SAMOA - A MODEL OF PACIFIC DEMOCRACY?

 

SAMOA - A MODEL OF PACIFIC DEMOCRACY?

 

Thakur Ranjit Singh

Prologue

Fiji has had its share of political uncertainties and instability. Some of this has been exaggerated by the ridiculing of Bainimarama by the Samoan Prime Minister and satire and sensational news stories written by some Samoan journalists on Fiji’s political adversity. 

Samoa has been trying to cash in on Fiji’s handicap by attempting to step into the economic, transportation and regional leadership shoes that Fiji had carved out over the past three to four decades. 

With the amplification and browbeating of failure of democracy in Fiji, Samoa had consequently been projected as a model of Pacific democracy.

However, this myth has been shattered now in the aftermath of upheavals in Samoan Democracy

 

This article is over a decade old and was initially published in the blog The Pacific Scoop in December 2009.

 

It is coverage of the Pacific Islands Political Studies Association’s (PIPSA) 11^th conference held on 3 December 2009 at Fale Pasifika, University of Auckland.

Two Samoan academics and a former Samoan diplomat and a former member of the ruling party took turns in revealing what was wrong with the Samoan model of democracy which Samoans were reluctant to discuss openly in publicly.

 

And this was very evident by the forced withdrawal of this article soon after publication. It had to be withdrawn within days because the Samoans who raised the issues got cold feet once they got pressure from “outside” and did not want that published. To protect them after such a long time, I am republishing it with hidden names to protect their identity.

 

Samoan Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, as seen by NZ Herald Cartoonist on the day of the large red moon on 26 May, 2021 ( NZ Herald Cartoon) 

Samoa’s pride in being leaders promoting democracy, equality and social justice in the Pacific just now remains a shadow. Let’s revisit the problems that were unearthed over a decade ago, but those speakers were not bold enough to publicly uphold their opposition to a wanting democracy in Samoa.

 

The Conference

On plenary session on democracy in Samoa, a doctoral student and Samoan academic Fiu (real name hidden) spoke on Temokalasi ma le fa’amatai: A true democracy or dictatorship in disguise?

 

Fiu quoted other Samoan leaders who had likened their Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi to Hitler. He cited incidents of Prime Minister ignoring the wishes and petitions of Apia people to stop proposed gas pipes being laid through their townships and the changing of the roads where changes were brought about without proper consultation or informing the people. Fiu told the conference that:

Former opposition leader Asiata Saleimoa Va’ai wrote that history shows that political parties in the past who have dominated governments for many years have often become dictatorial and communist in their ways, giving the examples of Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Hussein in Iraq and of course Hitler in Germany. This he says is becoming the case with Tuilaepa and Samoa.

 

Samoa's democratically elected first lady incoming PM was locked outside Parliament by existing PM Tuilaepa, who ignored people's and court verdict to transfer power.

The question was posed whether these comparisons were justified and whether Samoa was under dictatorship or still had a semblance of democracy.

This was answered by the fact that the word “democracy” did not exist in the two most recognised published Samoan dictionaries. Despite the long history of chiefly authority in Samoa, universal suffrage was introduced only in 1990 when all were eligible to vote, whereas, before that only the matai were allowed to vote.

 

Fiu cites an experience of his recent trip back home where while all appeared to be well post the road change, the road switch debacle has resulted in another ongoing battle between the people of Samoa and the Government at a lower scale. 

Supposedly for the safety of Samoans, the government has passed a law  that all pubs and clubs must close  at 10pm while the business concerns have objected, saying most money was made after 10pm. A strange compromise was allowed which permitted establishments to open till midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, however all music, DJs bands etc must still be turned off at 10pm. While this could hardly be classed as a compromise, the sad part was that there was nothing much the business owners could do about it, illustrating the lack of democratic procedure.

 

Fiji's PM who has been at the receiving end and butt of jokes of Samoan PM who never ceased to humiliate Bainimarama for not respecting democracy. Now Tuilaepa has become butt of jokes for doing exactly what he used to accuse Fijian PM of doing

Fiu further reported that according to former Samoalive news editor, Cherelle Jackson, the gist of complaint of the people was not on the actual road switch, but rather the way government went about implementing the changes, completely ignoring and disregarding the voice of the people. It appeared that there was no sign of democracy having taken place during the process.

 

Savea Sanoa Malifa, who had written in the Samoa Observer likening the Prime Minister with Hitler, said that the PM already had complete control over Samoa.

