| SOME people on Rabi want the
first woman elected to the island council removed because they say a woman
cannot be an elder under Banaban custom.
But eh move, led by outgoing chairman of
the Rabi Island Council Tekoti Rotan, is likely to be resisted. It will be
opposed by the village which elected the woman, Makin Karoro, and by the
new council which is likely to be headed by former Permanent Secretary for
Primary Industries John Teaiwa.
Mrs. Karoro cam out fighting last night
and vowed that she would take up the chairmanship "if they people
want me".
"In our custom, women and men are at
the same level," she said from Rabi.
"In our custom if a man is married
to a woman, the man moves and stays with the woman’s family and on the
woman’s property.
"So we have all the right to speak
out. We have the right to manage our household."
Mrs Karoro said Rabi women have been
trying for years to get a seat in the council and she succeeded in her
third attempt. The former school teacher and grandmother broke convention
and tradition when she became a councillor when the results were announced
last Friday night.
She was elected the elder member from
Tabwewa Village where she was one of three women who contested that seat
as elders.
The other women are Rambi Woodrow and
Teabo Rangaba.
The protesting group is threatening to
seek relief from the court if the matter is not resolved by the new
council.
"In our custom a woman is never an
elder," said Mr. Rotan.
"I know I would be very unpopular
but someone has to do the dirty work. If this matter is allowed now, then
it would be accepted in the future."
Mr. Rotan, from the influential Rotan
family, said he would be consulting the elders, beginning with those from
Tabwewa Village.
"We are prepared to go to court, if
need be," he said.
Mr. Rotan said he did not object before
the election because he wanted to see that the administration of the
island was transferred to the people.
But his position would come as a surprise
to the new councillors and to those who voted for Mrs. Karoro.
Mr. Teaiwa had warmly embraced the
election of Mrs. Karoro when the results were announced.
"It is the first time that we are
having a woman in the council," Mr. Teaiwa had said. "It is very
encouraging."
Mr. Rotan said that a woman being an
elder was one of the issues that he wanted the new council to resolve. The
others were the definitions of an indigenous Banaban and of an elder.
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