49 Facts About Joni Madraiwiwi

Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, Lord Madraiwiwi Tangatatonga was a prominent Fijian lawyer, legal scholar, jurist, and politician.

Joni Madraiwiwi served as vice-president, and acting president, of Fiji, and Chief Justice of Nauru.

Ratu Madraiwiwi was ceremonially sworn in as vice-president on 10 January 2005, following his nomination by President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, and his subsequent approval by the Great Council of Chiefs on 14 December 2004.

Joni Madraiwiwi served as vice-president beginning 14 December 2004 to complete the unexpired term of his predecessor, Ratu Jope Seniloli, who had resigned in disgrace on 29 November 2004 in the wake of his convictions for treason concerning his role in the Fiji coup of 2000.

However, on 5 December 2006, Joni Madraiwiwi was informed of pending abolition of the vice-presidency, to take effect officially on 15 January 2007, by the Military Commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who had seized power in a military coup.

Yet, Joni Madraiwiwi announced in the second week of January 2007 that he was merely "on leave" as Vice-President of Fiji and intended in the meantime to resume private practice as an attorney at Howards law firm.

In 2010, Joni Madraiwiwi was presented with a Tongan life peerage and the title of Lord Joni Madraiwiwi Tangatatonga by King George Tupou V of Tonga.

Joni Madraiwiwi was born in Levuka, on the island of Ovalau, and subsequently titled Turaga na Roko Tui Bau, a vassal chief to the Vunivalu of Bau, Paramount Chief of the Kubuna Confederacy.

Joni Madraiwiwi obtained a Law degree from the University of Adelaide in Australia, and then left for Montreal, Canada for graduate study in Law at McGill University.

From McGill, Joni Madraiwiwi came back to Fiji and worked for the Office of the Attorney-General of Fiji as solicitor, serving from 1983 to 1991.

Joni Madraiwiwi was then appointed a permanent arbitrator in that office until 1997, when he became a judge of the High Court, which stands at the apex of the Fijian judiciary.

Joni Madraiwiwi resigned from the bench in mid-2000 in protest against the coup d'etat that saw the elected government toppled, the constitution abrogated, and the judiciary reorganised by decree.

Joni Madraiwiwi was a human rights commissioner and former chairman of the Citizens Constitutional Forum, a pro-democracy and human rights organisation.

Joni Madraiwiwi was asked, and accepted, to serve as one of the two foreign commissioners.

Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi became the Chief Justice of Nauru following the resignation of former Chief Justice, Geoffrey Eames QC.

Joni Madraiwiwi died in service as Supreme Court Chief Justice of Nauru.

Joni Madraiwiwi is noted for his outspoken calls for political and cultural moderation, and for his efforts to encourage people to come up with creative and practical solutions to issues that have caused tension in Fijian society.

Joni Madraiwiwi says that ethnic Fijians really have nothing to fear from the large Indo-Fijian population, as native ownership of most of the land is enshrined in the Constitution.

Joni Madraiwiwi has called for a national discussion on adopting an inclusive label for all Fijian citizens.

Joni Madraiwiwi pointed out that the Fijian label is very often taken to mean the Fijian ethnic group, rather than the citizenry as a whole.

Joni Madraiwiwi's people needed to understand, he said, that the rule of law was not an alien Western concept, but one that was, in fact, rooted as much in Fijian as in Western traditions.

Joni Madraiwiwi said that the ILO Convention 169 clearly stated that indigenous rights were not separate from human rights and could not be asserted at their expense.

Joni Madraiwiwi rejected arguments by some politicians that when the United Kingdom granted independence to Fiji in 1970, they should have handed power back to the chiefs, calling this position legally untenable.

Joni Madraiwiwi said there was a legal continuity from the chiefs, through British colonial rule, to the modern Fijian state.

Joni Madraiwiwi said tensions often arose because fundamental rights were collective, while indigenous rights were individual in character.

Joni Madraiwiwi insisted that indigenous rights and fundamental rights are mutually dependent and neither can exist without the other.

Joni Madraiwiwi said that Fiji was the richer for its ethnic and cultural diversity, and commended the cadet corps for having overcome ethnic divisions to operate as a cohesive whole.

Joni Madraiwiwi called on churches to address the problem of excessive yaqona drinking, which he said was a major social problem.

Joni Madraiwiwi expressed concern that the Methodist Church, to which approximately two-thirds of indigenous Fijians belong, had not addressed these issues at their recent conference, but conceded that as Fijian cultural conditioning aims for consensus rather than frank debates, raising such matters could cause divisions.

Joni Madraiwiwi has spoken of the need for chiefs to be accessible to their people and to listen to them.

Joni Madraiwiwi said that British colonisation had reinforced the chiefly system and in fact fossilised it.

Joni Madraiwiwi said that chiefs and church leaders would have to recognise that tradition did not always sit easily with human rights, and that sensitivity was needed to defuse the inevitable tension between the church and tradition on one hand and human rights on the other.

Joni Madraiwiwi called on doctors to adopt a higher public profile, as by virtue of their training, skills, and income level, they held a position that required them to provide leadership to the community.

Joni Madraiwiwi has maintained that democracy has not yet completely settled down in Fiji.

On 7 July 2005, Joni Madraiwiwi called on his fellow-chiefs to consider how to maximise the effectiveness of income generated through tourist facilities built on natively owned land.

On 31 August 2005, Joni Madraiwiwi became the first high-ranking office-holder in Fiji to call for homosexuality to be legalised.

Joni Madraiwiwi said that people have become bolder in asserting their rights, but cautioned that that is one of the causes of wars.

On 3 November 2005, Joni Madraiwiwi expressed reservations about the so-called Alternative Vote, which incorporates elements of instant run-off voting and electoral fusion, which has been used in Fiji for the past two elections.

At a workshop organised by the Citizens Constitutional Forum in Suva, Joni Madraiwiwi endorsed calls for electoral reform on 9 February 2006.

Joni Madraiwiwi, who was the chief guest at the forum, called for a reduction in the number of communal constituencies and a corresponding increase in the number of open constituencies.

Joni Madraiwiwi proposed proportional representation for as an option which would reflect the composition of the Fijian electorate.

Joni Madraiwiwi expressed concern about how the high level of Indo-Fijian emigration could create electoral disparity, affecting the election results in marginal open constituencies.

Joni Madraiwiwi spoke of the need to build personal relationships on the basis of trust, across ethnic lines.

Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi is the eldest son of Doctor Ratu Jione Atonio Rabici Doviverata, who preceded him as Roko Tui Bau in 1995.

Joni Madraiwiwi was one of the first women to become a member of Fiji's Legislative Council and subsequently a Member of Parliament.

Joni Madraiwiwi is a nephew of Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, who forged embryonic institutions for what would become the independent nation of Fiji, although he did not live to see it.

Joni Madraiwiwi died on 29 September 2016 after a short illness.

Joni Madraiwiwi was later laid to rest at the Sau Tabu in Bau Island on 7 October 2016 a week after his death.

Joni Madraiwiwi's death was attended by The King of Tonga King Tupou VI and other Chiefly families around Fiji.