Samoa: Malietoa has passed away

I just found out on bbcnews.com that Head of State Malietoa Tanumanfili II has died. He had ruled for 45 years.

yep. My condolences to the Nation.

He was 94.

It will be interesting to see the change it makes to go from Head of State for life, to five year terms - but I look forward to when we have this in the Republic of Australia!

A chapter closes on the dreams and aspirations of the generation who gained independence from the colonial powers.

'“It will happen afterward that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and
your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will
dream dreams. Your young men will see visions” (Joel 2: 28).

What this biblical text says to me is that God speaks to the old
and the young and not exclusively to either – thus imposing an
imperative of mutual respect and dialogue. As an older Samoan
person I am not embarrassed or ashamed to say, that the impasse
in the current performance of our Samoan culture may find a
breakthrough in the genius of the young, for it does not diminish
leadership of the older generation to acknowledge that our
young see visions.'

Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta’isi Efi
Keynote Address
Emerging Pacific Leaders Dialogue 2006
Brisbane, Australia
28 June 2006

Will there be as much of a production in Samoa as there would be in Tonga when a royal dies?

Samoa is not a monarchy, not even mixed with parlamentary democracy, despite whatever the CIA factbook is reporting among many other factual errors. The Samoan constitution does not include a monarch at all. Malietioa Tanumafili II himself strongly denied that proposal when the constitution was drafted in the late 1950ties. So he has always been referred to as His Highness (not His Royal Highness ...). Neither did he have in any constitutional or even traditional way the power and ownership of the country's resources as the King of Tonga. Furthermore his successor will certainly not be from his family. There will be a new superior holder of the Malietoa title but that does not affect the position of the Head of State. Most people here in Samoa expect Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Ta’isi Efi to become elected as Head of State now, coming from another of the five "Royal" families in Samoa. "Royal" is a personal attribute only in this case (being of Royal descent).

Flags are on halfmast and public holidays are announced for upcoming Thursday and Friday, when the state burial will be held. People are truly sad about His Highness passing away - but life is all normal here, no "official" mourning. Regular TV program, pubs, cinemas are open etc. Besides the official state burial there will certainly be some traditional ceremonies being held by the end of the week, but that will mostly happen at the Malietoa family grounds and in the villages concerned, not countrywide.

Thanks, samoa for the detailed information... I thought as much.

Samoa is indeed fortunate to have a man such as Tui Atua who can take on the role.

Strong, forthright, forward looking, but with deep humility and compassion for the people of Samoa.

An exemplar of Pacific Leadership.

Rob

As a sign of respect for Malietoa, public holidays have been declared in Samoa on Thursday and Friday, before his State Funeral to be held Saturday.

Nope. There is some confusion about it in New Zealand and Australian media, as they report the dates in their local time.

The late Malietoa will be brought to his village residence at Fatoia today (Samoa: Wednesday) for the family's farewell. Tomorrow (Samoa: Thursday) he will be brought to the Parliament Building at Tiafau - certainly farewelled on the way by tens of thousands of Samoans. There he will lay overnight, guarded by family and members of the police force. The State funeral will be on Friday 18th (Samoa) and His Highness will be buried at that date beside his parents at Tiafau, near the Meteorology Station. Nothing else.

Check the Samoa Observer page (www.samoaobserver.ws/local/LNPages/0507/1107ln002.htm) for all details.

wksamoa,

I actually got my information directly from a very reliable source in Apia, since I never rely on local media for info about Pacific Islands - most of the journos wouldn't be able to find them on a map!

I defer to your information though, and can only conclude that my source was making allowance for the fact that I live on the "tomorrow" side of the dateline, and wanted to save me the confusion! (She must have forgotten that my links with Samoa go all the way back to when Cindy was still a guy!)

Thanks,

Rob

Rob

your local source might have even been confused herself by local media in Samoa. They often broadcast or print news items directly from New Zealand without further editing or commenting. Radio New Zealand International, for example, reported that His Highness passed away on Saturday last week (which is only correct on your side of the Dateline). And Maori TV will broadcast the State Funeral live in New Zealand (on Saturday of course). When news like that appear here in Samoa without comment this might indeed confuse listeners and readers.

Werner

Werner,

No, more likely she was making allowances for me - she's very smart with plenty of connections into Government, therefore not likely to be relying on media for her information.

Cheers,

Rob

Just a bit of an update. We were in Samoa during this event and were greatly saddned by this news. Many people showed their respect by dressing in black and white which was incredible to see. There was a rush to clean up the downtown along the harbour and improve some of the infrastructure as quickly as possible. Fine mats, tapa, black cloth and flags decorated the buildings along the harbour where the procession was planned. Finally, we stood outside around the Kitano as the police band escorted the body. School children in uniforms toss flowers onto the road. We followed the large crowd down the peninsula until it became too overwhelming. The next day, we attended the Parliament house to pay our final respects. I was honoured to be a part of history and it was quite a learning experience for our son who is part Samoan.

Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Ta’isi Efi will be the new Head of State of the Independent State of Samoa. He was the only candidate so no voting took place.

Werner,

I can't imagine that there would have been anyone more fitting for the role, even putting aside the fact that it probably the turn of a Tamasese to have the title.

It seems that there is deep division about the presumptive heir to the Malietoa title, but I presume that this will be sorted out fa'a Samoa - after much talking, many long silences and consumption of Kava!

Tofa,

Rob

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>It seems that there is deep division about the presumptive heir to the Malietoa title, but I presume that this will be sorted out fa'a Samoa - after much talking, many long silences and consumption of Kava!<hr></blockquote>
It is at the Land and Titels Court already. The judge encouraged discussion and peaceful solution and all parties promised to do that. Nevertheless the promise was broken. Now there might come a very long silence indeed, maybe for many years. I do not see any sign of readiness on the side of the offended parts of the clan only to talk about it any further after what happened.

The new holder of the title got it and he will keep it but quite obviously nobody will honour him. Not the other high-ranked families, not the Government, not the people. The coup-like staged 'succession' is widely regarded as an act of greed and 'king' attitude (Tongan Style), something that is unanimously rejected by the Samoan people. That guy is only the son and in Samoa that alone does not qualify for anything, not even a matai title.

They let themselves down and, more important, they disgraced the name/title. That is what I hear from everyone around. Because it was all too obvious that the whole thing was only staged to put the new one into the row of possible candidates for the succession as Head of State. This failed so badly as he was not even mentioned in the internal HRPP caucus discussion as a possible option. Not one parlamentarian spoke for it as I heard from someone who was present at the meeting. I am sure that he will not even be considered again when the Head of State's term in office will end in five years.

Hi Inkan

When i researched about SAMOA via website i tried to memorize the HEAD OF STATE KING MALIETOA TANUMANFILI II & other government names. When i heard he had passed away, i felt my trip to SAMOA was even more meaningful arriving in SAMOA Friday 18 June 2007. I Didn't make it to APIA, i was happy & touched to watch the special program about KING MALIETOA TANUMANFILI II life achievements & the funeral.

Yep we wear black & white with the necklaces to show respect for the KING