Young marchers face

violent reaction

woke up with a broken leg and his head split open.

“When he relayed to me what had hap pened it became obvious he had been set up.” said Keil. Formed last year, the posi tive spin-off from the round of bashings is that it has brought the members of Samoa mo Taeao (Samoans for Tomorrow) closer.

“In a way it’s been a Godsend. Everyone looks after each other but violence is not what we want. What we want is account ability for what happens in government. We have taken a bit of a volatile approach by protesting but we feel the protests have really brought issues of government accountability back to life, sort of pushing the system to solve them. “It’s been eight years since we had a set of audited accounts. The Deputy PM has been quoted as saying he will have it ready by the end this year, yet in the June session of last year he said it would ready by the end of that year. “Even when we use the court system

VICIOUS assaults,

smashed cars and threats of violence have done little to deter a group of young Samoans called Samoa mo Taeao from putting themselves in the front line of the Tumua, Pule and Aiga protest movement.

“It is not by any coincidence that we are being picked on. The way it is being done is so that there can be no witnesses,” said president Tuifaasisina Meaole Keil.

Journalist Su’a Mose, an SMT member, says he was assaulted inside a central phar macy by a politician’s son. Although there were at least six witnesses, none was pre pared to testify for fear of retribution.”

“After hooking mew a few times, he throttled me and said in a Rambo voice: “Don’t f... with my father’ and left.”

Another member who acted as a marshal was attacked in a car park by a gang of men following an earlier demonstration. He

nothing has been resolved. Now it’s nearly three years since the (former) chief audi tor’s cases and we still haven’t heard the end of it. It’s disappointing.”

At a low-key launch SMT emphasised that despite its make-up which includes a large number of women half-castes, tertiary educated professionals and locals, it was no

trendy intellectual body.

“We are not a political lobby group, rather a watchdog. Our aspiration is to ensure good governance,” said Su’a Viliamu Sio. “This government is not a law unto itself.” The spectre of further violence has only strengthened the resolve of the SMT to finish the job, said Keil.

“Otherwise it would appear that if they beat us up, we run away.

We’re not saying we are going to beat them back but we are saying ‘bring it on’ because we are just going to keep march ing, keep getting louder and we are going to get better.” ■