Name Wilisoni Malani Role Politician | Died June 14, 2005 | |
Ratu Wilisoni Tuiketei Malani (1920 – 14 June 2005) was a Fijian chief, physician, and politician. He held the chiefly title of Turaga na Gonesau, or Paramount Chief of the Nakorotubu district in Ra Province in the northern western part of Viti Levu. "Turaga na Gonesau" means the "blessed child".
The surname "Malani" was given to Ratu Malani's father by Lau chief "Roko Malani" as a token of appreciation and in remembrance for the Nakorotubu warriors in sailing to Lau and subduing an uprising in Kedekede, Lakeba, Lau in the 18th century in what is commonly known as the Vuakaloa Campaign or Blackboar Campaign.
Ratu Malani was a cousin of the late Prime Minister and President, Kamisese Mara. After the death of his father, he was raised in Tubou, Lau by his uncle, Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba, Ratu Mara's father, Ratu Tevita paid for his education at Fiji's premier boarding school, Queen Victoria School, where he was the head boy in 1940, and the Central Medical School, which is now the Fiji School of Medicine. It was assumed that Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba's decision to adhere to Ratu Sukuna's request for Ratu Mara to abandon his sixth year medicine study at the University of Otago in New Zealand and to study leadership and politics at the Oxford University was because he had a replacement for a medical doctor in Ratu Malani. He practiced medicine for many years, mainly in rural centres, and was a pioneer in the fight to eradicate malaria and filariasis in Fiji and the Solomon Islands. He was a member of the Medical Unit of the Royal Fiji Military Forces in 1944 during World War II and the Malayan Campaign in the 1950s. He retired from medical service in 1994 to take up a new career in politics.
Ratu Malani became the oldest parliamentarian in Fiji's history at the age of 74 to win a seat in the Fiji election of 1994 when he was elected to the House of Representatives of Fiji from the constituency covering the Ra Province. He retired from politics at the age of 79 and did not seek re-election during the 1999 general election. He died in Suva on 14 June 2005 at the age of 85.