The first Pacific Member of New Zealand Parliament, Taito Phillip Field has passed away
* Cover image via Radio New Zealand
Members of the Samoan community today are mourning the passing of Taito Phillip Field, our first Pacific member of parliament and a stalwart Samoan political through the 90's until 2008.
Taito represented as an MP for Ōtara and then for Māngere in 1996. He left the Labour Party in 2007 amidst inter party conflict and returned to Parliament as an independent.
Taito's long political career was marred by controversy, following charges of bribery and perverting the course of justice over the infamous 'Thai Tiler' affair. In August 2009 he was found guilty on some of the charges and was sentenced to six years jail in October 2009 - a sentencing that many in the Pacific community criticised as being unneccesarily harsh.
"At the time I always felt that his punishment did not fit the accusations that he was convicted of. People that were doing heinous crimes were given less time in prison.
I met him when he was serving his time in prison, (my wife and I ran church services at the prison) and found him to be a very humble man, strong in his faith. The prison chaplains and inmates also testified of Taito's positive influence on imates serving their time with him." - Pafelio Momoisea
Taito was aged 68 when he passed on September 22nd and will be remembered as an MP who was the first of a succsesion of the new generations of Pasifika politicians - his Mangere constituient successor being Aupito Sio Williams.
