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) 11th
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 It had to be withdrawn within days because the Samoans who raised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.]
