With just 10 more days before the Vavaʻu 16 by-election on July 14, Tonga’s Democratic Party has yet to announce a candidate.
Only four candidates stand for the by-election vying for the same seat in Parliament.
They were Akosita Lavulavu, Dr Viliami Lātū, ‘Ipeni Siale and ‘Atalasa Pouvalu.
Two potential candidates for the Democratic Party were Akosita Lavulavu and ‘Ipeni ‘Alamoni Siale. Dr Lātū and Pouvalu stood as independent candidates in the last national election.
Siale was nominated by the Party in the last election but was unsuccessful. The election was won by the outgoing MP ‘Etuate Lavulavu.
However Siale told Kaniva News recently he has yet to talk to Democratic Leader ʻAkilisi Pōhiva and the Party about their candidacy.
Akosita and his campaign team did not return requests for comment.
However, she wrote on Facebook and declared her full support to Pōhiva and his government.
In the past Pōhiva has told his supporters to choose particular candidates because he thought would help him in his fight to bring democracy to Tonga.
Since the democratic reform came into effect in 2010 and majority of the MPs were chosen by the people the Democratic Party was set up under the leadership of Pōhiva.
In the last two general elections the Party continued to name candidates they thought would support them in Parliament.
If Pōhiva would not name a candidate for the upcoming by-election it would mark the first time since he entered Parliament in 1987, that his supporters were left to vote without his political campaign influence.
Tonga’s political system
The political party system does not exist in Tonga. Political analysts say Tonga’s current political system was designed to have all members of parliament represent the whole country with no formal opposition party.
Critics say the system was intended to give greater power to the king and the nobles and that claims it was a democracy were misleading as the current government represents a minority because of the disproportionate power of the nobles.
The Friendly Island Democratic Party, led by Leader ‘Akilisi Pohiva, was established in September 2010 to unite candidates who later became MPs and who were supporters of Pohiva in his attempt to have the government democratically run by the people.
Tonga’s new political system, which was implemented in 2010, introduced an electoral system comprised of two electorates: the hereditary land-holding nobles, plus nine Life Peers (honorary Nobles), who elect nine hereditary Nobles;
The rest of the population of Tonga – about 100,000 people – elect 17 representatives, 10 of them on the main island, Tongatapu.
According to Tonga’s constitution a general election is held every four years, after which the elected parliamentarians elect the Prime Minister.
A helicopter was sent this morning to the island of Late in an attempt to bring the body of missing Mailangi Vea to Neiafu.
The dead body of the 42-year-old was retrieved from the water yesterday but attempts to transport it to Neiafu were unsuccessful because of the bad weather, Vavaʻu Police Superintended Netane Falakiseni told Kaniva News this morning.
The rescue operation encountered great difficulties and at one stage they were forced to call off to avoid any further tragedy, Falakiseni said.
Four lifebuoys attached to a 150-metre rope were thrown into the sea to help recover the body but they were all sucked into the blowholes at where the victim was swept away, Falakiseni said, adding that this showed how rough the sea was.
“Mr. Vea was hired by Digicel Tonga to bring back 8 of their people to Neiafu who were working at Late Island for approximately 3 weeks”, a statement said.
The Fungamisi man hasn’t been seen since he was swept away by waves when the dinghy he was in capsized at approximately 2:30 pm July 2, 2016, it said.
A Police patrol boat and another boat belong to the Beluga, a local company assisted in the recovery operation.
Falakiseni said they expected the Digicel’s helicopter can land in the island so that the body could be transported to Neiafu today.
Dr Raymond Lutui has become the first scholar at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) to acquire a doctorate in digital forensics.
Dr Lutui is also believed to be the first Tongan doctorate in this field.
“Ignited by curiosity, Raymond Lutui came to AUT to come to complete his, PhD in Digital Forensics the first person to do so at AUT”, a statement from AUT says.
“Raymond developed his interest in computers from an early age in Tonga”, it says.
“I think my main drive is my own curiosity… I want to find out more about computers, which lead to my interest in IT and then forensic investigations.”, the statement quoted Dr Lutui as saying.
Looking forward
Raymond has been awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies.
He will teach, mentor and most importantly, research. In his role, there is a focus on research publications to establish an academic career path, with hopes of progressing through AUT’s academia.
Raymond’s first year within the Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies will be focused on establishing research from his thesis in Digital Forensics, and his second year will be a time to explore a new field: Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.
“This is something completely new for me and I am very excited to start learning all I can about these fields.
“Through my journey here at AUT, I have learnt that the knowledge I have acquired doesn’t matter or make me any wiser unless I use it wisely.”
The search and recovery operation for Mr. Mailangi Vea of Fungamisi Vavaʻu resumed this morning July 3.
