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Tonga face off against Australian team on Saturday ahead of Rugby World Cup

By
Philip Cass
-

‘Ikale Tahi will play Australia’s Western Force rugby team in Tonga on Saturday.

Saturday’s game will be the first time the two sides have met.

‘Ikale Tahi fans who have only seen the team play at home a few times in the past 10 years.

Coach Toutai Kefu said the game was a chance for the team to reconnect with home fans.

“Hopefully we can have a win and they can see us off on a positive note towards the World Cup,” Kefu told Radio New Zealand.

“That is the main reason why we are doing it. Just to give something back to our supporters and our fans in Tonga.”

The contest will provide the Tongan side more experience on the field before the Rugby World Cup in September.

The Western Force have two Tongan players on the team, winger Halauafa Lavaka and hooker Feleti Kaitu’u.

Halauafa’s mother is from Navutoka and Ovaka, and his father is from Tefisi and Leimatu’a. Feleti’s family is from Ha’apai and Kolomotu’a.

The game kicks off at 3pm at Teufaiva Stadium.

Opposition

The Tongan team has faced stiff opposition in recent games.

They lost 25-17 to Samoa on July 27 and 41-7 to Japan on August 3.

However, they finished the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup with a 33-23 win over Canada at Churchill Park in Fiji.

‘Ikale Tahi will fly to New Zealand to play the All Blacks in their final pre-world Cup Test in Hamilton on September 7.

The main points

  • ‘Ikale Tahi will play Australia’s Western Force rugby team in Tonga on Saturday.
  • Saturday’s game will be the first time the two sides have met.

For more information

Western Force en route to Tonga ahead of Ikale Tahi clash

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/396994/sport-western-force-en-route-to-tonga-ahead-of-ikale-tahi-clash

Rare home game for ‘Ikale Tahi

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/397249/sport-rare-home-game-for-ikale-tahi

Drowning Niuafo‘ou victim laid to rest

By
Kaniva Staff
-

The 21-year-old Tongamama’o man who drowned in lake Vailahi was buried on Tuesday after his funeral service.

Mourners flocked to the beach where his body was found before his burial services.  

Safinata Filiai was reported missing on Sunday, August 18 after he went out swimming.

Police reportedly said an extensive search effort to find him continued on Monday, with search and rescue conducting multiple shoreline searches throughout the day.

The family reported on Facebook the deceased’s body was found after it appeared on the sea surface.

His family and friends took to Facebook to share their grief at losing their son:

“My heart is so broken with grief. I don’t have the words to say,” a family member wrote in Tongan.

Another wrote: “He was a good child who never had any problems with anyone in this town, everybody loved him.”

Police said the death was not suspicious.

Tribunal denies appeal, but grants visa so woman can decide whether to pursue residence

By
Philip Cass
-

The New Zealand Immigration and Protection Tribunal has refused a Tongan woman an appeal of humanitarian grounds, but ordered that she be granted a work visa for three months.

In its report on the appeal, the Tribunal was extremely critical of the way Immigration New Zealand had handled certain aspects of the case.

The woman had lodged work and residence applications based on her partnership with a New Zealand citizen, but because of delays in processing both applications her interim visa had expired.

The woman first entered New Zealand in 1997 and stayed unlawfully for seven years before she was deported in December 2005.

In September 2009, following the death of her mother, Immigration New Zealand exercised its discretion to allow the appellant to re-enter New Zealand for a short visit. Since 2010, she has made frequent visits to New Zealand, usually staying between two and four weeks.

During one such visit in late 2013 she met her current partner, a 59-year-old New Zealand citizen of Maori descent.

In September 2014, the appellant graduated from the University of the South Pacific with a Bachelor of Commerce. She re-entered New Zealand in December 2014 and in May 2015, she was granted a one-year partnership work visa. This was renewed for a further year in May 2016.

In July 2017, she was granted a further work visa to give her time to lodge a residence application under the Family (Partnership) category.

In May 2018, Immigration New Zealand wrote to her saying her partner did not meet character requirements for supporting partners because of past convictions for domestic violence.

The Tribunal said it was wrongly stated that the partner’s four historic convictions for common assault and one conviction for a domestic assault meant he needed a character waiver. The date of the most recent conviction was also wrongly recorded as 2013 rather than 2003.

