Fiamē Mataafa Faumuina Mulinuu II (5 August 1921 – 20 May 1975) was a Western Samoan

paramount chief A paramount chief is the English-language designation for a king or queen or the highest-level political leader in a regional or local polity or country administered politically with a Chiefdom, chief-based system. This term is used occasionally ...

and politician. The holder of the Mataafa title, one of the four main Samoan chieftainships, he became the first

prime minister of Western Samoa A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

in 1959, serving until 1970. He held the position again from 1973 until his death in 1975.

Biography

Mata'afa was born in 1921, the son of Paramount Chief Mata'afa Faumuina Fiame Mulinu'u I. He was educated at the Marist Brothers school in Apia. He married

Laulu Fetauimalemau Mata'afa The music of Finland can be roughly divided into folk music, classical and contemporary art music, and contemporary popular music. The folk music of Finland belongs to a broader musical tradition, common amongst Balto-Finnic people, sung in ...

, a teacher educated in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and who later became Samoa's High Commissioner (1993–1997) to New Zealand. He was bestowed with the Fiame title in 1948,Lauofo Meti (2002) ''Samoa: The Making of the Constitution'', National University of Samoa, p322 and also became a Faumuina. When his father died in 1948, he acceded to the Mata'afa title. He was a senior grade

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

player and President of the Western Samoan

Boys' Brigade The Boys' Brigade (BB) is an international interdenominational Christianity, Christian youth organisation, conceived by the Scottish businessman William Alexander Smith (Boys' Brigade), Sir William Alexander Smith to combine drill and fun acti ...

.Mata'afa, friend to all, who led Samoa 'long and loyally'
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', July 1975, p7 After it was agreed in the 1954 Constitutional Convention that two of the four paramount chiefs,

Tupua Tamasese Meaʻole Tupua Tamasese Meaʻole (3 June 1905 – 5 April 1963) was a Western Samoan paramount chief. He held the royal title of Tupua Tamasese from 1929 to 1963, and O le Ao o le Malo (Head of State) jointly with Malietoa Tanumafili II from 1962 unti ...

and

Malietoa Tanumafili II Malietoa Tanumafili II (4 January 1913 – 11 May 2007) was a Samoan paramount chief and politician who was O le Ao o le Malo (head of state) of Samoa from its independence in 1962, and the holder of the Malietoa title from 1940, until his ...

, should be made joint

heads of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

for life, he announced that he would withdraw from public life. However, he later backed down and contested the 1957 elections to the Legislative Assembly, winning the Lotofaga seat. Following the elections, Mata'afa was appointed to the Executive Council as Minister of Agriculture. When formal cabinet government was introduced in 1959, he became the first Prime Minister, defeating Leader of Government Business Eugene Paul and Tualaulelei Mauri in a vote. He was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the 1960 Queen's Birthday Honours. Mata'afa was re-elected Prime Minister following the 1961 elections, leading the country to independence in 1962. He was re-elected again following elections in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

and

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

. However, after the 1970 elections, he was defeated by

Tupua Tamasese Lealofi IV Tui Ātua Tupua Tamasese Lealofi IV (8 May 1922 – 9 July 1983) was the second prime minister of Samoa from 25 February 1970 to 20 March 1973 and again from 21 May 1975 to 24 March 1976. He held the title of Tupua Tamasese, one of the four main ...

by 25 votes to 20 in the third round of voting. It was reported that he would have probably won in the second round (which was tied at 23 votes each) if one of his supporters, To'omata Lilomaiava Tua, had not died the previous week. In February 1966, Mata'afa ordered that the sport of

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

be banned on every day except Wednesdays and Saturdays, because of the "lackadaisical approach" taken to the clean-up after a cyclone. Following the

1973 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1973. Africa * 1973 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1973 Equatorial Guinean legislative election * 1973 Ethiopian general election * 1973 Gabonese general election * 1973 Republic of the Congo con ...

, Mata'afa returned as Prime Minister, defeating Lealofi and Tupuola Efi in the first round of voting. He served as Prime Minister until his death in May 1975. His wife Laulu won the subsequent by-election for his Lotofaga seat. His daughter Fiamē Naomi Mataafa also later became an MP, and served as Deputy Prime Minister of Samoa from 2016 until her resignation in 2020 after which she would end up as

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

's first female Prime Minister in 2021.

References

External links

*Malama Meleisea & Penelope Schoeffel Meleise
Lagaga: a short history of Western Samoa
*Morgan A. Tuimalealiʻifan
O tama a ʻāiga: the politics of succession to Sāmoa's paramount titles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulinuu, Fiame 1921 births People from Atua (district) Samoan chiefs Members of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa Government ministers of Samoa Prime ministers of Samoa Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 1975 deaths Mataʻafa family