Honolulu
December 1, 1969
It’s easy to assume not much has happened this past year in the Samoas, the Polynesian island group divided in the days of gunboat diplomacy and big power bickering at the end of the last century. Astronauts back from the moon splashed down near Samoa. But there have been no threatened revolts or shocking scandals. Nobody is going Communist; and, in fact, some visitors wonder just where these lush isles are going or can go in the modern world.
Yet in this uncertainty as the 1960s ended there were signs of potentially significant movement in both the small (Washington, D.C. size) American colony and larger, independent (since 1962) Western Samoa, a onetime German then New Zealand territory. Sadly, little or none of this movement seemed toward unification. Divided far longer than postwar Germany or Korea, Samoa’s islands continue drifting apart in politics, economics, and, most important, in culture. Because of what the world has made them, they have to be considered separately.
The American Side
Physically, the unincorporated territory of American Samoa in the latter half of 1969 seemed little changed from the year before (see JG-3). The main island of Tutuila has a special beauty of craggy green mountain and surf-washed reef. Pago Pago Bay, a tropical fiord, is one of the South Sea wonders. Enough rain thunders or mists down to bear our Somerset Maugham’s celebrated story and even provide something of an atmospheric tourist attraction.
But it says something about the old American neglect and unfinished business that Pago still suffers from shortages and restricted water hours in its less liquid months. Our often-frustrating efforts to do better are symbolized by what’s happened in the controversial educational television system, whose transmitter towers stand on a sheer mountain 1,600 feet above the bay.
As it has for decades, the time in Pago rings out in Navy bells while Samoans in lava lava and American administrators in sport shirts work in old white wooden buildings from the pre-war military colonial days. Every day one of the Pacific’s more colorful human scenes parades the village green. And on Sunday, it seems only fair enough that guests at the modern hotel can attend Protestant services in “Sadie’s Corner, “ a lounge named for the notorious Miss Thompson who with the rain brought on the minister’s downfall in Maugham’s famous Pago story. So it all has been for several years now.
But really quite a bit has changed politically in the past year in this, the only U.S. possession below the equator. Most important in a highly dependent territory where the Washington-appointed governor has strong powers is the fact of new leadership — another “era” stemming more from U.S. politics than concern for Samoa.
Haydon addresses legislature flanked by Senate President Salanoa (left) and House Speaker Utu
This has also been so for many years: American Samoa saw over a half century of U.S. Navy rule. The Interior Department took over in 1951 and for a decade did a dismal job with little stimulation from a disinterested Congress. Then there was the better era of Rex Lee, the dynamic and controversial government career man who came out as Governor in 1961 with a Kennedy mandate and a skill for getting money from Congress. After seven eventful years, Lee was followed in the governorship by Owen Aspinall considered by most as sincere but also soft. With help from his powerful father, the chairman of the House Interior Committee, Democrat Aspinall hung on in Pago for the first seven months of the Republican Nixon Administration. For Samoa it was a limbo period of little benefit amid Washington political intrigue.
Since August 6, American Samoa has been in a new era under John M. Haydon of Seattle, its 46th Governor in 70 years. Republican Haydon, a 49-year-old maritime affairs publisher and former president of the Seattle Port Commission, impressed many in his initial weeks. “He’s got a lot of Lee’s drive but more sensitivity to the culture,” said one admiring Samoan Democrat.
Haydon won early praise for launching into a program of installing Samoans in important administrative positions held by palangis or stateside Americans. He also promised much more Samoan participation in key decisions and early elimination of the dual wage scales under which some Samoans get half or less than statesiders get for the same work. It’s no accident these steps are much the same as Interior Secretary Walter Hickel promised the Trust Territory of Micronesia: “Samoans aren’t automatic citizens but they are American nationals; we could hardly offer them anything less than the Micronesians, “ who as yet have no formal political tie to the U.S., explained one official.
Samoans had heard similar promises before, and most were waiting to see whether Haydon could deliver. It was noted the Nixon Administration has ordered reduced spending while some of Haydon’s plans will cost more. “He may end up with a credibility gap, “ suggested one American.