The partner responded on 24 May 2018 stating that he disputed the 2013 conviction and was applying to the Justice Department for documentation to confirm this. He also stated that only one of the assaults had been of a domestic nature.

The woman and her partner went to considerable lengths to correct the information held by Immigration New Zealand, but the department continued to question his convictions, his relationship with his former wife.

In February this year, Immigration New Zealand advised the appellant that her interim visa had expired, that she was now unlawfully in New Zealand (and that processing of her residence application had been suspended.

In May  the woman’s application for a work visa was declined. Immigration New Zealand said it was not satisfied that the appellant’s relationship was genuine and stable or entered into on the basis of being maintained on a long-term and exclusive basis.

The Tribunal also noted the partner’s pending trial on charges of theft by a person in a special relationship and the appellant’s desire to be present to support him at this time.

The Tribunal said that if the appellant had to return to Tonga she would be separated from her partner.

“Given the current challenges for the relationship, including a possible period of separation should the partner receive a sentence of imprisonment, the Tribunal does not consider that separation would in itself be harmful to the relationship,” the Tribunal said.

“Once the appellant was no longer unlawfully in New Zealand, assessment of her residence application could resume. Should she intend to maintain the partnership and her application be successful she would be able to return and be reunited with her partner.”

“Although the appeal is declined, the Tribunal orders that the appellant be granted a work visa for three months

“This will enable her stay in New Zealand while her partner’s sentencing and to decide whether she will pursue her outstanding residence application.”

The main points

  • The New Zealand Immigration and Protection Tribunal has refused a Tongan woman an appeal of humanitarian grounds, but ordered that she be granted a work visa for three months.
  • In its report on the appeal, the Tribunal was extremely critical of the way Immigration New Zealand had handled certain aspects of the case.

Pair jailed for their roles in country’s biggest meth haul

By
Kaniva Staff
-

By Radio New Zealand

The last two people charged in relation to the country’s biggest methamphetamine haul have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

Stevie Norua Cullen and Selaima Fakaosilea appeared in the High Court at Whangārei this morning before Justice Gordon.

Cullen has been sentenced to 27 years in prison with a minimum period of imprisonment of nine years.

Fakaosilea has been sentenced to 12 years and six months to be served cumulatively on the 14 years and six months sentence she was given last year for further drug dealing following the Northland bust.

She was given a minimum period of imprisonment of seven years.

Lawyers for both said the pair’s involvement in the operation had been relatively menial, providing logistical support for the main players.

But Justice Gordon said Cullen had been a trusted lieutenant who organised boats, cars and motels for the group.

Justice Gordon also told Cullen the law demanded an emphatic response to the unprecedented scale of the crime.

“More particularly, this jurisdiction must not be viewed as soft by those who may otherwise bring large amounts of controlled drugs here, especially a drug as pernicious as methamphetamine.”

And Fakaosilea was no naive pawn as she claimed, but had played an important role handling cash and communications, Justice Fakaosilea said.

The pair were tried and convicted in June on serious drug charges for their roles in the haul. A total of eight people were charged.

Six other people are already in prison after admitting their roles in the operation.

It was the country’s biggest known methamphetamine operation, with more than 500kg found on board a boat that washed up on 90 Mile Beach in Northland in June 2016.

The methamphetamine haul, discovered in a campervan hidden in sandhills, was estimated to be worth almost half a billion dollars.

Northland police are welcoming the heavy prison sentences handed down today.

Detective Senior Sergeant Lloyd Schmid said the arrests, convictions and sentences were a great outcome.

He paid tribute to the community in the Kaitaia area, who were suspicious of the group’s activity and tipped off police.

Parliament removes new login panel on its website which blocks users

By
Kalino Latu
-

UPDATED: Tonga Parliament has removed a new login panel it has installed on its website which has blocked new users and it appeared there was no way to register new accounts.

The incident has concerned Tongans overseas who rely for information about Parliament on the site.

Kaniva has reported the incident on Tuesday night before it was removed the following day.

The times of Parliament’s sessions are normally aired on Tonga Broadcasting Commission radio, but are not stored online.  

As we reported, once users open the site www.parliament.gov.to it asks to “Please login” with two blocks below it which required users’ username and password.

The new internet panel is meant for users who have already registered an account on the site.

However, there is no way for a user to register an account so they can login.

