Are we witnessing a sea change in our international relations? Are we seeing a profound transformation in how our leaders deal with foreign powers? Shall we continue to have faith in decision making on issues that will impact our nation for years to come?
Our Leaders carry our country. They are more or less the ‘conscience’ of the people. They need to be professional and mature, instead of having the mindset of an adolescent going through puberty, daring and curious.
Our international relations depend on how we play our cards right. For donor countries, we need to be more vigilant in our interactions and uphold a respectful dialogue and a degree of transparency for the sake of accountability.
With PM La’auli’s rejection of any ‘experts’ to advice him, it is either a stroke of genius, showing courage to break with convention and skip bureaucracy to get quick results, or we could become a ‘laughing stock’ befitting a ‘Banana Republic’.
Protocol requires ‘experts’ in foreign affairs to brief their leaders and also be part of those high-level talks. They are highly sensitive information and only those with ‘authorised clearance’ can be present. Records are kept as official data and can be called upon for their historical context on different issues where informed decisions will be based upon.
A worrying aspect in recent days was the reported high profile meetings between PM La’auli and NZ Foreign Minister Winston Peters, and the Israeli deputy Foreign Minister, Sharren Miriam. No foreign affairs officials were present except La’auli’s son and Ambassador Palusalue Afemata. Is this a new acceptable norm?
There are complexities with international talks between governments. There are top secret information to be shared between allies in bilateral interactions and only certain officials can be privy to them. Did that take place here? The answer is a big baffling ‘NO’.
There’s a thirst for information on our PM’s medical situation. There’s murmurs alleging that he will not be going back any time soon, due to ‘other’ complications discovered! There’s conflicting reports from different sources, but one thing is certain, the pro-Fast media platforms seem to have the scoop on issues where our PM is involved. It’s rather concerning if commercial outlets, with vested interests, are used as mouthpieces for government announcements.
Is that a healthy state of affairs? After all, there is an official govt media named the SAVALI newspaper in all its modern forms, where government activities and news are printed for public consumption.
Our democracy, our Independence is 63 years old, and we became the elder of Pacific nations in leadership and a senior advocate for Pacific matters to the world. Samoa had earned the respect of many nations through the exceptional abilities of its diplomatic core and foreign affairs officials.
Is it now fashionable to discard the decades-old conventions and standards that have allowed our nation to build its international reputation? We all love our Samoa and we shall always be vigilant to ensure we keep our leaders accountable, retain our character and standards that had given us pride to be called Samoans… 🇼🇸🇼🇸🇼🇸🇼🇸🇼🇸. Fai aku fo’i.
