The findings of a survey that focused on ordinary Samoans' attitudes to key aspects of their democracy such as trust in institutions, identity and attitudes to the role of government will be unveiled on Tuesday.

The Pacific Attitudes Survey (PAS) Symposium will be hosted by the National University of Samoa (NUS) on Tuesday at the Le Papaigalagala Campus, Lecture Theatre D101 from 12–2pm. The objective of the symposium is to discuss the findings of the PAS Report that was launched in June this year.

A media release issued by the NUS stated that the PAS is the first of its kind in the Pacific region. It focused on ordinary Samoan’s attitudes towards the various aspects of their democracy, such as levels of popular trust in institutions, identity, attitudes towards the role of government, and to women's participation in politics.

The survey was a research collaboration between the N.U.S., Australia National University (A.N.U.) and the Swinburne University of Technology and is funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 

The four main speakers at the survey on Tuesday include Associate Professor Julien Barbara (A.N.U.); Professor Michael Leach (Swinburne University of Technology); Dr Stewart Firth (A.N.U.); and the Emeritus Professor Meleisea Malama Meleisea (N.U.S.). 

A Summary of the survey's findings will be presented by Associate Professor Julien Barbara from the ANU and Professor Michael Leach from  the SUT while Dr Stewart Firth and Emeritus Professor Meleisea Malama will provide the critiques.

A plenary discussion will then be held after the presentation of the survey's findings with the N.U.S. President and Vice Chancellor Professor Aiono Alec Ekeroma giving both the welcome and closing remarks of the symposium. 

The survey was conducted in late December 2020 and January 2021, three months before Samoa's historic 2021 General Election, which saw the toppling of Samoa's ruling political dynasty in the Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P.) and the entry of the Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (F.A.S.T.) party to lead a new Government.