Police have identified three men allegedly involved in a violent assault at the Auckland City Hospital Accident and Emergency Department on Friday 27 April 2018, Detective Senior Sergeant Nina Pedersen said.
Police are actively looking to locate 27-year-old Anthony Chown, 28-year-old Murray Matthews and 30-year-old Mua Fa’Anunu who have warrants to arrest for Assaults with Intent to Injure.
These men are linked to the Hell’s Angels gang and are considered dangerous and should not be approached.
If you know where they are or have information on their whereabouts please call Police immediately on 111.
If you have any information that could help our investigation, please contact Auckland City Crime Squad on (09) 302 6557.
Alternatively, information can also be provided anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Staff of the Ministry of Ombudsman have paid tribute to pioneer of the Ministry, Siaosi Taimani ‘Aho on social media.
‘Aho, 79, died peacefully on April 27 following an undisclosed illness.
The Ministry tweeted on Saturday that ‘Aho was Tonga’s first Commissioner for Public Relations in 2001.
The post was established under the Commissioner for Public Relations Act 2001, to carry out duties similar to those of a traditional Ombudsman.
Siaosi Taimani ‘Aho
The law was changed in 2016 and the title of the Commissioner for Public Relations was replaced with Ombudsman.
‘Aho, who was the Public Relations Commissioner until 2004, was also a former Minister of Justice, Attorney General and Police,
He was also Tonga’s first High Commissioner to New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
He was laid to rest today April 30 at Fasi’s Takaunove cemetery.
Amongst his many accolades during his loyal service to the Government of Tonga, Mr. ‘Aho was the founding Commissioner for Public Relations and started the Office in 2001. He held the post as Commissioner until 2004. #Siaositaimaniahopic.twitter.com/BdHi33kcKJ
A Tongan licensed Immigration Advisor has warned that New Zealand has no law allowing overstayers to be granted a resident visa if they return to the kingdom and apply for it there.
Koli Vānisi of the Pacific Immigration Consultancy & Services Ltd, said some people (“fa’ahinga ‘e ni’ihi”) in New Zealand misled Tongan overstayers about having a New Zealand residence visa granted in Tonga.
He told Kaniva News there was an opportunity for overstayers to return and apply for a resident visa in Tonga, but there was no guarantee that their application would be successful. He said this should be the advice given to the overstayers.
Vānisi said he had explained the law and policy to a number of clients, but they ignored it and sought advice from other people who told them to return to Tonga and obtain their resident visa there.
He said most of these returning overstayers got stuck in the kingdom and never returned. Some of them contacted him seeking advice.
He said immigration advisors should tell people right from the begining when they assessed their clients’ immigration visa application whether they had a chance of getting a visa or not.
Vānisi said the only person in Tonga who held a New Zealand immigration advisor’s licence was Mele Nau.
Under New Zeland Immigration laws, people entering the country on a visa were not allowed to stay after their visa expired.
If they did remain in New Zealand after their visa had expired they would be liable for deportation.
Overstayers
Earlier this month Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway defended a profiling programme that is being tested by his department to identify people who are likely to be overstayers.
Tongan Advisory Council Melino Maka claimed the programme was racist and said people from the Pacific Islands could be unfairly targeted.
In February an immigration agent claimed 61 Tongans were facing deportation to Tonga in the aftermath of Cyclone Gita, but this was denied by the Minister.
Most overstayers in New Zealand are from Tonga, Samoa and China.
The main points
A Tongan licensed Immigration Advisor has warned that New Zealand has no law allowing overstayers to be granted a residence visa if they return to the kingdom and apply for it there.
Koli Vānisi of the Pacific Immigration Consultancy & Services told Kaniva News there was an opportunity for overstayers to return and apply for a residence visa in Tonga, but there was no guarantee that their application would be successful.
He said some people (“fa’ahinga ‘e ni’ihi”) in New Zealand misled Tongan overstayers.
