3:45 AM |
UNESCO/Pacific Freedom Forum
'Project XIX Building Courage Under Fire' Seminar
UNESCO HG, Apia, Samoa
Wednesday 6-Friday 8 May 2009
Savea Sano Malifa
Colleagues,
Friends.
Greetings! And to those who you traveled from overseas, welcome to Samoa!
We know that most of you do not get to visit often, and now that you're here, we want to believe you can make yourself feel at home in our small country.
We agree it is not much of a place, but we assure you it can be quite comfortable at times, and besides it's all we've got. So relax and try to make the best of the next few days you're here.
Let me now say thank you to Abel and Lisa, and the organisers of this forum, for their kind invitation for me to speak this morning. It's a privilege and an honour to be invited
I've been asked to speak on "Courage under fire." Well, I know a lot about working under pressure, but courage under pressure? I'm not so sure. I guess it's being committed to an ideal, and being consistent with what you're doing to promote that ideal, despite the intimidations and the threats.
And if that is "courage under pressure," I'm staggered. Since it seems silly not allowing yourself to be diverted from insisting on doing something that may cause yourself irreparable damage. On the other hand, I believe when you're that committed, you have no time to think about your personal safety.
It's good though to know that we can celebrate World Press Freedom Day every year. It reassures us that the world we call home is still free, and once again, we have the chance to wish that it shall continue to be free.
Until, as journalists, we neglect our role as watchdogs of our governments, then that freedom is likely to be under threat of being taken away from us.
But let's return to the theme "Courage under fire." I suppose that in our case, it refers to those journalists among us who are silly enough to continue to stand up, walk around as though everything is alright, when they should be hiding as they are being fired upon by angry people they have known well for years.
But then when you think about it some more, the theme becomes even more complicated. It's all about the circumstances that affect the way we live, think and make decisions.
For instance, if my father – may he rest in peace - was a corrupt politician, I would most likely not even have the courage to work as a crusading journalist, ever in this country. I would probably be doing something totally different, or have taken off to some place far away.
One thing I'm sure I wouldn't do though is wait around to be burned under constant fire from my father's corrupt buddies, and thus cause him unnecessary worry and embarrassment.
But since the circumstances in which I grew up were not complicated at all, being under "fire" did not bother me one bit. It was all in a day's work. All you need to know is that you have a commitment to the job you do, and so you should do it well.
Earlier on when I started out as a journalist I realised that I didn't care much about the everyday, obvious news. I was more interested in the news that has yet to be news, because it is hidden. Especially the ones that were being deliberately hidden in order that they remained hidden for a very long time. That was the stuff that kept up the pressure to dig deeper.
So that every time there was an expose in the paper where the government was deeply embroiled, I got a licking inside Parliament. They were not used to this sort of thing in there in those days, and I didn't blame them. Because they thought they were there to be respected and praised, not to be picked at for hiding things from the public.
But I knew better. I knew there were a lot more hidden stories out there that demanded to be exposed. And the more we exposed them the more we incurred the wrath of the powerful people.
But we didn't stop. Because by this time we had earned the respect of those senior officials who had been watching in silence those things being hidden. So what did they do? They just leaked the stuff to us and we kept putting them in the paper. Which was why we were threatened to kill, physically assaulted, burned and sued.
And we call that "courage under fire?" Try telling Jean that. She would probably flip her lid. It was pure madness. So my advice to those of you who want to go this way is this – don't try it if your bank manager doesn't believe what you're doing is right.
What we should all do as journalists however is to remain always vigilant, fair, refrain from being compromised, and never give in to intimidation of any sort. Once we succumb to threats of one form of another, we are no longer effective as journalists.
In our small societies, the urge to compromise is compelling. Many journalists succumb to it. They are invited to their governments' cocktail parties, they accept free beer and food, and they lose sight of their ethics.
Everyone is doing it, they insist, so why not us? Because the others are not journalists, whereas, you are. When a journalist allows himself to be compromised, he becomes unprincipled, and he loses everyone's respect, including that of his government's. He then becomes just a little puppy to be used.
This is why some governments do not take journalists seriously. They think they are easy to bribe, and their craft therefore is not worthy of recognition. And that affects all of us. Which is why regional journalists should work together to prove to their respective governments, that they're wrong. They need to rebuild their self-respect if they are to regain their government's respect. They can do this by staying away from their governments' cocktail parties, and buy their own drinks.
Meantime, the free press cannot stop checking on what the governments are doing, point out what it believes is wrong, or criticise when criticism is warranted. After all criticism is the lifeblood of democracy. Good governments recognise that, so they listen, consider, and modify. Bad governments on the other hand, defiantly refuse to listen, allow the wrong to fester, and soon society suffers.
When we, as journalists, waver, we are either complacent or afraid. Whereas complacency is the scourge of journalism, fear is its arch enemy. Both words must be erased from the journalist's mind.
