Tonga
Building (Not Burning) Bridges
Tonga Still Struggles One Year After Riots
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Crowds of onlookers gaze at the spectacle, many still dressed in black and ta’ovala (woven waist mats), which they have worn each day for nearly a year now as a mark of respect for the previous monarch, King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV. Following a tumultuous year in 2006, including riots that destroyed nearly a dozen lives and 143 businesses, a political transition of sorts is taking place in this small island kingdom of 100,000 people.
One of the world’s last absolute monarchies is now moving towards parliamentary democracy. But the slow pace of implementation could be a cause of further unrest. Talks collapsed at the start of September because of plans not to implement the new reforms until 2009 or later.
“Normally you have riots and then political reform, but we did it backwards!” says Lopeti Senituli, chief advisor to the prime minister, Dr. Feleti Sevele. As acting chairman of the Friendly Islands Human Rights and Democracy Movement and someone involved in the
pro-democracy movement for 20 years, Senituli’s move to a government position underlines that some progress is already underway.
He suggests that the reform process had begun before the riots happened and the current Tripartite talks representing Cabinet, the Royals and People’s Representatives are close to an agreement that will see a majority—“perhaps a simple majority” —of parliamentarians elected by the people.
“I’m comfortable with the momentum now, the reform process is unstoppable since both the new King and Crown Prince both
support reform. The current King has taken a hands-off approach to let the process continue and has said he is relinquishing his business interests to be solely King. We are very close to resolving the numbers game for the makeup of Parliament, but an implementation timetable is the last sticking point.”
Traditionally the Tongan Parliament has had 30 seats, the majority appointed by the King or controlled by the Nobles. People’s reps have pushed to have 21 members directly elected with 9 seats reserved for the Royals and Nobles. The Nobles want the split to be 17-9, while Cabinet have suggested 14-9 plus 4 nominees appointed by the King.
The veteran leader of Tonga’s pro-democracy movement, Akilisi Pohiva, agrees that a consensus on the way forward has been achieved, but there remains some wariness in his voice and he spoke to me before the latest round of negotiations collapsed.
“We are very close to an agreement. It is no longer an issue of numbers (representation in Parliament) but timing of implementation. The thing we have struggled for so long was to have a majority in Parliament—and now we got it... We have to change the distribution of wealth in this country.”
Is he concerned about future turmoil?
Nobody wants to see what happened on 16/11 happen again,” says Pohiva. “We have to have change as soon as possible, otherwise the younger generation will explode—they are already frustrated about reform and worried about the invasion of Chinese businesses. There’s a real fear about the Chinese taking over the economy and they blame the last king for that.”
Since the dramas of last year, the capital Nuku’alofa has long since returned to some kind of normality but uncertainty still hangs in the air and there are reminders everywhere of the destruction.
China has promised tens of millions of
dollars in reconstruction aid and many people seem to be waiting for that to materialize before substantial rebuilding takes place.The Tongan economy remains stagnant, recently identified along with Fiji by the Asian Development Bank as the two Pacific nations economically falling behind the rest of the region.
In his first speech last year as Tonga’s new King, George Tupou V said: “Our humble city of Nuku’alofa will not be rebuilt in a day but it will be rebuilt.” He went on to say that “the differences among the various proposals for (reform) are not irreconcilable and can be resolved through dialogue.”
A year later, the dialogue has broken down again, but a broad agreement is in place which will ultimately move Tonga into the 21st century, one bowl of kava at a time.
