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Tongan rugby player dies in Sydney road accident

By
Kalino Latu
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A 28-year-old Tongan died in Alexandria, Sydney after his motorcycle collided head on with a car at the intersection of Euston Road and Maddox Street Wednesday 17 around 6.45am.

He was treated at the scene before being taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in a critical condition, but died a short time later, Sydney media reported.

Reports on social media confirmed the deceased was Holoua Tonga, a Tongan player at Balmain Rugby Club.

An emotional message was posted to the club’s Facebook page this morning said:

“We are sorry to pass on the news that Holoua Tonga passed away this morning after a motorcycle accident on the way to work.

Holoau seen here from Saturday’s Kentwell win was a hardworking family man with a beautiful wife & young family. He will be sadly missed by all that knew him”.

The driver of the car, a 50-year-old man, was uninjured.

He was taken to Sydney Hospital for mandatory blood and urine testing.

Officers from Redfern Local Area Command  are investigating.

Police have asked any witnesses to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

 

Tongan terrorist suspect denied bail

By
Kaniva Staff
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by Rachel Olding, Sydney Morning Herald

A teenager who laughed and cheered as a Sydney court heard evidence of her “favourite” beheading video has been denied bail on terrorism charges.

Alo-Bridget Namoa, 19, is charged with possessing an item connected to a terrorist act and recklessly collecting documents connected to a terrorist act along with her 19-year-old husband, Sameh Bayda.

Police allege she was found with a hunting knife and a Shahada flag in her handbag as well as instructions for making a bomb detonator.

On Tuesday, Magistrate John Edwards denied her bail in Central Local Court.

He said that, although there was evidence Ms Namoa was being kept in very harsh conditions in prison and that her mental health was deteriorating, it didn’t constitute the “exceptional circumstances” that must to be proven in order to warrant bail on terrorism offences.

During a bail hearing on Monday, her barrister Zaid Khan tendered evidence showing that Ms Namoa has been suffering from hallucinations and schizophrenia and her mental health has deteriorated since entering custody in February.

In one instance, Ms Namoa, who is of Tongan heritage and converted to Islam after school, told prison doctors: “I hear voices. It tells me to hurt people but I don’t.”

Dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit and black hijab, she laughed, pulled faces and clapped during the proceedings on Monday.

Alo-Bridget Namoa converted to Islam after school.

The court heard that she has told prison doctors: “The toilet talks to me, it makes me laugh” and “I see angels, they are my friends”.

She also said: “I keep thinking about the things I have watched on the phone. The beheadings and all.”

Ms Namoa laughed and shouted “woo!” when Crown prosecutor Michelle England read out another comment to doctors in which she said: “My favourite one [is] when the rocket blew his head off, his intestines and all.”

She laughed as Ms England detailed material allegedly found on her phone including “extremely violent” war scenes and support for the San Bernadino shooting in America.

In one text messages with Mr Baydah she allegedly wrote: “I want to do an Islamic Bonnie & Clyde version on the kafirs haha … like ASAP”.

However, Mr Khan argued that the text messages show Ms Namoa’s immaturity and suggest the pair were filled with bravado or a “romanticised notion of these two offenders against the world”.

The court heard Ms Namoa has been given the highest classification in Silverwater prison due to her terrorism allegations and she is kept in permanent isolation with limited health care.

She spends 22 hours a day in a single cell and two hours a day in an isolated caged exercise yard.

She will next appear in court on September 28 to be sentenced on separate charges of failing to answer questions at the NSW Crime Commission.

Chinese medics offer helps at Vaiola hospital

By
Kaniva Staff
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There were some extra helping hands at Vaiola hospital this week after visiting medical experts from Guangdong, China offered medical services.

The Chinese medical professionals included doctors, cardiologists, dentists, endocrinologist and acupuncturist.

During the visits the Chinese met with the Tongan health authority to discuss future visits and further working partnership.

The Chinese visit was organized by the Guangdong Foreign Affairs Office and Guangdong Health and Family Planning Commission.

“I was lucky to decorate Pita,” says the Tongan coach behind the Olympic oil sensation

By
Kalino Latu
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The female Olympic coach who decorated the kingdom’s flagbearer with Tongan oil said she was lucky to be part of the decoration team.

