By Savea Sano Malifa

APIA, Samoa (Samoa Observer, July 7, 2011) - Let’s talk about the word "source." On a literary level, it means "fountain." In that respect it’s a good word, since it represents a nourishing spring of water capable of sustaining life.

On the figurative side however, it’s neither worth remembering nor is it endearing; since it equates to the messenger of the hapless voiceless silenced by fear.

Here’s a metaphoric example relating to alleged corruption in a government office in this country called Samoa.

It says: A reliable "source" confirmed the external auditor was called back a number of times to discuss the (critical) observations in his report, and as a result the observations were reduced from twenty plus, to just ten or so.

The omission of the other observations is an indication that there have been abuses and corruption implicating the boss and his management.

Another one says: Cabinet’s direction is that all heads of departments use double cab pickups.

However the boss here uses a much bigger vehicle just like another Minister. And of the five vehicles this office uses, three have private license plate numbers including the two being used solely by the boss for his personal use, which is why it is very easy to abuse.

And thirdly, according to the source, favouritism is rampant in this office. A couple working in it have become the boss’ favourite personnel. They were given a week-long free use of a government vehicle during a family funeral recently.

There’s more. But then who cares? Favouritism, by the way, is still shameful no matter how it’s told; which means somehow it must be stopped, and yet how is this to be done in a country where favouritism is a part of government life so that people are afraid of those perpetrating it?

The point is that when you’re in a position of power for too long you become complacent, easily irritable, and then inevitably you think you’re indispensable; along the way you stop caring about anyone else but yourself.

And that, in a nutshell, is the stumbling block derailing any effort to remove corruption from within this country’s bureaucracy. Like in the old days, there’s an agonising reluctance among those long-reigning bureaucrats to step down.

Since having convinced themselves the seats they’re occupying are theirs for life, they are now no longer tolerating any form of insubordination at all showing up.

It follows that those who refuse to toe the line are threatened with reprisals before they’re pushed out of the way, so that that "culture of fear" born a long ago, is still flourishing today as it’s being nurtured by old, die-hard favouritism.

And so, we say this one more time – this "culture of fear" is still being protected by the law called Printers and Publishers Act 1992. It decrees that "newspapers" – not TV or radio – are required to reveal the "sources" of leaked government documents they publish to public officials who allege they are being implicated by them.

And yet in Samoan society today where transparency in government affairs is neither insisted upon nor enforced, "sources" are vital to the survival of the free flow of information and the public’s right to know; this is to say that without "sources," democracy wilts and dies.

Which follows that "sources" should be encouraged and protected, especially by law.

And yet we have in this country still the infamous law of criminal libel.

Enacted by the colonial British in ancient times to quell treason and rebellion in its far-flung colonies, it reared its head in Samoa just a short time ago; it was invoked then and used by the government of the time in an attempt to punish a newspaper editor for allowing the publication of leaked government information.

And although the matter was discontinued, the problem did not end there.

In other words, that archaic law, an ancient remnant of Britain’s undemocratic domination of more than half the world, is still in Samoa’s law books today.

And while it’s sitting there still as it’s waiting for another unsuspecting victim to come along, it is posing that same threat on freedom of expression with its maximum penalty of six months in jail.

Interestingly though, Britain, who enacted the law in the first place, had invoked it only once, meantime two of its biggest colonies, Canada and Australia, have been shunning it for years, and the third, New Zealand, has gone ahead and chucked it out of its law statues.

And so, despite our government’s loud insistence Samoa is adhering without reservation to the principles of democracy, ours cannot be a true democracy until all the impediments threatening press freedom and the public’s right to know – including the "culture of fear" that is now driving its citizens into fearfully hiding behind the callous epithet called "sources" - are done away with.

Until then, this newspaper will do its best to protect its "sources" from the reprisals they are being threatened with, and at the same time encourage them not to bow to intimidation, but to listen instead to their conscience which will tell them the right thing to do.

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