Tonga
p. 40 · Read in the full issue
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Now the King wants a party
POLITICS in Tonga has been heat ing up recently both inside and outside parliament. Indoor sensa tions include physical tussles between the Vava’u No 1 Rep, Masao Paasi, and Tongatapu No 1 Rep, Akilisi Pohiva.
Incidence of rude, degrading language is reported to be on the rise also.
Extra-parliament drama includes the series of court cases in which Pohiva is embroiled as accused. There are 12 alto gether with six having been already heard. Pohiva lost on four, heavily fined.
Two charges will be tried after this year’s parliamentary sessions. One of these is for treason for allegedly describing the King of Tonga as a dicta tor. Pohiva also believes that other mem bers of the ruling party are going to drag him to court on an assortment of differ ent complaints.
It seems Pohiva’s enemies won’t rest until the day they see his back from the Parliament House. However, the sheer bulk of legal action brought against one person by the authorities and that per son happens to be a bone in their flesh in rooting out corruption, nepotism, favouritism and what have you has begun to look like political persecution.
But it would not be a new thing the use of law as a political tool. The decid ing factor, however, in such usage is always power.
For if one has power, one can employ law to destroy one’s opponent.
But also change it so that it cannot be used against one’s own party, or, again influence administrators of law to always find in one’s favour, etc.
This type of situation is very difficult to fight since people who use law in this way invariably dress up their rancour in legal garb which, though not impossible to peel off, if law administrators are quite willing to give a hand, the whole aim of keeping power intact, or injus tices covered-up, is easily accomplished.
There should real ly be regional international, would be better bodies to which people like Pohiva can go for hypothetical but alternative ‘rul ings’ (opinion). I believe this avenue is now
being explored by Pohiva. Another piece of out-of-House theatre was the aftermath of a March For Jesus organ ised by revivalist-minded ministers and well supported by all the mainline churches and the Royal Family.
At the end of the march the idea of a King’s political party is reported to have been put to Church leaders and was to have been named the Christian Democratic Party. Nothing, so far, has come out of this but a little seed has been planted that might sprout later.
Pohiva, however, was quick to react.
The following week, local newspa pers carried an interview with Pohiva in which he said the King should not try to set up another party since he already has one the Cabinet, whose members are all appointed by the King. So, Pohiva argued, if Christianity was the issue all that was needed is for the King’s Ministers to show Christian principles.
This has been the second attempt by the authorities to establish a political party. The first time was in the eve of the Pro-Democracy Convention on the Constitution and Democracy in November 1992.
The repetition of this effort for form ing a party indicates that the authorities expect party politics to come to Tonga soon and must beat commoners to it by setting up their own party first.
The other party, the now defunct People’s Party, went through a process
of disintegration precipitated by a con troversy between members of the party and members of the public and culmi nating in a showdown between the sec retary, ‘Uhila Liava’a, and Vice President, Pohiva, who have since gone their separate ways in developing plat forms for their own work. But it has cost them the People’s Party, which, to all intents, has ceased to exist. People say “if you start out on the wrong foot you’ll soon fall flat on your face.” A