The response to Pita Taufatofua’s appearance at the opening ceremony in Rio caused the internet to break last week and Palu Havea said she was excited when she realised the oil decoration she made had attracted a world-wide attention.

Havea, who is one of the Tongan coaches at the Olympics, said she was asked by the Tongan chef de mission to look after Taufatofua’s decoration.

“I am a mother and I did my best with all the experiences as I often decorated my daughter for dancing,” she said.

Havea said the oil on Taufatofua’s’s torso may have glistened more if his hands had not been busy holding the flag.

“That’s the Tongan way of how to do it ,” Havea said.

“You pour the oil on his hands so he can rub it into his body from time to time and that would make it glisten more.”

“The people who stood close to where we were walking during the opening ceremony wanted to touch Taufatofua’s body and asked to pose with him for photos”.

Since the oil sensation the name “Tonga” has been widely recognised at the Olympics.Palu and Pita 1

“Wherever we went with our outfit with the name Tonga on it we could hear the people saying “Tonga!” Havea said.

Floats and parades

Meanwhile a colourful parades was staged today in Tonga to show the people’s support for the Tongan Olympians and Taufatofua who is the only one still to compete.

He is set to contest the 80kg + men’s individual Taekwondo competition this Saturday, August 20.

Photos uploaded to social media showed Tongan supporters in Nuku’alofa waving flags. Some people were marching and trying to imitate Taufatofua when he led the Tongan Olympics team as flagbearer.

Tonga Power Ltd donated TP$10,000 to support Taufatofua while preparing for the Olympics.

This was how the Tongan supporters talked about and photographed the parades in Nukuʻalofa today:

 


The main points

  • The female Olympic coach who decorated the kingdom’s flagbearer Tongan oil said she was lucky to be part of the decoration team.
  • Palu Havea, who is one of the Tongan coaches at the Olympics, said she was excited when she realised the oil decoration she made had attracted a world-wide attention.
  • “I did my best with all the experiences as I often decorated my daughter for dancing,” she said.
  • “The people who stood close to where we were walking during the opening ceremony wanted to touch Taufatofua’s body and asked to pose with him for photos.”

For more information

Tongan flagbearer explodes over the internet as kingdom’s seven member team marches in Rio

King rejects Lord Fielakepa’s title right bid

By
Kalino Latu
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His Majesty’s Privy Council has rejected a bid by Lord Fielakepa, born as Tongapo’uli Aleamotuʻa, to overturn a Land Court decision declaring he was not the rightful heir to the Fielakepa title.

According to Tongan news website Nepituno, His Majesty’s Privy Council made the decision to uphold the Land Court’s ruling this afternoon.

This means Tupou Tongaliuaki Aleamotuʻa will be the new holder of the Fielakepa title, the website said.

In December 2015 Tonga’s Land Court ruled that Tupou Tongaliuaki Filoʻaulo Aleamotuʻa was the rightful heir to the title after the death of the late Baron Fielakepa.

Tongapo’uli’s eldest brother, the late Baron Fielakepa, died in 2013 without an heir.

The next in line to the title was Mosese Taulupe Aleamotu’a, Tongaliuaki’s father. But Taulupe died in 2007 while the title was inherited by his eldest brother.

As Kaniva News reported the Land Court declared that His Majesty had erred when he conferred the title Fielakepa on Tongapo’uli.

It said it was evident that the information provided to His Majesty regarding who was the right person to inherit the title was wrong.

He said Tongaliuaki was the rightful heir to the Fielakepa title and his name should be published as such in the Government Gazette.

The judge said that registering Tongapo’uli’s name as a trustee after the Late Baron Fielakepa’s death on the grounds that Tongaliuaki was not 21 was wrong because Tongaliuaki was 21 years-old at the time.

The ruling came after Tongapo’uli, the young brother of Tongaliuaki’s late father, claimed in court that Tongaliuaki was not a biological son of Taulupe, his older brother.

He claimed Tongaliuaki’s father was ‘Atunaisa Fetokai of Haveluloto.

This was denied by Tongaliuaki and his mother Mele Simiki Aleamotu’a in court.

Tongaliuaki told the court he would voluntarily provide a DNA test to prove his paternity.

His mother told the court she did not want his son to take a DNA test.

