“They snore and snore and then wake up and then complain – then back to snoring and then up again, complaining”
Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, says he is confused as to why the Opposition party is asking for their “shadow” Cabinet positions to be officially recognised.
Tuilaepa claims that their Shadow cabinet is already recognised in Parliament and througout the country.
Speaking to the media last week, Prime Minister Tuilaepa said the call from the Opposition for recognition was related to a desire for higher pay.
He said the Opposition thinks that their “pay should be the same as you, who are under the sun.”
But Tuilaepa disagrees.
“How can our pay be the same when we are out in the sun getting dirty while they are snoring under the shade?” he asked.
“They snore and snore and then wake up and then complain – then back to snoring and then up again, complaining.”
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Opposition MPs are usually given or chose portfolios including ministries and other government bodies to follow as closely as possible – the same as someone’s ‘shadow’, hence the expression.
However, after joking about what the term meant to the opposition, Tuilaepa went on to mock the opposition criticism of government’s beach development in Apia.
“They are even complaining about the beach because they don’t understand the importance of a beach.”
He said that Samoa Tautua Party claims the beach will be packed with naked people roaming around.
He suggests that the opposition should reconsider the seriousness of this claim since nakedness is nothing new to Samoa.
“Look, in 1830 missionaries from overseas came dressed in their suits and their wives in long dresses.
“And our women were found with only ‘siapo’ [tapa cloth] without any top covering.”
So when the missionaries saw this they said “what you are doing is wrong – you should put on some tops. So they gave us clothes.”
Europeans these days walk around and say the sun is too hot and say we must wear something thin.
“What’s the difference - it is what we are used to!”
Tuilaepa said he doesn’t know why this shocks or surprises the opposition “but if they consider it again this is what we were once used to”.
He said there was far worse to see in books and movies. “If a movie comes on, my eyes get so crossed from what I see.
“But beaches are best for people to roam about on and kick sand and take a swim to heal their wounds.”
Addressing the male journalists that were present at the 2AP talk show programme that he was attending he said “that is one use of the beach”.
“Remember those days when the old man would send you for a swim? “That time was very important. The only thing we were afraid of was that you might get thrown with a rock.”
He didn’t go into details but it is common knowledge that, historically, when young men were circumcised they were required to bathe in the sea to heal their surgical wounds.
Some might also get pelted by stones from other boys mocking them for their initiation into manhood.
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