-a recap of the switch debate in regards to Samoas alleged democratic status
The right hand drive debate has become more of a debate on democracy then the road code itself since it became a matter of public concern.
Not that democracy has been too apparent in a nation constantly hailed internationally for its transparent, accountable and good governance status.
At a time when democracy is taking a beating in the Pacific region, the one last hope for the observance of the imposed system is crumpling in the face of neo-colonialism.
Threatened by the switch of the road code to right hand drive, the passive political nature of the Samoan community has officially come to an end.
In a public meeting called by prominent Lawyer Toleafoa Solomona Toailoa last year, hundreds of business owners, community leaders and former politicians turned up to voice their dismay at the proposed switch.
“We are not convinced at all with the reasons the Government has given so far, I do believe that the change will bring drastic consequences to this country, economy, businesses and our private lives,” Toailoa said in his address to the public.
“The only people who can stop this is you and I. If we stand together we should be able to bring together enough force so that the Government will then be forced to reconsider their decision,” Toailoa urged.
His was a desperate call for proper democratic processes to be observed.
The public meeting itself signified a monumental moment in the history of the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP), mass public opposition.
According to Prime Minister, Hon. Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi in the early days of the switch debate, the proposed switch to right hand drive is inevitable, and it was just a matter of time before Samoa moved in that direction.
“This will alleviate the financial burden on Samoa by making cars more accessible and cheaper for the people,” he told the media in Samoa.
But the facts say otherwise.
Cost Analysis
In a submission made by representatives of the business community and civil societies a comparative analysis of importation costs revealed that cars from New Zealand are by far more expensive then cars from Samoa.
According to the submission a used Mazda pickup, 2000 model from New Zealand costs ST$71,078.27, but a the same vehicle in a 2007 model costs ST$68,000.00.
A few years ago, Samoa banned the importation of right hand drive vehicles for safety reasons.
“If we allow right hand drives in to Samoa and switch the road code, it will make it easier for families in rural areas to receive vehicles from their relatives in New Zealand,” he said.
Tuilaepa also suggested that it will make it easier for Samoans to get into the trucking business and eventually move to New Zealand to work, he also said it will make it easier for tourists who come into Samoa and want to drive.
“If our families in the rural areas are sent cars from their relatives in New Zealand, it means they can move inland and uphill therefore minimizing the impacts of sea-level rise and climate change,” Tuilaepa told the media.
Asked about the facts pointed out in the submission Tuilaepa said the submission spearheaded by the Chamber of Commerce, the Samoa Umbrella for Non Government Organisations (SUNGO), Samoa Association of Manufacturers & Exporters the Taxi Drivers Association, Samoa Car Rentals Association and Samoa Hotel Association is self motivated.
“The submission was made by business people and it was purely for their interests and not the interest of our families in the rural areas,” Tuilaepa said.
The submission was rejected by the Prime Minister although he did accept the delegation who presented him with the facts.
Voice of the People
Leader of the Samoa Democratic United Party (SDUP) Asiata Saleimoa Vaai last year publicly accused Tuilaepa for ignoring fair democratic processes in the introduction of such bills.
“Democracy has gone unobserved, the so called Human Rights Protection Party is doing everything but protect the human rights of Samoans,” Asiata said.
“Democracy is made by the people, and this is a neat test of democracy,” he said.
The much publicized mass outcry against the proposed change to right hand drive is democracy taking its course, according to Asiata this.
“This is a good issue to wake up people, we generally gossip and murmur in discontent but never do anything about it, now people are standing up and making their objections known,” Asiata said.
But is Samoa still a democracy?
According to Asiata since the absence of an opposition party Samoa has become a one party state.
“The Westminster system which purports democracy is not the case in our Parliament, it is dominated by HRPP, so therefore anything they say goes,” Asiata said.
Tuilaepa did say that the issue of the switch was decided even before it reached the public.
“HRPP agreed to this change, which means its final, it just has to go through Cabinet who has shown full support, and then to Parliament before it becomes final,” he said in a Press Conference.
But is this fair and democractic?
According to Toailoa, the convener of the public protests, the fair democratic processes currently in Parliament have become mere protocol since the dominance of the house by HRPP.
Newsline sought the opinion of Dr. Graham Hassall, Professor and Director of Governance at the University of the South Pacific, who said the essence of democracy is in the voice of the people.
“Democracy is a set of values which are then translated into processes and ways of achieving outcomes, the important values that are in the ethos of democracy start with the voice of the people, the will of the people,”
Hassall believes that how the voice is accepted is a matter for procedure.
“The first value of democracy is making sure that the broad will of the people is known and clear and acted on, so that those who are in authority are there because they have a mandate that has come from a broad mass of society,” Hassall said.
But Prime Minister Tuilaepa says the public protests only represent a small number of the Samoan population but not the silent majority.
Asiata however pointed out that the “blatant” disregard by the current Government of the objections by the people is in direct disregard of democracy.
According to Professor Hassall democracy itself has adapted into the diversity of Pacific cultures and created what we now term Pacific Democracy.
Cultural Democracy
Samoa has long been an intriguing democracy case study due to the success of the integration of cultural democracy and the imposed system of democracy.
According to Hassall the Samoan system like others in the Pacific has been successful because it ensured the voice of the people.
“Throughout the Pacific there are traditions at village level and clan level of people choosing their leaders based on ability, even in systems that are based on descent within those there are ways to make sure that the most able were given the general leadership positions, those positions were sustained by people particularly serving the community,” Hassall said.
He believes that there is a strong linkage between people agreeing to follow certain leaders, and the leader then serving the community, protecting, allocating resources, solving disputes etc, “you could say then that there were Pacific forms of democracy in which the will of the community were expressed and then put into a form of governance that suited those societies.”