READ MORE:

Paternity challenged in Fielakepa court battle

Fielakepa: Tongaliuaki seeks compensation in court

Tonga’s poor support for its athletes and lack of Games success “so sad,” says silver medallist

By
Kalino Latu
-

He won Tonga’s only silver medal, but he despairs that it will ever happen again.

He says Tonga is almost dead in the water at the Olympics, let down by administrators who have stayed in power for decades, but won’t support the kingdom’s athletes.

He’s Paea Wolfgramm, who won silver for Tonga in the boxing ring at the Olympics in 1996.

Now, 20 years after the Atlanta Games, he looks back on his boxing career, offers his thoughts on how Tonga could move forward in international competition and says that it is unlikely his children will get into the fight game because they got bored with it when they were young.

And no, he wouldn’t have appeared at the Olympics topless and covered in oil.

Wolfgramm was speaking to Kaniva News founder Kalino Lātū:

KL: Are you sad there has not been a Tongan boxer at the Olympics since Doug Viney (Ma’afu Hawke) in 2004? 

PW: Yes I’m gutted. It is as if Atlanta had never happened.  We have continued doing the same thing hoping for a different result.  In terms of Olympics we have continued to play it like a lottery where we do the bare minimum for our athletes and hope that our numbers will come up and another Paea Wolfgramm will come along.

How often do we win the lottery twice? It is the reason why our athletes face change, but our Olympic administrators have stayed the same for the past 20 years.  In fact, in my time we struggled a bit but today we are almost dead in the water.  It is so sad as we go forward to 2019.

Since 2006 I have called for TASANOC and the Government to create a purposeful rewarding pathway for our athletes to aspire to.  I even submitted a paper to them and they listened politely, agreed to it and have done nothing since.

KL: I am intrigued that you stopped fighting when you did. You had 20 wins and four losses, which was a good record. Did it just get tougher as the fights went on?

PW:  My amateur record was 20-3 and professional record was 20-4. My professional contract was only for five years and at the time I had promised my wife and mother – who weren’t too keen on me taking it up as a career  – that I would  only fight professionally for that period with no extension whatever the outcome.

KL: You lost three out of your last five fights, but the referee stopped the last fight in the last round. Whose decision was it to quit? Do you ever regret it?

PW:  I didn’t intend to go pro, but straight after the Olympics I had promoters knocking on my door and it wasn’t an opportunity you get offered every day.  So I took my chances and it was definitely an experience I will never regret. I’m glad that I had five years of it and came out relatively undamaged as boxing can be an unforgiving sport.

KL: Have you considered making a comeback?

PW:  As I said, I had promised never to go back after my five year stint and it was not hard for me because I had other things prior to boxing.  I can understand how some boxers can stay in the game far too long because they have done nothing else.  Although I miss some of the people, I have never thought about going back.

KL: Would you like any of your children to go into the fight game?

PW: No, I left it up to my kids, but I think they got bored with it as they grew up around it.

KL: You were the Tongan flag bearer at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. Did you consider going topless and being covered in oil?

PW: No, it was never considered. The officials were pretty strict in maintaining the molumalu of our flag. We weren’t even allowed to wear the flag around our shoulders at the fights or other sporting events, but that said, I think Pita brought a lot of attention to Tonga. I would have liked it if we were recognised for our achievement instead, but I guess that’s where we are at the moment.

The main points

  • Tonga is dead in the water at the Olympics, silver medal winning boxer Paea Wolfgramm said today.
  • In an interview with Kaniva News he said Tonga’s sporting administrators were letting down the kingdom’s athletes.
  • In the interview he looked back on his boxing career and offered his thoughts on how Tonga could move forward in international competition.
  • He said he quit boxing to fulfil a promise to his wife and mother.

For more information

The day Muhammed Ali gave Tongan boxing champ Wolfgramme a word of advice

Hamstring injury forces Filimone out, supporters say he wins gold

By
Alpha Latu
-

Siueni Filimone was unable to compete at the 100 metres dash at the Rio Olympics after a hamstring injury forced him out of Sunday’s event.

His condition was unknown but photos uploaded to Facebook showed he was limping out of the field with the help of a supporter. He was also seen being pushed on a wheelchair.

His supporters, however, took to Facebook to congratulate and told Filimone he has won a gold medal for Tonga after he became second in the preliminary 100m in 10.76 seconds.