Further down the page are links for storing the username and password of the registered users under the tag ‘Remember me.’ Another link is to help those who have forgotten their password and the other for users to click so they can log in. 

Kaniva news attempted a number of times to log in, but failed completely.

Parliamentary authorities could not be reached for comments.  

The website holds important documents and sources of information for the public including Parliamentary meeting minutes and press releases.

Kaniva news became aware of the issue this evening after it received a number of complaints from Tongans in New Zealand.

Some were concerned at the move, asking why Parliament wanted to control access to public information.

They said the website of the Parliament of New Zealand did not require a login.   

The main points

  • A new login panel installed on Tonga Parliament’s website has blocked new users and it appears there is no way to register new accounts.
  • The incident has concerned Tongan overseas who rely for information about Parliament on the site.

McCormack’s comments raised “ugly beast of colonialism”, says Tongan women’s leader

By
Philip Cass
-

A Tongan women’s leader has described comments  by Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack as “the ugly beast of colonialism.”

Ofakilevuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki of the Women and Children Crisis Centre has joined a chorus of criticism against McCormack, who has been condemned by political leaders in the Pacific and Australia for comments he made on climate change in the Pacific.

“They [Pacific Islanders] will continue to survive, there’s no question they’ll continue to survive and they’ll continue to survive on large aid assistance from Australia….They’ll continue to survive because many of their workers come here and pick our fruit, pick our fruit grown with hard Australian enterprise and endeavour,” McCormack said.

Guttenbeil-Likiliki said McCormack sounded like New Zealand broadcaster Heather du Plessis-Allan, who once described the Pacific Islands as leeches.

Guttenbeil-Likiliki said McCormack’s statements were “neo-colonialism at its best.”

“I read these neo-colonialist commentaries and I cringe because it’s nothing short of white supremacist domination – it is creating hate towards our Pacific peoples making them look like ‘leeches’ who should be ‘grateful’ and remain obedient and silent,” she said.

“Tell me, how will aid stop the sea level from rising? How will it stop displacement of communities? How will your aid prevent natural disasters across the Pacific? Are you also saying that the Pacific does nothing for Australia and that it’s just a one-way street?

“Think again. Who is getting richer on whose resources?”

Guttenbeil-Likiliki said she took comfort from the words of the late ‘Epeli Hau’ofa who said: “Oceania is vast, Oceania is expanding, Oceania is hospitable and generous, Oceania is humanity rising from the depths of brine and regions of fire deeper still, Oceania is us. We are the sea, we are the ocean, we must wake up to this ancient truth and together use it to overturn all hegemonic views that aim ultimately to confine us again, physically and psychologically, in the tiny spaces which we have resisted accepting as our sole appointed place, and from which we have recently liberated ourselves. We must not allow anyone to belittle us again, and take away our freedom”

“Ignorant”

McCormack’s comments have also been slammed by Australia’s acting opposition leader Richard Marles, who described them as “ignorant.”

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Australia must respect Pacific islanders’ concerns about the impact of global heating.

“Climate change and the consequences of it are an existential matter for the Pacific,” Turnbull said.

“If you are a Pacific islander and your home is going to be washed away by rising sea levels caused by global warming then this is not a political issue, it’s an existential one.

“So it’s critically important that we are seen to be helping climate change, both in reducing our emissions as part of a global effort, and of course as we do providing them with substantial resources to adapt to climate change.”

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama reacted to McCormack’s comments by accusing the Australian government of taking a “big step backwards” in its relations with the Pacific.

Meanwhile, Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga reacted to McCormack’s comments by threatening to pull Tuvaluan labour from Australia’s seasonal worker programme.

Sopoaga said he would encourage the leaders of the other Pacific countries – including Kiribati, Samoa and Tonga – to do the same.

The main points

  • Ofakilevuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki of the Women and Children Crisis Centre in Tonga has described comments  by Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack as “the ugly beast of colonialism.”
  • McCormack has been criticised for comments on climate change in the Pacific he made after critical talks at the Pacific Islands Forum that almost collapsed over Australia’s positions on coal and climate change.

