Find our own middle path

Re: Do we want to be like Zimbabwe?

Yeah the Governor-General is a representative of the Monarch back in Britain. The government should steer well clear of trying to compare the Head of State of Samoa to a Governor-General in the Commonwealth countries. 

Perhaps the better comparison is Germany or Ireland where parliament elects the President of those republics.

The President is a ceremonial role in those parliamentary systems; similar to the Monarch in Britain and the Monarch’s representatives in Canada; Australia; New Zealand etc.

Fiji is the closest example to Samoa where a President is nominated by government and passed by parliament.

I support a rotational “monarchy” like they have in Malaysia.

The Head of State in Malaysia is the Malaysian King but the position of the King is rotated between the 9 royal houses of Malaysia from the 9 kingdoms or principalities that make up most of Malaysia’s federation (+ 2 provinces without a king or prince).

Each of the 9 serves 5 year terms as the King of Malaysia and the Head of State of the country. 

In rare cases, if someone is old enough, one guy can serve twice but that is quite rare.

Why not simply rotate the Head of State position in Samoa between the Tama a Aiga? ....and if we are really wanting to be all democratic about it, just expand the Tama a Aiga families to include 9-10 (or 20 or whatever number) of the highest ranking Aiga Tupu of Samoa.

We should not turn into a full republic like in they have in Fiji. Samoa should find its own “middle path” between the republic in Fiji and the monarchy in Tonga.

Samoa’s modern and ancient history has always had paramount “royal families” that most of the country can trace their gafa to.

Those Aiga Tupu really do represent the whole of the country through their genealogical lines.

 

PS Jeffery

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