Previous Story
American Samoa seems content with status quo
|
Posted on Oct 27 2006
[B]PAGO PAGO, American Samoa[/B] (The Samoa News, PIR)—Less than 30 local residents showed up at the Fono guest fale for a public hearing hosted by the Future Political Status Study Commission yesterday. After nearly three hours, it was determined that the majority of the people wanted nothing more than to remain under the current form of government.
The hearing was led by Future Political Status Study Commission vice chairman Sen. Tuaolo Vaivao Manaia, as chairman Tufele Li’amatua was under the weather and not present.
President of Common Cause Dr. Trudie Sala began by saying, “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it,” followed by a question, “Is anything broken that needs fixing?”
Tuaolo replied negatively, explaining that the Future Political Status Study Commission’s role was to look into options available to American Samoa, as after 106 years, she is still an unincorporated, unorganized territory of the United States.
Rep. Olo Ropati Tagovailoa Atimalala then inquired about the option of free association. Commission member Mapu Jamias answered by saying that the Republic of Palau is under a free association, but this came only after about 500 years of being ruled by the Japanese, Germans, Americans, and the Spanish people.
“We are lucky that we didn’t have to go through what they did. It came to a point where their population was almost depleted and their culture nearly disappeared,” Jamias explained.
