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GONG SHOW: FEEDBACK

One of the main vehicles of communicating in our community is now social media — Facebook, YouTube, Messaging, Twitter and websites seem to be the vehicles of choice for us.

I’m not much for FB or YT… and I tend to stick with our own website: samoanews.com — just old school of me — but when I remember whence we cometh — hey I’m not too far off the mark — just hate the needless jabbering that goes on about one’s personal life… I mean really… do I need to know whom you are sleeping with lately… or your baby’s daddy’s real name… It appeals to our faikala nature in the same way a gator eating a baby does, as we peer through our fingers over our eyes — “No, No, No, No… Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes” — GONG!

However, I believe feedback is crucial to any community if you want to keep a dialogue going about the things that matter to all of us, opinions do matter — whether from the el jefes — our leaders — or the “ au fai umu” — and good or bad, “listening” to what’s being said is vital for a healthy and vigorous community.

HERE GOES FEEDBACK

To Senate President Gaoteote in reply to his comment, “A i ai le Senatoa poo le Faipule e fia fesili i le paketi a le Fono Faitulafono, ia fesili muamua oe ia te oe poo a mai oe, ae o a fo'i au mea o loo fai, a uma, ona e fesili mai loa lea i le paketi a le Fono, ae o le tulaga i le paketi a le Fono, o loo manuia lava tatou.”

With all due respect, I, a fai umu, find your comment to be indicative of what the Fono has long been accused: selfish & self-centered, among their other sins — and now we know it’s true… it is reflected in the words of its leadership and in the response of lawmakers to Gaoteote’s comment.

There is Sen. Soliai’s response: To ask the Administration if they could have back their 10% budget reduction, and then there is the no response: questions supposedly were to be asked by some of the lawmakers about the Fono’s bloated payroll, which is alleged to include friends, foes, and girlfriends.

“No, No, No, No… Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes” — GONG!

To the person who commented about last week’s GONG Show on the website:

I agree “we must never never rely on foreigners as our long term solution for manpower development in government and private sector jobs.” However, the issue I raised was not that we are seeking to replace medical ‘foreigners’ with soon to be medical personnel of Samoan ancestry; the issue I raised was the bigotry and racism that seems to be the driving force of such a decision. The quality of the training for our “Samoan” medical personnel — was an aside.

Just as you pointing to the amount of money these foreigners want to be paid, as unaffordable by LBJ — was an aside.

There is, however, a note that needs to be made: The difference between a medical officer (MO) and a medical doctor (MD) is vast. The former has nowhere near the training, nor the academics of the latter, and no amount of licensing by our local board will change that — to paraphrase what a palagi has said, “A rose is a rose… by any other name… is still a rose.”

Don’t get me wrong — having a hospital full of people walking around calling themselves MDs of Samoan descent sounds fabulous — I just wouldn’t bet my life on them and I doubt our leaders do or would either.

Bottom Line: I don’t care if the medical doctors are Samoan, Chinese, Fijian, Indian… however, I do want the person claiming to be a medical doctor — to be one, and preferably sober. “No, No, No, No… Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes” — GONG!

For the MASI pageant audience who heard the 5 contestants expound on the theme, “Samoa Muamua Le Atua”:

Ringing in my brain were the words of one of the contestants when she described her ‘traditional’ dress as having red feathers, which symbolize the blood of Christ that saved us (I’m assuming here, she meant Samoans specifically) from our “savage & barbaric” ways… there was no laughter from the audience — “ka’i savage”…

Religion is serious business in the Territory — if the money donated to it is the measuring stick, then it’s Very Very serious — so I guess no one has a sense of humor when it comes to God — a mistake I think.

After all, the Almighty has the greatest sense of humor of all. He created us. “No, No, No, No… Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes” — GONG!

And, remember to vote all you au fai umu — it doesn’t matter for whom the gong tolls — it is perhaps the only time you get to have a real say in our community voice — No Vote… No Muimui… “No, No, No, No… Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes” — GONG!