Politics, Pago-Style
There was a new local element this time as Samoa’s governorship changed. For party politics have arrived in Pago Pago in the past year, providing a major challenge to the old culture and power. Relatively young, educated Samoans launched a local branch of the Democratic Party in late June of last year. Disturbed at the potential, a group of leading chiefs and tradition-minded leaders found the American Samoa Party a few weeks later. Not long after that, as the tight U.S. election campaign took shape, a Samoan branch of the Republican Party got started.
By most estimates the American Samoa Party has gone nowhere as it seeks to defend an inadequate status quo and fails to produce positive leadership. Democrats and Republicans were still more involved in trying to get organized and gain public recognition than in taking on each other. But their leaders did take credit for several things, including a change late last year in the House Speakership where Democrat Fainuulelei Utu was named to succeed an ASP man.
With his own temperament and lame-duck status, Aspinall didn’t push Democratic politics. But now that party politics have arrived, it seems Haydon will be different. One of his first top Samoan appointments was to name young educator, Peter Sunia, head of the Republican Party, to the number two job in the education department. Officials stress Sunia was named as a qualified Samoan, but the political point is not lost. Predictions were the GOP is bound to grow.
A third new element is effort on future political status. Samoans are noted talkers and this question has long been discussed without really being pursued. But Micronesia’s thoughtful Political Status Commission visited Pago early this year and seemingly inspired the idea that now is a time when American Samoans both could and should be doing something to choose their own future.
Flag day in Pago
The result was American Samoa’s seven-member Political Status Committee. The group made an initial four-week tour to Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Washington, and various U.S. West Coast cities and Honolulu where many Samoans live. It went off in mid-November on another tour to New Zealand. Fiji, Tonga, the Cook Islands, and Western Samoa. A December report was due for discussion when the American Samoan Legislature meets in February. A potential target date is late 1971 when the territorial constitution is up for revision.
It’s assumed American Samoa will opt for closer ties with the U.S. Some foresee a call for an eventual Commonwealth, currently the highest status available in the pecking order of U.S. colonial practice. That implies at the least U.S. citizenship, internal autonomy, and representation in Washington.
Of more immediate importance are the steps along the way to any improved status. These include getting Samoans in charge of most government departments, granting the Legislature more power, and authorizing an elected governor. “That should all be within five years. We want to make Haydon the last appointed governor, “ says House Speaker Utu echoing a common political sentiment. By past Samoan standards, this would be a dizzying pace.
The System Under Challenge
Behind these developments and all else is the matai system, the cultural heart of all-Samoan society. Its basis is the aiga, an extended family group headed by a selected chief or matai. A growing wage economy and other Western inroads have weakened the once firm authority of the chiefs. But the old power structure remains: it’s said that one out of five persons over 25 years old has some sort of matai title; although most titles are in relatively minor categories, their wide distribution does continue emotional interest. A more critical point is that some 96 per cent of the land in American Samoa is held by these family groups.
At its best, the matai system provides great social welfare benefits for family members — nobody starves, the young and old have a place, etc. But in American Samoa the system has been eroding as people increasingly find work and wages away from the village authority of the chiefs.
Political parties provide another major challenge to the system, providing in effect a new power structure more responsive to current challenges and seemingly better able to develop people and programs. “The new war around here is going to be between the rising young politicians and the old chiefs who see the challenge to their authority posed by the parties, “ said one longtime American official.
Commented one young chief: “I have titles but I don’t think the old system is compatible with the way we are going. Moreover, it will contribute to its own downfall if it gets in the way of politics. “
Others hope for a compromise, with the matai system still in power at the village level but with American-style politics operating in the territorial government. (Senate members there are elected by a vote among matais, while House members are chosen by popular vote.) But it is far from certain such a situation would be accepted by the older chiefs, whose biggest failure may be in not developing coming young leaders.
Equally grave questions center around the cultural system in relation to economic development needs in these islands with limited land and a population growing over 3.7 per cent a year. A major economic report by Wolf Management Services early last year again made the point that the system of communal land ownership has helped preserve the culture but also removed land as a source of needed capital for development loans. Furthermore, individual incentive in the free enterprise sense is restrained by a system where matais and family members expect a good share of any gains.
How much the system can be blamed for Samoa’s lack of individual enterprise is a good question. Whatever, there are some signs of change. A businessman-chief made this point: “I think the communal land system is starting to crack on Tutuila. There is a scramble among individual Samoans to buy land. Some is being sold by chiefs with problems and the money split among aiga members.”
