By Opposition HRPP Leader, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi
On 12th December 2024, a huge celebration party is scheduled in Aotearoa for the passage of the Citizen Restoration Bill in the NZ Parliament for Samoans born between 1924 and 1949.
It is a landmark decision, and credit must be given to those New Zealand parliamentarians who voted in favour of the Bill and to Greens MP Teanau Tuiono for introducing it.
Recognition and appreciation must also be given to the outstanding mobilization and outreach efforts of the Mau Sitiseni and the team headed by the Hon. Anae Arthur Anae and his Team.
However, there is a hollowness that overshadows the celebrations as the Restoration Amendment Bill falls short of correcting one of the darkest injustices in New Zealand history and restoring the legal rights of a generation of Samoans.
Sadly, this was enabled by Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa who continues to show a lack of vision and opposition to the human rights of all Samoans.
Instead of throwing her support behind the citizen restoration movement, she bowed to the fear of sudden mass migration and brain drain.
Every country in the world faces brain drain.
They manage its impact strategically and with action plans.
We offered practical solutions in our submission to the Citizenship Committee.
First, the Samoan government must push development projects to create employment.
Secondly, the government being the biggest employer should adopt employment policies to provide guidelines for engaging the best qualified and honest Samoans most suited for top management positions.
The Faatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi government is doing neither of these.
There are no major development projects that would generate local employment, and they are making political appointments to key civil service positions, resulting in decisions that make no economic or practical sense.
Also, Samoans cannot help but see a cynical and punitive side of the Restoration Amendment Bill.
The cynicism comes from the low success rate of Samoan applications under the existing quota system and the bureaucratic visa application process.
Based on this, what chance of success was there for a 79- or 100-year-old Samoan’s application for New Zealand citizenship?
By denying their descendants the same rights to citizenship, New Zealand delivered a final punishing blow to this generation of Samoans.
Most, if not all of them, lived in hope that their children and grandchildren would have the same opportunities that they themselves were denied.
Spain, Portugal and Nazi Germany are countries in history that revoked the citizenship of their Jewish populations that was later restored to their descendants.
As a democratic country, New Zealand does not want to be on the same list as those dictatorships.
But to distinguish itself, New Zealand must rise above the racism and xenophobia that drive such injustices.
When Hon. Vaai Kolone returned to Samoa in 1982 from his fateful meeting with PM Robert Muldoon where he gave in to the pressure to accept the Annual Quota Protocol to replace the citizenship of Samoans, he faced a motion of no confidence vote in the HRPP caucus.
This was averted by the elder MPs who called on us to respect the first Prime Minister of the Party.
In hindsight, that would have been a far more honourable exit to his leadership than the disgraceful termination by the Courts several weeks later in an election petition.
Samoa does not need leaders who govern from a position of fear.
Franklin Roosevelt reminded us, there is nothing to fear but fear itself.
Fearlessness is at the core of every Samoan, we proudly sing it every day,
“Do not be afraid, God is our foundation and our freedom!!”
Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi
Leader of HRPP