On Friday 30th August 2024, the Faatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi dominated Parliament passed two important amendment bills to remove the fundamental rights of Samoa’s village chiefs and religious organizations from the Constitution and related provisions in the Land and Titles Court.
If passed, the two bills will disempower and effectively dismantle Samoa’s indigenous court system that protects our culture and tradition, giving supremacy back to a palagi-based fundamental rights system that has not served justice to our people.
The two bills are now with the Subcommittee of Parliament for the necessary public consultations for at least 90 days before they are considered for final approval by Parliament possibly in December 2024 or early 2025, just before the next general Election.
Why is there is so much opposition to the fundamental rights of Samoa’s Chiefs and Orators who have been responsible for the preservation of peace and tranquility in our village communities for thousands of years and are still functioning strong today?
In March 2016 just after the General Elections, at a seminar for newly elected Parliamentarians, Chief Justice Patu who served as Samoa’s Chief Justice for close to 30 years, explained that our leaders at the Samoa Constitutional Convention, wanted the Articles of the Constitution to reflect that Samoa is founded on God and Samoa’s cultural traditions.
It is not surprising, that both Fiame Naomi, who was my deputy at the time, and Laauli Schmidt were absent from the seminar.
At the time of the constitutional convention, the NZ Advisers recommended including these references to God and culture only in the Preamble and not in the Articles of the Constitution to ensure an easy passage of our Constitution at the United Nations.
Following Samoa’s independence, a Parliament of the future may then incorporate the two issues in the constitution.
In June 2016, with the Parliament and Cabinet approval secured, I proposed a motion in Parliament to set up a Parliamentary Committee to carry out public consultations for the recommended amendments.
The amendments were approved on December 15th, 2020, by over two thirds majority in parliament.
Over 84% of Matais in all the districts consulted approved the recommended proposals in the Constitutional Amendments.
As a result, the new Land and Titles Court was formally incorporated in the Constitution in December 2020 for the first time.
Previously, only the Criminal Court was incorporated in the Constitution of 1962.
The statement that Samoa is founded on God was approved earlier by Parliament with ease.
Samoa became the only country in the world that observed both the Communal rights of our village Chiefs and Church Organizations and the rights of the Individuals.
Samoans watched several public interviews that the Honourable Chief Justice Patu gave on television, in which he acknowledged with joy the Constitutional Amendments of December 2020.
He said “In all the cases that came before me to consider involving the Chiefs of the villages versus individuals, the Chiefs would always get a TKO decision because only the individual’s rights were protected by the Constitution. And I delivered those decisions with tears in my eyes.”
The late CJ Patu retired in 2020 and the Judiciary, without the the guidance of his wisdom were not privileged to understand the far-sighted vision of this great Chief Justice and son of Samoa.
The December 2020 Amendments that were approved by Parliament, followed 5 years of consultations and review involving MPs and Office of the Attorney General, Law Reform Commission, and Ministry of Justice.
It is ironic that many of Samoa’s highly qualified professional law drafters who were involved in that process are now assisting other Pacific Island Governments who are considering the same rights of their cultural communities.
All the opposition against the December 2020 Amendments are based more on ignorance and malice.
The FAST Government requires a two-third majority in the House for final approval.
When our people fully understand the real issue involved, it is doubtful that the two-thirds required for Parliamentary approval will be met.
We have already seen the usual buildup of lies and distractions by the FAST Parliamentarians to convince our people in the next months that reverting to the 1981 Land and Titles Court Act is the best decision for Samoa.
Human Rights Protection Party members have continued to explain and defend the December 2020 Amendments with facts and principles that put the indigenous rights, tradition, and culture of the Samoan people at the heart of our fight.
The December 2020 amendments were the result of forward-looking Samoan reformists, such as Chief Justice Patu, who had an inspired vision for our nation.
It is a vision that backward-looking conformists will never understand or have the freedom to enjoy.
After watching the same lies for 4 years, Samoans are convinced that the FAST Party can only fool some of the people sometimes but not all the people all the time.
Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi
Leader of HRPP