Economically, American Samoa was still not booming as the 1960s ended. It was and would remain a special case — a U.S.-linked economy in an underdeveloped island world, as the Wolf report put it. The mainstay fishing industry (some 4,000 Asian fishermen, about 1,300 Samoan cannery jobs, $28 million a year) was suffering from a year of poor catches. A search for new small industries had yet to bear real fruit.
Tourism, with about 180 jobs and bringing in $3 million a year in spending, was seen by most as the economic wave of the future. But when it would really come in was dependent on how much outside sources would finance hotels and push Samoa as a stopping point.
Lesson in a Hotel
American Samoa has had bad luck with its hotel. The experience is worth a more serious study than space here allows, for it says something about natural desires for island people to, as it is frequently put, “not just be bellhops for outside interests, “ but to have a piece of the basic economic action.
The American Samoan Development Corporation (ASDC) was formed in 1964 as the vehicle for local ownership of the hotel and other projects. Some 1,200 Samoan shareholders pledged $350,000. The corporation borrowed another $1.5 million from banks and the federal government to build the Pago Pago Inter-Continental, a 90-room luxury class facility with buildings in striking Samoan-style architecture. ASDC has a 30year lease on the government-owned land.
Legislators sing before session
The hotel, and ASDC, have been in the hole since the beginning. Occupancy was low; management was poor. Not only was it profitless, at times the Samoan investment seemed in peril. Now management has been stabilized; occupancy has reached a point where the interest on the loans may be paid — maybe. But for tourism to grow Samoa is going to need more hotel rooms, and it’s said that to be economical and cash in on tour groups the present hotel needs another 100 rooms. That takes money, and officials spent much of this year trying to interest banks and Pan Am’s Intercontinental Hotels, which operates the hotel under a presumably profitable management contract, in the investment.
In short, the ASDC-hotel venture remains a troubled project –and an example in how-not-to-do-it for many islanders faced with approaching tourism. Its probably too much to say that the risks of big hotels are best left to big outside investors with major resources. But it does seem that local ventures such as ASDC best concentrate on projects of less major risk and more immediate return for their unsophisticated shareholders.
“The sad thing about ASDC, “ says one important Samoan shareholder, “is how it discourages people. We went house to house, to little people, to get the money. We wanted our people to be proud to own something and get a fair return. They don’t have either All they have seen is their money in a losing proposition run by outsiders. “
ETV’s Troubles
Educational Television, another key project in the new era of U.S. effort, has also been a major problem in terms of operation and Samoan confidence. Many of the criticisms voiced privately last year (see JG4) were being acknowledged. Former Governor Aspinall’s differences with the American Association of Educational Broadcasters reached a point early this year where the NAEB withdrew in bitterness as consultant and recruiter of stateside teachers and technicians. An ad hoc recruiting team sent out from Pago got only half the 52 stateside teachers it sought for the current year. The ETV program was limping along while Haydon and others sought to make needed corrections and get it moving.
At this point many Samoans have lost faith in the ETV program. Some criticism is unreasonable, but much of it contains valuable points. “It has been too much television as the master and not enough education,” said one Samoan leader. “The power went out for a week and there was no school because the master was dead.”
There are several sides to the ETV question, but an attempt at a balanced view might go like this:
The five-year-old ETV program in American Samoa is not a failure in any complete sense. If not everyone would do it all over again on such a massive mechanical scale (six channels); the experiment in an educational system making strong use of TV has potential. Moreover, elementary-level children are considered better educated than in the very inadequate past. It’s also notable that where only one-fifth of Samoan students got a high school education in the past, now all can go.
One problem was that those involved in this pioneering effort got locked into a system and were too slow to alter it in the face of legitimate criticism. Now the elementary system is being revised to give more reading, writing, and training in talking to boost the level of English. (There remains the major problem of getting qualified teachers into the classrooms to provide the individual attention and human element TV cannot provide; that critical need will continue.) At the high school level, where the major problems have been, the size of classes has been cut (from 150 down to 25 in some cases), less TV is used, more stress is being put on English, and more attention being given to badly neglected vocational education.
