03-19-2011, 06:24 PM
ELIZABETH JACKSON: The South Pacific nation of Samoa went to the polls earlier this month and the ruling Human Rights Protection Party, which has been in power for almost 30 years, was returned despite losing half of its sitting Members. Three Ministers were amongst the casualties.
However, the Human Rights Protection Party is so dominant in Samoa that it could afford to lose half its MPs. Indeed, most of those rejected by the voters were beaten by rivals from within their own party which endorsed twice as many candidates as there are seats.
Our Pacific correspondent, Sean Dorney, covered the election and he reports on one issue that, while it did not figure much in the campaign, is of growing concern to the business community in Samoa - an influx of mainland Chinese.
(Spruiker on loudspeaker outside Chinese store)
SEAN DORNEY: This hard-sell message is repeated again and again outside the new Chinese-owned retail store, Coin Save, in the main street of the Samoan capital, Apia. The offerings are very cheap, footwear for the equivalent of $AU5. And shoppers are flocking here.
MATA'AFA KENI LESA: Some members of the Chamber of Commerce have also been very concerned because what's happening is that these, I won't say Chinese, but I'll say Asians are coming in and they're taking the business that are supposed to be for the local people.
SEAN DORNEY: Mata'afa Keni Lesa is the editor of the daily Samoa Observer newspaper.
MATA'AFA KENI LESA: As a matter of fact we've got one construction company as well that's fighting with all the local construction companies and they're taking all the businesses.
SEAN DORNEY: The construction industry connection is the result of soft loans from China. The Chinese have been heavily involved in construction in Samoa since they built most of the sporting facilities for the South Pacific Games in 2007, including a substantial aquatic centre.
A statue of an elephant originally painted white at that aquatic centre attracted a lot of adverse comment, and I notice the white elephant has now been painted yellow. Amongst newer buildings built by Chinese companies under contracts from the Chinese government are a huge Samoan court complex and a substantial convention centre.
VA'AELUA ETI ALESANA: There are a lot of structures that have been built by Chinese. You know, the court house, the big, I don't know what it is. It's supposed to be a convention centre but it sure looks like a hotel to me.
SEAN DORNEY: Va'aelua Eti Alesana is the president of the opposition Tautua political party which won 13 seats in this month's Samoan national elections.
VA'AELUA ETI ALESANA: The benefit for Samoans is very minimal because all the money goes back to China. All the workers are Chinese. They come here, they build their own compound, they grow their own food. So there's really no help to the local economy.
SEAN DORNEY: Samoa's prime minister, Tuila'epa Sa'ilele, scoffs at the opposition criticism saying the new buildings are important and badly needed infrastructure.
TUILA'EPA SA'ILELE: That is a very, very minor issue. What is more important is the space that we need in order to generate more productivity.
SEAN DORNEY: The president of the Samoa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sina Retzlaff, says the Chinese aren't going home when the building projects are completed. And new Chinese-owned retailers like Coin Save have set up shop.
SINA RETZLAFF: Without wanting to sound so casual, they're popping out of everywhere. They are being set up as retail businesses. Businesses where typically our people would be investing in.
SEAN DORNEY: Sina Retzlaff says Samoa's Foreign Investment Act specifically reserves retailing for Samoans.
SINA RETZLAFF: And the retail sector typically in Samoa, we're a community-based country, has a retail store in the front of a home. And that income-earning generating activity, small as it may be, is probably the bread and butter or the lifeblood of an extended family behind that store in a village situation of anything up to 40 people. And so it's a concern from the private sector's perspective that our Foreign Investment Act in not being enforced.
SEAN DORNEY: Prime Minister Tuila'epa claims the major construction projects will generate a healthy return.
TUILA'EPA SA'ILELE: The amount of buildings that we are building with the amount of money loaned from the Chinese poses quite a big return for the borrowings at very soft terms.
