Bangkok (dpa) – The South Pacific island nation of Samoa makes a bold leap into the future this week, when December 30 is simply struck from the calendar. At midnight on Thursday, December 29, Samoa will go straight to Saturday, December 31 by virtually moving across the International Date Line (IDL), putting itself in the position of being one of the first countries to celebrate the new year in the process. However, the decision is backed up by more sound economic reasoning on the part of the Samoan government. “This change in our time zone will facilitate ease of business contacts and transactions between our people in Samoa and contacts in New Zealand, Australia and Asia,” Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi explained. Samoa has made the leap across the dateline once before, way back in 1892, when it was thought that being closer to the American time zones would pay off economically. The economic waves come from the opposite direction these days and the whole of Asia as well as New Zealand and Australia, lie on the other side of the IDL. Until now, when it was Friday in Samoa it was already Saturday in New Zealand and Australia, while Monday in Samoa was Sunday in the other countries. From December 31, all three countries will be on the same wavelength. “Of course people are excited,” government spokesperson Uale Papalii said in the capital Apia. “For me, I just go with the flow. I am with the spirit of change, after all you only have to change the date.” Preparations continue apace in the Labor Ministry ahead of the switchover while the government is also holding a ceremony at midnight on Thursday in its prayer house at which 300 guests are expected. “Then comes the great step forward,” spokeswoman Iulia Petelo said with a smile. The country with a population of approximately 190,000 has also issued a set of commemorative stamps to mark the occasion. The IDL runs roughly along 180 degrees longitude, a line that was agreed at the 1884 International Meridian Conference in Washington. However, to avoid crossing through nations the line deviates at times to pass around the far east of Russia and various island groups in the Pacific. It also passes through the Bering Sea between the Aleutian Islands belonging to the United States and Russia's Commander Islands, separating the time zones in both countries. Until 1995, the IDL, which runs east to west over a distance of 5,000 kilometers, ran through the island state of Kiribati until the government ordered the entire country to move to “western time,” a decision that caused another deviation in the line. “Up until now, we have been the ones to experience the last sunset of the year, but in future we will suddenly be among those who experience the first sunrise,” Uale said. Only the 775 people who according to the country's birth register were born in Samoa on December 30 are unhappy with the switchover, says German pensioner Roland Kubic, who has lived in Samoa for years. “A friend of mine who runs a bakery is annoyed that the week only has four working days in it but he has to give his staff a full week's wages.” The followers of the Seventh Day Adventist Church also have problems with the decision. “God won't accept that we simply erase a day out of the calendar,” wrote Noeline Cutts in the local Samoa Observer newspaper. “We will continue to worship on the seventh day of the week.” The New Zealand territory of Tokelau, which lies north of the Samoan Islands and consists of three tropical coral atolls with a population of approximately 1,500 is also making the switch. “Samoa is our gateway to the rest of the world, it is sensible to have the same date,” said the personnel director of the Tokelau government offices in Apia. Tokelau doesn't have an airport and the ferry to Samoa takes 26 hours. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/vjh25 Tags: Dateline, December 30, New Year, Somoa Section: Features, Latest News, Oceana