ETV was another palangi crash program, an effort of the mid 60s to get moving and make up for past neglect in a critical area. American officials now feel Samoans were not involved enough in the intervening years. Now emphasis is being given to consultation and in putting Samoans into responsible roles. “They may not always be perfectly ready by stateside standards, but we have to put them into positions where they can grow in the job, “ said one top official.
Another ambitious effort of the Haydon administration is to establish in early 1970 an American Samoa Community College to offer needed advanced technical training and preparatory work in English for students going on to higher education. Here, as with ETV (where Stanford University will help), the University of Hawaii is scheduled to play an important advisory and support role.
Balance With Meaning?
On balance it would seem American Samoa enters the 70s in far better physical shape than when the 60s dawned. The decade has shown that U.S. money, drive and good intentions don’t by themselves solve problems in another culture (or even at home). The era of Governor Lee at its best provided a badly needed infrastructure of roads, a jet airport, educational facilities and the first tourism hotel. The less aggressive days of Governor Aspinall at least provided time for reflection on developing problems; needed political movement got underway. What remains is for these handsome people to find a meaning in the best of a culture slipping away and in the relations with the U.S. they seem to desire. It will not be easy.
The Western Side
It is unfortunate that most American accounts on the Samoas, including this one, dwell more on the little U.S. territory in the East and less on the bigger islands in the west. This is natural enough since American Samoa is both our responsibility and one that has not been adequately met in the past. In this case, it is also because more has been happening in Pago Pago in terms of leadership turnover, political change, cultural disruption, and problems.
Still if the winds of change are not blowing strong in Western Samoa, some significant whispers have come up over the past year since my last visit (see JG-5). First, a few background points made then for perspective:
- Western Samoa has been in political status ahead of other Pacific island areas — free since 1962 as the first such state to become independent in the 20th As such it says something about the situation other areas may face.
- With 135, 000 people and large islands, it is much bigger than American Samoa, five times so in population and 15 times in land area. It is poorer than the U.S. islands yet viable on its own.
- Culture is king in Western Samoa where people pride themselves on being the purest surviving Polynesians. Keeping Fa’a Samoa the Samoan way is a national goal. The matai system reigns — which makes for stability, a conservative approach, and some of the inflexibility noted in American Samoa. In Western Samoa 80.5 percent of the land is communally owned.
- Politics of cultural preservation prevail. The centralized national government follows a modified British parliamentary system. But there is no universal suffrage; in fact, a move to install it was defeated this year. Instead, all but the two non-Samoan members of the 47-seat Legislative Assembly are elected by a vote among only those holding the 8,500-odd matai titles.
- Political power centers around Western Samoa’s first and only Prime Minister, Fiame Mataafa, a strong figure with several things going for him — experience, considerable political skill, Samoa’s culture, and the fact he is from one of the four so-called royal families. (The constitution requires that the ceremonial Head of State be from one of these families, but not the Prime Minister.)
- The traditional economy — copra, bananas, and cacao — suits the system. But it is prone to disease, weather, and market problems. And it will not be enough for the future. Moreover, many leaders seem suspicious about what effect foreign investment, especially the impact of tourism, will have on their quiet way of life.
Unrest, Apia-Style
Good things are said about the government of Western Samoa in the last seven years since independence. In an underdeveloped world where independence has often meant political and economic turmoil, it has provided continuity, stability, economic responsibility, and even some relative austerity in the face of problems such as crop disease and disastrous hurricanes. Its people reflect a quiet nationalism, a poor but proud dignity, and growing confidence. Over the years, Prime Minister Mataafa has often shown himself as a leader able to both look forward and still hold the respect and support of the conservative matai leaders.
In Downtown Apia
Yet a striking thing this autumn was the amount of criticism heard compared to the year before. It went along these lines in quotes from intelligent and sometimes well-placed Samoans:
“The government has been in power too long. After three terms, it’s time for a change”…“They haven’t moved the economy fast enough to take care of the real needs. Not only is our education under an outdated New Zealand system, we don’t even take care of elementary school needs. There’s also a shortage of doctors and medical equipment.”…”No wonder young educated people are disturbed. They see a cabinet of mostly old men, picked not on ability but seniority.”…“ Mataafa is not the same. He’s gotten more dictatorial, like he’s ruling by divine right. “…“He’s spending too much time on the golf course and not enough in the office.”
