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.
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.
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?”
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.
For more information
Prince’s death a blow to democracy (The Age)
Tonga’s Prince Tu’ipelehake becomes patron of Human Rights and Democracy movement (RNZI)
Tonga farewells Prince Tu’ipelehake (ABC)
Tonga must not lose sight of democracy (Honolulu Advertiser)
Prince Tu’ipelehake calls on Australia to pressure Tonga for democratic change.
Tongans reflect on monarchy, democracy (Salt Lake Tribune)
Redwood City woman sentenced to 2 years in royal Tongans’ deaths
2 worlds collide in horrific crash (Deseret Daily News)
13 women candidates standing for Tonga’s local government election (Kaniva News)
Tonga government committed to increasing women’s participation in politics and public life
Tongans encouraged to take part in politics and make history (RNZI)
