Mata'afa Keni Lesa
APIA: (Pacific Media Watch / Samoa Observer): Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi has responded angrily to the leader of the Opposition, Palusalue Fa’apo II’s comparison of the media environment in Samoa to that of Fiji.
“It was best if you kept quiet and just zipped it,” Tuilaepa said. “But you chose to open your lips. Now the whole world knows how uninformed you are.”
The Prime Minister made the comments in a statement issued by the Office of the Press Secretariat late yesterday evening.
It was in response to a press conference called by Palusalue and the Tautua Samoa Party on Tuesday, to highlight their concerns about the government putting pressure on the media to set up a media council, Samoa Observer reports.
Palusalue was highly critical of the government.
“We always talk about Bainimarama and the exclusion of freedom of speech in Fiji,” he said.
“Samoa is getting closer to what’s happening in Fiji.”
Dictatorship and democracy
Yesterday, the Prime Minister strongly rejected the comparison. He advised Palusalue to “stick to what you know.”
“Fiji is a dictatorship, it is not a democracy,” said Tuilaepa.
“It does not have a Parliament like Samoa that people like Palusalue and the Tautua Party enjoy every day.”
Tuilaepa pointed out that “Bainimarama is an unelected dictator who rules with a gun and an iron fist and does not need to consult anybody.
“He and his military have the power to issue decrees and control the media and whatever they write and broadcast.”
In Samoa, the Prime Minister said “media freedom is thriving” and “it will continue to do so.”
Nothing new
Tuilaepa said the idea to set up a media council was nothing new.
He explained that “it was the media themselves who raised and pushed the issue of setting up a media council to government some years ago.”
“The issue of a media council is nothing new,” said the Prime Minister. “But local media has been very disorganised in recent years and government has taken up the media’s initiative to help them set up a council.
“Essentially, it’s not a government initiative, it’s a media initiative.”
According to Tuilaepa, the “proposed media council is more or less a complaints commission where people can forward any complaints about publications and broadcasts.
“Even reporters can complain about their editors and publishers to the media council. It will be completely run by the media industry without any involvement from government whatsoever.”
On Tuesday, Palusalue said the government should respect the freedom of the media as the Fourth Estate in Samoa.
No meddling
As a matter of fact, Palusalue advised Prime Minister Tuilaepa to stop meddling with the affairs of the media.
“The fourth pillar of any democratic country is the media,” said Palusalue. “It’s where everyone gets the freedom of speech, to show their rights, to say anything."
“In my opinion, the government has no right to interfere with how this body should be set up within the media.
“Why do they need it so soon instead of the two year timeframe that the media has been advised of before," the Opposition Leader said.
The time frame in question was given by the Samoa Law Reform Commission. It had advised the government to allow the media to act on setting up its own council within that period.
Last week, however, Attorney-General Aumua Ming Leung Wai said he had been “instructed” by the government to draft the legislation to set up the media council.
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Pacific Media Watch
