COMMENTARY: Politics should not be mixed with religion.
Unfortunately, this is something that the current government, like the one before it, quite clearly does not believe.
The government should completely refrain from its involvement in fasting campaigns or prayer services. They should be left to the churches.
The Tongan coat of arms has symbols of two olive branches which represent the church and the state. They were meant to provide checks on each other.
The previous government was heavily criticised for abusing religion after it was revealed the former Prime Minister Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa and his Ministers used it to allow them to be paid from the treasury and collected fish and expensive handicrafts while they sailed around the outer islands promoting fasting as a way of keeping Covid-19 at bay.
Last month Tu’i’onetoa had been found guilty of electoral bribery and his 2021 election victory was declared void. The Supreme Court found that his offer of TOP$50,000 to a Tongatapu 10 women’s group was untrue and it was made in an attempt to induce voters to vote for him.
Government’s controversial fasting and prayer services
Recently, PM Hu’akavameiliku has been accused of using the government’s fasting and prayer services as a weapon to silence and pacify the public who are angry at his refusal to suspend the three Cabinet Ministers convicted of electoral bribery. He insisted the convicts have a right to appeal and should therefore retain their seats.
Sometimes governments like to quote Romans 13:1 which declares that governments come from God. Extremists take this to mean that whatever the government is doing must reflect God’s will and therefore people should not complain.
On the other hand, critics are quick to point out that Jesus seemed fairly keen on the idea that we should care for the weak and the poor, welcome the stranger and treat each other with justice and compassion. He was equally keen to see workers being paid properly and thrashing the money lenders.
Government must address its poor health system
If a government is not looking after everybody properly and equally and instead letting the rich and the powerful receive preferential treatment, it is hard to see how they can use Christianity to justify their behaviour.
The government is also being criticised for its lack of care and commitment to make sure commoners are being given the best the country can offer. The state of the kingdom’s health facilities is a case in point.
This week Ngū hospital was revealed to be in a dangerous state and in need of urgent reconstruction. Why it has taken so long for the government to act when the problem was originally a small one is a question nobody has answered.
Computerised tomography scanner still broken
Was it because when government leaders and top officials are sick they are sent to Auckland for treatment? The Vaiola hospital’s computerised tomography (CT) scanner stopped working last year. The Minister of Agriculture was sent to New Zealand for medical assistance because the scanner is broken. The Minister for Fisheries was sent to Auckland last week for medical treatment and the Minister of Health said this was because the scanner was still not working. How long will this important machine remain unfixed?
The situation meant the commoners cannot benefit from the machine. According to government procedures, the government cannot pay for the commoners to be sent overseas for tests. Only the Ministers, government officials, parliamentarians and royals can be paid from the government to be sent overseas.
Perhaps it would be simpler and more honest if the government stopped trumpeting its supposed Christian virtues and left such matters to the churches.
It might be a very good thing if a firm line was drawn between the churches and the work of the state.
We can see similar problems occurring in the United States where the Founding Fathers decreed that the government should not set up an official religion and keep church and state separate.
Tonga should learn from the US
However, as one American columnist pointed out, the United States has now reached a point where the Republicans and extremist fundamentalist Christians have formed an unholy alliance that threatens democracy, human rights and freedom of expression.
“The Constitution was written by men who believed in God, but these men did not believe that there should be a state religion or that one religion was more important than another religion,” columnist Prentiss Smith wrote.
“They were all about freedom of religion and freedom from religion. The operative word for the founders was freedom.
“Many young people don’t want to be preached at, especially by anyone who they perceive as being hypocritical or judgmental in any way.
“My father was a Baptist minister who never allowed politicians to speak from his pulpit, which was a good thing. He didn’t believe in mixing politics and religion. The founding fathers believed democracy would be the elixir that sustained the union, not something that would morph into a religious theocracy.
“A lot of Americans don’t believe that politics and religion mix very well, especially millennials and other young people who believe in the ideals of freedom and justice for all. For that, we all should be eternally grateful.”
