By Tupuola Terry Tavita

Education and developing a highly educated public is the key to unlocking Samoa’s potential the next 50 years.

In a telling interview with local television station TV3 last week, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi outlined government’s vision for the next 50 years as well as his take on Samoa’s colonial history and early years of independence.

“A highly educated, highly motivated and very innovative Samoan is what we are preparing the next fifty years,” said Prime Minister Tuilaepa.

“We have been laying the groundwork for that model Samoan since before we gained independence.

“Look at Japan. Only 14 percent of their land is arable but the average Japanese is very intelligent, very industrious and that is the key to that country’s economic success. They import steel and other metals to manufacture radios and watches and computers and that has been the key to the Japanese economic miracle. The high intellect of its people.

“We want to emulate that success.”

But Tuilaepa believes tourism will always be the mainstay of the local economy.

“There are three major hotel projects that should, and hopefully, start soon. The planned Chinese hotel is slated for a 500 acre property at Safata. That project is very important to our tourism plans.  Why? Because it is the sort of project that will open up a completely new market for us. Thousands of Chinese tourists flying in directly from China on charter flights.

“Tourism, I need not tell you, benefits everyone from hotels and resorts to taxi drivers, restaurants, farmers and handicraft makers.”

Other infrastructure developments that will vastly improve general standard of living and service delivery in the country, Tuilaepa pointed out, include the installation of a new marine fiber optic cable, communications development and expansion, the development of the national university and the Oceania University of Medicine, the development of sports and elite professional athletes, ports and airports development among other key projects government is looking at.

“You can see, we are and have been putting down the cornerstones for multi-sector developments the next 50 or so years.

“The marine cable and communication expansion plans for Upolu and Savaii are the basis for projected advances in the education and health sector. The development of the Oceania University of Medicine is also tied to the development of the Moto’otua Hospital. In two years, government plans to stop all medical referrals overseas. We will develop a programme to periodically bring over medical specialists to treat people here and also train our local doctors and nurses to take over these roles. Development in broadband technology will see complex surgeries being monitored and directed through the internet from overseas and our local doctors conducting it here.”

APIA

Apia will also have a complete make over the next few years, the Prime Minister revealed.

“Cabinet has already approved turning the whole waterfront from Mulinu’u to Matautu into an over-the-water mall-like setting complete with boutique shops, cafes, restaurants and bars. The relevant ministries and government corporations have also been directed to set those developments in motion. They should start very soon.”

One impediment to tourism, the Prime Minister pointed out, is that some sectors of the industry are still lagging behind.

“I’m always very disappointed with the many restaurants and hotels who do not serve local food nor buy local produce. When tourists travel, they want to dine on local dishes like luau, locally-caught fish, talo and bananas. Many of the restaurants in the country do not serve any of these meals on their menus. Which completely baffles me.”

The multi-faceted threats of climate change and a warming climate also is constantly factored in on his government’s future plans, said Tuilaepa.

“We have been laying the groundwork for massive people movement the last twenty years when the pending threats of climate and a rising sea level does occur.  We have been building inland roads and people have started moving to the hills. We have also connected these inland communities to electricity, water, telephones and other essential services. Even here in Apia, this whole town could be inundated with water and people in the future will move up to places like Mount Vaea and Malololelei.

“We are a bit luckier than our neighbours Tonga, Kiribati and Marshall islands who could be underwater with their people having nowhere else to go in the future.

ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE

To fully grasp and appreciate the vision and struggle for political independence, the Prime Minister said it was important to revisit Samoa in the early years of colonialism.

“The motive for colonialism has always been economical. It was at the turn of the last century and the Germans were administering Samoa. Foreign companies and settlers developed highly successful businesses and they brought in hundreds of Chinese coolies and Melanesian indentured labourers to do their dirty work.

“Samoans saw how successful these commercial farms were and started asking, ‘if the palagis can do it, why can’t we?’

“ That was the motive for Lauki Namulaulu Mamoe’s Oloa Movement which became the first Mau movement. He and his supporters were banished to the Northern Marianas. More of our people then started agitating for freedom . It was the seeds for a groundswell of anti-colonial feeling in the country.

The killing of Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III IN Apia by New Zealand Police (in December, 1929)and other shortcomings by the colonial administrators, Tuilaepa said, only deepened a fierce determination for freedom and independence

“When Samoa eventually gained independence in 1962, there was very little in terms of infrastructure available. There was little roading and only a few families in Apia had electricity. I remember living among relatives at Saleufi – which was right in the middle of town – and we only had a single kerosene lamp.

“Even up to 1975, there was no electricity in most homes and access to liquor was regulated. You had to apply to the authorities before you were allowed to purchase one bottle of spirit.

“All the developments you see in Samoa today were built after independence. The roads, the hospitals, the schools, electricity and water access in the villages, telephones, were all built in the last 50 years.

CONSERVATIVE

Government policies in the early years of independence were very conservative, said Tuilaepa.

