Bauro Tokatake
Bauro Tokatake was a Gilbertese / I-Kiribati landowner and politician who served as the seventh uea of Abemama, Kuria and Aranuka in the Gilbert Islands / Kiribati. Bauro inherited the historic titlea relic from the precolonial-era State of Abemama with no legal basisfrom his father, Tekinaiti, in the 1960s. Due to his lineage, he also owned the most land on his home island of Abemama. He received income through copra production, as custom allowed him to ask any of his subjects to come work on his properties, and, more contentiously, by selling off land. Bauro served as President of the Island Council from 1968 to 1977. He represented Abemama on the Legislative Council of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands from 1971 to 1978.
Life
Bauro Tokatake was born. His father was Tekinaiti,:277 the sixth king of Abemama, Kuria, and Aranuka. His mother was the daughter of Captain Jimmy Smith, a famous resident trader on Abemama, and his Nauruan wife.:274:95 Bauro once worked as a merchant seaman.:378 In the 1960s, his father went to live in the Solomon Islands and left Bauro to inherit the kingship. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Bauro consolidated his power as a member of the Island Council and the committee of a cooperative society. Bauro was elected to the Legislative Council of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in 1971. He lost his seat by twenty-five votes in 1978. However, he claimed that his loss stemmed from the people's confusion about multiple-choice voting.:378 In addition, Bauro served as President of the Island Council from 1968 to 1977, while his uncle was the Island Executive Officer. During their time, the Council's funds were consistently short each month, and Bauro's uncle asked him to cover the missing money. This ongoing issue led to Bauro's uncle being fired and Bauro resigning from his position.:293Reign
Bauro Tokatake was knowledgeable in the history, rights, and responsibilities of the kings of Abemama, which were taught to him by his father, Tekinaiti, and senior elders.:33 However, his royal authority relied on the acceptance of the people, and his powers were much inferior to those of Baiteke and Binoka, the 19th-century autocrats of the Kingdom of Abemama.:33 The abolishment of social classes in the 1880s and the British annexation of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in the 1890s significantly diminished the king's authority. After World War II, colonial officials opposed many customs that they viewed as exploitative, such as the king receiving half the output of copra. After becoming a government employee, Bauro Tokatake abolished the practice because it undermined the system of communal labour the government instituted.:3334Though his title was only customary, Bauro retained certain rights: for example, he could ask anyone to cut copra on his land for him; and if he needed labour for a task, such as building a new house, he could ask the elders of each village to send men to work for him for a few days at a time. He also had many responsibilities. He was obliged to help his subjects when they asked for money or to temporarily use his land, in return for their service.:34 Many were also free to take whatever they wished from the king, an artefact from the days when the king was considered the owner of everything on the island.:385 According to Thurston Clarke, Bauro complained that "being a king on Abemama is a bum deal. No power, and people help themselves to whatever you own. No, these days it is better to be a commoner than a king.":386
Bauro Tokatake still owned the most land on Abemama. He is said to have once owned over 400 lands, or between a quarter and half of the island,:40 which had an estimated land area of in 1971.:39 His land ownership helped perpetuate his high status.:35 In 1981, Bauro claimed that he ruled only as long as his subjects let him, and that they had not expressed any desire to end the royal line. In 1972, however, Bauro had sold off most of his property,:40 and his reputation decreased the more land he let go of. This was because the I-Abemama viewed the excessive sale of land as profligate and considered the king's land not just his property, but land held for the collective benefit of his people.:71:266 He now only had 115 lands, or 132 parcels, in the Lands Register,:40 or about one-tenth of Abemama.:41 In the 1990s, Gavin Bell wrote that the king had become unpopular with some of his neighbors. After Bauro sold a hundred acres, Bell claimed, his house mysteriously burned down; he and his wife were temporarily living in little tin shacks when Bell met them.:266 Another travel writer—George Woodcock, who visited Abemama a decade prior—also mentioned that the king had gained an unfavourable reputation from selling his land.:174
When the United Kingdom granted Kiribati independence in 1979, the elders of Abemama penned a letter to Queen Elizabeth II, requesting that Abemama, Kuria, and Aranuka either be made a separate country or remain a British protectorate.:380 Bauro told Thurston Clarke that the request was "not based on whim but on history, laws, and our rights! I assure you that most people on these islands would prefer to break away." There was no reply; the letter likely never reached the Queen,:380 and Clarke was unable to find a copy.:392 Nevertheless, the new government of Kiribati recognized Bauro as king, and officials consulted him on matters affecting the three islands.