PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT

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

By Savea Sano Malifa

APIA, Samoa (Oct. 19, 2008) – What a terrible shame. Just when we thought the Samoan government has totally accepted that press freedom and a well-informed public are salient tools it can use in its efforts to move economic growth forward, it shocked everyone last week when it allowed some callous bureaucrats to impose a nebulous gag on the media. (Samoa Observer, 16 October 2008.)

Why is it that every time Ombudsman Maiava Iulai Toma’s name is mentioned we get the feeling we’re back in the terrible 1990s when the free press was being made the political footstool of the government’s?

Is this chap a messenger from hell come to rouse us out of some sort of ennui we are not aware of? The last time an inquiry report he had authored was delivered publicly we shook with dread as it was being read.

Now as the Chairman of the public Commission of Inquiry tasked with investigating allegations being made against Commissioner of Police Papali’i Lolenese Neru, it seems he was pretty sure about how he wanted his inquiry to be carried out – in a manner that would both confuse and mislead.

In a public directive advising of his commission’s intentions, he said the media "will be permitted to report on the hearings of the (three-day) inquiry," but guidelines were to be followed. Guidelines! Doesn’t the word in itself conjure up everything that is the direct opposite of freedom?

First, they say, counsel assisting the inquiry "will provide a press release at the end of each day of the inquiry … which the media may publish in full or in part."

Second, the "media may report or comment upon the press release" but it cannot report on anything else that would be said or submitted during the inquiry.

Third, the "media may not report or comment upon or provide any details of evidence, witnesses, submissions or any other detail of or information from the hearings or the proceedings of the Commission outside of or beyond that provided in the press release from Counsel Assisting."

And fourth, this "restriction … shall continue until otherwise advised by the Commission."

Well, how bizarrely contradictive!

If the commission did not want the media to report on the inquiry’s proceedings, why did it allow it to attend? And since this was a public inquiry paid for by public taxes, was the permission for the media to attend a mere trick designed to mislead and confuse the public whom the commissioners, in their arrogance, would have already decided are just an easy-to-please, gullible bunch?

It seemed however that the attempt to hide from the public the information that is rightfully theirs did not end there. It was made even stronger when the inquiry’s first press release - undoubtedly a waste of paper, time and public funds – was made public.

This time, the prohibition order was extended to cover international media coverage, photographs, names of witnesses, including:

• Publication either in writing or by photograph, via any medium of the media, of any of the names of the special investigation team witness is prohibited;

• Publication either in writing or by photograph, via any medium of the media, of the name of the American Samoa Police witness is prohibited;

• Please ask permission before taking photos of members of the Commission, the Police Commissioner and his legal counsel, the secretary of the Commission or legal counsels for the Commission;

• International media are to comply with the publication requirements of the Commission set out in Practice Note 1. It is equally important that the names of today’s witnesses not be released to overseas media.

So we ask: Why are the members of this commission sounding so paranoid? Who are they trying to protect? Is the public deserving of a seemingly farcical performance being enacted by public officials openly before their very eyes?

How can these outrageous demands be allowed in a country that is supposed to be basking in everlasting righteousness?

Not only had the commissioners banned press freedom, they banned the taking of their own photographs without their permission as well. And yet they are public officials presiding over a public inquiry. Don’t they want the public to know who they are?

Worse still, this violation of press freedom came at a time when the government was hosting two big conferences attended by regional and international leaders.

At this point, it is arguable that the Pacific Climate Change Roundtable and the Pacific Regional Small, Medium and Micro-Enterprises Forum, had been enticed to Samoa by our government’s enviable record on accountability and transparency.

Press freedom awards

A record recognised by JAWS’ (Journalists Association of Samoa) when it made Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielgaoi and Deputy PM Misa Telefoni the joint winners of its prestigious World Press Freedom Award in 2003.

Indeed, it is also responsible for the silent, albeit universal recognition of Samoa as the South Pacific’s beacon of hope in a region plagued by military coups, political instability and national disunity.

So has the commission’s ban on media freedom been damaging to the government’s image? And if so, how big is the dent?

Fourteen years ago, the beacon spoken of was without light. Press freedom at the time was barely breathing. We were unsure whether it would live or die. Perhaps that is what Maiava wants to see happening again.

Perhaps he wants to deprive today’s youth of their freedom to express themselves and their right to know. Perhaps he wants to revisit those years of infamy that everyone wants to forget, see the demons of the past emerge to mislead and confuse so that Samoa will once again move groggily through the darkness of ignorance and uncertainty.

But then he may have other reasons for wanting the media gagged. Perhaps he did not like the way the reporters looked, that they were scruffy, ill-mannered and not well-trained, or were unprofessional.

Whatever those reasons are though, they must be shared with the rest. After all, being a public official of considerable status makes his being answerable to the public even more pertinent.

Have a peaceful Sunday Samoa, God bless.

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