Meanwhile it has been reported that there were two Tongan referees at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Lata Kaumatule, 31, and Tevita Makasini, 39, were both assistant referees in Olympic Soccer competition.

Tonga has won one Olympic medal, a silver won in 1996 by boxer Paea Wolfgramm. The nation has seven athletes in Rio, competing in archery, track, swimming and taekwondo.

READ MORE:

Siueni Filimone – another rising star

Tonga Govt. defends deal with Ngati Tahu Ngati Whaoa Trust

By
Kalino Latu
-

“The Government of the Kingdom of Tonga would like to respond to issues raised by the media in regards to the investment agreement recently executed by the Tongan Government and the Ngati Tahu Ngati Whaoa Trust (‘the Trust’) from New Zealand.

“In respect of the judgment made by the New Zealand High Court against the current Chairman of the Trust, this was a private matter which does not in any shape or form relate to, or affect the Agreement that exists between the Trust and the Tongan Government.

“The Tongan Government understands that the members of the Trust have full confidence in the current Chairman and his leadership and managerial abilities, and so the Tongan Government will continue to respect the office holders of the Trust.

“The Trust has committed to the terms and conditions of the Agreement.

“The Tongan Government is confident that its interests under the Agreement are protected, and that both parties have rights to remedies if required.

“The Tongan Government is also confident with the level of due diligence that it carried out before executing the agreement with the Trust, and it sees no justifiable basis to change that position now.”

-Press Release

Maori trust to own Tonga forests, company renamed as Aotearoa-Tonga Forest

Parliament’s only female MP sworn in

By
Kalino Latu
-

MP Akosita Lavulavu, the only female Member of Parliament of Tonga was officially sworn in at a special ceremony in Parliament this morning.

The 32-year-old won the Vavaʻu 16 constituency by-election last month.

“I am pretty excited and confident to start this new job knowing I have the support of my constituency,” she told the Parliament’s news.

She is prepared for her duty.

“Whether you are male or female MP, I am confident to perform my duties focusing on helping my electorates and the people in general,” she said.

AKOSITA LAVULAVU
MP Akosita Lavulavu

The Speaker of Parliament, Lord Tu’ivakano warmly welcomed the first woman to be democratically elected to Parliament since Tonga’s new political system came into force in 2010.

The former principal of ‘Unuaki ‘o Tonga Royal Institute was elected after her husband ‘Etuate Lavulavu was disqualified as an MP and former government minister by a court decision for bribery during his 2014 election campaign.

Lavulavu holds a Bachelor in Information System from Brigham Young University (BYU), Hawaii in 2007 and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of the South Pacific (USP) in 2012.

Reserve Bank says shutting down Pacific International was in best interests of Tonga

By
Philip Cass
-

The National Reserve Bank of Tonga says its decision to revoke the license of the Chinese-backed Pacific International Commercial Bank was in the best interests of the public.

The Reserve Bank said it had re-commenced paying out claims by PICB creditors and depositors.

The PCIB began legal action against the Reserve Bank, but the Supreme Court has now given the bank permission to withdraw its application for an injunction against the Reserve Bank.

Tonga’s Reserve Bank revoked the PICB’s license at the end of last month.

Radio New Zealand reported Reserve Bank, Ngongo Kioa as saying the PCIB had failed to fulfil a promise to provide a niche product that would bring $100 million US dollars into the country for the purpose of loans.

The Bank had been trying to force Pacific International into liquidation for several months.

The Chinese-Tongan venture was started in 2014, with Tonga’s Princess Pilolevu as a minority shareholder. The major shareholder was Hu Jianhua, who held 51,000 out of 100,000 shares.

A spokesman for the princess told Kaniva News that she owned eight percent of the shares.

However, investigative journalist Micheal Field has reported that once the PCIB’s license was withdrawn the bulk of the bank’s shares – 90,000 – were transferred to the Princess, making her the majority shareholder.

The main points 

  • The National Reserve Bank of Tonga says its decision to revoke the license of the Pacific International Commercial Bank was in the best interests of the public.
  • The Reserve Bank said it had re-commenced paying out claims by PICB creditors and depositors.
  • The Chinese-Tongan venture was started in 2014, with Princess Pilolevu as a shareholder.
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