New Flags Flying - Pacific Leaders Remember
Part 2 Samoa
Background
Samoa was one of the first island groups settled by the people later called Polynesians. The descendants of Austronesian language-speakers who originated in East Asia, they arrived in Samoa more than 3,000 years ago. Archaeological evidence, tradition and genealogies indicate inter-island voyaging and intermarriage between Samoans, Fijians and Tongans before European explorers reached the Pacific.
Map of Samoa
Colonial competition
Contact with Europeans began in the 18th century. Early French explorer, Louis-Antoine Bougainville, named Samoa the Navigator Islands after witnessing the navigational prowess of Samoans in ocean canoes. The first formalised colonial governments were determined by agreement among competing imperial powers Germany, Great Britain and the United States at the 1889 Berlin Conference. The United States annexed the eastern islands (American Samoa) and Germany what came to be called Western Samoa. (Britain withdrew in exchange for uncontested colonial spoils elsewhere.)
Germany and then New Zealand
Germany governed Samoa from the turn of the century until New Zealand troops, deployed at Britain's request, occupied Western Samoa without opposition on 29 August 1914 until the end of the military administration in 1919. At the end of World War I until independence in 1962, New Zealand governed Western Samoa first under mandate from the League of Nations, and, after 1945, as a United Nations trusteeship. During the administration, two fatal mistakes caused much suffering and understandable ill-will towards the New Zealand administration. Almost one-fifth of the Samoan population died in the 1918-19 epidemic of influenza after infected passengers aboard SS Talune were allowed entry by the New Zealand administration in breach of quarantine regulations. Over the following decade, the Mau Movement emerged in opposition to New Zealand administration culminating in 'Black Saturday' in 1929. A peaceful Mau demonstration in Apia resulted in one of the country’s hightest chiefs, Tupua Tamasese, being killed by police gunfire.
Independence - the first in the Pacific
Tensions eased after 1935 when the election of a Labour Government in New Zealand led to the introduction of a more tolerant administration in Samoa. The Pacific Islands: An encyclopedia, 2000 notes,
“By the end of the World War II the climate had changed, assisted by the influence of American troops stationed in Samoa, and the role of Peter Fraser, New Zealand’s prime minister, in the drafting of the United Nations Charter. (Western) Samoa became a [Trust Territory] of the United Nations, administered by NZ, and the process of devolution leading to independence was under way.”
After a 1954 Constitutional Convention, responsible government was gradually introduced. A draft constitution, approved by the United Nations, was endorsed by a universal plebiscite in May 1961 and independence followed on 1 January 1962.
The constitution and fa’a Samoa
Samoa was not only the first Pacific Island country to achieve independence but its constitution remains unique in its initial meld of Western principles of representative government with Samoan custom, or fa’a Samoa. A matai-only voting system, restricting suffrage to chiefly titleholders, lasted nearly 30 years until universal suffrage was introduced by plebiscite in 1990.
The constitution provided that the two Fautua (highest chiefs) should become joint Heads of State on independence and continue for their lifetimes. Tupua Tamasese Mea’ole held office until his death in 1963 and Malietoa Tanumafili II until his death in May 2007.
From then on, under the constitution Heads of State are elected by the legislative assembly for five year terms. Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi, a son of one of the original Heads of State was elected to the position in 2007.
Interviews with Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi and Tofilau Eti Alesana
Facts
German protectorate 1900
New Zealand territory 1914
League of Nations Mandate
United Nations Trust Territory
Independent 1962
Official name: Independent State of Samoa
Capital: Apia
Population: 185,000 inhabitants
Area: 2,031 km²