Ieremia Tabai | |
|---|---|
 Tabai in 2009 | |
| 1st President of Kiribati | |
| In office 12 July 1979 – 4 July 1991 | |
| Vice President | Teatao Teannaki |
| Preceded by | Himself (as chief minister) |
| Succeeded by | Teatao Teannaki |
| Chief Minister of the Gilbert Islands | |
| In office 1978 – 12 July 1979 | |
| Preceded by | Naboua Ratieta |
| Succeeded by | Himself (as president) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 December 1949 Nonouti, Gilbert and Ellice Islands (now Kiribati) |
| Political party | |
| Spouse | Meleangi Kalofia |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence | Tarawa Palace Razidans |
| Alma mater | Victoria University of Wellington |
Ieremia Tienang Tabai GCMG AO (born 16 December 1949) is an I-Kiribati politician who served as the first president of Kiribati from 1979 to 1991. He previously served in the equivalent role, chief minister, under the colonial government from 1978 to 1979. Tabai returned to the House of Assembly in 1998 and represented Nonouti as of his re-election in 2024.
After attending university in New Zealand, Tabai worked in the Ministry of Finance for a year before deciding to enter politics. He was elected to the House of Assembly in 1974 and became the leader of the opposition. Tabai defeated the incumbent Naboua Ratieta to become chief minister in the 1978 election, effectively putting him in charge of independence negotiations, and he became the president of Kiribati upon independence in 1979. He was elected to another term as president in 1982. His term ended abruptly after he tied an unsuccessful bill to a motion of no confidence, but he retained the presidency in the resulting 1983 election. In the early years of his presidency, Tabai made national self-sufficiency central to his agenda.
Tabai signed a fishing agreement with the Soviet Union in 1985, triggering both domestic and international protest. He ran for re-election in 1987, but opposition member Harry Tong filed a legal challenge, saying that Tabai's elections in 1978, 1982, and 1983 meant that Tabai was term-limited. It was determined that the 1978 election was for a colonial position and it did not count against his term limit. Tabai then won re-election. He was term-limited in 1991, so he successfully campaigned for his vice-president Teatao Teannaki to be the next president.
Tabai became Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum in 1992, holding the office until 1998. He then returned to parliamentary politics. Tabai founded two media outlets over the next few years: the Newstar newspaper, which was the country's first independently-owned outlet, and a radio station. As an assemblyman, he has opposed Kiribati's relations with China and spoken in favour of smaller family sizes to limit the effects of overpopulation and climate change.