Talk:O le Ao o le Malo

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It is desperately pretentious to entitle this article with the name of the office in a foreign language, especially when the words involved are so alien to general English usage. We do not refer to the Russian or German heads of state in Russian or German, and we should not use an obscure term in this case either.

Deipnosophista 12:02, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

The term is not uncommonly used in English-language documents relating to Samoa (eg the constitution of Samoa, which specifically states that the post is "to be known as O le Ao o le Malo" despite the fact that the constitution is in English). The situation isn't comparable to the Russian or German heads of state — English speakers virtually never talk about "the Bundespräsident" or "the Президент", but they do talk about "o le Ao o le Malo". True, the low number of people who talk about the office under any title means that the term isn't widely known, but among those who do talk about the office in English, using the Samoan term is not strange. Whether it is common enough to justify its use rather than the English translation (which, while inexact, seems to be widely accepted), though, I don't know. -- Vardion 19:08, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The O le Ao o le Malo is a ceremonial president

I wrote to the Samoan government's website at contact@govt.ws and the response was that it was a ceremonial presidency.

from therequiembellishere@gmail.com

to contact@govt.ws

date Jul 15, 2007 2:12 AM

subject O le Ao o le Malo

mailed-by gmail.com

To whomever this letter concerns,

I write to you as someone who is avidly into geopolitics and as an amateur contributor to the internet encyclopedia, Wikipedia. Within the community, there is a question as to whether your Head of State should be seen as an elective monarch or as a ceremonial president, which would simultaneously answer as to whether the Independent State of Samoa should be considered a parliamentary monarchy or a parliamentary democracy.

I would graciously appreciate if this could be answered quickly, as I will by cut off from internet access in two weeks and would like to resolve the conflict within the Wikipedia Community as soon as possible.

Many Thanks,

Benjamin (last name omitted)

Response:

from presssecretariat@samoa.ws

to therequiembellishere@gmail.com

date Jul 17, 2007 8:08 PM

subject Re: O le Ao o le Malo

Talofa Benjamin,

Thank you for your enquiry. The Independent State of Samoa is a representative government. Our Head of State is a ceremonial president. Being free from politics, any law will not become law unless assented to by the Head of State.

Regards,

Deborah Mauinatu

Office of the Government Press Secretariat

Therequiembellishere 05:25, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

See [Talk:Samoa] for further information on this. --CloudSurfer 01:52, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Review

A list of the names of the people who have held the office, or a link to such a list, would certainly be the minimal requirements for GA. John Carter (talk) 19:16, 4 January 2008 (UTC)