The 45-year-old man was swept away by waves when the dinghy he was in capsized at about 2:30 pm July 2, 2016 in the island of Late.
A statement from Police said: “Neiafu Police SAR (Search and Rescue) boat ‘Kapakau ‘o Tafahi’ with 3 Police crews as well as a local boat with 5 divers are conducting the search.
“Mr. Vea was hired by Digicel Tonga to bring back 8 of their people to Neiafu who were working at Late Island for approximately 3 weeks.
“Police coordinated the rescue of the rest of Mr. Vea’s 3 crews as well as the 8 Digicel workers, with the help of a local boat that towed back Mr. Vea’s boat ‘The ‘Ilena’ to Neiafu last night.
“Police are also grateful for the assistance of the Digicel helicopter crew which assisted on the initial search yesterday and today as well.
“Since the launch of the 3 new police SAR boats in December 2015, police have saved 54 lives, and recovered 1 body from 14 Police SAR operations.
“Police Commissioner Stephen Caldwell emphasizes to mariners and seafarers of the importance of taking precautions and safety measures before embarking on their voyages. To make sure that they have a communication means, life jacket, emergency flares and a beacon”.
One of the king of Tonga’s leading matāpule who held the title Motuʻapuaka died in the United States this morning, his matāpule Mafi-E-Vaohēhea has confirmed.
He said Motuʻapuaka suffered an illness before he died.
Motuʻapuaka is one of the king’s heralds who inherited and held lands in Tonga such as His Majesty’s nobles.
His estate is Teʻekiu in Tongatapu.
Motuʻapuaka’s roles included taking care of and making decision during any royal kava ceremony the king attended.
The selling of bread to customers on Sunday will become a crime in Tonga starting today July 3.
It is now banned after protests by church leaders saying the business breached Tonga’s Sunday trading ban law.
The church leaders believed only five percent of the people in Tonga were affected when the ban came into effect.
However one of Tonga’s major bakeries, the Cowley Bakery, had estimated about 80 percent of the people in the mainland Tongatapu relied on bread for their food on Sunday.
Tonga’s Police Minister Hon. Pohiva Tu’i’onetoa was quoted in a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office as saying “it has been about 30 years now that Tonga has breached its own Sabbath Law with bakeries and restaurants operating on Sunday”.
The statement said: “Only restaurants in hotel and other accommodations are to operate on Sunday”.
“According to the Constitution, Sunday should be kept holy and no person shall practice his trade or profession or conduct any commercial undertaking”.
Hon. Tu’i’onetoa said Tonga is a Christian country and Tupou I formally decreed Sunday to be kept holy and the prohibition of trading activities on Sabbath.
He said there is exception to trading on Sunday but only in times of natural disasters.
The TASANOC members who were disqualified before the election of new officials last month were right to be unhappy, Tongan New Zealand-based lawyer Sione Fonua said today.
Fonua said something was not right with TASANOC’s election, according to its constitution, although he did not detail what he thought went wrong.
He said there was something wrong with his own nomination to the election and he had e-mailed TASANOC and pointed out the mistake.
However, Fonua said he accepted their wrong decision as he considered that it was important they should move forward and do the work for the Games.
Fonua said he was not one of those who were seeking legal action against TASANOC because of their disqualification before the elections.
Kaniva News has previously reported that 11 members of TASANOC were disqualified before the election, including Sione Fonua, Lord Vaea, Semisi Sika, Emeline Tuita, Timote Katoanga, Ahongalu Fusimalohi, Siosaia Fonua, Michael O’Shanessy, Leafa Wawryk and Paea Wolfgramm.
Emeline was supposed to stand against Lord Sevele in her position as Vice President Finance. When she was disqualified Lord Sevele became the only candidate for the election,
Lord Vaea was re-elected because he was nominated through another position after he was disqualified.
Trust
As Kaniva News reported on June 26, there have been claims that the election was held illegally because it was held with 26 days’ notice instead of the 30 days required by TASANOC’s constitution.
Some of the disqualified members who talked to Kaniva News since the election said TASANOC should have followed its new constitution approved on May 19.
“How can the government trust them if they refuse to uphold their constitution?” one disqualified member said.
“We believe that the constitution is for protection, not convenience.
“We believed that an error was made in good faith in setting the date for the meeting, but it has to be acknowledged as an error and accepted that the only way forward is a fresh notice that complies with the constitution.
He said the election was held with 26 days’ notice instead of the 30 days required by the constitution. It did not matter that a previous meeting approved the meeting.
“Instead of admitting we could count to 30, we just ploughed on and created further breaches of the just approved constitution,” he said.
“It is very important for the national sporting federations to understand the potential consequences of this decision, which is why we sought to correct the error first to avoid the ramifications of a stubborn stance against the Constitution.