Eight years after it was submitted to Parliament, Kaniva News reviews the Constitutional and Electoral Commission Report of 2009 and looks at one of the might-have-beens: Reserved Parliamentary seats for women.
Since 1951 there have been fewer than a dozen women in Tonga’s parliament, many of whom were appointed rather than being elected.
However, although women were almost invisible in Tongan politics, the Constitutional and Electoral Commission recommended against making any special provision for them in Parliament.
In its 2009 report to Parliament, the Commission said there could be no dispute that women were, and always had been, inadequately represented in the Legislative Assembly.
It said this was largely because of entrenched male prejudice.
The Commission noted that a number of other Island states reserved seats for women.
“The introduction of a special electoral quota would not be new to Tonga; the nobles are already the beneficiaries of such protection,” it said.
However, it cautioned that having reserved seats for women would not necessarily solve the problem.
The ECE report
“Those advocating increased participation by women do not help their cause by the frequent suggestion that, if elected, women representatives would be better able to represent women’s affairs,” the commission said.
“If women have a right to hold positions of influence in public life, including membership of parliament, they have the right to equal consideration for every aspect of the work.
“If the number of women is to be increased, it should be because they have something to contribute in the same fields and on equal terms to their male counterparts.
“If an able and suitable woman who knows she can offer as much as her male counterpart wishes to stand in the election, should she stand for a reserved seat or stand on equal terms with the other candidates on the general list?
“If she takes the first course, she will risk being treated as a second class member of the House and, once the quota is withdrawn, may not have the support of an electorate; if she takes the second, she will face the full force of male prejudice probably reinforced by the charge that she ‘should be’ standing for the ‘women’s seats’.
The Commission cited what it called the special status of women in Tongan society and the benefit of the different world views and perspectives women could bring to Parliament as reasons for supporting the presence of women in the House.
However, it ultimately recommended against having reserved seats for women in Parliament.
“We believe that women in Tonga today are in all ways as well prepared as men to compete for the people’s representative seats.
“Since there are more women voters, what is required is effective campaigning targeting both men and women voters, good organisation and quality women candidates.
“A good candidate, whether a woman or a man, should attract votes from all parts of the spectrum of opinions.
“We hope women will realise that the power effectively to correct their under-representation is in their hands.”
Arguments
However, for all the Commission’s optimism, women are still under-represented in Parliament and arguments about reserved seats continue.
In last November’s election only two women won seats, Losaline Ma’asi and ‘Akosita Lavulavu, who was re-elected.
After the election there were calls for reserved seats or quotas to get more women into parliament. Equally, however, others saw this as a short term solution and argued the real need was more education to overcome gender stereotyping in Tongan culture.
And New Zealand MP Jenny Salesa, who is of Tongan descent, said women were just as much to blame for opposition to women’s political ambitions.
Following a visit to Tonga to encourage women to stand for election, she said people were phoning a local radio station to say: “Women, their place is in the home. Women shouldn’t be heads of departments. Women shouldn’t be in Parliament. Women shouldn’t make decisions including in business or in Parliament.”
She said about 90 per cent of those calls were from women.
“Before we actually point the finger at others as to why there is not enough female representation, we also ask why it is that we do not support our own,” she said.
Eight years after it was submitted to Parliament, Kaniva News reviews the Constitutional and Electoral Commission Report of 2009 and looks at one of the might-have-beens: A new voting system.
Tongans could have gone to the last three elections under a voting system the 2009 Constitutional and Electoral Commission described as “one of the fairest systems devised.”
The Commission recommended the kingdom change to a single transferable voting system.
“We are satisfied that it will give Tonga the fairest results,” the CEC’s report said.
Instead, Tonga has continued to use a variation of the first past the post system.
Under the original voting system, Tonga had a mixed multi- and single- seat first past the vote system, with single-seat districts such as each of the Niuas and ‘Eua and districts with two or more seats in districts such as Tongatapu, Ha’apai and Vava’u.