A key fact behind this is that Western Samoa’s next general election has been scheduled for February 7, and opponents of Mataafa were speaking out — at least among themselves and to inquiring visitors. It has happened before, but the Prime Minister has always managed to scuttle any potential challenge. One big thing going for him has been the fact he holds not only the political office but the royal rank. In the world of Fa’a Samoa lesser matais are at a disadvantage taking on one of the highest chiefs in the land. This time opponents were, during my visit, concentrating on the idea of getting a man of equally high rank to win the election and take on Mataafa later for the parliamentary leadership. This maneuvering, of course, was no secret to the Prime Minister.
Most older observers of the Samoa political scene were not impressed with the potential challenge during my visit. Some admired the tactic of fighting royalty with royalty but pointed out Mataafa was a proven master of Samoan style politics. Furthermore, they said, the opponents seemed to be talking mostly among themselves in the capital of Apia, not out in the villages where most matai votes are. Added one knowledgeable Samoan: “We’ll see if the same people who are so busy and talking so much now will have courage to take on Mataafa in February. “
Whatever comes in the current campaign, there is the feeling Western Samoa, and the matai system, faces a period of challenge in the coming years. The matai system serves well now, but there is some doubt about whether it will be able to bring out the leaders Samoa needs. Some Samoans feel their system, with its rules and reciprocal obligations, eases any generation gap. However, the question remains whether leadership will go to the relatively few bright young people educated abroad, or whether they will be frustrated in positions subservient to relatively unschooled tradition-bound matais. The outcome of the coming elections should be a comment on that question.
In the long run there is the point made by a government official: “Some day there will be more people here than coconuts and bananas.” That is a ways off. There is abundant land (although mostly tied up in the family system). The limited economy is now relatively prosperous, and there are some hopeful if undramatic development prospects. Samoan needs remain relatively simple. But even this contented society is not immune to the rising expectations that inevitably mean higher government costs or discontent. There will still be enough coconuts in the 1970s for a population growing at 3.5 per cent and with half its number now under 15 years old. That will be enough for many in the cocoon comfort of the pleasant villages and family system. Again, no revolutions are predicted. But there will be a number — a growing number — of people who will want more in the way of comforts, education, and meaningful jobs. In the 60s, the Western Samoa system showed admirable balance as the islands moved into nationhood; that is no mean achievement. Still it is also possible to predict there will be new patterns of political and economic development emerging in the 70s. How much it will blend with or run against the Samoan way is the open question.
Race day in Apia
A Pan Samoa Future?
Far more than 50 miles of open ocean separates the two Samoas at this point. Seventy years of division has made for different challenges. In the Americanized eastern islands part of the problem is retaining the best of the Samoan way. In the independent western islands, it’s a matter of inducing the best of the West in a traditional society.
Neither effort has produced startling success to date. Many outsiders find more dignity and pride in Western Samoa, but in truth there also seems little bitterness over status in the eastern islands. It may be just as well to leave things as they are. Western Samoa should survive modestly and evolve with the limited outside help and lack of outside interference it now receives. American Samoa may be happy to be a U.S. Commonwealth and a sort of cultural suburb of Hawaii where many of its people come for work and education.
But it’s also possible to wonder if something more meaningful is not possible and desired by many Samoans. Most assume political unification is now out of the question: American Samoans want to be Americans; Western Samoans certainly don’t want to become part of a U.S. territory; and somebody in Washington probably sees military security reasons for keeping our Samoa. Yet there should be possibilities for association between the Samoas, perhaps with local autonomy but also with some kind of meaning for both, economically, culturally and, if desired, eventually politically. From the U.S. standpoint the challenge should be more than just doing right by American Samoa. We were involved in dividing the Samoas because we wanted a coaling station at Pago Pago. Now because we care about the people we can at least not foreclose the opportunity for them to join together again.
Received in New York on December 21, 1969.
Mr. John Griffin is an Alicia Patterson Fund award winner on leave from the Honolulu Advertiser, Honolulu, Hawaii. This article may be published with credit to Mr. Griffin, the Honolulu Advertiser, and the Alicia Patterson Fund.
