Its people are generous, their hospitality is warm. I was sitting on a stunningly beautiful beach at Lalomanu, thinking to myself how much Samoans have contributed to Aotearoa.
How many great leaders – just to name a few: Pua Magasiva, Beatrice Faumuina, David Tua, Ruben Wiki, Oscar Kightley, Sir Michael Jones, Anae Arther Anae, Dame Luamanuvao Winnie Laban, Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga, Aupito Su’a William Sio, Teuila Blakely, Albert Wendt, Sia Figiel, Tusiata Avia, Carmel Sepuloni, and Barbara Edmonds and Falemai Lesa.
Former All Black Sir Michael Jones is among many Samoans who have helped enrich New Zealand. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Then I got thinking about my own life experience working in hotels and hospitals with working-class Samoans. Their physical toil literally helped build this nation. The sad fact is New Zealand has treated them very badly.
After World War I, Samoa became a New Zealand possession – part of what some dreamed would be a South Seas empire. But New Zealand’s rule of Samoa was not kind.
In 1919, the failure of New Zealand authorities to put in place a quarantine (like the one that successfully protected American Samoa) resulted in a ship coming from Auckland unleashing the flu pandemic on Samoa. Nearly a quarter of the population died.
Under New Zealand administration, freedom of the press was suppressed, dissidents were banished, and a Minister in Wellington made Samoa’s laws. When the Mau movement stood up to oppose draconian New Zealand rule, police gunned down 10 peaceful protestors.
One of those killed was Tamasese III, who as he lay dying said: “My blood has been spilt for Samoa. I am proud to give it. Do not dream of avenging it, as it was spilt in peace. If I die, peace must be maintained at any price.”
In 1924, New Zealand passed a law ruling that Samoans, like New Zealanders, were British subjects. New Zealand citizenship wasn’t established until 1948, when Samoa was still under New Zealand control.
In 1982, the Privy Council ruled that all Samoan British subjects born between 1924 and 1948 (and their descendants) had become New Zealand citizens, too.
These days, Aotearoa New Zealand welcomes over 100,000 new citizens from all over the world each year.
In 1982, the country was not so welcoming. In a clearly racist decision, the Muldoon Government quickly passed a law to strip 100,000 Samoans of New Zealand citizenship. A first-term MP called Helen Clark was one of the few MPs to speak against the law, which passed with support from both National and Labour.
We failed to live up to our ideals as a country during the administration of Samoa and we failed to live up to them in 1982. And we failed over the following decades as these people asked Parliament for justice, over and over again, including a petition in 2003.
It’s not too late to put it right, though.
A law to restore citizenship to those who had it stripped from them is before Parliament right now. As the Bill’s sponsor, Green MP Teanau Tuiono says: “Fairness is at the heart of this bill. We had a group of New Zealand citizens who had their citizenship recognised and then had that citizenship removed by statute. That is unfair - plain and simple. States should not be able to remove citizenship wholesale like that. It is unjust.”
With the march of time, we are not talking about a large number of people any more. There are only about 5000 people still alive who lost their citizenship in 1982. The youngest is 75.
There was fear that the Government would vote down Tuiono’s Bill but the surprise support of New Zealand First and Act meant it passed its first vote with the support of every party in Parliament – except one, National.
National MPs now find themselves awkwardly in a more reactionary position than NZ First and Act. Being the only holdouts against restoring citizenship to these Samoans is not a good look for a party with no Pacific Islanders among its 48 MPs.
It’s sadly ironic that former National Party MP Arthur Anae has been a champion of restoring citizenship to those whom it was taken from, and only his own party is standing against it.
It’s not too late for National to get on the right side of history. Public submissions on the Bill are open until the end of May, and I hope New Zealanders of all backgrounds will be voicing their support for doing what’s right.
Let’s hope that when the Bill returns to Parliament for its final votes, it passes unanimously.
There’s no good reason to stand against justice for these people. There’s every reason to atone for the past in a small way by giving them their New Zealand citizenship back.
I’ll end with a Samoan proverb:
E felelei manu ae ma’au i o latou ofaga.
(Birds migrate to environments where they survive and thrive.)
