Koila Nailatikau - Career

Career

After a serving her country as a diplomat in the 1980s and 1990s, Adi Koila decided to follow in her father's footsteps, and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1999 as a candidate of the Christian Democratic Alliance, representing the Lau Fijian communal constituency, which had earlier been held by both her father and her brother, Ratu Finau Mara. In the coalition Cabinet that was subsequently appointed, Adi Koila became Minister of Tourism.

Adi Koila's cabinet career was brought to a sudden end on May 19, 2000, when George Speight, an extreme Fijian nationalist who objected to the presence of Indo-Fijians in the government, seized power, kidnapping the Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry and most of the Cabinet, including Adi Koila, and forcing her father to resign as President. Along with her fellow hostages, Adi Koila was held captive for 56 days, although she was briefly released on 1 June to attend a funeral, on condition that she immediately rejoin the other captives. A period of political turbulence the coup. Democracy was restored in 2001, and Adi Koila was chosen by the Lau Provincial Council, on behalf of the Great Council of Chiefs, to fill one of fourteen Senate seats reserved for Fijian chiefly representatives. She has since played an active role as chairperson of the Senate Privileges Committee, and as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

In politics, Nailatikau has taken a strong stand against proposals to legalize prostitution. In a Senate debate on 30 May 2003, she warned called for a tough stand against sex tourism, saying that it was a form of sexual exploitation and that it led to increasing incidents of child molestation and pedophilia. "While we advertise tourism, we should also educate our people in keeping a close vigil on what is happening as the side effect of tourism," she said. Nailatikau called for "maximum sentences" for those facilitating such offenses. Lamenting the downgrading of the marriage commitment, parental authority, and relationships between grandparents and grandchildren, she blamed the breakdown of family values for the increasing crime rate.

On 7 December 2005, Nailatikau called for the establishment of a "national youth service," under the auspices of the Military, to help reduce unemployment. Young people would learn self-discipline and would be trained for careers, such as engineering, that would enable them later to contribute to society through voluntary and paid employment, the Fiji Live news service quoted her as saying.