“We desired a fair election and one of the benefits of addressing the 30 day notice would have been to call for a new election process which we may or may not have benefited from.
“Instability in TASANOC is a significant issue for Government as a primary financier of Team Tonga to the Pacific Games, the Commonwealth Games and the Olympic Games and international competitions such as World Cup in Rugby and Rugby League.
“In pursuing further action, the primary purpose is not to be voted in, although we would welcome the opportunity to serve. It is to ensure we follow the Constitution to the letter and make sure the proper processes are carried for the benefit of all, not just a few.”
The main points
The TASANOC members who were disqualified before the election of new officials last month were right to be unhappy, Tongan New Zealand-based lawyer Sione Fonua said today.
Fonua said something was not right with TASANOC’s election.
A total of 11 members of TASANOC were disqualified before the election, including Sione Fonua, Lord Vaea, Semisi Sika, Emeline Tuita, Timote Katoanga, Ahongalu Fusimalohi, Siosaia Fonua, Michael O’Shanessy, Leafa Wawryk and Paea Wolfgramm.
There have been claims that the election was held illegally because it was held with 24 days’ notice instead of the 30 days required by TASANOC’s constitution.
A decade after their death in a California car crash, Prince Tu’ipelehake and his wife Princess Kaimana Fielakepa, are being mourned again in the country they set out to change.
The Prince, who won the hearts of commoners by leading a march on the royal palace to call for change, was in the United States to talk to the Tongan community there about the momentous changes that he envisaged for the kingdom.
He and his wife were due to meet with San Franciso Bay area Tongans, but on the night of July 5, 2006, as they were driving to the city by the bay, their car was hit by another vehicle which police alleged was involved in a high speed car chase.
The deaths of Prince Tu’ipelehake, Princess Kaimana and their driver, Vinisia Hefa, came just after Tonga had celebrated the birthday of the prince’s uncle, King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV. The king died soon afterwards.
The driver of the car which hit them, 18 year old Edith Delgado, was eventually sentenced to just two years’ jail for their deaths.
As a member of the royal family, the Prince was in a strong position to advocate for change, He was strongly supported by his wife, who held a postgraduate degree in foreign affairs and had worked in the kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Prince Tu’ipelehake used his position as a Noble MP and his contacts to bring pressure for change to bear. He famously urged the then Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, to use his influence to pressure the Tongan government to democratise its system of government.
He also became the first ever patron of the Human Rights and Democracy Movement.
In October 12, 2004 the Parliament passed a resolution to accept a submission from the Prince, known as Sione ʻUluvalu Ngū Takeivūlai Tukuʻaho, to set up the National Committee for Political Reform.
In picture, the Prince in the middle holding the white document, on his left is Dr ʻAna Taufeʻulungaki and Dr Sitiveni Halapua after the meeting in Otahuhu with the Tongan community, Dr Linitā Manuʻatu – Advisor for NZTSPR Inc (right). Photo/Kitekeiʻaho Tuʻakalau
Committee
The Prince was elected chair and his Deputy and adviser to the committee was Dr Sitiveni Halapua.
Although there were various movements in Tonga pushing for democratic political reform this was the first national committee recognised by the king, government, Parliament and the then Democratic Leader ‘Akilisi Pōhiva.
It was also the first time the public had been given the freedom to talk and ask questions about what they thought was the best to reform Tonga’s political system.
The committee’s mandate was to listen to the people, answer their questions and report it to the king, government and Parliament.
Dr Halapua told Kaniva News he admired the Prince’s willingness to listen to what the people said in meetings they conducted around the islands and villages and in Australia and New Zealand, as culturally it was not something normal for a Prince to do.
“When we began meeting with people his aims were not really clear to me and I didn’t know whether or not he had any personal agenda,” Dr Halapua said.
“But after a few meetings I really trusted that he really wanted to listen to the people and was prepared to accept what they wanted because he wanted a good political reform for Tonga.
“The Prince emphasised to the people in every meeting that the meetings they held were not a fono in which the chief just told the people to collect pigs and goods for their cultural responsibilities without their opinions.”
He said the Prince told the people these were meetings at which he wanted them to tell him and his committee what they wanted about a new political system for Tonga.
Halapua said during one meeting at Foa Island a man stood up and told the Prince he wanted to remove the nobility from Parliament.
“I sat there and wondered what his response would be,” Dr Halapua said.
However, he said the Prince responded confidently and coolly and told the man his concerns would be recorded in the report.
Halapua said he was glad that some of the work he and the Prince did in the committee was reflected in today’s Tonga’s democratic system.
This included the increasing the number of people’s representatives from nine to 17 and still keeping the number of nobles in parliament to nine.
The right of the Parliamentarians to elect the Prime Minister evolved from a recommendation from the committee that the king choose the Prime Minister after the general election and that the Prime Minister then choose his ministers from the elected MPs.
