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NOVEL
‘LOVE AND MONEY’ - AUTHOR HON. MISA TELEFONI |
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Review by Hon. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi |
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a rare honour, one that I doubt comes around often in our
country, to be involved in the launching of a novel by a Cabinet
colleague. The publishing of this fictional work of the Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Finance however may well be the catalyst which
will draw out the hidden and closeted literary talents of the other
Cabinet Ministers, not to mention the wider membership of Parliament.
But more about that later.
I do want to make use of the opportunity given to me to warmly
congratulate Misa for the hard work and discipline that obviously went
into writing and completing his book. In my mind it also takes a not
inconsiderable amount of courage to publish and I would like to thank
Misa for his decision to make his book widely available to be enjoyed
by the public and critiqued by readers.
In reading ‘Love and Money’ I was struck by the use of the ‘romantic
love story’ technique to provide a vehicle for discussing very poignant
conflicts and issues that confront us in daily life and in our society.
However, in the interest of time and in the knowledge that my two
co-contributors would make more in-depth observations, I shall keep my
comments to only a couple of the more obvious conflicts and tensions
reflected in the book.
Clearly the different cultural heritages and the disparate backgrounds
of the main characters Sieni Folasau, a seemingly poor Samoan girl, and
James Woods III, a very rich palagi boy set up the main plot line for
the book and generated the various sub-plots of conflicts and
prejudice. Whether we like it or not these conflicts and prejudices do
reflect real life.
Take for instance the reservation the parents of both Sieni and James
felt about a union between their children because of their different
cultural heritages and their socio-economic stations. Whether we like
to admit to these prejudices or not, as parents, we are naturally
concerned about the physical and economic security of our children in
their future adult lives.
I suppose we would therefore be only human if such prejudice thoughts
were to enter our minds unbidden. It’s when we allow ourselves to
succumb to the perverse persuasion of these prejudices, as some of the
characters in “Love and Money” did, that |
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Hon. Misa Telefoni autographing copies of his book, a romantic
love story about a seemingly poor Samoan girl and a very rich
Palagi boy set in Mangere. (Photo: Lagi Keresoma)
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Maposua Keil, Manager of Radio Polynesia congratulates Hon. Misa
Telefoni at the launching of his novel ‘Love and Money’ at the
National University of Samoa. (Photo: Lagi Keresoma) |
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Samoa Observer Chief Editor, Savea Sano Malifa and Arasi Tiotio
during cocktail at the recent launch of Hon Misa Telefoni’s
novel ‘Love and Money’ at NUS.
(Photo: Lagi Keresoma) |
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we create misery for everyone we
claim to love.
The messages that “Love and Money” conveys coincide in many instances with the
morality that the Gospel teaches. I thought the part about Sieni’s decision to
wait, until her vows with James were exchanged and their marriage blessed,
before consummating physically their deep love for each other, expressed an
important virtue that our religious upbringing instructs.
Even our own traditional practices promoted the desirability of a woman keeping
her virtue until she is with her chosen husband. While the modern society our
children now find themselves would make it difficult for every girl to emulate
Sieni, the much broader and more important message, that is to remain faithful
to your chosen partner, is particularly relevant in this day and age of sexually
transmitted diseases with no cures.
On an entirely different level, I must say that “Love and Money” to me also has
great potential in promoting our country. The book gives sensitive treatment of
our culture and traditions, the ceremonies to confer matai titles and to
celebrate marriages and burials, the strength of our extended family ties, the
virtue of exotic Samoan women and their faithfulness (not much was said in the
book about our men in this department), and the beautiful imagery painted of our
islands; all of which quite obviously drawing a highly objective, absolutely non
political and completely unbiased bird’s eye view of Samoa from the Minister –
author’s pen.
Of course, in presenting Samoa in this way as the backdrop to a romantic love
story, foreigners, potential tourists and particularly unattached males who read
“Love and Money” would find it a more enjoyable way to learn about our country
and people than from any guide book and set sail for our Paradise islands. In
that event, our tourism competitors Fiji, Cooks and Tonga would likely cry foul
and accuse Samoa of unfair promotional practices.
(I am however cautious in taking this particular line further as I can imagine
how the media can easily misrepresent my remarks with a ‘headline’ story of
“Prime Minister encourages the use of ‘Love and Money’ by the Samoa Tourism
Authority for promotional purposes and has recommended the printing of thousands
of copies which the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance has approved.”
(Staying with light humour, Misa seemed to have relied on his experience of New
Zealand and Samoa when he wrote “Love and Money” and many of you would easily
relate to many of the experiences told in the story.
For me, what jogged my memory was the part about James supposed Gym training at
the back of the aerobics classes casually enjoying the view of women from the
back. I remember going up to the Health Attack one afternoon and saw the author
at the exact spot that James in the novel had occupied. I quickly diverted to
the dumb-bells and have been a fan of dumb-bells ever since.
Finally I said at the beginning that Misa’s book may well be the catalyst for my
other Ministers to express their literary talents. Now that we know of other
better things to do for a change in the early hours of the morning, any of my
Ministers who wish to write has my backing and blessing. The only condition is
that they consult Misa on how to stay healthy, vigorous and youthful looking
through it all.
To end, I again congratulate Misa for “Love and Money” and thank him for sharing
it with us.
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Copyright Event Polynesia Ltd.
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