Voters were required merely to indicate which candidate(s) on the ballot paper list they favoured, and in the block districts, they had as many choices as there were seats in the district. The candidates with the most votes won.
Critics have pointed out that where several candidates are standing for election in one constituency under a first past the post system, it could mean that more voters actually cast their ballot for other candidates than the winner receives.
As an example, presume that 100 people voted in an election and that Candidate A won because she had 40 votes, whereas candidates B and C, who attracted 30 votes each, lost. In effect, this meant Candidate A was somebody the majority of voters didn’t want.
Under the single transferable vote system a candidate must meet a set quota of votes to win outright. Voters are allowed to select second choices, so if a candidate does not meet the quota, then votes are recounted and redistributed.
Effectively, it allows voters to indicate that they want a candidate to be elected, but if they don’t win, then they can indicate that their second preference would be another candidate.
This system means that the successful candidate is actually acceptable to a greater proportion of the voters than somebody who won under the first past the post system.
Political scientists have described the single transferable vote system as also extremely suitable for systems where voting districts might have more than one representative, such as existed in Tonga.
According to the CEC, in systems where political parties operate, the single transferable voting system encourages parties to co-operate by exchanging voter preferences. This means that they agree to tell their party supporters to select the candidate from the other party as their second choice.
In Tonga, where voters elect individuals rather than party members, candidates could make the same arrangements.
According to the CEC, under the single transferable voting system, voters could influence the composition of post-election coalitions.
The single transferable voting system is used in Australia, some local authorities in New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and some parts of Europe.
Instead of adopting the CEC’s recommendation, the Cabinet of the time, adopted a first past the post system under which all multi-member districts were sub-divided to become single-seat districts.
Tonga’s 17 constituencies have very small populations, with electorates in the outer islands have far fewer people than those on Tongatapu.
Tongatapu 3 had about 4000 people eligible to vote at the last election. The smallest electorate, Ongo Niua, had about 700.
The Sutton team was welcomed by Queen Sālote College principal Rev Dr. ‘Asinate Sāmate.
The goods were officially presented at a function at Queen Sālote College school hall attended by former Minister of Education Rev. Dr. Tēvita Hala Palefau, who led the opening prayer.
“The warm singing and various voice sections from the girls filled the hall which reminded me of traditional hymn singing in the islands, to give thanks to our Heavenly Father for his continuous love and protection over us all,” Sutton’s Deputy Principal Vaitimu Togi Lemanu said.
Lemanu said in his speech at the function that it was not surprising Captain Cook called Tonga the Friendly Islands.
Activities at the presentation ceremony included a concert performance by the Queen Salote brass band.
Board of Trustee Chairperson, Ofa Kātoa, officially presented the keys for the container to Rev. Palefau.
Lemanu said the singing and the soloists who performed lifted the spirits of everyone in the school hall.
The six metre container was filled with donations including computer desks donated by some Catholic Schools, kitchen utensils provided by Sky City, sporting materials, electronic whiteboards donated by Westpac and water donated by Coca Cola.
Various donors also helped fill the container including parents whose children were studying at the school’s Tongan Bilingual unit and parents of the Rumaki reo classes, Samoan bilingual unit and the mainstream classes.
The Sutton team which went to Tonga included the chair of the Board of Trustees, Ofa Kātoa, Sia Ua Tongan bilingual team leader Maliana Taufalele and Apitanga Mafi.
Mafi described the support and donations for the container as “astounding.”
Mafi said the project to send a container full of donated goods in the wake of Cyclone Gita came from Sutton principal Fa’atili Iosua Esera and the Tongan bilingual unit, Sia Ua.
Sia Ua is a Tongan name given to the Sutton’s Tongan–English language unit by Princess Melenaite Siu’ilikutapu.
