The South Pacific rediscovered? John R. Martin discusses recent contributions to our understanding of the South Pacific with particular attention to developments in Samoa.

• Author: Martin, John R.
• Position: Essay

More than 50 years ago Frank Corner suggested that a 're-discovery of our role in the South Pacific will contribute to the process by which we are regaining our national confidence and re-discovering our unique identity as New Zealanders'. (1) This raises more questions than could possibly be tackled in a review article or indeed by someone whose direct South Pacific experience coincides with the time of Corner's proposition. But how much do New Zealanders know about the countries of the South Pacific outside their availability as tourist destinations and as the home of Pasifika New Zealanders? The tragic 2009 tsunami more than any other recent event brought Samoa to the attention of New Zealanders.

Fifty years of Samoan independence was appropriately celebrated in 2012. And we are reminded that in 2014 it will be 100 years since New Zealand became directly involved with that country. (Our association with the Cook Islands and Niue is even longer.) Much of the media comment at the time of the tsunami, underlining the case for generosity, focused on unfortunate episodes in the story of New Zealand/Samoa relations, notably the devastating influenza epidemic of 1919 and the death in 1929 of Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III and ten other Samoans (and one New Zealand policeman). The post-war Trusteeship, encouraged by Peter Fraser and administered largely under the leadership as high commissioner of Sir Guy Powles, deserves a better telling.

The appearance in the last few years of a significant number of publications about the South Pacific provides a welcome resource for those who may wish to consider the extent to which Corner's proposition has been realised. Samoa's Journey 1962-2012: Aspects of History is a very good place from which to start. (2) This volume of essays, supported by the National University of Samoa and Victoria University of Wellington, provides an up-to-date, fact-filled survey of Samoan developments since 1962. The essays, all written by Samoan scholars, range across politics, economic and social development and religion to arts, literature and the media, and sport.

The present Samoan prime minister, Tuila'epa Sa'ilke Malielegoi (and the Human Rights Protection Party), has been in office since 1998 and has been unopposed as a parliamentary candidate at the last two elections. This long tenure has underlined the stability that has been a feature of recent Samoan history by comparison with a number of other Pacific countries. Since Mata'afa, holder of one of the four paramount tama'aiga tides, formed the first post-independence government in a climate of 'consensus politics' the constitutional framework has evolved: the adoption of universal suffrage in 1991 in place of restricted matai suffrage; the recognition of political parties in 1979 (initially excluded by the Constitution as contrary to the unity requited by a newly independent state); an extension of the parliamentary term from three to five years; and an increase in the maximum number of Cabinet ministers from eight to twelve. In a chapter on political development since independence, Professor Asofou So'o (vice-chancellor of the National University of Samoa)...