For more information

Pacific islands will survive climate crisis because they ‘pick our fruit’, Australia’s deputy PM says

Fiji prime minister slams Australia’s deputy PM over ‘fruit picking’ comment

Tuvalu condemns Australia’s conduct, ‘neo-colonial’ attitude at Pacific Islands Forum

High profile Chinese businessman among 26 arrested for gambling, guns seized

By
Kalino Latu
-

A prominent Chinese businessman widely known to locals as Tsay was one of 26 Chinese gamblers Police have arrested on Sunday.

More than $89,000 cash had been seized along with five pistol airguns and illegal cigerattes.

Seventeen men and nine women between the ages of 23 to 65-year-old were arrested at a building at Tofoa that belongs to a 48-year-old Chinese, Acting Police Commissioner Pelenatita Vaisuai said in a Police statement.  

She described the incident and the arrests as “mere chance.”

“The Police Drugs Enforcement Taskforce arrested 26 Chinese Nationals for playing games for money or other stakes on Sunday 18 of August 2019, thousand pa’anga and other foreign currencies in an ongoing police operation,” she said.

The statement did not mention Tsay but various sources on social media claimed the gambling was held at one of his properties.

When asked, the Minister of Police has confirmed to Kaniva news Tsay was one of those arrested.

Gambling is prohibited and any social activities on Sunday are not allowed.

All suspects are in police custody while investigation continues.

Lord Fusitu’a’s illness unites PTOA and Royal supporters; claims the noble is on ‘dialysis’

By
Kalino Latu
-

There has been a lull in the ongoing political clash on social media between the royal and democrat supporters  on Saturday 17 after PTOA Party supporters in New Zealand visited the Auckland hospital where Lord Fusitu’a is staying.

The president of the New Zealand supporters of the Pohiva government and democrats, said in Tongan politics should be put aside.

As Kaniva news reported recently, Lord Fusitu’a was hospitalised after his health deteriorated.

He was put on the ventilator at Vaiola’s intensive care unit before the government hired an air ambulance from New Zealand which airlifted him into Auckland’s Middlemore hospital.  

According to various sources, the king’s noble’s health condition has improved since his admission.  

The Kakalu ‘O Tonga this week claimed on its front page that the noble had been put on dialysis. Kaniva news has been unable to contact Lord Fusitu’a’s medical team from Tonga or Middlemore authorities.

PTOA members who visited the hospital were led by the group’s president, Sione Fifita, and secretary Sitimi Taukolo.

While they were  not allowed to see Lord Fusitu’a directly, they were welcomed at the hospital’s reception by a cousin of Lord Fusitu’a. They said a prayer, gave the cousin an envelope of money and left, a source within the PTOA supporters said.

Fifita was heard on a livestreamed video as saying that after Lord Fusitu’a arrived in Auckland he thought they should visit him.

The cousin told the visitors, according to the video, they ” are now working together.”

Kolio Tapueluelu, one of the royal supporters who were at Middlemore when the PTOA visitors arrived,  told them he had learned from them and how they resolved to leave their political differences aside and visited noble Fusitu’a.

Political clash

Lord Fusitu’a has been one of the key figures from opposition bench instrumental in rejecting the government’s six new bills which are pending in Parliament.

In Parliament he has regularly questioned Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva’s health and his regular medical travel to New Zealand.

It is understood Hon. Pohiva visited Lord Fusitu’a in Vaiola before he was sent to New Zealand.

The Minister of Police reportedly said he signed the document authorising the air ambulance to land in Tonga on Sunday because “life was important.”

The Minister of Health is also understood to have signed hospital documents authorising the sending of Lord Fusitu’a to New Zealand.

The main points

  • There has been a lull in the ongoing political clash on social media between the royal and democrat supporters  after PTOA Party supporters in New Zealand visited the Auckland hospital where Lord Fusitu’a is staying.
  • The president of the New Zealand supporters of the Pohiva government and democrats, said that when it came to someone who was struggling with his life they had to help no matter what their political stances were.

For more information

Gov’t payment for Lord Fusitu‘a’s air ambulance sparks fierce online debate

Gov’t payment for Lord Fusitu‘a’s air ambulance sparks fierce online debate

New Zealand-born Tongan contestant crowned 2019 Miss Universe NZ in Auckland

By
Philip Cass
-

Tongan contestant Diamond Langi has won this year’s Miss Universe New Zealand contest.

Langi holds a master’s degree in styling and is studying for a bachelor’s in acting and performing arts.