Tongan teachers at Suttons were: Maliana Taufalele, ‘Apitanga Kailea Mafi, Lineni Paea, Peta Mo’ungātonga, Simaima Fīnau, Luseane Kaifā and Fiona Filipe. Assistant teachers were: ‘Ofa Hausia, Loma Tau, ‘Alilia Tāufa, ‘Ofa Lapa and Lineni Hafoka . Trustees Board members were ‘Ofa Kātoa and Rev. Havea Fanga’i’uiha.
A teenage Muslim boy born with a one-and-a-half foot long ‘tail’ is revered by Hindus in an Indian village who see him as an incarnation of the monkey god Lord Hanuman.
Sohail Shah, 13, was born in a small village near Madhya Pradesh, central India with a patch of thick hair on his lower back that has grown long and matted together into a tail.
His strange growth has earned him the name of Bajrangi Bhaijan- or the God brother by the villagers.
He is so popular that people from far off villages flock to him every other day to be blessed.
They bring a bag full of fruits such as bananas and mangoes for Sohail in exchange for the blessings.
The schoolboy is also revered at school, particularly by teachers who never scold him in fear of upsetting the God.
It is unclear why the boy has developed the growth, but it is likely a result of a neural tube deformity.
During the first month of life, an embryo grows a structure called the neural tube that will eventually form the spine and nervous system.
Sohail could have been born with a tail due to a neural tube defect known as spina bifida, where the spine doesn’t develop properly.
Sohail himself says he enjoys the love and attention he gets because of his tail and never wants to of cut it off.
The teen said: ‘I am not at all embarrassed because of my tail. I was born with this and it is very much part of my life now.
‘I have seen people treating me like God since my birth so it is not new for me.
‘They call me Hanuman and touch my feet for blessings.
‘If I am walking on road, they come to me and join their hands asking for blessings. Some give me bananas and mangoes-my favourite fruits.
‘I am treated specially by everyone in the village be it Muslims or Hindus and I feel fantastic about it.
‘I do not face any physical problems because of the tail and so I don’t intend to get rid of it ever.
‘I do feel I am special and that I am blessed by Lord Hanuman because I get so much love by the people.’
Sohail’s family also believe that he is truly God’s gift and say they have only experienced love, peace and prosperity since he was born.
His grandfather Ashiq Shah, 60, said: ‘We have been blessed with peace and prosperity since his birth. He has brought good luck to all of us.
‘He is a wonderful boy and is very peaceful and intelligent and caring. He treats everyone with love and respect.’
Since Sohail is a Muslim, his grandfather said there were hermits who wanted to adopt him.
They requested that the family hand over Sohail but were refused.
‘They feared we will marry him off but we refused to give him up, instead we have raised him with lots of love and care.’
According to mythology, Lord Hanuman was the ultimate bachelor and life-long celibate who devoted his life to his lord Rama.
Grandfather Mr Shah said: ‘We have accepted Sohail with his tail and we believe that he is a special child.
‘Even though we are Muslims, we respect the feelings of our Hindu brethren in the village who see him as Hanuman.
‘He has brought harmony in the village.
‘If someone bumps into him in the morning, they say their day is going to be good as they have seen the god’s face.
‘They all call him Hanuman and brings food for him. We never object to that.. In fact, we also call him hanuman at times.’
His parents, father Sadiq Shah, 32, a daily wage labour and mother Nazma, 30, also believe that Sohail’s tail is God’s gift and removing it will bring bad omens.
His mother said: ‘I was shocked to see the patch of hair in his back. But soon people in the village started saying he was incarnation of the Hindu god. We too started believing he is special.
‘We are poor but all our worries and sorrows have vanished since his birth. There is always happiness and peace in the family.
‘We never wish to get his tail removed because he was born like this.’
A girl is in a critical condition after being hit by a car in the Tongatapu town of Kolofo’ou, reports said.
Nuku’alofa police said the incident happened on Mateialona Road on April 24 at around 9pm.
Local news reported that a 34-year-old male driver from Puke was in Police custody after he was charged with reckless driving causing grievous bodily harm.
The girl sustained serious injuries in Vaiola Hospital.
