Dear Editor,

The beginning of publications for media sessions on social media for this New Year (2018) was kicked off with a political disaster. It was so disgraceful. It started off with an old disrespectful behavior of Prime Minister Tuilaepa towards members of the public like Unasa Iuni Sapolu and other members of the public that have been involved in the recent protest march for customary land. 

That is the same disrespectful behavior he shows against Church Ministers in a media session last year when he was questioned by the media about his new tax law for taxing Church Ministers’ earnings. Unasa’s subject was about legalizing of marijuana but the Prime Minster’s response for Unasa’s subject during the media session was about marijuana, protest march and customary land.

I can tell from Prime Minister Tuilaepa’s response, he is still not recovering from the affection of the truth that was delivered by the small protest march he was laughing at in the beginning before the protest march took place. 

I believe he is not well because of his stress about the issue regarding customary land and the issue about Christian principles that involved the taxing of Church Ministers’ earnings. 

So him being unwell is the sign of pressure about those issues especially the tax issue because it affects God’s commandments. He will never get any freedom and peace from that pressure. 

Without a doubt, God is still pursuing him and God will always pursue him, his family and his generations during their life time on earth because he deceived God by repealing of the declaration about Christian principles from the Preamble of the Constitution of Samoa that the Independent State of Samoa was based upon in order to fit in his personal and political agenda; the taxing of Church Ministers earnings. 

Apart from the Prime Minister, all members of Parliament including other government officials who accepted that treason to take control of the country will all face the consequences of their inappropriate actions sooner or later. 

Let me expand that side a little further.

According to Prime Minister Tuilaepa when they introduced the bill in Parliament to amend the Constitution, he said, the Constitution’s reference to Christianity in the Preamble was inadequate. So I thought at that time according to the word inadequate, the new amendment they have been working on for Christianity is going to be more powerful and adequate. 

However, it didn’t happen the way I thought according to the Prime Minister’s word – inadequate because the Prime Minister was not forthcoming. He did not tell the truth regarding the inadequate of the Constitution’s reference to Christianity in the Preamble. 

The confirmation of the above situation is this. I found out later few months after the Parliament made some changes to the Constitution with the new Constitutional Amendment about Christianity, Prime Minister Tuilaepa and his team with in that small gap was ready with another new plan to impose tax on Church Ministers earnings.  

If Prime Minister Tuilaepa was correct about ‘inadequate’ then why did they repeal this important part from the Preamble of the Constitution? “Whereas the Leaders of Western Samoa have declared that Western Samoa should be an Independent State based on Christian principles and Samoan customs and tradition…”

If the declaration as quoted above about Christianity and the foundation of Samoa was inadequate according to Prime Minister Tuilaepa, then why did they establish the new tax law to tax Church Ministers’ earnings but it is against Christian principles? 

If it was inadequate then why repeal? If it was inadequate then why did they change the truth that was in the inadequate reference of Christian principles with un-Christian principles such as the new tax law for taxing Church Ministers’ earnings?

He is the first Christian leader of Samoa who serving as Prime Minister who has been able to do something impossible and wrong against God and against Christianity by misleading our country in our sacred Parliament the dignity of our government about Christianity and about the foundation of Samoa.

That is wrong and it has already been planted in the heart of our government, the sacred Parliament of Samoa. That is the basis of sources of finances for our country. Accordingly, Prime Minister Tuilaepa will never be a part of the solution because he and the H.R.P.P party are the problems. 

His unprofessional response for Unasa’s issue confirms that he didn’t want to make any good effort in order for him and the H.R.P.P party to become part of the solution for the problems that they created. So, Prime Minister Tuilaepa is still a part of the problem and not the solution.

Because of that reason, Prime Minister Tuilaepa and the H.R.P.P party will keep on working tirelessly for the defending of their reputation and their own satisfaction with their own points and arguments already provided publicly in order to prove to us and Samoa that they were innocent, honest and right. 

My understanding about Unasa’s approach and points of view regarding legalizing of marijuana was professional. It was free from defamation and also, it has no connection at all with the recent protest march for customary land. The government indebtedness she mentioned is not an attack but it is a feeling of concern because government indebtedness is real. 

She has the right and freedom of expression to express her opinions according to the Constitution. She also has the right and freedom to express her opinions on that situation because the government is owned by all the people of Samoa but not just the people who are working in the government. 

Unasa’s approach and points of view regarding legalizing of marijuana was focus on the good sides such as medicines, economic opportunities and reduction of crimes that involved marijuana. Her focus on the good sides of legalizing of marijuana clearly identifies her position about the subject.

