Culture and calls for reform mark Sāmoan election

By Liza Simon / Ka Wai Ola

The 2008 governor's race in American Sāmoa includes a challenge to incumbent Togiola Tulafono by a businessman, who is positioning himself as an Obama-like agent of change in the U.S. territory. Utu Abe Malae, former director of the Development Bank of American Sāmoa, who spent much of his childhood in Honolulu, is calling for a crackdown on political patronage and nepotism in the Sāmoan government. “Accountability and transparency are doubly important in a small jurisdiction like ours, and yet we see often that relatives of (government administrators) receive contracts and jobs, not because of their merit – but because of family connections.”

Malae is focusing his criticism on what he says is too much overlap between functions of U.S. government and the hereditary authority of matai – or village chiefs, an integral part of fa'a Sāmoa, the culture which many consider a prototype for all of Polynesia and which includes a system of communal land ownership still intact today. “The beauty of our culture is that land cannot be alienated, but our elected leaders must be able to explain why they make the decisions they do – or we will be denying equal opportunity to people who should be advancing on the merits of their work,” said Malae, who holds a prestigious chief's title.

If elected, Malae said he will expand government oversight on land claims through the Office of Sāmoan Affairs and enforce constitutionally mandated “separation of church and state,” as part of overall plan to grow private enterprise in the territory's economy, which is dominated by the goverment sector and the industry of major tuna canneries, currently exempt from paying workers the U.S. minimum wage.

Malae's candidacy has been bolstered by a grassroots movement of citizens, upset by allegations of government corruption in Sāmoa and an FBI investigation of the administration preceding Gov. Tulafono.

In a recent newspaper interview Tulafono expressed confidence that the “U.S. court system will bring any wrongdoers to justice and demonstrate that a few bad apples are the rare exception to the majority of hard-working government employees.” Citing his administration's track record of increasing college tuition aid for Sāmoans, he said education is key in building an effective government. He also pointed to improvements of roads, seaport facilities and other infrastructure during his time in office as proof that Sāmoa's unique partnership with the federal government is benefitting the public.

A third contender in the governor's race has tabbed citizen out-migration – notably to Hawai'i and New Zealand, as a government problem that he intends to fix. Afoa Moega Lutu said in a recent radio interview that the government work sector is top heavy with soon-to-be retirees who need incentive to move out of their jobs, so that younger Sāmoans, who have been received higher education and training elsewhere, can return and serve their island home.

According to 2006 data, 9,233 Sāmoans live in Hawai'i. Many still claim residency in the American territory and remain passionately connected to the home island's affairs. Many are expected to vote by absentee ballot in the upcoming governor's election on Nov. 4.