The Free Church of Tonga’s re-elected president Rev Sēmisi Fonua will ordain 326 new pastors for the church tomorrow Wednesday 25.
President Fonua now holds the presidency for 32 years after he was re-elected by 94 votes on Monday.
Rev. Sīmote Sikuvea was re-elected secretary general by 60 votes.
Thousands of church members coming from overseas and the outer islands were assembling in Nukuʻalofa to attend sessions of the 131st annual conference of the church.
Tongan Police will not enforce a ban on sale of bread on July 3 to hundreds of tourists who buy and eat breads in restaurants in the kingdom.
Tonga’s Police Minister Hon Pohiva Tuʻiʻonetoa said these people from overseas were mostly in Tonga temporally and they expected local restaurants to provide them with food during Sundays.
The Minister has announced the ban today saying it was made after further public consultations and radio talkbacks.
Hon Tuʻiʻonetoa said the government will observe the public reaction towards the ban during the first month.
He said all restaurants must obtain a license to operate on Sunday.
He said meetings were held with bakery owners about the ban.
The church leaders launched a petition in July 2015 with the government raising their concerns that selling bread on Sunday breached the law of the nation.
The decision by the government to restore its Sunday trading ban law was made after it found no record to show an official decision was made to allow bakeries to operate on Sunday and sell bread to the public.
It was likely the decision was made 34 years ago in 1982 after Tropical Cyclone Isaac hit the kingdom.
Tonga has a large Christian population and Sunday is celebrated as a strict Sabbath taboo.
However the essential services such as transport, restaurants were allowed but operators have to seek permission from the Minister of Police. In times of emergency or disaster essential services are also allowed.
The gates at the Tufumāhina royal residence have been open to the public as gifts were brought in and presented to Her Majesty Queen Halaevalu Mataʻaho, the Queen Mother of Tonga.
Born as Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe on May 29, 1926 she is the oldest daughter of Lord ‘Ahomeʻe known as Manu-‘o-Pangai and his wife Lady Heuʻifanga, a great granddaughter of the last King of the Tuʻi Tonga line.
Her Majesty’s immediate family from both her paternal and maternal sides visited and met her since last week to show their appreciation on her 90th birthday.
They presented Tongan goods such as precious mats, ngatu, food and pigs.
Some presentations were followed by prayers and entertainments.
This is the cultural practice of fatongia and has been mainly performed by those who are linked to the Queen Mother in blood, responsibilities and friendship.
Her Majesty married her husband, the late king Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV on June 10, 1947. Taufa’āhau Tupou IV died in 2006.
They have four children. The Late King George V, Princess Salote Mafile’o Pilolevu Tuita, Late Lord Maʻatu and King Tupou VI.
Her Majesty Queen Halaevalu Mataʻaho became the Queen of Tonga from 1965 – 2006 and since 2006 she was the Queen Mother of the kingdom.
The court hearing for the man accused of killing a 26 year-old father in a hit and run incident was postponed for the second time last week after prosecutors applying for an extension to give them more time.
The case will be heard next month June 20.
Brian Hope Totau of Tofoa was charged with causing the death by dangerous driving of Liufau Tāufa whose body was found on a roadside in Vaolōloa on February 14.
The case was first brought to court in February 22 and was set to be heard in May 16 when the judge made the decision to be delayed.
The father of three from Vavaʻu but then staying at Halaʻovave in Tongatapu was announced dead at the scene before he was taken to hospital.
A man from Pea has been convicted of growing and possession of marijuana.
Pālavi Lavaka pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis and possessing the drug when he appeared in the Nukuʻalofa Lower Court last week.
The judge said Lavaka owned up right away to growing the marijuana, an operation police have proved he did at the king’s estate of Fualu.
Magistrate Mafi postponed the sentencing until this week so the prosecutors could provide him with the convict’s past criminal history.
At last, a Tongan mother in Hawaii and her long-lost son met last week for the first time since her estranged husband spirited him away to Pakistan 25 years ago.
It was an emotional reunion in the Honolulu International airport after Tepola Moala searched for his children through Facebook.
Her son Imran was four-month old while her daughter Zamina Shah was two-year old when their Pakistan father took them across the boarder.
The mother and her son embraced, hugged and kissed — the first time they’ve laid eyes on each other following a recent Facebook quest.
Moala told KITV News about how her son responded to her the first time they met on Facebook.
“Mum you don’t believe me. It’s me your son Fetuli. The middle name. OK. And he said now I know you don’t believe me and he sent me the picture”, Moala said.
It was a photo of Imran when he was young and Moala can confirm it was him.
“All I want, I want him to be here. I want to hug him. Squeeze him. My baby”, she told the News.
Describing the moment he was reunited with his mother, Imran said: “The great thing is I still have a mother. I missed her in a lot of years”.
Four centuries after Dutch explorers became the first Europeans to discover Tonga, the Netherlands’ Ambassador to New Zealand, Robert Zaagman, has warned that both countries face common challenges from global warming.
Much of the Netherlands has been reclaimed from the sea. Half of it less than a metre above sea level and one eighth is below sea level. Like other Pacific islands, Tonga is threatened by rising seas and there is already evidence that coastal areas are being eroded.