She is part of the solution for government indebtedness, for health care, for crime reduction, for reminding of the government about other laws of Samoa and for advising of the government about its colonized mind. She is absolutely correct about that situation because the only kinds of people who act as dictators and colonized their own people are people with colonized mind.

That is a fact and that is the reality of the government we have already seen these days. The example of those situations is the taxing of Church Ministers earnings and the legalizing of mortgages on customary land without the voice of Samoa. 

That is the difference between the Prime Minister’s position and Unasa’s. The Prime Minister should know better in terms of the position of Prime Minister that is owned by the country including private sectors. 

So he should understand about the side where Unasa’s was coming from. Also, the Prime Minister should know better in terms of opinions and facts about the truth and the law. 

So from the public’s perspective, the Prime Minister has nothing to prove or defend but show his opinions with respect instead of using his opinions to attack the public. 

Because the government belongs to the people of Samoa but not the Prime Minister, so it is okay for the public to be defensive in order to save their government from corruption and from dictatorship. In other words, it is not okay for the Prime Minister to be defensive in order to cover his behaviour.

Our fore-leaders during the eras of colonization and after colonization, they never acted as people with colonized minds and that is one of the reasons why they fought against colonization. 

Unasa was well prepared for the subject she raised. 

The most important part of her preparation is the part where she talks about the law that fits in well all her given points. She was very clear about Samoa’s Narcotic Act and the S.L.R.C (Samoa Law Reform Commission) to support her view. Therefore she was showing a valid point to the government that should be handling properly and professionally by the government especially the Prime Minister of Samoa. 

Unfortunately, that was not the case with the Prime Minister of Samoa. Prime Minister Tuilaepa did not handle Unasa’s valid point in the right way. He was very rude, irresponsible and unprofessional. I thought that he is loyal to the law because he is the man of the law, who is now taking control of God and God’s law. 

So it was a must for Prime Minister Tuilaepa to take on board other Acts of Samoa as suggested by Unasa even if he disagrees about Unasa’s subject for legalizing of marijuana. The same consideration moves he did to other Acts should also be applied to other Acts such as the ones that have been suggested by Unasa. 

He is the Prime Minister and he must remember the importance of his role in creating of peace and solutions when exchange opinions publicly. So if he was sticking to the purpose of his role, it could make a difference or an improvement about public relation in order to create peace and solutions. Also, as a leader, he should understand that the right person should lead from the front as a good example of the Act of Criminal Libel law that he wanted to be reinstated is him. 

Speaking of the Act of Criminal Libel law, this is a comment of Prime Minister Tuilaepa about the Act of Criminal Libel law according to a news article by Samoa Observer. Samoa observer 23/12/2017 (P.M. defends Criminal Libel law) ““Defamation is wrong,” he said.

“The law affords the opportunity to low income families who are defamed to get justice.” As noticing from the news article above, Prime Minister Tuilaepa was saying very clearly in that comment that ‘defamation is wrong.’ However, that was not the case with Prime Minister Tuilaepa when Prime Minister Tuilaepa responded publicly to Sapolu’s view about legalizing of marijuana during the media session. 

This is what he said in that response. Samoa Observer 04/01/2018 (P.M. rejects call to legalise marijuana) “But Tuilaepa would not budge. He says the call reflects badly on Unasa and everyone who took part during the recent Samoa Solidarity International protest march.

“That’s why I feel sorry for everyone who marched during the protest,” Tuilaepa said. It appeared that they had a good reason to march, which was to protect customary lands. But now this has followed, asking to legalise marijuana, it’s only people who are not well in the head who talk about such things.” 

The person who said that ‘defamation is wrong’ at the reinstating of Criminal Libel law just few weeks ago, was the same person who did ‘defamation’ and ‘harm’ to Unasa and other people of the protest march.

That is another verification and revelation of Prime Minister Tuilaepa’s double-standard and hypocrisy. He told everyone that ‘defamation is wrong’ and told everyone that that was the purpose of Criminal Libel law but he is not living his own life in that way according to the purpose and terms of his Criminal Libel law.

For him as the Prime Minister to say mean and offensive statements to others without any right reason to do it, it is inappropriate. That is defamation.  

So what is the point of Prime Minister Tuilaepa’s Criminal Libel law? 

Why did he want to reinstate Criminal Libel law when he is the right person who is not well? Why did he rush to reinstate Criminal Libel law when he is the root, the cause and the source of defamation and harm? The meaning of what the Prime Minister has done during the media session as explained above is defamation and insulting of Unasa and people who took part in the protest march. 

He has no evidence and he has no good reason or right reason at all in order for him to say those mean and offensive statements to others. Also, he should never include other people that have been involved in the protest march in his irresponsible response for Unasa.