But what about cultural obligations which can suppress elements of imposed democracy?
“We have an irony in the Pacific in that we want to promoted freedom of speech but we are doing it by constraining people, to say you must join the party, you must tow the party line and were doing it in the name of stability, but in fact we are actually inhibiting the voice of our members of Parliament. They may not agree with what their party is saying. So we need to find forms of democracy that continue to allow people if they do become members of Parliament that they must be free to speak, and it does not mean they are opposed to the constitution or to their Parliament but they have a different of idea. The essence of a democratically arrived at decision is that everybody freely gave their opinion and then they willingly agree to the voice of the majority, and this is the challenge that we face in Parliaments.” Hassall said.
In Samoa the HRPP by the SDUP strategy and vision statements outlining their policies are generally endorsed by all their members before elections.
The current election system in Samoa, whereby a Chiefly title is a prerequisite for candidacy is a direct influence of the Samoan culture into the imposed system of democracy.
This according to Hassall is one of the successes of Samoan democracy.
“In the Pacific there is an ongoing dialogue between the traditional forms of democracy and the introduced forms of democracy, the two can work together to an extent. Throughout the Pacific there are traditions at village level and clan level of people choosing their leaders based on ability, even in systems that are based on descent within those there are ways to make sure that the most able were given the general leadership positions, those positions were sustained by people particularly serving the community.”
Passive no more
Since the Right Hand Drive debate, calls by some community leaders for the resignation of the current Prime Minister have become louder and clearer as more and more people join the protest against the Right Hand Drive.
“Because he has remained in office for too long, he has become too powerful,” Asiata said about Tuilaepa.
According to Professor Hassall there is a strong linkage between people agreeing to follow certain leaders, and the leader then serving the community, protecting, allocating resources, solving disputes.
“You then have identified leaders who emerge from a local form, cultural form of democracy which based on a lot of discussion at the local level based on who is the best people to lead them and then introduced system where you only get to voice that once every three years at the Government ballot box, and then you feel in between that time that you don’t have much say in who is leading you,” Hassall said.
In the public meeting which eventually formed the People Against Switching Sides (PASS) this sentiment resonated throughout the youth hall.
Hassall says: “I think there are still a lot of difficulties in bringing effective forms of democracy both at village level and national level and there is a problem of coordination of what people are needing at local level and communicating that effectively at national level.”
Detachment from village reality
So far, Tuilaepas strongest argument for the switch is for the rights of the grassroot level communities.
“If we give our families out in the rural areas better access to vehicles, we are alleviating their financial burdens,” Tuilaepa said.
But Hassall says that in the Pacific whatever happens in the Capital doesn’t have much effect on people at village level.
“It has more effects on the urban elite and professional classes and people in the money economy. But people living in traditional lifestyles and subsistence lifestyles don’t feel much of an impact from it.”
In a survey conducted earlier this year on village perception of national decisions in development and other areas, the general consensus was that it was detached from village life.
Conducted by Dr. Asofou of the National Universtiy of Samoa and Dr. Rob Laking a Senior Lecturer for the School of Government in New Zealand the research concluded that economic reforms, regional agreements and national developments were dubbed detached from village life.
“My sense from talking to the people is, from them, they don’t really care about what is happening in town, if they are getting what they want, today, tomorrow, next year that satisfies them, that’s my sense of the village psyche,” he said.
According to him, “as long as the villagers daily lives continue uninterrupted they are satisfied, and unaffected by the reforms.”
The switch although motivated by Tuilaepas hopes to assist Samoans in rural areas, will inevitably according to much publicized perceptions so far, cause disturbance in village life.
The switch debate trigerred the biggest public campaign has seen since it became independent.
Stickers, posters, t-shirts, petitions and a massive media campaign came into effect all over Samoa.
In the final plea by the business community and civil societies they stated: “We understand Government’s wish to further reduce the cost of cars in Samoa and this desire is to be applauded. The leadership that Government has taken domestically and regionally in reform has been widely applauded. Those efforts have had strong support from the business and community and it is rare that we as a group ask of our Government to reconsider an issue such as this. However, such is the gravity and importance of this matter and its impact to our members and our community that we respectfully ask that your reconsideration of this matter.”
Although Tuilaepa has stated that he is still open to the voice of the people, he has yet to accept points brought forward by members of the public.
According to him, as far he was concerned Samoans are currently driving on the “stupid hand side of the road” whereas the right hand side is the “smart hand side” we must eventually switch to.
The debate in the has no doubt become less an argument for left hand drive and become more of a desperate plea by the people to be heard, a call for democracy to be observed.
If anything the switch debate has only tested Samoas hope for a true democracy.
*Parts of this article was also featured in Islands Business magazine.
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As long as the voice of the people of Samoa move throught the channels of leadership, their voice will make a very strong impact. Our people must work through their elected faipule to clearly make a point of what they want and do not want vs. the government being condescending upon the rights of the Samoan voice against the RHD switch.
No one can stand alone or be isolated like an island; everyone must yield eventually with respect to the voice of the Common Good of all Samoans. Be steadfast in your conviction by utilizing the democratic process, and don't compromise for anything less. Malo le taumafai, malie le toa... ia u'u mau i lau taofi ua e lagona e tatau ona fai aua le manuia o le lautele o Samoa! Ia fesoasoani mai le Atua i agaga uma o tagata Samoa ina ia maua se i'uga lelei e faia i le faamaoni aua le lumana'i o si tatou atunu'u pele o Samoa.... Faavae ile Atua Samoa!