Malietoa Tanumafili IIGCMGCBE (4 January 1913 – 11 May 2007) was a Samoan paramount chief who was O le Ao o le Malo (head of state) of Samoa from its independence in 1962 until his death in 2007. He was appointed to the high title of Malietoa in 1940.
When the state of Western Samoa was founded in 1962, he became joint head of state with Tupua Tamasese Meaʻole, who died on 15 April 1963, after which he remained the office's sole occupant until his own death.[1][2]
Early life
Tanumafili was born on 4 January 1913 as the son and third child of his parents, Malietoa Tanumafili I and Momoe Lupeuluiva Meleisea.[3] His birth date was put into question near the end of his life, as the government opted to celebrate his 95th birthday, rather than his 94th, in 2007, claiming it had obtained recorded evidence which instead gave his year of birth as 1912.[4][5]
He was educated at the government-run Leififi School in Samoa. He went on to enroll at St. Stephen's School and Wesley College in Pukekohe, both of which are in New Zealand.[8]
Public career
Soon after becoming Malietoa, he was appointed a special adviser (Fautua) to the New Zealand administration over Samoa.[6][9] During his earlier career, he worked for several years alongside Tupua Tamasese Meaʻole, serving in multiple conventions related to constitutional reform as part of the transition to independence. Both were also members of the Legislative Assembly before their resignation in 1957.[10] In 1959, Malietoa was appointed joint chairman of a committee advising New Zealand lawyers on drafting the Samoan constitution.[4]
Upon Samoa's independence in 1962, Malietoa and Tupua Tamasese became O Ao o le Malo (heads of state), jointly appointed by the constitution for a lifetime term. When Tupua Tamasese died sixteen months later in April 1963, Malietoa became the sole head of state. He is often credited for providing much of the stability that Samoa has enjoyed post independence.[1]
Malietoa travelled extensively during his tenure as O le Ao o le Malo. He travelled to the People's Republic of China for an official state visit in September 1976.[11] Additionally, he visited Australia, Fiji, Tonga, Nauru, Hawaii, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and West Germany. He was among the foreign dignitaries who attended the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and the funeral of Japanese Emperor Shōwa in 1989.[8][12]
In 1999, amid the fallout from the murder of a reformist politician and cabinet minister, Luagalau Levaula Kamu, Malietoa commuted the death sentences which were handed out to the two perpetrators to life imprisonment, and reportedly also visited them in prison.[4] On 9 August 2004, he bestowed the chiefly Seiuli title upon professional wrestler and actor Dwayne Johnson, when the latter visited Samoa with his mother Ata Maivia.[13][14]
Malietoa died at the age of 94 on 11 May 2007, at the Tupua Tamasese Meaʻole National Hospital in Apia, where he was being treated for pneumonia.[15] He was the oldest incumbent state leader at the time of his death.[16] He was buried on 18 May.[17]
He was succeeded as head of state by Tui Ātua Tupua Tamasese Efi in June 2007, and as Malietoa by his eldest surviving son, Papaliʻitele Faʻamausili Molī, in 2018.[18][19]
Malietoa was an active athlete during his younger years. His favourite sports included boxing, rugby and cricket.[8] Malietoa's interest in sports continued throughout his life and he was an avid golfer well into his nineties. He could often be seen driving his golf cart around Samoa.[1]
In 1973, Malietoa became a follower of the Baháʼí Faith. He was the first serving head of state to be a member of the religion.[21][22] In 1976, he visited the graveside of Shoghi Effendi, first and last Guardian of the Baháʼí Administrative Order, in London.[23] In 1979 he laid the foundational cornerstone of the Baháʼí House of Worship in Tiapapata, eight kilometres from the capital of Apia.[24] The temple was subsequently dedicated by him at completion in 1984.[25]
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