Koriam Urekit Explained

Koriam Urekit
Office1:Member of the National Parliament
Term1:1972–1978
Successor1:Alois Kokiv
Constituency1:Pomio Open
Term2:1968–1972
Constituency2:Kandrian-Pomio Open
Term3:1964–1968
Constituency3:East New Britain Open
Birth Date:c. 1916
Birth Place:Ablingi, New Guinea
Death Date:3 December 1978
Death Place:Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Koriam Michael Urekit (c. 1916 – 3 December 1978) was a Papua New Guinean cargo cult leader and politician. He served as a member of the House of Assembly and National Parliament from 1964 until his death.

Biography

Urekit was born in Ablingi village in New Britain. A subsistence farmer, he helped establish and improve educational facilities in the Kandrian area. He married and had five children.[1] He was involved in a local cargo cult, and was jailed for his activities.[2]

In 1962 Urekit was elected to New Britain District Advisory Council, also becoming an observer at the Legislative Council.[3] In the first elections to the new House of Assembly in 1964, he was elected from the East New Britain Open constituency. After his election he established Pomio Kivung, another cargo cult. He was re-elected from the new Kandrian-Pomio Open constituency in 1968 and from the Pomio Open constituency in 1972 and 1977. When Papua New Guinea became independent in 1975, the House of Assembly was renamed the National Parliament. During his time in parliament he continued to push for the establishment of new educational facilities, with former MP Harry Humphreys claiming he once saw Urekit try to give K20,000 to the government to set up a primary school.

Urekit collapsed while at Port Moresby Hospital on 2 December 1978 and died the following day.[4] [5]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Members of the Third House of Assembly, p29
  2. Peter Lawrence (1964) "The social and cultural background to the election", The Journal of the Polynesian Society, volume 73, pp186–191
  3. David G. Bettison, Colin A. Hughes & Paul W. van der Veur (1965) The Papua-New Guinea Elections 1964
  4. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/250283701 MPs pay tribute to Urekit
  5. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/250283361 Long-time Pomio MP dies