The European Union, of which the Netherlands is a member, has built sea defences along Talafoʻou, Makaunga and Manuka in eastern Tongatapu.
Mr Zaagman said this week that both countries were vulnerable to climate change.
“Climate change requires urgent response and close co-operation and in the Netherlands it is one of our top priorities,” he said.
“The sea has always been a defining factor in the history and culture of our nation. Today, it is important as ever although not always in the positive sense. Both the Kingdom of Tonga and the Netherlands are vulnerable to the consequences of climate change including sea level rising.”
Mr Zaagman made the comments at the opening of an exhibition of paintings and digital materials commemorating the 400th anniversary of the visit to Tonga by the Dutch explorers Jacob Le Maire and Willem Cornelisz Schouten.
They were circumnavigating the globe in 1616 when they sighted Tafahi island and traded with the local people, swapping iron and strings of beads for vegetables.
An encounter with the people of Niuatoputapu was less peaceful. An islander was shot and injured when canoes went out to meet their ship, the Eendracht.
The Tongan islands they visited were the first to be added to European maps.
One of the paintings on display shows the Eendracht surrounded by Tongan canoes off Tafahi.
In 1643 another Dutch explorer, Abel Tasman, visited the Tongan Islands of ‘Ata, ‘Eua and the largest island of Tongatapu. His ships, the Heemskerck and the Zeehaen also traded with the local communities.
Tonga has issued a set of commemorative stamps to mark the 1616 anniversary.
The exhibition was held in Queen Sālote College Hall and will remain in Tonga for permanent display.
HRH Crown Prince Tupouto’a unveiled the display.
Tonga and the Netherlands
Relations between the Netherlands and Tonga are limited. and the kingdom is not regarded as a priority. The kingdom is not a Dutch foreign policy priority.
The Dutch ambassador in Wellington is responsible for Dutch relations with Tonga. Our honorary consul in the capital Nuku’Alofa provides consular services and deals with economic issues and trade.
The Tongan royal family has good relations with the Dutch Royal Family.
The main points
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A female student was allegedly drunk during the intercollegiate sport last month.
Security guards and police seized a number of prohibited items while searching students’ school bags at the entrances to the Teufaiva Stadium.
The students were trying to sneak into the competition what police believed were alcohol, cigarettes and drugs.
The finding was made amid tight security to prevent any incidents during the 2016 sport competition.
A police report will be released to various schools soon about the students involved and what prohibited items they attempted to sneak into the sporting event.
The Talaki Newspaper this week has quoted Tungua Tuʻakoi from the Sport Organising Committee as saying the bag checks at the entrances began last year to prevent students from bringing alcohol or illegal drugs into the four-day national event.
The paper alleged there were drugs and cigarettes found during the search but Tuʻakoi could not be able to confirm it.
Tuʻakoi reportedly said he was thankful for the work conducted by police and the security guards during the competition.
He said security checks now would be used when it comes to secondary school rugby union tournament.
Police told the paper a report on the findings will be released to various schools soon in which the students involved will be identified.
Only one girl was found drunk during the sport competition, Talaki said.
The students of Tonga High School received gifts from Dongguan City including 12 laptops, 30 computers, more than a thousand schoolbags, stationaries and sports equipment.
The Tongan government welcomed the donation saying it would help the students develop their “ICT capacity and expertise”.
Hon Siaosi Sovaleni, the Acting Prime Minister said “we need to have an ICT literate workforce, we need students to be ICT literate and to undertake ICT studies”.
“The donation of these computers will greatly contribute to these key undertakings. It will help students with their studies and better prepare them to tertiary studies as you definitely need to know how to use a computer when you are in university or similar institutions,” Hon Sovaleni said.
The Chinese authority who attended the gift-giving ceremony last week said the donation is part of the people of Dongguan assistance to Tonga High School since its new campus was built 11 years ago through Chinese funding.
“Today I am honoured to have brought you computers, schoolbags and stationaries and sports apparatus which we hope can help improve this school’s educational conditions and renew the friendship between China and Tonga,” said Guangdong’s Province Director General of Education Ms Liang Fengming.
A 45 minute video of a wife’s labour at a Californian Hospital is going viral on Facebook.
The incredible footage has been posted by father Kali Kanongataʻa who also goes by the name Fakamalo Ki He ʻEiki on Facebook.
His intention was to share with his close family in Tonga but accidentally posted it to Facebook Live sharing it with the entire world on Monday morning.
“I didn’t notice it was on the public feed until someone said ‘Push, Push’ and it was my little cousin,” Kanongataʻa said.
The video has had over 309,000 views, 3,200 likes and 700 shares as of today Friday 20.
The video has been received with mix reaction on Facebook.
“I know there’s some people that say ‘Oh that’s too much,’ but I think it’s not really that bad,” Dome said. “Everyone can have their opinion (but) to me, it’s beautiful. It’s a blessing.”
“I don’t think it’s fair to cast judgment upon people. I mean, birth is a wonderful thing,” Kanongata-a said.
Kanongataʻa is Tongan and he describes himself on his Facebook page as a person who comes from Nukuʻalofa, the capital city of Tonga.
