A'eau Peniamina Le'avai (born 1942) is a

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

n politician and '' matai''. He served as the

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

of the Samoan Legislative Assembly from 1988 to 1991. He is a member of the

Tautua Samoa Party ) , flag = , website tautuasamoaparty.com The Tautua Samoa Party ( sm, Vaega Faaupufai le Tautua Samoa) is a political party in Samoa. The party's policies include economic development, particularly in the agricultural sector, public service r ...

. Peniamina was educated at

Fiji School of Medicine The Fiji School of Medicine is a tertiary institution based in Suva, Fiji. Originally established in 1885 as the ''Suva Medical School''. FSM became the College of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences as part of Fiji National University in 2010. It ...

and the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

and later worked as a dentist. He was first elected to Parliament as a member of the

Human Rights Protection Party The Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP, sm, Vaega Faaupufai e Puipuia Aia Tatau a Tagata) is a Samoan political party. It was founded in 1982 and dominated Samoan party politics for decades thereafter, leading every government until their defea ...

in the 1985 general election. He was re-elected in 1988, and served as Speaker of the Assembly from 1988 to 1991, before losing his seat at the 1991 election. Peniamina was banished from his village after announcing his intention to run as a candidate for the

Samoan National Development Party The Samoan National Development Party (SNDP) was a political party in Samoa, and the country's main opposition party between 1988 and 2003. The party was formed from a merger of the Christian Democratic Party and Samoa National Party in April 1988 ...

at the 2001 election. He was elected despite this, and was the opposition's candidate for Speaker, but was defeated by 28 votes to 21. He was re-elected again in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

as a candidate for the

Samoan Democratic United Party The Samoan Democratic United Party (SDUP) was the main opposition party of Samoa from 2003 to 2008. The SDUP was formed in 2003 from the Samoan National Development Party (SNDP) and the Samoan United Independent Party (SUIP). During the 2006 Samoan ...

(SDUP). In 2005, Peniamina was accused of racism over remarks he made about

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

immigrants but later moderated his comments. In November 2006 he was elected deputy leader of the SDUP. Following a split in the SDUP, the party was no longer recognized, and he became an independent MP. He subsequently joined other independents in establishing the

. In December 2007 he denied involvement in an incident in which fellow opposition MP (and former rival for the Falealupo seat) Mafasolia Papu Va'ai was shot and wounded. Peniamina ran as a Tautua candidate at the 2011 election and was re-elected. He was subsequently elected deputy leader of the party. He was re-elected again at the 2016 election, as one of only three opposition MPs. He retired at the 2021 election. His seat was won by his daughter, Leota Tima Leavai.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Peniamina, Aeau 1942 births Living people Members of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa People from Vaisigano Samoan chiefs Samoan Democratic United Party politicians Tautua Samoa Party politicians Alumni of the University of London Fiji School of Medicine alumni