The finals for the event were held last night at Auckland Girls’ Grammar School.

Events included a live performance, an elimination process and an onstage question and answer segment.

The winner is decided by 50 percent vote from the judges and 50 percent from public votes.

Runner-up this year was Blenheim police officer Hannah McCabe, with  Wellington-based administrator Jayda Ormsby-Northcott third.

Langi, whose family comes from Vaini, is a Sydney-based model.

Finalists in this year’s competition visited the Ihumātao protest site on Wednesday.

As a New Zealand-born Tongan she said she understood the land was sacred.

She would have come to Ihumātao regardless of the competition, because she supported the cause.

During the competition, Langi set up a fund raising page to collect money for a children’s charity. She raised $184.63 out of a goal of $5000.

In 2013, Langi was crowned  Face of Beauty International 2013 in Thailand.

The main points

  • Tongan contestant Diamond Langi has won this year’s Miss Universe New Zealand contest.
  • Langi, whose family comes from Vaini, is a Sydney-based model.

For more information

A Blenheim police officer just missed out on Miss Universe NZ title

Diamond Langi of Tonga Crowned Face of Beauty International 2013

Ihumātao: Miss Universe New Zealand beauty queens visit protest site ahead of Auckland final

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/beauty/115005809/ihumtao-miss-universe-new-zealand-beauty-queens-visit-protest-site-ahead-of-auckland-final?rm=a

Government must not run the risk of exposing itself to criticism over Facebook response

By
Philip Cass
-

In 2009 Tongan publisher Kalafi Moala warned that the country’s  democratic politicians were turning into the very people they had opposed.

“The oppressed had become the oppressor … doing the very things that the Government had been criticised for,” he said during the launch of his book In Search of the Friendly Islands.

Moala was speaking in the aftermath of the Nuku’alofa riots and was highly critical in particular of ‘Akilisi Pōhiva.

Moala has had a stormy relationship with the Prime Minister and quit as the Prime Minister’s media adviser.

However, his words should hang in the air behind Hon. Pōhiva’s head as his government considers its reaction to the latest Facebook controversy.

The Prime Minister’s reaction to criticism in the media and what he sees as conspiratorial processes in the Tongan Broadcasting Commission have already led people to wonder whether this is the same man who promotes democracy.

Warning

Moala’s experiences under King Tupou IV earlier this century should be a warning to the government about what happens when a determined media is challenged.

In 2003 the Tongan government banned Taimi ‘o Tonga for criticising the government of Prince ‘Ulukalala Lavaka Ata.

The paper had denounced corruption and a decision by King Taufa’āhau Tupou IV to build a cigarette factory.

Supporters of the king circulated a petition in January 2002 calling for the paper to be banned. Moala, who was deported to New Zealand in 1995, was charged with libelling the king.

Ultimately, however, the attempted ban failed and the government was heavily criticised at home, abroad and in the courts.

Tonga’s Supreme Court declared the ban on the bi-weekly paper illegal and a violation of the national constitution.

Lord Chief Justice Ward said the government’s repeated efforts to ban the paper were thinly-veiled attempts to curb press freedom. The judge also suspended the government’s cancellation of the paper’s publishing license.

Ineffective

Kaniva News understands the government’s position on the Facebook posts perfectly well.

They have been described as obscene and have deeply offended many Tongans.

However, as we have pointed out, it would be easy to get around any ban on Facebook with the right software and in any case, the perpetrators of the posts seem to live in Australia and will not be affected.

A wholesale ban on Facebook would be unlikely to succeed and would upset the majority of Tongans who use the site for legitimate purposes.

By trying to impose a ban the government will simply make itself look foolish or ineffective.

The best it is likely to be able to do is to negotiate with Facebook to have the posts removed.

Facebook is in fact vulnerable at the moment, having been lambasted over its failure to stop the live stressing of the Christchurch mosque massacre and its role in running fake news and Russian backed propaganda during the US elections and the UK Brexit vote.

The government should take advantage of Facebook’s own vulnerability and use it to resolve the situation in a way that targets the people responsible without risking the government’s reputation or angering legitimate users.

Nor can it risk, in Moala’s words, doing the very things for which Prince Ata’s government was criticised.

For more information

Ban on Taimi o’Tonga newspaper judged illegal by Supreme Court

Media crusader’s blighted dream

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