By Mataeliga Pio Sioa
Pray tell of whatever else is left not yet corrupted or contaminated by the political mess we are in – allegedly corrupted or contaminated of course.
All the three arms of rule that form the triangle of power for us as an independent nation are soiled by distrust and suspicion of politics.
Take the Samoa Law Society attempts to be a ‘friend of the court’ as one example. Members of the society itself objected on the grounds of politics and it left them divided.
Unfortunately, it is of little surprise! Members of the society have different tastes of colour, which is not surprising since they too are people.
Some wear the red of FAST others the HRPP blue. But don’t we all! We are in this mess because of our political loyalties as people.
When and how we will eventually settle our political differences is anyone’s guess.
What is turning it into a major challenge is the ‘kingmaker’ role of the social media to decide the next political party rulers of Samoa.
Social media is 99.99% or thereabouts, dominated by non-voting, non-residential Samoans and they have become true puppet masters of our political will.
Government is at a loss to decide whether to close it down or not.
The sad reality is voters in Samoa are being made to dangle at the end of puppet strings of social media influence.
Our dancing maidens swaying to the ‘siva’ is a sight to behold when we climax our entertainment with the ‘taualuga’.
We also slap our half naked bodies, jump or roll around and let our maidens walk all over us, proud to play door mat for their bare feet.
But lets not forget that our love of dancing and having a good time is by our own free choice.
If we want to dance and be silly we do so willingly to enjoy and be entertained.
Dancing as a puppet with strings attached to control how we move, when and where is not the same.
We have already had a taste of that with our colonial masters. We all know how badly that ended up.
Do we want that to happen again?
Are we going to let ourselves to be tied up and made to dangle and dance to puppet strings controlled by our puppet masters on social media?
Where we go from here is easy enough to ask. Knowing where we are going and getting there is where we have to climb the mountain top.
Corrupt and contaminated are dirty political words that have slipped into the integrity of our system of Justice .
They have also defiled the trust in the teachings of our divine faith. Our church leaders have shown political interest in who should be our chosen leaders, taking over from the will of God.
Our stability we so proudly boast to our neighbours and the global community is shaken to the roots by our political indecision that has left us lost in a maze.
We are still shaking.
What happens on Monday when the Supreme Court ruling is delivered will determine how we shake in the coming weeks.
Lets pray and hope we won’t need shock absorbers to ease the bouncing and rattling like a 10-ton truck running over a road full of potholes.
With all due respect to the Supreme Court the question is what are the best choices we should take once the ruling is handed down?
Lets ponder that for now until we hear what the court has to say.
We should not pre-empt the ruling of the court by running around making it look as if they will rule in favour of the political party you support.
By the same token, protesting against a court respondent while legal proceedings are underway, questions whether it is an attempt to influence a just and fair hearing?
Who are these protesters trying to influence by protesting next to the Court House while proceedings are underway?
If the court should rule in favour of their protests is that not going to be cause for questioning the integrity of the court?
Why not protest at the Fugalei Market or the Savalalo Bus Depot where their message is exposed to a much larger section of the population?
Is winning the opinion of the majority not what protests are supposed to influence?
Why outside the Court House when you can count the number of people watching with your fingers?
Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done.
We have heard that already since our general election results landed us in this political maze we are trying to find our way out.
There is counsel and wisdom in those few words. We have to respect that.
Lord we trust in your divine wisdom, Guide us safely from the temptations of all our political run around right now.
Grant us peace on your day of rest.
An excellent column and lets hope that the Supreme Court has an independent judges who will make the right decision according to the law not being swayed by the populists nor politicians.