KJ Apa is now an official Samoan chief. During a traditional ceremony in his village of Moata’a, the 25-year-old Riverdale star bestowed the Samoan chiefly title Matai on Thursday (1 September).

In Samoa, matai, or chiefs of villages, hold huge significance, and are exclusively eligible to stand for parliament. But titles aren’t simply inherited.

Samoa's first prime minister was Matä'afa Fiamë Faumuinä Mulinu'ü II, the father of the current caretaker Prime Minister Fiamë Naomi Matä'afa. He first led the country in 1959, serving until 1970, and ...

In Samoa, matai, or chiefs of villages, hold huge significance, and are exclusively eligible to stand for parliament. But titles aren’t simply inherited.

Importantly, the matai administer family property including customary land. About 81 percent of Samoa’s land is under customary ownership, with only 4 percent freehold and the rest public lands.

Misa cited one aspect of Samoan culture, its “Matai” system, which is a “chief system based on communal responsibilities,” as a difference that required Samoan democracy to differ from the Western ...

In Samoa, that can add up to a lot of pigeons: The country has 18,000 matai. Church leaders, too, often receive pigeon as gifts, or even request it as a favorite food.

In Samoa, matai, or chiefs of villages, hold huge significance, and are exclusively eligible to stand for parliament. But titles aren’t simply inherited.

Despite sizable populations now — 220,000 in Western Samoa, 65,000 in American Samoa — they still look like paradise, and they aren’t overrun with tourists.

In his opening remarks in Samoan, Gov. Togiola Tulafono said the two-week convention should offer a road map for the next 100 years, according to a translation by The Samoa News.