The head of the American Samoan office that deals with constitutional and political status issues, says the US regards the issue of American Samoa's political status as an internal one, outside of the purview of the United Nations.
Tapa'au Dr Daniel Aga told a Senate hearing yesterday that the US has stopped attending meetings of the UN Committee on Decolonization, the Committee of 24, for this reason.
He said there was no US representative at the UN Seminar on Decolonisation which he attended in Nicaragua in June, where the case of American Samoa was discussed.
Tapa'au represented American Samoa at the request of Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga.
He told Dominic Godfrey that hearing from representatives of other non-self-governing states gave him a sense of perspective.
Transcript
DANIEL AGA: We didn't have to endure the same levels of dehumanisation that I'm now more aware of in other places that have been more heavily colonised. And we don't have in our collective historical memory that kind of tragedy that I think would push us towards seeking political independence if that was the case. But it's also a more practical matter; people don't want to give up their economic advantages. Again, we're a very small island. The kind of change we'd have to go through, to live only by farming and fishing would be so traumatic I think. We can't turn back the clock but we have to own the present. We have to look at what we have now and think about how we evolve from here.
To many people in American Samoa, self-determination means political independence. I say the word self-determination, they hear me as saying political independence yet I don't know anyone here who wants to seek independence. And given the choice, I believe an overwhelming majority of people would choose to remain a part of the United States. The United Nations or any other people telling us what they want for us, I would tell them, well, this is the way we feel about it.
We would have to think of self-determination in the context of American Samoa. So far it's meant this: we don't want to become US citizens; we want to maintain local control of immigration; we are presently not under the US Federal Court system. Any one of those three things we feel would pose an existential threat to Samoan lands and culture. So equally important as remaining a part of the US, I can't say it enough, is protecting our lands, culture and natural resources. We are in a relationship with the most powerful country on earth. We have to be very careful in what we do and no one wants to risk the economic advantage that we have and enjoy in being a territory of the United States.
DOMINIC GODFREY: Looking at the other side of the coin there, looking across to the west - isisifo - independent Samoa, which has not had those advantages over the years, has slowly but steadfastly moved itself forward economically while maintaining Samoan values - its fa'a Samoa - its political self-determination and so on. How much of an example could that be for American Samoa?
DA: That's a good question. You know, of course the comparisons will come up. I know they revere their leaders, and the independence of their country is something to be proud of, I'm proud of it. Give them all the credit in the world. We have to somehow find what is the problem exactly, what kind of change do we need and when do we push for that change. This is an election year for us so the feeling right now is, this is not a good year to bring up political status change or a constitutional amendment change, that we should wait until next year or a so-called off-year.
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