SEAN DORNEY: Figures produced by the Lowy Institute show that Samoa's debt burden is running at 16 per cent of GDP. But the parliamentary leader of the new opposition Tautua Party, Papu Vailupe Va'ai, believes the Chinese government will forgive the entire debt.
PAPU VAILUPE VAAI: Normally you don't have to pay it back. It's good that way but somehow in the back of our minds we will have to give the Chinese government something. Because I'm sure that we all think it's for free but nothing is free in this world. Nothing is free.
(Sound of Church singing)
SEAN DORNEY: Samoa is a strongly Christian country where Sunday is the day of rest and heavy, paid work is frowned upon. But the Chinese construction projects have been given a dispensation.
The editor of the Samoa Observer, wrote an editorial about what else the Chinese labourers are doing on Sundays.
MATA'AFA KENI LESA: Another trend that's happening in town is that you're driving there on Sunday afternoons and you see these small Chinese men running around with their rods, they're fishing for eels for these small things in these swamps, in town.
Now, I'll tell you what, for a very long time, you know, that's what people living in Fuma Lei (phonetic) and Saleufi and all those other areas used to eat. Now these Chinese guys will come in and not only that they take the jobs, they take all the money, send it back to China. Now they take the food! What's going to be there for the local people?
SEAN DORNEY: Sina Retzlaff, president of the Chamber of Commerce denies it's a racial issue.
RETZLAFF: Many of us Samoans have Chinese blood running through us and we're very proud of it.
SEAN DORNEY: But she says the recent arrivals are breaking the law.
SINA RETZLAFF: We need job creation right now in our economy. So we do need big foreign investment in Samoa. That has to be made very clear.
But we don't need people that come in and set up little retail stores selling, with all due respect, dumped products. That are, you know, good quality copy of everything. You know good quality copy of this and good quality copy of that. That is not what we need in Samoa at this stage.
SEAN DORNEY: And she believes that what Samoa also does not need is for resentment towards the new Chinese arrivals to build to a flashpoint like it has in other Pacific Island countries like Tonga, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea where Chinese businesses were targeted during riots.
This has been Sean Dorney in Apia, Samoa, for Correspondents Report.
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/correspondents/con...168366.htm
However, the Human Rights Protection Party is so dominant in Samoa that it could afford to lose half its MPs. Indeed, most of those rejected by the voters were beaten by rivals from within their own party which endorsed twice as many candidates as there are seats.
Our Pacific correspondent, Sean Dorney, covered the election and he reports on one issue that, while it did not figure much in the campaign, is of growing concern to the business community in Samoa - an influx of mainland Chinese.
(Spruiker on loudspeaker outside Chinese store)
SEAN DORNEY: This hard-sell message is repeated again and again outside the new Chinese-owned retail store, Coin Save, in the main street of the Samoan capital, Apia. The offerings are very cheap, footwear for the equivalent of $AU5. And shoppers are flocking here.
MATA'AFA KENI LESA: Some members of the Chamber of Commerce have also been very concerned because what's happening is that these, I won't say Chinese, but I'll say Asians are coming in and they're taking the business that are supposed to be for the local people.
SEAN DORNEY: Mata'afa Keni Lesa is the editor of the daily Samoa Observer newspaper.
MATA'AFA KENI LESA: As a matter of fact we've got one construction company as well that's fighting with all the local construction companies and they're taking all the businesses.
SEAN DORNEY: The construction industry connection is the result of soft loans from China. The Chinese have been heavily involved in construction in Samoa since they built most of the sporting facilities for the South Pacific Games in 2007, including a substantial aquatic centre.
A statue of an elephant originally painted white at that aquatic centre attracted a lot of adverse comment, and I notice the white elephant has now been painted yellow. Amongst newer buildings built by Chinese companies under contracts from the Chinese government are a huge Samoan court complex and a substantial convention centre.
VA'AELUA ETI ALESANA: There are a lot of structures that have been built by Chinese. You know, the court house, the big, I don't know what it is. It's supposed to be a convention centre but it sure looks like a hotel to me.
