Samoa will skip Dec. 30 this year, taking it a day into the future to closer align itself with its biggest trading partners Australia and New Zealand, as well as Asia.
The plan was initially met with skepticism by many islanders, who labeled the shift “pointless,” as well as many tourism operators who believed Samoa’s claim as the last to see the sunset each day was commercially valuable.
The nation’s colorful Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, known for speaking his mind, called his critics “very stupid” and said “only an idiot” could not see the benefits of such a move.
This week the bill passed into law, with deputy opposition leader, Aeau Peniamina, telling the house his party called a last-minute meeting and decided to give its support because it’s a change that “benefits the people.”
The legislation will move Samoa west of the international dateline, where it once sat before an American trader convinced the nation to shift a century ago to closer align itself with the United States.
