SAMOA LAND BILL CALLED THREAT TO SAMOA CULTURE

PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT

Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center
With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai‘i

SAMOA LAND BILL CALLED THREAT TO SAMOA CULTURE
Measure allows matai to register land under their names

APIA, Samoa (Samoa Observer, April 27, 2008) – The Samoa Party yesterday moved to issue a stern warning about the ramifications of the much maligned Land Titles Registration Bill.

Speaking to the Sunday Samoan, leader Su’a Rimoni Ah Chong said any bill that allows matai to register customary land under his/her name, would doom Samoan culture.

The Land Titles Registration Bill would transfer authority over family land from the trusteeship of a matai title as is custom, to an individual – namely the individual who currently holds that title, Su’a said.

Further, once the current holder of the title registers family land under his or her name, he or she may transfer title to anyone of his choosing, Su’a said.

Heirs of the extended family would be left out in the cold – a recipe for violence, he said.

Land tenure in Samoa would then come under the Torrence land system, which Samoa Party warned about during the 2006 election campaign, he reminded.

"It would take away the rights of heirs to that particular land that is going to be registered under the name of a person," Su’a said. "In our Samoan custom, the person doesn’t have rights to the land, it’s the (matai) title. It’s the title, which is the head of the family, that holds and owns the land in trust for the rest of the heirs of the family. He doesn’t own the land. This law, changes that."

Su’a said the bill would result in the person whose name the land is registered under, being recognized as the sole owner under law.

"That’s how significant and detrimental the impact would be on our fa’a Samoa," he said. "And the other thing that is really of concern is that once land is registered as being under pule (authority) of a person, he can - if he makes a lease - actually make a will for that particular lease to pass on to his son. And it’ll be recognized under the law that is now being proposed. So that the heirs of the family, their rights to that land, are not going to be recognized by the court.

[PIR editor’s note: "Fa’a Samoa" refers to the customary Samoan way of life. ]

"The only person recognized as owner and proprietor and pule is the one with the name registered in that registrar."

The land bill will create a list of those with authority over customary land.

"I request and seek a reconsideration by the Prime Minister and his Government to follow article 109 of the Constitution – to go to the people and ask their views on what they are proposing."

"And if the people say ‘Yes,’" … two thirds of the majority as required by the Constitution, then they are clear of any … accusations."

Su’a said Samoa Party’s view is that any issue of this significance should be referred to the people in a referendum or plebiscite.

"The idea that Samoan land is going to be registered under one person is alien to the fa’aSamoa. To us that’s alienation of our land. To us that opens the door to where all the heirs of the family are not going to have any say on ... land. That’s a major concern we have."

Land and access to it defines a Samoan and when it is gone, "you and I are no longer a Samoan person in words and in fact."

The Land Titles Registration Bill is aimed at allowing customary land to be leased.

It would allow extended families to gain income from leasing land currently laying idle to business interests.

A task force headed by Reverend Elder Oka Fauolo, went on a tour of the country to explain the purpose of the bill. Su’a and Samoa Party president, Leta’a Daniel Devoe, said explanations given of the bill so far have nowhere been enough despite the work of the Task Force on the Economic Use of Customary Land.

"If they know now what we are saying that will make a lot of difference," Su’a said. "Development must not be done at any cost," he said. Development must be done in a balanced way; that secures our culture, our heritage, our traditions, our fa’aSamoa – that is the heart of us. And it must be done in a way that benefits everyone out there. Not just a few people."

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