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SAMOA - President of the Samoa Fa'afafine (transvestites) Association (SFA) Mr Roger To'otooalii Stanley has described the recent much publicized ban on gay activity during the South Pacific Games as "pure discrimination."
"Why are they pinpointing gay and lesbians and not straight people?" Stanley asked.
The well-known fa'afafine said he was appalled at the way gay and lesbian activities were banned instead of all sexual activity.
"By banning such activities the SPG officials suggest that only gay and lesbians have sexual desires, but what about the rest?."
Stanley said: "If they want to ban sex than they should ban all sexual activity regardless of the athlete's sexual orientation."
The ban on gay and lesbian activity was part of a memo to Samoan athletes last week along with the ban on smoking, alcohol and over eating.
"The decision reflects poorly on Samoa, we are one of the leading countries in the Pacific, we must honour that by setting a good example," Stanley said.
According to him the ban on gay and lesbian activities infringes upon their human rights and many of his friends and fellow fa'afafines are offended by it.
"There should be no discrimination against anyone regardless of their sex, height, background and sexual orientation," Stanley said.
Despite the negative publicity on gays, lesbians and fa'afafines Stanley said he empathized with SPG officials.
"They probably have their own reasons for the decision as they have experience in such events before," he said.
Stanley however is adamant that gay and lesbian athletes are mature and responsible people.
"Of course they will not display such activities out in the open, they are all matured people and they know when and where not to display such desires," Stanley said.
"We claim to be non-discriminatory, let's live by it," he said.
Stanley, who works for the Ministry of Women said local officials should be sensitive in making decisions that may infringe on peoples rights.
"Again we are the shining light of the Pacific, let's maintain that reputation by observing anti discrimination," he said.
Samoa National Provident Fund
On the money front, more than SAT$5 million ($2.3 million) was cashed out from the Samoa National Provident Fund (SNPF) last week.
The cash out by local workers comes after a 9 per cent dividend was added to their existing balances.
An exact total of 8,243 members of SNPF have taken out their share of the dividend said manager of finance, Jane Ati'ifale Iona.
Twenty-five per cent or SAT$5,941,795.00 was loaned in the first two weeks and the members are still queuing up to loan.
Two weeks ago, the SNPF board approved a 9 per cent increase on top of each member's current contribution.
The total amounted to SAT$22,871,897.00, of this almost SAT$23 million each contributor is able to loan 50 per cent of their 9 per cent share.
Communications
On the communication front, Samoa Tel the local fixed phone line provider and parent company of GoMobile will now face the Irish mobile provider, Digicel in court.
Digicel Samoa Limited is suing former sole provider of phone services to the country Samoa Tel, on the grounds that natural justice was breeched by the first respondent Samoa Tel under the Telecommunications Act.
The hearing was held in the Supreme Court under the ruling of Justice Lesatele Rapi Vaai.
Digicel argues that Samoa Tel has caused the company financial suffering due to their low prices.
Chief executive officer for Samoa Tel, Mike Johnston was contacted and asked for a comment on Digicel's accusations.
He confirmed that Digicel did file the case against Samoa Tel and the Order of the Regulator.
However, Mr Johnston simply added that, "Samoa Tel operates in a very competitive market, where they compete to provide the best possible services to the people of Samoa."
There is no official comment from Digicel concerning the matter.
Digicel, Samoa Tel and the Office of the Regulator have until the 17th of July to gather any witnesses and all parties involved have until July 31 to submit any additional affidavits.
The trial has been scheduled to take place on the 14th and 15th of August this year.
Climate change
On the environment front, climate change, the environmental phenomenon better explained in technical terms should be adapted to in a manner where the non-specialist can understand according to regional experts.
This was one of the suggestions made at the regional meeting on climate change currently being held at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Community last week.
According to climate change specialists, using illustrative methods will better portray the climate change issue to the public.
According to SPREP the meeting is a stock take of climate change information from Pacific Islands.
Each Pacific Island nation has completed a report that contains information on climate change issues ranging from how much greenhouse gasses they emit and how much forestry your country has to absorb the carbon, to detailed proposals on how your country will seek to adapt to climate change.
Harry Potter
On the village front, the coconut wireless has informed me that the first Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book managed to arrive on the island of Savaii on opening day after a somewhat adventurous journey of its own.
Neil Tiatia, perhaps the most avid follower of the literary wizardry tales from the island of Savaii sent out a bulk message to his relatives all over the world pleading for a copy of the much anticipated book on opening day.
"I had to have that book as soon as it came out," he said.
The book was bought from the Whitcoulls in Auckland Airport's transit area on the July 21 by his cousin, a few hours into the opening day.
The book was then hand carried on the first Air New Zealand flight to Samoa, ANZ 860 which arrived at 1.00am on the 21st of July, technically, still the opening day.
At about 12pm on the same day, the book, now tucked in a manila envelope like an illegal possession was delivered to a passenger by the name of Mena travelling on a bus to catch the ferry to Savaii.
By 3.00pm, after a bus ride from Apia, and a boat ride on Lady Samoa, Harry Potter had officially arrived on the island of Savaii.
But the book was not delivered immediately to Tiatia and it disappeared momentarily as Tiatia and the cousin lost track of the deliverer of the book on the island of Savaii.
"I sat by the phone, waiting for a call, or something to indicate that the book had arrived, I got worried," Tiatia said.
But he told me that he had faith that no one else on Savaii would be interested stealing a book so he knew it would appear somewhere.
Meanwhile, the book had travelled halfway across the island to the home of Mena who did not have any means of transport to personally deliver Harry Potter to Tiatia.
As it turns out, Mena gave the book to her uncle Mataiuta who in turn gave it to their neighbour who works as a Nurse at Malietoa Tanumafili II Hospital in Savaii, a few minutes from Tiatia 's house.
The Nurse took the book with her to her evening shift about 6.00pm and passed on to the ambulance driver.
Tiatia received a call from the hospital asking him to wait at the three corners in front of his house for the ambulance vehicle which would deliver the much anticipated Harry Potter.
Tiatia waited for about two hours, it turns out the ambulance vehicle had engine problems and had to be fixed before making the precious ten minute journey to the village of Safua to deliver Harry Potter.
The book arrived in Tiatia's hands at exactly 11.35pm on the July 21, after more than 24 hours journey from Auckland, to Upolu, to Satupaitea, Tuasivi and finally to Safua.
By the time Tiatia held the book it had travelled on a 737 jet, a Kia Sportage, a wooden bus, a passenger ferry and an ambulance vehicle.
In the case of this Harry Potter book, it is a shame that the floo-powder is not available in real life, it would have made the journey much faster.
Manuia le aso.
