Concerned about Samoa’s state

By Mathias Huckert 25 July 2016, 12:00AM

When thinking about the latest incidents which have concerned the people of Samoa, one might easily shake one’s head about it. But most people do not spend too much attention on things they are not directly affected by. An exception is Moe Lei Sam, a local shop owner in Samoa’s capital. The woman is following the country’s current affairs with a sorrowful prospect of the future.

“When I read about a Chinese shop owner stating that ‘Business is going well because Samoans eat everything’, I was furious. I am angry about this statement and I know for a fact that others are as well concerned about it. How dare he be saying such things when we had that incident not long ago?”.

The incident Moe Lei Sam is speaking of, involves around the closing of an Asian restaurant last month as it was reported that the usage of dog and cat meat was approved at the place.

Moe Lei Sam also spoke out against the decision of opening a cigarette factory in Samoa: “Two or three weeks ago, the raising of costs for food and cigarettes was announced by a minister. Now they are planning a cigarette factory here in Samoa. I have so many children coming to my shop asking to buy cigarettes and of course I tell them to leave. But once we have that factory here, we’ll find kids smoking all the time”.

As a worried Samoan, Moe Lei Sam does not understand why, according to her, nobody is doing something about those grievances. “There is so much going on these days. You hear so much about violence, rape, and all these new shops owned by Chinese businessmen which are pushing local businesses out of the market.

Some people might say that our country still is a safe place, some also claim it to be paradise, but I don’t agree with all of that – I ask Samoa: why don’t we do anything about what is going wrong in our country? In other parts of the world, people are taking it to the street and complain about what is wrong. Why can’t we do the same?”.

But the local shop owner does not only blame the people of Samoa for not reacting on what obviously concerns so many people in the country. “I am also asking the heads of our churches, the matai’i in the villages and the politicians: why aren’t you doing something the situation, isn’t that why you all have those positions?”

By Mathias Huckert 25 July 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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