Mon 20 Jun 2016 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
The following is the full text of the explanation and apology printed in this morning's Samoa Observer in response to growing national and international outrage over its publishing on the front page of the Sunday Samoan edition a picture of dead transwoman Jeanine Tuivaiki in the state she was found after what is increasingly being regarded as her suicide. In an accompanying article Tuivaiki, a fa'afafine, was repeatedly referred to as a man. The Editor-In-Chief (pictured) writes: "It has come to our attention that some members of the public have complained about one of the three photographs, that appeared on the front page of the Samoa Observer on Sunday, saying that publishing it was inappropriate. The one complained of was on the left side of the page. It was that of a man hanging from a beam inside a church hall at Taufusi; he was apparently dead when the photo was taken. On the other side of the page was a photo of Prime Minister Tuilaepa and Pope Francis having a conversation; that photo was taken in December last year at the Vatican, during a visit by Tuilaepa. Over the recent past, the proposal by Tuilaepa to change Samoa’s Constitution to make “Christianity” the country’s sole religion, has drawn much opposition from other religions to the point that there is growing division in Samoa today. In fact, the leader of the Catholic Church, Archbishop Alapati Lui Mataeliga, said he had not been consulted and he did not agree. He also said he would prefer dialogue as a way forward adding it was wrong to identify Islam with terrorism. He told Radio NZ: “I think we should open our hearts and our minds to Islam and not really to rush into condemning Islam just because of terrorists.” The other photograph was that of the Secretary General of the Samoa Council of Churches, Rev. Ma’auga Motu, who said he would go further and ban the religions of Islam, saying it posed a threat to the country. “We are not going too far,” he said. “We are still wanting our own people to be prevented from this kind of influence …” He also said: “Even though there are good people there, … there are also dangerous people among them who might come and threaten our peace.” In other words, there is disagreement among our churches and as a result, division is caused so that violence is spawned, and as violence just keeps on growing and growing as we’re seeing around our schools and villages today, painful disunity is commonplace and everyone suffers. That was how it felt when that photograph showed up. It was a sad sight. But then behind the sadness and the pain was the image of Jesus Christ hanging between earth and sky. It was as if Jeanine Tuivaiki was telling Prime Minister Tuilaepa, Pope Francis, and Rev. Mauga Motu, to make friends with everyone, and let there be peace. That was the inspiration that guided us to put that photo on the paper’s front page. It was never to demean, vilify or denigrate. By the way, that photo was not taken by the Samoa Observer; it had been in Facebook since Friday last week." And so if you’re offended by it still, all we can do is apologize. - Gatoaitele Savea Sano Malifa - 20th June 2016