Samoa needs to protect its land

Dear Editor,

What happens if tourism doesn’t take off due to factors such as global economic slowdown because of low oil prices that most likely won’t recover as developed nations move slowly and stubbornly towards green energy? 

What happens when more and more potential tourists start to look seriously at their carbon footprints and decide to reduce or eliminate air travel because of its impact on climate change? 

This is happening PS Jeffrey. Right now Australia is in a bit of a slow down as is Canada, China, the US and etc....How will the 2% loan get paid if there are no tourists for the next 10, 20, 30 years, or ever? No brainier. LAND!!! 

But of course the Chinese aren’t interested in land! Something tells me you haven’t travelled much PS Jeffrey. I think Australia has passed laws preventing foreign investors, the Chinese, from buying all their land and leaving it sitting empty, thus raising land prices so average Australians can’t afford their land anymore and Canada is in the process of debating whether to pass similar laws for the same reason. 

It’s hard to pass laws in countries wishing to protect land for its citizens when it operates under a British private property model. It’s controversial because of free market, land value crap and the taboo the elites brainwash regular people to believe that it’s wrong to interfere in the free market system, principles which benefits only them. 

So if you’re not already being dictated to by this model believe me don’t jump into it so blindly as you seem to want to do. What makes you think that a country with over a billion people, and that hold trillions of dollars in US government bonds, so they have money to buy what they want, who needs to find their people employment and land, would not be interested in nice fertile land like Samoa? 

China has always operated for the long term and it knows that their people will get real hungry over the next 50 years? Wake up and smell the coffee while Samoa still owns their land to grow some. 

Samoa is the only place in the world that has the opportunity to protect land ownership and keep it the hands of the Samoan people through customary land laws. Look around. Private property ownership based on the British system has never benefited one indigenous culture nor is it now benefiting the descendants of the colonizers who were middle or lower class.

Land, as in the original British aristocracy model, will again be only in the hands of the elite and right now China is buying up all the land all over the world. Why are you so eager to give Samoa up to the new Chinese aristocracy operating under a British monarchist model of land ownership when you are the only country in the position to hang on to your land because of customary land laws. Go speak to some indigenous Hawaiians if you don’t believe me. 

Ask them how they feel about the British private property land laws that have taken their land from them. You would be better off spending your time and using your education helping those Matai who are trying to prevent your PM from giving away what rightfully belongs to the Samoan people-Samoa! 

In addition for the Samoan government to allow foreign labour into the country to build anything while so many Samoan people are unemployed and begging on the streets and young Samoans are graduating from school but have no jobs to go to this is not a good economic plan no matter how much you try to spin that it is.

Sorry PS Jeffrey, that is a no brainier and on those grounds alone the PM and his HRPP government should be tossed out of office because they are not serving the people of Samoa but rather they are serving themselves.

One other thing to consider, when I’m a tourist and thinking of where to travel not once have I made my decision on where to go because of the look of the destination airport. Samoa has so much more to offer as a tourist destination I doubt people would not come because they can only come on Friday or Tuesday to a simple airport.

Finally, cost of airfare might be a factor for a tourist but right now I pay the same to get to NZ from Canada as I do to fly to Samoa and last I looked Auckland had a pretty fancy airport, so it seems nice airport doesn’t necessarily mean cheaper airfare. 

More and more tourists are traveling by cruise ship now anyway because the only people that have any money for travel are old people who bought their land a long time ago in developed countries and they prefer cruise ships over planes. Young people in developed countries can’t afford to travel anymore because they are paying astronomical rents to all the Chinese landlords in their home countries. Is that what you want for Samoa?

Wendy Wonder

Samoa Observer

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