Civil Disobedience Plan In Advanced Stage

Five years. That is all pro-democracy campaigner and peoples' representative in Tonga's Legislative Assembly Akilisi Pohiva is giving himself and the Tongan Human Rights and Democracy Movement (THRDM) to achieve their ultimate aim: changing the structure of government in the kingdom.

Change for this former government teacher, who has grown over the years to symbolise the face of his peoples' push for democratic changes in the island kingdom, specifically means letting the people elect all of their 30 members of parliament.

"We're not trying to abolish the monarchy," said Pohiva. "We just want power sharing. It's simple, people want to have a say in the running of government. This is what the people want. Tonga can't afford to continue with this feudal-type of government. Lack of accountability and lack of transparency is the main problem of our present government. The talk about economic reforms is a farce. Economic reforms can't work unless we change the political structure we have."

Nuku'alofa...Tonga's main street, it may not be so quiet in the future.

Feeling of optimism

Pohiva was pretty optimistic, no doubt by a show of support for the movement's public protest at the passing into law of stringent press control laws. These requires publishers to have publishing licences. Application for licences three publishing companies have been refused. Two of the publications affected‹Pohiva's Kelea and Kalafi Moala's Taimi o Tonga‹are deemed to be anti-government.

Supporters have figures of their own on the actual number that marched on the main streets of Nuku'alofa‹the capital‹last October to show their opposition to the media laws.

Matangi Tonga, a local quarterly, puts the number of marchers at between 2000 to 3000. A petition expressing their objection was said to have contained some 7000 to 8000 signatures. The government used its numbers in the House to vote the bills into law with 16 for it and 11 against. The remaining three members were absent.

Princely help

A significant boost for the struggle of the pro-democracy movement was the support it got from a senior member of the royal family. Prince Tu'ipelehake is named after his father, the younger brother of King Taufa'ahau Tupou, who until his death in 1999, was prime minister of Tonga for years.

Well-educated and an articulate speaker, the young Prince Tu'ipelehake is the current chair of the Legislative Assembly's powerful House Committee. He's in parliament as one of Ha'apai's two noble representatives.

Ever since the middle of 2003 when the government of Tonga wanted to ban the distribution of Taimi o Tonga in the kingdom, Prince Tu'ipelehake came out publicly to oppose the move.

He wrote to Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer late last year to seek Canberra's support against the draconian media laws.

In an interview he gave Islands Business in Nuku'alofa last month, the prince agreed he had thought hard and long before deciding to speak out. He defended his decision to do so, stating that even as a member of the royal family, he still has his "human and constitutional right to express" his beliefs.

He said he sees himself as a "reformist" who believes the government, nobles and the people need to start talking about the need for change and the best way forward for the kingdom. (See interview on page 20.)

Show of support shortened

In an astonishing move too, the King's second son Noble Ma'atu also voted against the media laws in parliament. He was in the House as the representative of the nobles in Niua. But his support was cut short prematurely when Noble Ma'atu, who was stripped of his princely title in the 1980s as punishment for marrying a commoner, died suddenly last month after a short illness. He was buried at the Royal Tomb in Nuku'alofa.

Civil disobedience to start

Pro-democracy campaigners like Pohiva are clear about how they hope bring about changes in government. He told this magazine the way to go would be through civil disobedience. These include activities like boycott of:

• Government newspapers,
• Royal Tongan Airlines,
• National cultural festivals,
• Opening of Parliament.

"The absence of majority of people's representatives from the official opening of parliament is going to have an impact because it is something big. We represent 77 percent of the people," explains Pohiva. Of the nine representatives of the people in the Tongan parliament, seven are members of the pro-democracy movement.

Non-violent movement

Reverend Simote Vea, interim coordinator of THRDM, stressed that such measures of civil disobedience would be "manageable." Asked to define manageable, he said it would be non-violent.

Another strong supporter of THRDM, one of Tongatapu's people representatives in parliament and successful local businessman Dr Fereti Sevele believes a national referendum could be another option.

"Of course, the powers that be would say, 'oh the people don't want change.' What we would like to see is a referendum on that," Sevele told Islands Business.

" Do the people want the present system of election or do they want the 30 members of the House to be elected by the people? My guess is that at least two thirds of the people would say, direct elections."

Another petition, this time to be handed over to the King, is also being considered, said Pohiva. Instead of soliciting signatures from just those living on the main island of Tongatapu, efforts will be made to get the support of people in the outer islands. Pohiva said in the next two months, teams of pro-democracy supporters will move around the country to lobby support for change.

Vea says that THRDM has already established 15 support groups in villages, proof that the movement is "moving from that kind of silent, behind the scene profile to a more transparent presence within the community". THRDM has also been soliciting support from non-governmental organisations and civil societies in the kingdom.

