name change

American Samoa's bid lo ban Samoa’s name change fails

By Chris Peteru

Samoan passport holders have been allowed into

neighbouring American

Samoa after legislation seeking to ban them faltered at a final hurdle of the upper house sen ate.

Within days of Samoa announcing its new name back in August, American Samoa tabled a bill to ignore the name change and reject anyone carrying Samoan passports into the territory.

Recently the bill was voted through its second reading. But in an unusual move that runs against normal proce dures, at the third and final reading - that would have all but made the bill law - the 18 members agreed to a postponement for the document to committee level for some fine tuning.

The eleventh hour maneuvering turned out to be the best course to take to avoid a unprecedented stand off that would have burnt everyone’s fingers.

What had bothered Samoan politi cians a bit and their American Samoan cousins in the 18 member upper house senate even more was the provision rejecting Samoan passport holders from entering their five islands.

Representative Suemalo Seti Lopa, the key figure in pushing the tough action, has dug in over removing the passport clause “as that’s the teeth of the bill”. Insiders say that other senate mem bers had been quietly suggesting to Lopa

that the only teeth missing by not removing the clause will be their own.

Even scarier than dental repair bills was the cost of severing economic links worth millions of dollars to both islands. Several thousand Samoans form the labour base of the territory, many working menial jobs in the huge US based fish canneries many locals avoid.

With about 60 percent of cannery employees from across the way, Congressman Eni Faleomavaega Hunkin says passport busting was a bad idea from the start. “To treat these people as second class citizens would only have resulted in more economic hardships for all Samoans.

The territory’s well being is very much dependent on people from the state of Samoa decreasing unemployment and reducing tax revenues for the government he told journalist Monica Miller.

“The bill does absolutely nothing to pro mote a better political social and economic relationship with the state of Samoa.

While American Samoa with a popula tion of 19,000 feels the Samoa name was hijacked because they were not consulted, political leaders on both sides agree that tec nically it was a fair call.

The governor Tauese Sunia who holds the power to veto senate decisions and for merly opposed the bill because of the pass port clause, has come out in support of the revamped document.

Hunkin noted that American Samoa vol untarily called itself by that name when it signed a Treaty of Cession with the US where as Samoa was involuntarily stuck with the designation as part of the division of the Samoan Islands by colonial powers.

“We should support not chastise our borthers and sisters as they seek to shed their remnants of colonialism.”

Samoan Prime Minister Tofilau Eti Alesana qualified the move in a bill that he tabled by explaining that since joining the United Nations in 1967, the island state had only been called Samoa.

The change was made for easier recog nition internationally. Some believe that a passport scandal the prime minister (who holds the immigration portfolio) has contin ually tried to distance himself from, could explain why it took 20 years before anything was done to give Samoa her pre colonial identity. A resolution from the American Samoa senate to the Samoan parliament stating the name change was inappropriate will be sent. ■