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Ghosts Of Foreign Investors Go Boo

Written by Pio Sioa
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
The fears of fly by night investors taking advantage of Samoa for a quick buck, with promises of riches for the country that never seems to materialize, are always there to haunt any offer by foreign interests to invest in the country. The Sasina Tourist Resort uprising of public doubt is a classic example. The Prime Minister and most of his Cabinet were there for the signing of the agreement between the investors and the village Council of Sasina. Their presence do seem to suggest there is nothing to fear. They were obviously out to reassure the public that everything is under control. Is it? This is the fear behind the clanging chorus of public reservations, about this mega project with the offer of millions of dollars, that will benefit not just Sasina but Samoa in the long term. Sometimes it is hard to fault public anxiety. We have indeed been burned in the past by offers of investment that we are still waiting to see go up. The Royal Samoa Hotel at Taumesina comes to mind readily. To this day it still remains a piece of reclaimed land with only one notable contribution to the country and that is to cover up and kill off one of the richest areas of marine life along the waterfront. Is the Sasina deal going to be any different? Are we going to see a luxury resort pock mark the natural landscape of our big island with its outcropping of concrete, before the first 30 years run out of the 120 year lease? The investors have indicated genuine goodwill by paying part of the lease up front to their Sasina landlords. The money or part of it has reportedly been distributed already to families in the village. Is that enough show of goodwill? Not according to the Tautua Samoa Party spokesman, MP Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi. “Open a bank account in any of our local banks and deposit at least 5% of the total cost of the project to demonstrate goodwill,” according to the Chairman of the TSP caucus. “Sasina village should also be made shareholders of the project so they can benefit from the profits.” These are constructive comments worth pondering without being dragged into the emotional debate by those in support and others who are not convinced. The challenge for Sasina and the investors is to turn the project into a success. By doing so it could be looked at as a model of development for similar under takings for the country to follow in the future. Realistically, it may be a while before this will bear out, but it does raise new concerns that will agitate and continue to create more uproar. Where do we draw the line on huge multi million tala projects like this, if more villages are inspired to follow the Sasina lead? How will having more resorts of this size impact on our popular beach fale tourism? Maybe the asking of questions is the easy part, getting the answers will probably require having a crystal ball for Parliament to tell what lies in the future. But if we can afford to, maybe it is best if we sit back and allow the terms and conditions of the agreements to play out and see if they stand up to the test of time. Hopefully the framers of this agreement live long enough to celebrate the success of what they have committed the Sasina village to . By the same token, hopefully they will live long enough to suffer the consequences of their shortsightedness and for inspiring the ruin of our customs, culture, environment and for turning Samoa into a land of waiters and waitresses. Comments (4) Subscribe to this comment's feed Great summation written by Ikuaaloha, July 17, 2008 I love your commentary - There is no rhyme or reason as to why they signed and also, who are these investors from Hawaii? How come there is no mention of them and who they are, there is nothing! I have written before and it was not printed - Take a lesson from Hawaii - do your homework! Do not sign away your family's/PEOPLES legacy - the lands in hawaii were taken illegally and never given back per se - the Hawaiians are the poorest in their OWN COUNTRY! ... written by Seek & You shall find, July 19, 2008 For your information Ikuaaloha....hmmmm sounds like a hawaiian name.... We already know what happened to the Hawaiian land. But you see the time different....we are educated Samoans, we are not idiots either. (Sorry if my wording is to the extreme)....Anyways....Hawaiians were not educated at the time the foreigners came, and it wasn't only one ethnicities, there were the Japanese, Chinese the cheap labors the so call missionaries brought in to work the plantations..... Yes, missionaries....that were assigned to hawaii by the British came to hawaii...saw the wealth in hawaii...went back to England resigned as ministers and then came back here and steal your land.... Who do you Castle and Cookes, Bishop...etc. All the developers in hawaii right now are grandkids of these missionaries.... And then your people...some betrayed your Queen. Yes, we Samoans know what happened to your island and home...your language was prohibited, so was your customary dance everything hawaiian was abolished..."why?" because they weren't educated.... I can go on...on about what happened to your motherland...and right i am sorry but it is not going to happen to Samoa.... So thank you for your concerned about our motherland, but I think Samoa has been well educated....God Bless and Take Care Ikuaaloha.... ... written by Seek & You shall find, July 19, 2008 Pio everyone is making a big fuss about this development, ironically your website right next to the space where I am typing up what I have to say, are advertisements of VACANT LAND FOR SALE!!!!!! Now isn't this so hypocritical for everyone to complain about selling lands....etc...and sasina is only leasing. In 120 yrs and land sales are advertised in Samoa...selling lands piece by piece ... well than I guess it is not the framers and Sasina that would be blamed for any future failures. God Bless you all!!! written by Faamoaga Nuusa, July 19, 2008 For all of you wonder about this project.I think the investors and people who involved did their research about the island of Samoa.Both Upolu and Savaii about their culture and their land before they even sign the agreement.So if you wonder why their name are not mention at all then you should wait and see what they can do for your country.Remember don't charge the book by it cover..The past investors didn't do their research about how Samoan culture works and respect.Apply that to Hawaii culture I think you should go back and researh about Hawaii where they make the mistake at.If it took this investors 7 long years to do their research about the culture, how the Samoan system works and government and the people of Samoa then you should give them credit for respecting the Samoan culture and people of Samoa. The real Samoan not the fake Samoan.God Bless you all and hope God will give you peace about this subject. 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