Staff Reporters/
Apia, Samoa – 27 June 2025 – The Land and Titles Court has ruled that the paramount title Laaulialemalietoa was properly claimed by the FAST Party leader and puts an end to a series of challenges from the Opposition Leader that no one in parliament held that title.
The challenges by Tuilaepa were in the most public of manners when at one stage when Laauli was taking oath after he was elected as the first FAST Party Member of Parliament in 2020, Tuilaepa challenged it saying there was no Laaulialemalietoa but only Laauli.
It prompted the village council of Laauli’s constituency of Gagaifomauga 3 to petition the Land and Titles Court for a decision which was delivered last Wednesday, 25 June 2025.
The three-member panel of Judges ruled the title Laaulialemalietoa be recorded officially as the matai title of Leuatea Polataivao Fosi. The ruling also required the title be registered in the official register of Matai titleholders of Samoa (held by the Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration).
According to the court records, the title Laaulialemalietoa was bestowed by the village on Leuatea Polataivao Fosi on 20 June1996 as a gesture of honour and recognition of the holders’ service to the village and country.
However, when the title was registered, only the short form Laauli was registered in the court’s registry of matais.
Originally, the title was presented by the late Malietoa Tanumafilli 2 in recognition of the villages service offered him. It was left to the village to bestow the Laaulialemalietoa title to whoever they see fit.
In its ruling this week, the court also said that the title Laauli is not matai title, as it was the collective title given the guild of untitled men – Sa’oaumaga – that are linked to the Malietoa title and only Laaulialemalietoa is the proper matai title.
One of the conditions was if the holder passes, the title is returned to the village council comprising of Aiga & Faletolu who will decide the next holder of the title.
The Laaulialemalietoa title is currently held by the former Speaker and FAST Party Leader, Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Fosi Schmidt and the New Zealand based Samoan boxing heavyweight champion Laaulialemalietoa Joseph Parker.
