Islands Business - Samoa: PM TUILAEPA SPEAKS

"We have put our limited resources to the best possible use."

Dev Nadkarni
Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has been the Prime Minister of Samoa since November 1998. A parliamentarian since 1980, his Human Rights Protection Party was returned to power in 2001 and again earlier this year. First in the country to earn a master’s degree, Tuilaepa is an economist and has done stints in the private sector, as well as held positions with the European Economic Community. In the present government, he also handles the foreign affairs portfolio. He was the deputy chairperson of the Pacific Islands Forum last year.

Tuilaepa spoke with ISLANDS BUSINESS in Apia on a number of issues. Excerpts from the interview:

Samoa's Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi. (Pic: Dev Nadkarni)

On HRPP’s repeated success at the polls:

“We have consistently concentrated on providing the basic social infrastructure like drinking water, roads, electricity and communications services to the maximum number of people, the extent of which is measurable. We have put our limited resources to the best possible use.”

On the government’s priorities:

“We have provided communication facilities in most places. Now we want to upgrade, take the next step up. We would like to provide affordable Internet especially to schools and educational institutions for we realise communication and education go together.

“We want to expand our programme of plantation and village access roads to help increase productivity in non-urban areas to create avenues of rural employment in the agriculture sector. This will also help tourism.

“We are also seriously looking at alternative sources of fuel like diesel produced from coconut. On the education front, we are creating colleges in rural areas, thus preventing the need to travel to cities for tertiary education. Eventually, there will be 25 colleges in Samoa—10 of them will be built in the next five years.”

On Samoa’s Opposition party:

“The Opposition members will continue to be MPs but as independents. They may turn out to be stronger as independents than as a party. The current differences of opinions are because certain individuals are putting their self-interest before the party’s.

“They must sit down and sort out things together, hopefully common-sense will prevail. We sincerely hope the leaders will sort out their differences and come back together as a party. It is important for a democracy to have a functioning Opposition Party.” (Since this interview, the SDUP has lost members and as a consequence, its Opposition Party status in the Samoan Parliament.”

On perception that violence is on the rise in Samoan society:

“Closure of a few bars in Apia following violent incidences should not be seen as an increase in violence overall. The liquor board closed some bars to bring discipline among people. Some of the bars were very noisy. There is trouble when people get drunk. It is nothing new. When I was chairman of this board, I had closed clubs in my time too. The clubs that have been closed were frequented by the very young -some of those clubs were not implementing the age limit. Not all bars have been closed. I don’t think there is any increase in violence in Samoan society. There will always be some people in society who will cause violence. We have controls that prevent the spread of drugs trade and things like prostitution.”

On whether Samoa is increasingly looking north:

“We anticipated the Pacific Plan and decided to go out to find development partners to help in funding projects, which is in line with the Pacific Plan. New Zealand and Australia have provided the bulk of funding for regional projects up to now but they cannot do everything. So we’ve presented our plans to Japan, the People’s Republic of China and the European Union to partner with us. Japan has been participating in Samoa for many years and its aid exceeds that given by New Zealand. China has been helping with infrastructure projects including sports infrastructure for next year’s South Pacific Games.”

On the China-Taiwan tussle in the Pacific:

“No, I don’t think it is causing any instability in the region. We have been very pragmatic in our approach to this issue. There is no pressure as such to go with one or the other but as for Samoa, our relationship with China goes back many years and it is a matter of commitment.

“We believe in long-term friendship and not in turning our backs on one to go with the other. We have a One-China policy and do not recognise Taiwan and still consider it a part of China.”

On whaling:

“We support the position that whaling must be sustainable in the Pacific. We know there are different views on what is sustainable. Countries that are against whaling seem to be arguing from the qualitative side. It is important for both parties to compare provable figures from their independent researches before any firm position can be taken. It is for the parties to prove the other wrong in their assumption using credible figures.”