Talk:Kamisese Mara

I have incorporated a table, consistent with that used for the biographies of United States Presidents; I intend to do the same eventually for all of Fiji's political leaders. I have been reading his autobiography, and have accordingly corrected some of the errors I made earlier, as follows.

• Date of Birth: His birth certificate says 13 May, 1920 - which is the death I earlier used. His autobiography, however, gives the date as 6 May - which he explains by saying that his family forgot to register the birth immediately, and entered the wrong date on the certificate.
• Religion: I earlier described him as a Methodist. That is incorrect. Mara states in his autobiography that he converted to Catholicism in his student days. I have fixed the article accordingly.

What about the box at the bottom leaders have (e.g., Benjamin Harrison)? --♥ «Charles A. L.» 17:14, Apr 20, 2004 (UTC)

I didn't know about that box when I wrote the main body of the story. I'll get around to it sometime - I'll have to add it not only to Mara's page, but to that of every Fijian leader; I'll make time for it as soon as I can. Thank you for pointing out the omission. David Cannon 19:43, 20 Apr 2004 (UTC)

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Rhodes Scholar?

The article said that he was a Rhodes Scholar. However I haven't been able to find any other source that confirms this. Although he did go to Oxford University I don't think it was as a Rhodes Scholar. Fiji does not seem to be awarded Rhodes Scholarships, so if he did receive one then it must have been from another country. He did study at an NZ university but he does not appear on the list of NZ Rhodes scholars. So I have removed the claim from the article. -- Popsracer 06:42, 19 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Here is a source : XTRAMSN News (http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,3884-3270126,00.html) Admittedly, there are inaccuracies in the story. I know their claim that Mara was the first Fijian Oxford graduate to be incorrect: Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna was. I realize that if one part of their information is wrong, something else may be too. But yes, this is a source. David Cannon 12:49, 19 Apr 2004 (UTC)

The link doesn't seem to work any more. However I have seen other articles that say he was a Rhodes Scholar. But also quite a few that make no mention of being a Rhodes Scholar. Such as Daily Telegraph (UK) (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/04/20/db2001.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/04/20/ixportal.html) it goes into detail about what he did at Oxford including sports he played Oxford, but it doesn't mention anything about being a Rhodes Scholar. Also under the rules of the Scholarship he would have first had to graduate from a university before going to Oxford. Which he does not seem to have done. I think it is very unlikely that he received a Rhodes Scholarship. -- Popsracer 10:48, 20 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Thank you. Also, I note that his autobiography (which I have recently read) makes no mention of his Rhodes Scholarship. He goes into a great deal of detail about his university studies, both in New Zealand and at Oxford - but says absolutely nothing about any Rhodes Scholarship. He mentioned everything else, so I think it unlikely that he would have omitted that detail if it were true. Therefore, I concur with your opinion that it is probably a fiction. By the way, thank you for your kind words on my talk page:-) And thanks for that Daily Telegraph link. I think I'll put it in the article under "external links". David Cannon 11:09, 20 Apr 2004 (UTC)

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POV removed

I have deleted the word "sadly," which was added to the following sentence by an anonymous contributor: He sadly died in Suva on 18 April 2004, from complications arising from his 2001 stroke. Expression of personal feelings about the man is POV. I'll be upfront and say that I personally agree with this POV - Ratu Mara is and will always be a great hero of mine - that's why I wrote this article in the first place. But Wikipedia policy requires, rightly in my opinion, all articles to be written from a neutral point of view. Therefore, even though I agree with the POV expressed by our anonymous user, I cannot allow it to remain. I'm sorry - and if you're reading this, by the way, I would like to welcome you to Wikipedia and invite you to take part in building this valuable internet resource. David Cannon 02:41, 20 Apr 2004 (UTC)