Samoans asked to have their say on new passport scheme

Transcript

Samoa's opposition leader says a proposed new law giving passports for investment is a recipe for corruption and will drive long-time Samoans out of business.

But others say the scheme will be good for the country as long as there's respect for Samoan culture and traditions.

Sally Round reports.

People in Samoa are being asked to give their views on the Citizenship Investment Bill which would give citizenship to foreign investors with at least two million US dollars to spend.  The government wants to boost the economy and provide more jobs for Samoans.  The investors would have to inject their money into certain specified areas, including property development, food and fish processing, tourism, and wind and solar energy.  Our correspondent in Samoa Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia says there's been heated debate in Parliament so far with most opposition MPs and several ruling party members voicing opposition to the plan.

AUTAGAVAIA TIPI AUTAGAVAIA: The majority of these concerns were voiced against the number of Chinese business people currently operating their business in the country and the Prime Minister attacking all this negativity against the Chinese saying why there's no opinion against the German or British or Korean but why label the Chinese?

The bill doesn't target investors from any particular country but with China's wealthy middle class spreading its wings they are a likely source of new investment.  An exporter in Samoa Grant Percival says the proposal would help grow the economy.

GRANT PERCIVAL: They'll bring in fresh capital. They won't be borrowing locally. There's one thing about the Chinese, they don't start a business unless they know they've got an outlet and generally their outlet is China. So they'll come in here, start a business and know how to export into China.

But a local lawyer Leota Raymond Schuster says there's already a vehicle for investing in Samoa and it's unecessary to have to resort to selling passports.  He says the proposal's causing much tension in the business community.

LEOTA RAYMOND SCHUSTER: There are people at the top and perhaps some who are dealing with people in Asia that are interested in this legislation for businesses purposes but we think it's opening up a can of worms. It's satisfactory that we already have a foreign investment certificate providing for people who are genuinely interested to come and invest.

One ruling party MP says Samoans are defined by their language, culture and links to their land and such a law affects their very independence.  Thousands of Samoans claim Chinese ancestry with waves of immigration from China since the early 1900s.  The Chinese established themselves as shopkeepers from the early days and continue to dominate the retail and wholesale trade.  The leader of the opposition in Samoa Palusalue Faapo II fears the proposals will hurt local business.

PALUSALUE FAAPO II: If you look around town our people used to have businesses like small shops and so forth. They're all being closed now and taken over by the Chinese so I believe, that will happen, in 10 to 15 years there won't be many Samoans being able to compete with these people coming into Samoa through this bill.

Palusalue says with limited freehold land available, property investors will push up land prices and make land unaffordable for locals.  He also says it'll hurt Samoan culture and tradition and attract the wrong type of investor.

PALUSALUE FAAPO II: This will open the door for anybody who has 4 million tala including all this criminal activities, criminal people will be able to enter Samoa and this will flow to New Zealand and Australia  because they have the Samoan passport to travel.

But Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, questioned by our reporter in Samoa recently, dismissed such concern.

TUILAEPA SAILELE MALIELEGAOI: It's the kind of thing you expect from any opposition. (Reporter) But is it not true that these elements could come in if they've got the money? (It's) very stupid to say that. Who will come in to this very small island country?(reporter) You've got some checks and balances in place? Yes, yes that will automatically ensure that we have peace and tranquillity.

Those checks and balances include a special high-powered committee to vet and scrutinise applications from potential investors and to make sure they're on track to deliver.  An academic who has researched passport sales in the region Griffith University's Anthony van Fossen says past experience in the region has shown even legitimate citizenship programmes do nothing to stop the illegal and uncontrolled sale of passports.

ANTHONY VAN FOSSEN: In fact the introduction of a legal programme may lead to very high levels of passport sales that are hard to control. Of course I'm not saying that this will necessarily occur in Samoa and it appears to be a programme explicitly oriented towards genuine investment and citizenship rather than just passport sales.

Dr van Fossen points out that uncontrolled passport sales led to conflict between long-time citizens and new arrivals in the Marshall Islands and Tonga which saw its capital destroyed in subsequent riots in 2006.  He says Samoa's proposed law has attempted to avoid the pitfalls they've experienced.

ANTHONY VAN FOSSEN: Particularly the committee and the proposal of quite complete public accountability. Those are very good measures. It took the Tonga monarchy many years to achieve anything even remotely like what's being proposed in Samoa in terms of transparency.

Our correspondent Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia says people he's spoken to aren't completely anti the bill.

AUTAGAVAIA TIPI AUTAGAVAIA: Most of the opinions that I've gathered are very positive and very supportive of the Chinese businesses because they think these are the only shops where you get the very good prices, the cheap ones than going to other shops. I think the overall opinion to those people who are against it, is you just wait and see, have a go with it and wait and see what's going to happen.

But the exporter Grant Percival says the threshold for investment won't work.

GRANT PERCIVAL: I met a group of them end of last year. They were very interested. But the levels, they said, were just way too high. It was quite difficult for them. They felt that they would not invest at that level. But at something half that level, they might consider it.

The Bill has passed its second reading in Parliament and people in Samoa now have a chance to give their views.