Lauaki Namulauulu Mamoe

Lauaki Namulauulu Mamoe (died 14 December 1915) (also known as Lauati) was a renowned orator chief and the first leader of the Mau, a resistance movement in Samoa during colonialism. Mamoe was exiled to Saipan in 1909. He died in 1915 as he was taken back to Samoa.

He was from Safotulafai, the capital of Fa'asaleleaga political district on the island of Savai'i. The family matai chief title Namulauulu was from Safotulafai and the other chief title Lauaki came from Tonga. Mamoe was the first of his family to hold both the Namulauulu and the Lauaki titles, inherited through good service from the true heirs of the Namulauulu family. Uncertain of the outcome of his trial under German rule, he decided to bestow the title 'Namulauulu' on his younger brother, Pulali, who was also exiled and died before being allowed to return to Samoa.

The resistance movement led by Lauaki on Savai'i was called Mau a Pule (1908) which later grew into the national Mau movement. The Mau a Pule represented chiefs protesting against losing their traditional Samoan authority under the colonial administration headed by German Governor Wilhelm Solf. The Mau a Pule represented traditional Samoa with none or little European influence in its methods or organisation. Lauati depended on the chiefly elite of Savai'i to organise Mau a Pule support.

Pule is the traditional designation given to the Chiefs who represent the big island of Savaii and who were affiliated with the Sa Malietoa royal family. Lauaki Namulauulu held the position of high talking chief for Pule when the traditional power brokers of Samoa met to determine matters of national importance. Samoa's main traditional power brokers were Pule and Tumua. Tumua being the Main Chiefs who are from the island of Upolu and who supported the royal families of Tama Aiga. Upolu is the second largest island in the Samoan archipelago. The competition and rivalry between these two powerful traditional cadres of chieftains fueled the dynamics of Samoa's traditional political structure.

Lauaki and his followers were not ready to concede their authority as the decision makers for Samoa to a foreign power. This was the impetus for the Mau a Pule movement which sought to retain the authority of the Traditional political structure which was based on thousands of years of historical events, cultural designations and achievements. This indigenous structure in Lauaki's opinion, as well as many other Samoan Chiefs including Mataafa Iosefo, who fought against foreign interference with Samoan traditional authority, was too deeply entrenched in Samoa's cultural structure, thus it was unacceptable to Lauaki for Samoans to live in a world where the Samoan way was relegated to irrelevancy.

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