According to the news report by Samoa Observer, Unasa never said anything about the protest march and customary land in relation to her view about legalizing of marijuana. So why did Prime Minister Tuilaepa use the situation about the protest march and customary land to attack Unasa? 

Also, why did he use that same situation he did to Unasa in order to attack other people of the protest march when those people do not have anything to do with the subject about legalizing of marijuana? What was the reason of the attack? So the real meaning of what Prime Minister Tuilaepa had done is violation of the Criminal Libel law.

He provided the media with mean and offensive information about Unasa and people of the protest march to be published with the intention of doing harm and defamation to those people. The mean and offensive information he gave to the media are not correct because Unasa never said anything regarding the protest march and customary land in the subject about legalizing of marijuana. Also, the people of the protest march; they don’t have anything to do with Unasa and her subject about legalizing of marijuana.

The other serious mistake that was done by Prime Minister Tuilaepa is that he intentionally and publicly abused the legal right of people of the protest march that is protected under the Constitution of Samoa in order to ruin the legal right of those people about the protest and in order to attack the protest march and to harm the reputations of those people.

Furthermore, if the main reason for reinstating of the Criminal Libel law is because of Prime Minister Tuilaepa’s concern about the people of Samoa that have been affected by defamation then why didn’t he show that same concern for other people of Samoa who are showing concerns about the customary land?

Why didn’t he show that same concern for other people of Samoa (four Chiefs) who lodged a complaint about customary land? Why didn’t he show that same concern for other people of Samoa (Church Ministers) that have been affected by the new tax law? Why didn’t he show that same concern for other people of Samoa who took part in the protest march? 

Why did he laugh at the plan of the protest march before the protest march takes place? Why did he attack those people again through Unasa’s subject about legalizing of marijuana? Only the family of Toaipuapuaga that have been affected by defamation but the number of Chiefs, Church Ministers, church members and the people of the protest march is more than thousand.

So what is the difference between the people of Samoa that have been affected by defamation and other people of Samoa such as the four Chiefs, Church Ministers, church members and people of the protest march that have been affected by lies and corruption of Prime Minister Tuilaepa and the H.R.P.P party? 

If Prime Minister Tuilaepa was truly concerned about the people of Samoa then the right thing that he should have done first when they amend the Constitution of Samoa is ensuring first that the amendment they wanted to do to the Constitution of Samoa suits Samoa’s satisfaction according to Samoa’s true foundation (Christian principles) and according to Samoan customs and tradition.

The amendment must keep the truth and the context from the original. The amendment must be free from political influences. 

Sadly, it appears that the current Constitution of Samoa does not keep the truth and the context that were in the original. The new amendments about the foundation of Samoa and Christianity was based on Prime Minister Tuilaepa’s and the H.R.P.P party’s political satisfactions. 

Therefore the original of the Constitution of Samoa was intentionally amended with new contents in order to cut out the power of Samoa and the voice of Samoa for its true foundation and for its possessions.

The original declaration that is already repealed shows that the voice of Samoa comes first through Christian principles and through Samoan customs and tradition. That is, the authority of the government including Parliament is under the control of Christian principles and Samoan customs and tradition.   

The result from the new Constitutional Amendment about Christianity and the foundation of Samoa, is the rise of the sovereign power of the government over everything about Samoa. The first dictator of Samoa Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi was born from that sovereign power of the government. 

Those situations create the reason and purpose of the protest march. In other words, the recent protest march indicates true understandings about Prime Minister Tuilaepa and the H.R.P.P party regarding customary land and regarding the Constitutional Amendment about Christianity and the foundation of Samoa that was already done to the Constitution. 

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele’s own words that have been recorded and reported as news on Savali and Samoa Observer are evidences of those untruths. More details about those situations will also be discussed later on in this discussion. 

Accordingly, it is a must for the Attorney General and fifty top lawyers in the office of the Attorney General to make a move about the whole situation as explained above. They should be neutral and should never be politicized anymore by the Prime Minister and H.R.P.P. They have enough information as evidence in their hands in order to give a proper advice to the Prime Minister.

They must stand up for the truth and serve nothing but the truth. They should remember that they have already done two serious mistakes to Samoa because they have been heavily politicized by Prime Minister Tuilaepa and the H.R.P.P. party. The first mistake is the taxing of Church Ministers’ earnings.

I am certain according to some researches I did; Prime Minister Tuilaepa’s misleading interpretation of the Constitution of Samoa was the cause of that serious mistake. The second mistake is legalizing of mortgage on customary land without the voice of Samoa. 

Lastly, it will be very interesting to see the Police Department’s position about the alleged case of ‘defamation’ that I have already identified from this discussion between the Prime Minister and others; Unasa and people of the protest march. Stay tuned.  

Nanai Malonuu Lealaiauloto Nofoaiga.