Samoa is well recognised as a highly political country. It doesn’t matter where you go, what you do, there is this deep political undertone that influences Samoan thinking and behaviour. Read more, if you dare!
Trying not to “bag” Samoa too much when it is now my home, I was thinking of saying that all countries, all cultures, all people play politics to some extent, and Samoa is just the same, but different.
But I simply can’t. Samoa is in a league of its own when it comes to its own version of Political Correctness, Politics.
I talk here of more than party politics. It reaches into local body government (the villages and the Matai system), into family feuds as well as of course business and national politics. The whole Samoan culture is built on politics with certain people having power and others, not; with a heirachical power structure.
[Pic: Samoan spider. As the song goes: "All things bright and beautiful, the Lord God made 'em all." He surely messed up with this creature didn't he? I steered a very wide berth from this guy! (Nothing to do with politics but a great photo eh?)]
Here are some examples of the politics I’ve experienced in just the last few weeks. Offence intended not intended.
Central Government
Starting at the top, Prime Minister, Tuila’epa Sailele Malielegaoi or Tuila’epa as the locals call him. I guess I’ve heard what I would say is a general dissatisfaction from Samoa with their PM. Comments range from “He’s been in power too long [and it's time for him to go, or it's gone to his head]” through “He’s doing good things for the country [but . . . !] to “He’s a bad man [and worse]“. I don’t hear a lot of positive things about him but the Samoan way is to pull people down, rather than build them up, so this is par for the course.
In a business meeting this last week we were talking about vision setting, and leadership and the characteristics that a strong leader has. I shared that there was only one person that I had met in the country that had shown me that they had these qualities, and that was Tuila’epa. (There are others, mainly of Chinese or German extraction but Tuila’epa’s leadership qualities stands ahead of the pack here). I think the time that I really recognised this was when I had made seven phone calls and two emails over three months to get an appointmnet with another Minister without any meaningful contact and we had to give up and go directly to the PM when we couldn’t wait any longer. He undertook to be the Partron of the SWAP Foundation and to open The Airport Lounge for us “on the spot”.
Of course his willingness to step up to the plate and support our work in his country was a political move – it will be good for him to support a business that is most likely going to be successful, but I think the willingness was genuine. He understands the challenges facing Palagi locating to his country and that the more that come here, the better for everyone.
But please please please Lord, let his willingness to help filter down to others below him!!!
So here is a leader able and willing to make decisions, even unpopular (such as the recent road switch), albeit in a manner that ruffles feathers, with negative press surrounding him, but leading (many say controlling) Cabinet and with a vision.
The politics in all of this? It works two ways: 1. If you need something, go to the bossman, and he’ll make it happen, and 2. Don’t mess with the boss because you will be run out of town struggle to do what you want to do. I won’t share publicly about how this happens but believe me – it does.
The politics of the Villages
Politics in Samoa really kicks into high gear however when it touches the local village government and the Matai system. This local government system is unique to Samoa and sits parallel and underneath the Western-style central governmental rule.
The heirachical system of power here in Samoa is akin to the middle ages, or the Roman rule. Everyone has their place, and the Women’s committees to the village councils, the Mayor, the High Chief(s) the talking chief(s) the “titled men” and the untitled men. Titles are very important historically and people will travel the world to get or protect a title for the sake of their village or family honour. Some villages’ titles are more powerful or more important than others and there is an amazing depth of culture that goes back centuries.
So in Samoan culture a Matai will share with another Matai when they meet what their village is, and what their title is, that indicates what ranking they have to each other and respect is forwarded up the chain of command to the Paramount chiefs. There’s a lot more to this than a straight lineal command as each village has autonomous rule and each (extended) family has their own land and their own rule. The saying here is that “Everyone is a Chief in Samoa!” has validity as everyone has their own “patch” that they can rule over, even if it is just a small plot of land and their own children.
The politics around the Matai system gets hairy when it is tested – especially with the arrival of a Palagi, a new business, a central government initiative or any cross-cultural exchange. Violence and defensiveness, mixed with pride for their culture, and a religious adherence to the social expectations is a common occurrence for the SWAP team as they engage with the Samoan culture at a village level.
We have achieved the progress we have in this highly politically charged environment in the following manner:
- Dealing only with the High Chief. We will not talk to anyone without the High Chief knowing and understanding EVERYTHING about the project. In fact many times it is the High Chief that has the best land, or the only real tourism business in the village anyway.
- Insisting on our own standard-setting and setting our own rules. We expect cultural compromise as a condition of doing business with us or our investors. We are Palagi and we recognise your sensitivities but (for example) we require safety of the guests, no man-made rubbish lying around etc etc. Samoans respect and appreciate firm boundaries and rules.
- Clear communication and outright refusal to get involved in disputes or politics, instead leaving that to the High Chief to share and communicate with his people. We build a strong relationship with the top man and leave it at that.
It has been extraordinary from a Palagi perspective to see the fighting, bickering, lies, gossip and BS that can go down in Samoan vilalge politics, but it seems that, like riding a wave, our boat still remains afloat and moving ahead. The matai of villages like Fusi Safata that allow greed to rule and fight amongst themselves over who gets the fish before it is even caught, miss out as we work with those who can put politics aside and do something for their own benefit.
It’s times like this that I want to take a BIG BREATH, count to ten, and then breathe out and then carry on living!
The politics of business
So to the politics of business. In a recent meeting with some friends we were talking about working with Aggie Grey’s, a major player in the Toursim market here, with a Hotel in Apia and a Resort out at the Airport. It is “run” by grandson of Aggie, Fred Grey, although many tell me that it is still the old man (Alan Grey) who still calls the shots.
SWAP is in a unique position in that we are privy to the workings of many tourism operators business goings on. We know their strengths, weaknesses, personalities and challenges. Apart from me just being nosey interested, the more that we know about a business the better we can help them – with value adding, rebranding, marketing efforts and so on or even by making further investment into their operations. We cannot recommend a business for investment unless we actually know and understand the business.
So we process information about the leadership of various businesses and have a good understanding of the Aggie Grey’s businesses aside from our own direct dealings, which I have to say leave a lot to be desired!
So here’s the rub. Aggies are the big boys. They have a lot of clout. People want to deal with them because they can make you or break you”. And there enters the politics of doing bsuiness with the “big boys”. One has to be careful when sleeping with an elephant in case he rolls over. I understand that when Survivor came to town and Fred let out the entire Resort to the crew, that there were a few ruffled feathers around some of the wholesalers who let their clients down.
Then there’s the politics of big business interfacing with the goverment. “Oh we’ve got [enter many many millions here] set aside for green projects” says one government employee. OK so who is goign to get THAT money and where did it come from and who is paying for what? OMG, let’s not go there if I want to stay in the country for more than a few weeks!
The real biggie in bsuiness politics here for me in the last week has been the invites to The Airport Lounge opening on the 27th August.
People are grossly offended if they don’t get invited. Then some of them don’t bother to show up even if you do invite them. And the ones that do show want to invite a whole bunch of mates for a free beer and food . . .
I’ve kept this to just one sentence. Deliberately. Because if I didn’t stop here I’d never finish before Christmas. I have always love watching politics. Have done so since I was a teenager with the arrival of Muldoon. The bottom line though is this – while it is fun to watch the intrigues of it all, when if affects you, politics (the art of gaining and using power) sux in Samoa or anywhere.
Congrats to self as well are due: this is a full post without bashing the Church for its politics here.
Refreshing!
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