Call to action for the Rangi Makea clan of Makea Nui title

A meeting of the Rangi Makea clan is to be held on Saturday 17 April 2010 at Para o Tane at Taputapuatea, the paepae of Makea Nui Ariki.
The purpose of the meeting is to select a candidate from the Rangi Makea family to become the next Makea Nui Ariki.
The move comes after a meeting of the Kopu Ariki o Makea held at the Kapuanga Meeting House in Takuvaine held on Thursday 18 March 2010.
If successful, this is welcome news as the last recognized Ariki was Makea Nui Teremoana Ariki who died circa 1995 and ever since then, the title has lain dormant as the families have wrangled over who ought to succeed to the title.
If the turmoil of the past 15 years were to be repeated, it is unlikely to be smooth sailing given that the protocol or custom is on the basis of primogeniture (ideally from the eldest male line and if not, then at least the senior line) and has been recognized as such in several court cases.
However, this preference should been seen as the ‘ideal’ because in fact, many ladies have held the title since the coming of the London Missionary Society with their message of Christianity in 1823. At the time, the tribal title was held by Makea Nui Tinirau I who died in 1826 as attested to on a monument located at the entrance to the Avarua CICC church.
After Tinirau the title was held by Makea Takau married to Ngamaru Ariki of Atiu. She was accorded all due respect and courtesy by the New Zealand Government and Colonial Administration who referred to her as the Queen of Rarotonga.
The title was inherited from Takau by her nephew, Tinirau Makea Nui who had a brilliant investiture in 1921 and became a member of the Island Council which included Kainuku, Karika, Tinomana, Pa and Vakatini. It was Makea Nui Tinirau and his entourage who led the Ui Ariki of Rarotonga to New Zealand with Sir Apirana Ngaa on their historic visit to Tokomaru Bay in 1934 on a goodwill visit paid for by the New Zealand Government.
In 2009, the descendants of the original tere party of Ui Ariki and leading citizens were all invited to retrace the footsteps of their ancestors and the Tokomaru Kaumatua were thrilled that all the Ui Ariki accepted the invitation.
Tinirau II was succeeded by his elder daughter, Takau (mother to twins Mokoroa and Inanui Love) but died only two years after the title was bestowed on her.
Thus in Maori tradition, the title remained on the Pa Metua and her younger sister, Teremoana took over the title originally in a caretaker role but in fact held the title for around 50 years until she passed away in 1995. Teremoana is the mother of Paula Lineen and Meme Macquarie.
Since Mummy Makea died in 1995, three other contenders were chosen and held investitures: Inanui Love (daughter of Takau II) and Meme Macquarie (daughter of Teremoana) and Joe Matua (from the Sadaraka line) but controversially, none of them were accepted by the court.
It is probably this turmoil which has led to other lines of the Kopu Ariki o Makea Nui, namely members of Upokotoa (married to Taripo), Sadaraka and Mere (married to Tamarua) to try their luck at holding the title.
They are advocating a radical proposal for a ‘rotation’ of the title between the clans in an effort to find a solution to the long running saga.
However, the proposal is contrary to the long established protocol whereby the Makea Nui is been chosen from the senior line (Rangi Makea) and only time will tell whether the new system will be accepted by the majority of the Kopu Ariki, let alone the court which tends to take a very conservative view of such matters.

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