I enjoy reading your piece commemorating a part of history that marks a time when Samoa stood her ground against a superior power. Fata and Tuna may have been our first nationalists, but that's Samoa against a small Tongan group, fighting with clubs and sticks. Mind you, Tongan today is still smaller in numbers compared to Samoa. Only a fraction of Tonga would have been in Samoa to make sense of the myth. I also praise your piece for accurately spelling out his name: Namulauulu Lauaki Mamoe. I noticed that other relatives of the same family have been trying to argue that Lauki didn't have the title Namulauulu. That's a big lie. It only serve to erase historical facts and to solidify their own position in the family. The sad thing about this is that Lauaki's own true heirs are beginning to believe in this lie. Like they say, you keep on hearing it, seeing it, living it, and you finally get to believe it.

Manuia

Live for Samoa, Fight for Her Glory, Never Retreat, Never Surrender---

I agree with Vaeluagaomatagi,
Lauaki did have the title Namulauulu.

The true heirs of Namulau'ulu Lauaki Mamoe knows that he was bestowed the title of Namulau'ulu - the title Namulau'ulu was bestowed by his father, the title Lauaki by the King of Tonga and Mamoe was his taule'ale'a name - whomever says otherwise is not an heir of this great man. In his time he was called a great orator, king maker (because whichever tama-a-aiga he supports becomes the king), a fearless warrior and a man before his time, the only true hero of Samoa - when the Germans took over Samoa, they not only wanted to do away with Tumua and Pule but also the tama-a-aigas. They made a law that Samoa will answer to no one but the Kaiser in Germany and demanded that the Samoans cannot sell their coconut (the main produce at the time) through anyone but the German owned Company set up in Samoa at the time. Namulau'ulu set up a co-op of the Savaii farmers and had them sell their coconuts to whoever pays the best price. This angered the Germans to no end and then when they tried to do away with the tama-a-aigas as leaders of Samoa but instead have them only as "peons" under Governor Solf - Lauaki wouldn't have any of it and thus the Mau a Pule - unfornately, the tama-a-aigas whose birthrights Namulau'ulu was fighting for chickened out and left him to fight the battle for all of Samoa's birhtrights by himself and few heroes like himself - can you imagine, how much Germany feared him that they had to send "warships" to get him. He was a fearless hero indeed.

Very interesting! Please give us more information about Mata'afa Iosefo and his family tree...parents grandparents wife children etc.

It is so sad to see nowadays that the Sa Namulauulu has split this famous title amongst several people representing different branches of this aiga.

This title is one of the famous titles of Samoan modern history and it should really belong to one person representing one united aiga. Now, the title is diffused amongst several different people that it doesn't carry the same mana anymore as when that great man Mamoe carried the title.

RE: Lauaki is also a very famous title. It has Tongan origins, because it was gifted by the then Tui Tonga upon one of the occasions he visited and was looked after by the people of Fogasavaii.

In Tonga, the Lauaki title is held by one of the two talking chiefs (Matapule) of the Tongan King. The other one is Motuapuaka. Whenever you see a Tongan Royal Kava ceremony, Lauaki and Motuapuaka talk on behalf of the King.