KEY POINTS:
It was the 1960s, around the time Samoa finally gained independence from New Zealand and its at-times-disastrous administration, when Malietoa Tanumafili II saw a young boy outside the RSA club in Apia.
He was breathless from running, and looked anxious. Come here, Malietoa beckoned. What is it? What's wrong?
The boy had been sent by his mother, who was at the wharf down the road. They had just arrived on the boat from Savai'i to find that no one was waiting to pick them up. He'd been sent to fetch a taxi; there'd be one outside the RSA, his mother had told him.
The boy didn't recognise the distinguished man, so when Malietoa said he would drive the family home, the boy thought it was because he was a taxi driver. As did his mother, who didn't recognise him either.
When Malietoa asked her where her luggage was, she pointed him to two heavy boxes of ta'amu (a large, taro-like tuber). He carried them, obligingly, to the car.
Arriving at her house, she asked him to wait while she went inside to get some money from her husband. By the time he came out, Malietoa had unloaded the ta'amu and was already getting into his car to drive away.
The husband, a church minister, recognised Samoa's esteemed Head of State just as he was leaving. What was Malietoa doing here, he asked his wife - and where was the taxi driver?
He was mortified when he found out, and went immediately to Malietoa, prostrating himself before him. He apologised profusely and tried to give him money. Malietoa wasn't having any of it. He required neither apology nor money; he was happy to be of service to him, he said.
I was told this story by my father, as Malietoa was buried in Samoa at the weekend, his funeral shown live on Maori Television. My father used to caddie for Malietoa and knew the family who mistook him for a taxi driver.
It was typical of Malietoa to treat everyone, even the shy young man caddying for him, with respect and courtesy.
It's not surprising that after Malietoa's death on May 11, at the ripe old age of 95, it's his humility that stands out in the memories of most Samoans.
As a Samoa Observer editorial put it, Malietoa left a legacy of "humility, respect and equality".
"There is no doubt in our minds that with His Highness' peaceful passing, a remarkable era in Samoa's history as a politically independent nation has ended. An era forever marked by unrivalled political stability, unequivocal peace as a nation, enviable national unity."
LiveSamoa.com recalled a "leader with great strength and humility", who was loved and respected by Samoans. "It is certain that only a handful of leaders around the world would be able to boast that he or she could travel in his or her nation without armament or bodyguards to protect oneself. Such was the way Malietoa travelled in Samoa - driving his own personal vehicle until he could no longer do so due to illness, without fanfare of a police escort or personal minders unless official duties dictated it."
Malietoa was schooled in Auckland at St Stephen's College and Wesley College, before he was called home in 1939 on the death of his father. He became joint Head of State with Tupua Tamasese when Samoa became the first Pacific nation to regain its independence, in January 1962. After Tupua's death a year later he held the position on his own.
Malietoa was descended from all four paramount titles in Samoa, so no one would have blamed him if he'd been insufferably arrogant, but when he was asked once why he didn't call himself King of Samoa, he replied that in Samoa everyone was a king in their own family.
Which is perfectly true - and probably more so now than it was in Malietoa's day.
Samoa abounds with kings - or chiefs - but unlike Malietoa, too many of them want you to know it. Every tinpot matai expects obeisance from the general populace, even here in New Zealand, no matter how tiny, or non-existent, their particular principality might be. And those with the least significant titles tend to make the most noise.
Maybe humility isn't of much use in a society which esteems confidence and self-belief above service. Maybe we've all caught the modern affliction of talking ourselves up. My daughter's CV is several pages longer than mine, and she hasn't even had a job yet. Apparently, it's de rigueur, even for an application to work at McDonald's.
But I will mourn the passing of Malietoa, and his leadership and humility. Malietoa showed, as the Samoa Observer wrote, that humility is the substance that "nurtures unity, respect and natural justice".
* Tapu.Misa@gmail.com
