The possibility of having family/customary lands - privitised (registered under an individuals name) is very frightening. This is not the Samoan way - family land are for the whole family to cultivate and live from - this is what kept our ancestors healthy and strong and we should not lose it today. There appears to be far too much corruption within the Samoan systems to allow only a few - the power to lease out family lands.

Samoa need to learn from the experience of indegenous people in other Westernised countries in the perils of the Westernised systems of privitisation. I had a Maori tutor describe the woes Maori people face today due to decisions that were made long ago regarding their lands in this way - when Maori people had plenty of land when the Europeans first arrived to New Zealand, they were very generous and allowed much of it to be exchanged. Today Maori people are in a serious struggle to re-claim their lands, alot of their lands have spiritual affliations to their peoples plus their ancestors.

Within the field of mental health there is reasearch claiming that cultural identity is a great advantage of maintaining or regaining wellness. Maori people have a similrity to Samoan in that lands is a pivotal tale of who you are - risking this treasure of identity (in all its avenues) is a rollercoaster surely only for the worst in the long run. Please also find reference in the experience of the Hawaii community in regards to land - identity and progression for indegenous people in the long run.

Yes surely - there maybe some quick financial gain to be made in the short term by some - however - what happens when family members want to return home to live in their family lands and there are non or limited available because some company has it leased. Also isn't there a question re: the leased person or company having some natural right to land ownership after 10 years of occupying the land?

I believe this bill is a risky move.

Filomena

Filomena

What better way for the government to controll the Matai vote!?

I'd like to comment on the Land Reform Bill.
I believe that, if it goes through, Samoa is stepping towards a slippery slope and the majority of Samoans will be the worse for it. I have conducted poverty and inequality-related research in Africa and the PICs, but Samoa struck me as very different. The distinguishing factor lies very much in the continuity of the Samoan land tenure system, which I attribute to the productive presence of Samoans in every aspect of society, the physical and mental health of its people and the cleanliness of the towns and rural areas.

Unlike other so-called 'developing' countries of the global South, Samoans are visibly active in every aspect of economic, social and political life. Samoans still maintain ownership of the factors of production, which is a different story in places such as South Africa, Cuba and Fiji, where foreign ownership reigns supreme and indigenous people assume the role of chambermaids and parking attendents, no longer affording the luxury of a meal in Aggie Grey's with tourists. Should it come to pass that factors of production in Samoa, specifically, land, become privatised, then Samoa's path to economic openess will see a wave of foreign suitors pouring through the floodgates and detrimentally alter economic, social, environmental and political life in Samoa.

A disturbing thought comes to mind of the road from Faleolo to Apia becoming the next Suva-Nausori corridor and Savai'i engulfed by foreign-owned exclusive upmarket resorts. Samoans disenfranchised from their family lands will have to sell their labour in a booming Apia (signal the rise of squatter settlements) or shanty towns in Savai'i, far removed from the fancy coastal resorts, yet at the service of its patrons (none of whom will be Samoan).

Dr Alec Thornton
University of Otago, NZ