SEAN DORNEY: Va'aelua Eti Alesana is the president of the opposition Tautua political party which won 13 seats in this month's Samoan national elections.
VA'AELUA ETI ALESANA: The benefit for Samoans is very minimal because all the money goes back to China. All the workers are Chinese. They come here, they build their own compound, they grow their own food. So there's really no help to the local economy.
SEAN DORNEY: Samoa's prime minister, Tuila'epa Sa'ilele, scoffs at the opposition criticism saying the new buildings are important and badly needed infrastructure.
TUILA'EPA SA'ILELE: That is a very, very minor issue. What is more important is the space that we need in order to generate more productivity.
SEAN DORNEY: The president of the Samoa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sina Retzlaff, says the Chinese aren't going home when the building projects are completed. And new Chinese-owned retailers like Coin Save have set up shop.
SINA RETZLAFF: Without wanting to sound so casual, they're popping out of everywhere. They are being set up as retail businesses. Businesses where typically our people would be investing in.
SEAN DORNEY: Sina Retzlaff says Samoa's Foreign Investment Act specifically reserves retailing for Samoans.
SINA RETZLAFF: And the retail sector typically in Samoa, we're a community-based country, has a retail store in the front of a home. And that income-earning generating activity, small as it may be, is probably the bread and butter or the lifeblood of an extended family behind that store in a village situation of anything up to 40 people. And so it's a concern from the private sector's perspective that our Foreign Investment Act in not being enforced.
SEAN DORNEY: Prime Minister Tuila'epa claims the major construction projects will generate a healthy return.
TUILA'EPA SA'ILELE: The amount of buildings that we are building with the amount of money loaned from the Chinese poses quite a big return for the borrowings at very soft terms.
SEAN DORNEY: Figures produced by the Lowy Institute show that Samoa's debt burden is running at 16 per cent of GDP. But the parliamentary leader of the new opposition Tautua Party, Papu Vailupe Va'ai, believes the Chinese government will forgive the entire debt.
PAPU VAILUPE VAAI: Normally you don't have to pay it back. It's good that way but somehow in the back of our minds we will have to give the Chinese government something. Because I'm sure that we all think it's for free but nothing is free in this world. Nothing is free.
(Sound of Church singing)
SEAN DORNEY: Samoa is a strongly Christian country where Sunday is the day of rest and heavy, paid work is frowned upon. But the Chinese construction projects have been given a dispensation.
The editor of the Samoa Observer, wrote an editorial about what else the Chinese labourers are doing on Sundays.
MATA'AFA KENI LESA: Another trend that's happening in town is that you're driving there on Sunday afternoons and you see these small Chinese men running around with their rods, they're fishing for eels for these small things in these swamps, in town.
Now, I'll tell you what, for a very long time, you know, that's what people living in Fuma Lei (phonetic) and Saleufi and all those other areas used to eat. Now these Chinese guys will come in and not only that they take the jobs, they take all the money, send it back to China. Now they take the food! What's going to be there for the local people?
SEAN DORNEY: Sina Retzlaff, president of the Chamber of Commerce denies it's a racial issue.
RETZLAFF: Many of us Samoans have Chinese blood running through us and we're very proud of it.
SEAN DORNEY: But she says the recent arrivals are breaking the law.
SINA RETZLAFF: We need job creation right now in our economy. So we do need big foreign investment in Samoa. That has to be made very clear.
But we don't need people that come in and set up little retail stores selling, with all due respect, dumped products. That are, you know, good quality copy of everything. You know good quality copy of this and good quality copy of that. That is not what we need in Samoa at this stage.
SEAN DORNEY: And she believes that what Samoa also does not need is for resentment towards the new Chinese arrivals to build to a flashpoint like it has in other Pacific Island countries like Tonga, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea where Chinese businesses were targeted during riots.
This has been Sean Dorney in Apia, Samoa, for Correspondents Report.
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/correspondents/con...168366.htm