“From Prime Minister Mata’afa (Faumuina Mulinu’u II) through to Tupua Tamasese Lealofi IV, their outlook was very restrained.

“Perhaps because independence was new and people had to get used to it. When we became independent in 1962, people didn’t know what independence really meant. What it meant is that they now had to pay taxes and duty which everyone was opposed to and could not fathom at the time. You had to pay for your freedom and independence.

“So there was a lot of patience and nurturing in policies of those leaders back then.

The biggest change, Tuilaepa said, came when Tupuola Efi (now His Highness the Head of State Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi) became Prime Minister in 1976.

“He was very young, about 36 (years old) when he took over government. Before then, New Zealand – under our Treaty of Friendship – was responsible for our Foreign Affairs and Samoa’s representation overseas.

“It was during Tupuola’s time that the country started looking outside and taking over its diplomatic duties. The Pacific Islands Forum was set up in 1970 due to dissatisfaction with how the South Pacific Commission was being dominated by the big powers. We joined the International Monetary Fund in

1972 and the World Bank the following year. We were signatories to the establishment of the Asian Development Bank in 1966.

“In 1975, I travelled over with the then Minister of Finance, Faamoetauloa, to Togo in Africa where Samoa became a signatory to the Lome Convention. It was the prerequisite to joining the African-Caribbean-Pacific group which affiliates with the European Union and now has over 90 member countries.

“So essentially we were moving up and we were gaining access to where international funding to develop our economy are sourced from.

“Traditionally, our finances were raised from taxes and duties. Now we were exploring and exploiting foreign aid.

“But we were still a young and financially vulnerable nation and most of these international funding agencies hadn’t quite trusted us yet. For instance, when we applied to the ADB for a loan to build the cross island road through Tiavi in the early 1970s, we had to wait four years to get it.

And there is more assistance on the way, said Tuilaepa.

“I have just returned from the PALM meeting in Tokyo which is essentially Japan asking the Pacific Islands region what it wants. We have other forums with the leaders of the United States, China and France also to explore our needs.

“We are now a member of the World Trade Organisation and will graduate from LDC status in 2014. That will open up other opportunities and of course a set of challenges again for us.”

PARTY POLITICS

In terms of political development, the Prime Minister said the biggest transformation came in 1979 with the establishment of the Human Rights Protection Party and the introduction of party politics in the country.

“The public service strike in 1981 presented an opportunity for the HRPP to make its mark. The strike itself was tied to people’s heightened economic expectations at the time. They wanted better wages which government could not provide. And given that elections were just around the corner, it was political suicide for any government if it didn’t address it.”

Party politics, Tuilaepa said, stabilized Samoan politics.

“The norm before that was when you came into office, you pick a Cabinet of eight and everyone else in the House became the Opposition. Those who weren’t picked would scheme for your downfall. During the course of Parliament, you will find yourself constantly running into a brick wall because everybody else opposed anything you proposed no matter how good your intentions were.

“It was only when the HRPP came into power that consolidation of parties and some normalcy was introduced in the House. People also stopped focusing on characters and individuals but focused instead on the programmes and policies that were introduced.

“We consolidated this further by reforming the electoral act whereby a member who chooses to switch sides during a parliamentary term has to vacate the seat and go back to the polls. Which makes a lot of sense since that MP has reneged on a promise he or she had made to the district on which party he will join.

“But the crucial element in all this, is the political stability it brought Samoa. Political stability is crucial to accessing foreign aid. Donor agencies and donor countries never give money to politically unstable governments.”

Though democracy is not perfect, Tuilaepa believes it is the best political system the world has at the moment.

“It is the most representative system we have where everyone’s voice is heard. Government many times has implemented good advice from the Opposition benches. It’s politics. They give us good advice and we use it. That way we will always be a good Government and they will always be a good Opposition. The media too has a role to play in that democracy. They are a forum to provide a voice for the public. Many times I get angry with what’s on the media, iften giving me a bad Sunday, but I also see the benefit of constructive criticism and alternative thinking presented in the media. So government takes those views and everything else in its stride.”

FOREIGN AID

Despite some criticism of Samoa’s continued reliance on foreign aid, the Prime Minister is unperturbed.

“When I visited Moscow in 1996, I turned on the television one night and there was this old woman on the government news channel begging America to provide aid for Russia.

“She showed her cabbage farm and how everything had been destroyed by the rains and she had nothing left. This was coming from an old woman in Russia, a country rich in minerals and resources, who have been to the moon and back and have one of the biggest war fleets on Earth. It dawned on me then that aid is a game everybody played. The Rissians got this old woman to ask for foreign money for them. It is really about holding on to what you have and begging others for more. Countries big and small play it every day. There is no shame in it.”

Immediately noticeable today is the infrastructure development in Apia, built with Chinese assistance.  Said Tuilaepa;

“The idea is to build good offices for our public servants. The better the environment you work in with all the amenities at your fingertips the more productive you are. If you work in a professional environment, your brain starts to operate like well-oiled sewing machine. You work in an old, leaky and creaking building and your work will reflect it.”

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