Samoa Constitution

The proposals were widely condemned by lawyers and judges, and saw several MPs - including the former deputy prime minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa - leave the ruling party.

But in Tuesday's sitting of parliament, they passed with the support of 41 MPs from the Human Rights Protection Party with only one amendment - a plan to cap at five the number of high chiefs in a family was removed.

That's the view of the Samoa Law Society (SLS).

Its president Leiataualesa Komisi Koria told RNZ Pacific that a controversial suite of three bills would remove the judicial primacy of the Supreme Court as it exists under the Constitution.

Leiataualesa said removing Supreme Court oversight of the Lands and Titles Court (LTC) would mean the ability of Samoans to "enforce their Constitutional rights" would be disregarded.

According to RNZI, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi recently said the country's supreme law may be changed to recognise Christian principles and teachings, not just in the preamble.

However, the Secretary General of the Samoa Council of Churches, Reverend Ma'auga Motu, said he would go a step further and ban Islam from entering Samoa.