We often hear members of the public say, the press is the "voice of the people." That sentiment should be treated with respect, not with skepticism. When things go wrong, and the public complain, they are really asking the press to "voice" their complaints, for the government to hear. What happens if the press is compromised, complacent or afraid? Where will the public go to "voice" their displeasure to their government?
I now come to threats that are often associated with the work of the media. Over the years reporters and newspapers have had their share of intimidation, physical assault and defamation lawsuits. But we can't give in to those threats. Because doing so would be the beginning of the end of press freedom in our small societies.
Perhaps the regional media should stand together to confront these threats. That was one of the reasons the Pacific Islands News Association was formally established here in Apia 23 years ago. It was here it was registered as a media organisation, and where its constitution was endorsed.
And now you ask: Why weren't all these things done in Fiji where the idea of a regional press organisation originated, and where subsequent annual PINA conventions had been hosted? We don't know.
But PINA is no longer what it used to be. Now partnered with PIBA, (Pacific Island Broadcasting Corporation), it is apparently going nowhere. Since we stopped our membership because PIBA failed to deliver on its promise to furnish proper financial accounts, we have had no idea what has been happening there.
The lesson here though is that the media cannot accuse the government of being corrupt if they themselves are corrupt. Doing so is worse than hypocrisy. Perhaps it's time now to start another regional press association apart from PINA. Without PIBA this time, we will become members again.
Now there's another topic I would like to talk about briefly. It is the so-called Pacific Way which seems to be eroding away slowly but surely. As we all know, this is the way to resolve disputes in the Pacific with dialogue instead of violent threats.
I am not qualified to speak about other countries of the region, but here in Samoa, this method is still being used today, and it is still effective. When a dispute arises between two families, it is brought before the village matai council which sits once a month, where it is discussed and sorted out.
Very rarely is there a failure in solving a problem. Later, the two families are reconciled, they go home and resume their lives as if no dispute had arisen. Every village has a matai council. They make rules, discuss problems, and arbitrate over disputes.
One of the main goals is to insulate their communities from bad habits, especially drugs and gun violence that they see in overseas movies. As the vulnerable youth are easily affected by such fare, there is also the uncontrollable internet with its own easily available, unlimited storage of unedited materials which does not help.
Therefore, to maintain conformity, peace and order in their villages the matai councils also conduct evening curfews. They queue up alongside the road to ensure there is no loitering, and that everyone is indoors during evening prayer. The idea is to maintain strict discipline especially among young people.
Which means despite the threat of gun and drug smuggling in our region, there is no such thing as a "gang culture" in this country. The United States, New Zealand, Australia and Asian countries, may have their gang cultures but here in Samoa there is none. The village matai councils would not allow that to happen.
However, there are illegal guns and drugs. We cannot deny that. As a member of the global community, Samoa is not immune to illegal activities such as gun and drug smuggling. Its borders have yet to be sealed off from such global activities.
I believe therefore that foreign journalists who wish to investigative possible stories on sensitive topics such as gang culture, in any country in the Pacific should be prepared to carry out their researches thoroughly. They should be prepared to spend much longer in that country than three or four days.
They have to talk to the matai councils of the villages where a "gang culture" is suspected of being thriving, people who are directly involved to find out where their guns and drugs are smuggled from, where they are stored locally, talk to the Police, Prime Minister, and others including newspapers, TV and radio. In Samoa, they may soon find they are on a wild goose chase, and they then cut their losses and return home.
I say this because during my thirty years as a practicing journalist in this country, not once have I heard of the term "gang culture" being raised, or seen in action. Otherwise, we would have been the first to scream, and carry out the necessary investigation.
Not long ago, the Police raided a home at Vaitele and found drugs and guns there. All suspects were charged, they had their day in court, some were convicted and jailed, others were cleared and discharged. We followed the story from beginning to end.
Last year when the Police Commissioner was investigated by the Ombudsman for gun smuggling, we were there. Right up to when he was "censored" by Cabinet.
In the past, there have been those who defied the law. A man shot at and killed a police officer, soon he were arrested, charged, dealt with by the law, and put in jail. And in some cases, village matai have helped the police with the arrest of suspects.
This is to say that without the matai councils' consistent efforts in maintaining law and order in their villages, the Police – there are less than 400 officers in the Force for a country of 180,000 people – would have been unable to cope.
I want to reiterate here that we take our role as serious journalists in this country very seriously. We have no doubt that you do to in your respectful countries. We urge you then not to allow yourselves to be used by the big media organisations of other countries, to paint bad images of our small nations to the world.
Samoa is a small, volatile country. There are violent incidents now and then, we cannot deny that. People are quick to anger, slow to calm down. But there is also forgiving. Despite all that this country is still politically stable, united and peaceful. And it is the matai rule and the church that are helping to keep this place the way it is.
As working journalists, let's work together to make the South Pacific a safe, and peaceful region for us all.
Soifua
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pacific islands media association
pima.nius@gmail.com
aotearoa, new zealand
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