamentary election.

Tabai was re-elected in the 2007.

Tabai has spoken in favour of including women in politics. He took a stance against overpopulation in 2014, saying that the nation should encourage smaller families to address unemployment and health. He later said that it would help the islands manage challenges to liveability caused by climate change.

Tabai was re-elected in the 2011 parliamentary election.

Tabai was re-elected in the 2015–16 parliamentary election.

Along with the rest of the opposition, Tabai opposed the shift of Kiribati's foreign policy to favour of China in 2019, arguing that Taneti Maamau only made the decision to help his government win in the next election.

Tabai was re-elected in the 2020 parliamentary election.

As a member of the opposition, Tabai was aligned with the Boutokaan te Koaua party. He was then a member of the Kamanoan Kiribati Party.

Tabai protested the deportation of the Australian-born judge David Lambourne in 2024, alleging that it was a means to punish Lambourne's wife, opposition leader Tessie Lambourne.