Puni Raea

Puni Raea

Puni Raea is a Samoan tulafale or orator from the village of Samatau, in Upolu, Samoa.

He lived in Porirua, Wellington, New Zealand for many years. From the years 1980 to 1987, he worked as an advisory officer for the Samoan Advisory Council of Wellington. At the same time, from 1983 to 1988, he was the inaugural chairman of the National Samoan Advisory Council of New Zealand. Puni was a brilliant orator. He was highly experienced and unafraid. He also had a good command of the English language. Puni was also a good leader who had foresight and cared greatly for the language and culture of Samoa.

With other strong Samoan leaders from Auckland and Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, Puni lobbied the New Zealand government under Robert Muldoon as its Prime Minister to nominate a cabinet member to be the Minister of Pacific islands Affairs. At that stage, the Department of Maori and Islands Affairs was already refocusing its attention on Maori matters, thereby leaving Pacific issues unattended to. Puni worked with other Samoan chiefs such as Mapusua F Lima, Galumalemana Alfred Hunkin, Donald Kerslake, Levaula Kamu, Tuioti lani Tupu etc. The national Samoan Council was also responsible in pushing for the Samoan language to be included in the school curriculum in New Zealand schools.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • List of Samoans — amoan cabinet ministers and their portfolios 2006*Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi *Deputy Prime Minister Minister of Finance Misa Telefoni Retzlaff *Minister of Finance Niko Lee Hang *Minister of Health Gatoloaiifaana Amataga… …   Wikipedia

  • Samoan New Zealander — Samoan New Zealanders are Samoan immigrants in New Zealand, their descendants, and New Zealanders of Samoan ethnic descent. They constitute one of New Zealand s most sizeable ethnic minorities. In the 2006 census, 131,103 New Zealanders… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”