It's a kind of Reformation 21st Century-style that is playing out in the small island state of Samoa (formerly Western Samoa), with a total (on-island) population of barely 200,000 people.
Since English missionaries arrived with their Protestant brand of Christianity in the early 1830's, the Church and the State (an independent one under the UN in 1960 after many years under colonial rule) have blended to furnish Samoa as a society and nation today. What passes as Samoan 'culture' is embedded and wrapped up in Christian belief and rhetoric.
The prime minister of the independent state of Samoa for the past few decades is Mr Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, leader of the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP), a postgraduate in Economics from the University of Auckland, and former finance minister. HRPP has been in power for almost 4 decades and Tuilaepa is one of the longest-serving prime ministers of any democratic state in the world.
Less than a year ago, cracks within the ranks of HRPP opened up into gaping wounds when two of its senior members; one a former Whip and Speaker of the House, La'auli Polataivalo Schmidt, and a high-ranking chief and former deputy HRPP leader, Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, left the party and formed a new political party called Fa'atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST). (translated as Faith in God a United Samoa).
FAST polled 25 seats in the newly-revamped 51-seat parliament in last month's (April 9) elections. (Samoa has 5-year parliamentary terms). On the final count, both FAST and HRPP won 25 seats with one Independent. The Independent member, Tuala Tevaga Ponifasio, would not get his chance to play 'Kingmaker' as the Electoral Commissioner threw the proverbial spanner in the works by enacting a section in the Electoral Act that demands for 10% of members of parliament to be women. (FIVE women won seats in the election and the issue now is the 10% out of 51)
Some commentators have now labelled it an 'engineered' result to force the country into fresh elections. (The Head of State has declared the result of the 9 April election null and void and has called for the country to hold a 'snap' election on 21 May).
Last week as the Supreme Court dealt with a strike-out motion from the Attorney-General to throw out FAST's complaint against the Office of the Electoral Commissioner, and the matter of the Head of State having the right to declare the results of an election null and void, a group of protestors voiced their opposition outside the courthouse. (Our correspondent in Samoa, Galumalemana Autagavaia recorded actuality audio and interviews with the organizers).
BUT in an interview with state-owned media after the protest, Tuilaepa (now referred to as caretaker leader of the caretaker government), said the protestors needed to protest in a church, as his calling is from god.
Samoa does not have a military. Samoans cherish family and kinship connections above everything else.
In most other countries in the world, this would be the ideal environment for a coup (military or otherwise). BUT Samoa does not have a military.
Ironically, it is kinship, Samoan culture and Christianity that will stop this impasse from exploding into a violent scenario like we saw in other parts of the world - including Pacific Island states with militaries.
