New Flags Flying - Pacific Leaders Remember
Part 2 Samoa
Some significant events since independence
1963 Tupua Tamasese Mea’ole dies. He had played a leading role in the preparations for independence and, being one of the two fautua, had become joint Head of State in 1962.
1976 Western Samoa joined the United Nations, using the name Samoa
1990 The constitutional restriction of voting rights to title-holders (matai) is removed by a plebiscite decision to introduce full universal suffrage for all citizens
1998 Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Maliegaoi becomes prime minister, an office he continues to hold following general election successes
2002 New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark tenders an apology to Samoans for the failures of the NZ administration in Samoa before the two World Wars
2007 Malietoa Tanumafili II, Head of State since independence in 1962, originally jointly with Tupua Tamasese Mea’ola, dies aged 95. Former prime minister Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi is elected to succeed him as Head of State for five years.
2009 A major tsunami strikes Samoa, causing tragic loss of life, devastation and economic damage, particularly on the south coast of the island of Upolu.