He already owns Parliament, Cabinet, the Public Service, the Church, the business community, all the villages and their happy, itching mayors as well, the public media and the little boys and girls there jumping eagerly to his command - in fact, the man owns practically the whole country- when one man “owns practically the whole country”… and not necessarily under the will of the people, chances are they are a dictator.

It was observed that in absence of an opposition party, Samoa had become a one-party state, contrary to what the Westminster system defines democracy as. It was felt that the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) completely dominated the Parliament, hence anything they say goes. National University of Samoa Vice Chancellor, Leapai Professor Asofou So’o was quoted as saying that:

 

a disadvantage of the party system is that, when the party in government obtains too much power and has been in power for a long time, parliamentary opposition is rendered meaningless.

 

This point is illustrated by comparison of Samoan government since the introduction of universal suffrage in 1990 with other long well-established democracies. The available data shows that in the two decades between 1990 and 2009:

 

United States of America had 4 governments and 4 Presidents

Great Britain had 4 governments and 4 Prime Ministers

Australia had 3 governments and 4 Prime Ministers

New Zealand had 4 governments and 6 Prime Ministers

Compared to all these, Samoa had ONLY 1 government and ONLY 2 Prime Ministers.

Despite Fiji not being a model democracy and despite its current government being periodically ridiculed by Samoan Prime Minister, Fiji had seen more changes than Samoa, with two constitutions, 4 Prime Ministers, four governments and ..er...two coups.

Fiji has been dubbed a failed democracy by some academics for failing the ultimate test of democracy - SMOOTH TRANSITION OF POWER. Now Samoa, an ardent critic of Fiji remains accused of failing that test. Ironically, Samoan PM Tuilaepa (top) has always been critical of Bainimarama ( above) for not allowing that transition. Now he himself stands accused of doing exactly the same.

Conclusion

In his concluding remarks Fiu summed up his presentation as follows, which is best presented in full:

In concluding, democracy is a clouded concept in Samoa. At the national level, there exists a government that has in general adhered to democratic practices however there have been instances of lately where they have ignored the democratic process in order to implement things they know full well would have probably never passed had they given the people a democratic say.

The irony of all this is that the flagship of so-called democracy, the government, has in recent times displayed obvious anti democratic behaviour, and dare I say, have indeed been rather dictatorial in the running of the country… they only listen when it suits or benefits them. Other than that, the order of the day seems to be dictatorship.

Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, the first Lady incoming PM of Samoa has guts and  resolve to unseat a party which had "stolen" democracy from Samoans for some four decades. But she is denied smooth transition of power by the sitting PM who had been masquerading as a disciple of democracy.

At the village level, indigenous democracy is thriving. Although from an outsider’s point of view, the matai system seems very dictatorial as well as being a body that suppresses individual rights.

Despite the inconsistencies of democracy at national and village level, the one constant is that at the end of the day, barring a military takeover, it is the people that choose their leaders, their Prime Minister, their matai etc, and this process regardless of how other decision have been made, will inevitably be democratic.

Democracy will prevail and if people feel they have not been listened to initially, nature and society work in such mysterious ways that eventually they WILL be heard. I am predicting that the voices of the Samoan people will be heard at the next elections, and that the road switch issue may actually be the undoing of the HRPP party.

Although throughout the past and present, democracy has at times appeared nonexistent, democracy in the end will prevail, and as the cliché goes, “will have the last laugh”............ But then again, anything can happen in Samoa.

 

Epilogue

Despite Fiu’s prediction, nothing changed in the 11 years since this conference in Auckland, and Fiu would be a professor by now and may recognise his presentation, which 11 years ago, he was too scared to have it published. Perhaps he may be bold enough to come out now.

 

It took a long time, but it seems democracy will now have the last laugh at the situation in Samoa now.

 

And Karma is at work with Samoa’s PM Tuilaepa who always took pot -shots and ridiculed  Fiji’s Bainimarama for playing with democracy in the past.

He now finds himself in a deeper chasm of arrogance and has himself become a dictatorial “Hitler” who needs to re-check his use-by date.

 

Like the tsunami, the change may come with little warning, it has taken long, although preliminary warning shots had been fired in Auckland over a decade ago in this Pacific (PIPSA) conference.

Samoans now await change that they have been craving for decades.

 

[About the Author: Thakur Ranjit Singh is a former Publisher of Fiji Daily Post newspaper, and a Pacifica Fiji Indian recipient of Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA) and AUT postgraduate scholarship at AUT where he completed Masters in Communication Studies (MCS) with honours. When he wrote this article in 2009, he was still a postgraduate student at AUT, and attended the conference on behalf of Pacific Media Centre (PMC). He currently is  retired and runs his blog FIJI PUNDIT.]