A non-profit organisation that protects Samoa’s culture has appealed to the incoming government to create a public holiday to commemorate the pre-independence Mau movement.

The President of Samoa Tofia, Taloto Obed Unasa, told the Samoa Observer that the rationale behind their call for a day to commemorate and recognise the Mau movement is due to the lack of recognition of their role in Samoa’s independence by successive governments.

"It's like the work of the U.S. civil rights movement of the U.S. in the 1960s," he said. 

"Today there's a Martin Luther King Jr Day. Now, we don't want to have a Tamasese Day because the Mau movement is not about one person. 

“The Mau movement is the people's movement for protecting our Samoan heritage and culture."

Taloto said Mau was a non-violence movement that started with Lauaki in 1908 and ended with the women's Mau movement in 1930. 

"Everyone got involved because it was for the people,” he added.

Asked how the public will react to their appeal and what the organisation is currently focused on, he said their unsuccessful attempt last year to stop the demolition of the old Apia courthouse and calls for the recognition of the Mau movement resonated with a lot of people.

"And that included the Mau Movement," he said. "We are already getting the ongoing support for a national day and a monument for the Mau movement."

And Taloto acknowledges that in order to achieve their goal the incoming government and the community will need to work together in order to bring the issue to the forefront.

"Samoa  Tofia Inc. would also present a new proposal to the next Government with ideas for a date in the year for this national day and the kind of monument," he said while adding that they have discussed it for over a year.

"The reaction is very positive from people not only in Samoa but around the world.

"Our people are wanting to see a national day for the Mau movement, that automatically comes with a monument."

Going back to the organisation’s unsuccessful attempt to save the 100-year-old Apia courthouse, he claimed that almost 2,000 people signed their petition against demolishing the courthouse.

He said it also gave the people the opportunity to share their support for the idea that the now demolished courthouse is an icon of Samoa’s independence movement and should have been saved.

"But that a national day be made for the Mau movement is necessary so our present and future generation of Samoans know their history," he said.