Trade unions' support

Among organisations that have rallied behind the cause is the Friendly Islands Teachers Association (FITA), a body that represents some 70 percent of the kingdom's teachers. FITA president Finau Kitione said the association had to be registered under Tonga's Incorporated Society Act in the absence of a trade union act. The main difference, he said, is that workers' rights to collective bargaining are not recognised under the Society Act, a discrepancy FITA would like to see rectified. Civil servants are yet to be unionised in Tonga, while nurses are the only other professionals who have followed the teachers in forming their own association.

Church support

Tonga is one of the region's deeply religious countries, and the push for reforms has also been heard from church leaders in the kingdom, especially from the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

It is the second largest church in Tonga, after the Free Wesleyan Church. "The King himself is a lay preacher of the (Free Wesleyan) church and he is more or less the figurehead of the church," explains Vea, himself an ordained minister of Free Wesleyan.

"So we cannot assume that the church is able to support the movement, unless the King will or until they know the King is favourable towards such a change. And then we have the second majority church, the Catholic Church, which is a very strong supporter of the movement. The support is between those two poles."

Vea, who works as general-secretary of the influential Tongan Council of Churches, believes the new media laws have impinged on the prophetic and moral roles of the church.

"It certainly will have some implication on the churches themselves, the way they speak from the pulpit, from radio, or TV or through any other means. But definitely, yes, this will also upset the church especially in its prophetic role."With this new media legislation, it is the government that will control the morality of the day. Any moral issue they think is offensive, they'll ban. They should refer or leave those matters with the church." Peoples' support Because of the public support of the Roman Catholic and professional associations like FITA, Vea believes the pro-democracy movement has the support of the majority, indicated he said in the protest march organised against the media laws.

You know to have these 8000 to 10,000 people to march is something very significant in terms of our population size, our cultural sensitivity and church background.

Despite all these, they came out to the streets. That to me is a very strong indicator that at least we do have great support among the people. Of course, during the last five or six elections, all the pro-democracy candidates, especially on Tongatapu (the main island), won their seats. "Anybody who is against the movement, or those candidates who oppose them will certainly be voted out in the next election. It's that kind of indicator that we assume that we still have the strong support of the people."

Lobbying for support will not be confined to within the kingdom. Australia will be asked to add its voice to the cause this month when Pohiva and Sevele travel there as part of a parliamentary delegation. Two government ministers as well as the speaker of the assembly, Hon Tu'ivakano, will complete the group.

Pohiva agreed that Colin Hill's (Australian High Commissioner to Tonga) public comments that Canberra would not comment on recent political developments in the kingdom was "disappointing." He believes Canberra is a behind-the-scene supporter of their push for democratic changes. Apart from Australia, THRDM will also seek support from members of the Pacific Islands Forum when leaders meet for their annual summit in August, most probably in Samoa.

Pohiva hopes to send a delegation to the summit. He said the appointment of former New Zealand Chief Justice Sir Douglas Graham as the Commonwealth envoy to Tonga was also a positive development.

Sevele said urging from the London-based body would do their cause a lot of good. "Tonga is party to the Harare Declaration, it's part of the Commonwealth and you know the Commonwealth has expelled some countries in the past for various misdemeanors. I'm not saying that we should be expelled but I think they could say, 'hey, you are a member of the club. There are international rules that we want to maintain. Don't break the rules.'"

PM plays down nobles' support

Tonga's Prime Minister Prince ŒUlukalala Lavaka Ata was overseas on medical review when a request was made by Islands Business for an interview. But in a previous media statement issued by his office in Nuku'alofa, Prince ŒUlukalala had played down some nobles' opposition to government.

"There is a misconception that the 12 cabinet ministers and nine nobles form a permanently united parliamentary group," the prince said.

Many overseas media commentators wrongly think the Legislative Assembly is just a rubber stamp or a sham controlled by a monolithic bloc.

"This is Tongan democracy at work," said the Prime Minister, adding, "We do not follow a Westminster parliamentary system based on political parties as practised in New Zealand or Australia.

"We have our own way of dealing with things politically."

Controlling Tonga's destiny

Prince ŒUlukalala repeated these comments in an interview he gave the Honolulu online news service Pacific Islands Report last December.

"Don't you think we should control our own destiny," Tonga's prime minister argued. "Why should people overseas who don't help us, who spend all their time trying to pull the government down, pull the Tongan system down, why should we let those people win. It's a crusade, a crusade against us because we're not the same as you."

The youngest of the King's four children, the prince spoke strongly during that interview about his belief that Tonga should be left alone to sort out its problems.

"I think we have to work it out our own way," he said. And may be, we make mistakes, but they're our mistakes. Democracy is not the great end-all and be-all. Why do you want to impose your values upon us? "Thank you, we have values of our own."