Dear Madam Publisher, thank you for the invitation to write a column for the esteemed Samoa Observer. I have mulled over your request with my dear wife of 60-plus years; she’s ambivalent. But Taimisamoa, our daughter whose name marked my start with the Samoa Times in 1970, is definitely opposed, ”You’re 84, enjoy the rest of your life,” she says. 

Obviously, the assumption is that I won’t enjoy writing something for the undoubted leader of the Press in our country and getting involved, once again, with speaking truth to power as a member of the Fourth Estate. What the heck, here goes nothing.

The column will be eclectic, starting with a tribute to the angry young poet who started in journalism with the Samoa Times and then went on to eclipse the Times and built, with your financial expertise, of course, Madam Publisher, the most successful media enterprise in the country.

Despite tremendous odds: threats, assaults, lawsuits, arson – name it – yet, not only did the Samoa Observer survive – it’s thriving.

Later, there’ll be snippets of my ten years as a public servant, that will tell the stories of then PM Fiame Mataafa Mulinuu 11 and his white handkerchief;  the Tahitian school teacher and the Samoan SPC delegation; Afoafouvale Misimoa and the beach at Biarritz, Noumea, New Caledonia; Cooks Islands’ Sir Albert Henry’s dance in aid of Samoa; Fiji PM Ratu Mara and the birth of the South Pacific Forum; then former PM Tofilau and the Mount Vaea coup; the Head of State and the pregnant Lady Samoa; Prince Charles and my stubbed toe; and maybe more.

The phrase ‘Journalism is the first rough draft of history’ is a maxim within the industry; journalism has also been described as a first take on what is relevant to the record for the future.

I know that the Editor in Chief has been working on the History of the Samoa Observer, so some of what this column will record may prove useful in the future, if not for the Samoa Observer story, then for the history of the Press in Samoa. 

So pat the dog, feed the cat, kiss hubby, and be kind.