The report was finalised and collated by Dr Halapua after the death of the prince and his wife.
A copy was submitted to the King and the government. However, when it was submitted to Parliament Dr Halapua said the then Prime Minister, Lord Sevele, stopped it because he did not want it to be discussed in the House.
This led to democratic supporters and many who supported the political reforms marching to Parliament and holding meeting at Pangai Si’i to show their dissatisfaction that the report was not allowed to be discussed in Parliament.
Dr Halapua said he was really disappointed that the report was not discussed in the House.
The people’s meeting at Pangai Si’i led to the riots that burned down much of Nuku’alofa in 2006.
Dr Halapua told Kaniva News the riot was triggered by the people’s unhappiness at the suppression of the report.
The Prince second from left after the meeting with the Tongan community in West Auckland. Photo/Kitekeiʻaho Tuʻakalau
Aftermath
After the tragedy in California, the Melbourne Age declared that Tonga’s democracy movement had suffered a blow with the death of its “people’s prince.”
It described him as a “driving force” behind the democratic movement.
The Honolulu Advertiser wrote:
“In the painful aftermath of the recent deaths of Tonga’s King Tupou IV and Prince Tu’ipelehake, it is crucial that their vision for the South Pacific island nation’s future be remembered — and carried out.
“It is entirely appropriate that Tonga mourn the loss of King Tupou IV and Prince Tu’ipelehake. Ensuring their pro-democracy movement endures would indeed be a fitting legacy.”
And another American paper, the Deseret News carried a comment from Tongan publisher Pesi Fonua:
“His death really brought to the limelight this idea. And now people are really talking about it, trying to understand better what he was trying to do. His death really did a lot of good for what he wanted to happen.”
The Deseret News also commented:
“Some fear that with the death of the prince, the democracy movement will lose momentum. Who will take his place as a bridge between the royal family and the people?”
In picture, Dr ʻOkusitino Mahina, the Patron of New Zealand Tongan Society for Political Reform in Tonga, Josh Liavaʻa (President) and members in a farewell photo before Dr Mahina left for Tonga to attend the Prince and the Princessʻ funeral. Photo/Kite Tuʻakalau
Princess Kaimana
Princess Kaimana has been described as having a huge influence on the prince and his ideas.
She held an MA in Foreign Affairs from the Australian National University in Canberra and had worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Tongan High Commission in London.
Dr Sitiveni Halapua, Prince Tuʻipelehake’s deputy on the National Committee for Political Reform, told Kaniva News Princess Kaimana was a strong supporter of the Prince.
He said he believed the Prince changed his attitude towards the people and the nation because of the Princess.
Unfortunately, a decade later the political changes that have taken place in Tonga do not seem to have been enough to make room for women to be regularly elected to parliament.
No women were elected in the first democratic election in 2010, but the King appointed Hon. ‘Eseta Fusitu’a, who was made Information and Communications Minister.
The first woman elected to the Tongan Parliament was Justice Minister and Attorney General ‘Alisi Taumoepeau.
In the 2014 elections, which brought the Democrats to power, the Tonga Electoral Commission recorded 106 candidates, 16 of whom were women (15.09%). Slightly more than half of the 50,450 voters registered for the elections were women.
No women was elected to Parliament in 2014.
Last year the Minister of Internal Affairs Fe’ao Vakata told the United Nations Ministerial Roundtable on Transforming Politics and Public Life to Achieve Gender Equality in New York that his Ministry would support women who wanted to stand in the 2016 Local Governance Elections.
“We are going to roll out community education and support for women to get into these local governance positions as a way of encouraging and promoting women getting into the larger parliamentary seats by 2018,” Hon. Vakata said.
As Kaniva News reported earlier this year, the Town Officer of Taunga island in Vavaʻu is Mrs Nunia Lolohea.
There were two women Town Officers in Haʻapai – Pielina Moli and Pulotu Fonua.
When Tongan-born New Zealand MP Jenny Salesa visited Tonga in the wake of the 2014 election she said she was shocked to find so much opposition to women candidates came from other Tongan women.
Perhaps, a decade after the Princesses’ tragic death, it is time to ask whether Tongan society has moved on as much as its politics.
The main points
A decade after their death in a California car crash, Prince Tu’ipelehake and his wife Princess Kaimana Fielakepa, are being mourned again in the country they set out to change.
The prince, who won the hearts of commoners by leading a march on the royal palace to call for change, was in the United States to talk to the Tongan community there about the momentous changes he envisaged for the kingdom.
He was strongly supported by his wife, who held a postgraduate degree in foreign affairs and had worked in the kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On the night of July 5, 2006, as they were driving to San Francisco, their car was hit by another vehicle and they and their driver were killed.
