Finger pointers should resign from politics [1]
Wednesday, November 29, 2006 - 15:30. Updated on Saturday, March 15, 2014 - 22:59.
Editor,
Dr Sitiveni Halapua of the NCPR, Prime Minister Dr Feleti Sevele and Anarchist 'Akilisi Pohiva with his Parliamentarian Rioters should all ...resign... from politics, and ...disengage... themselves from any involvement with the political reform program for a more democratic form of government in the Kingdom. In different matters of degree, all are accountable to the destruction on 16/11, and in that regard they should not blame and point finger at one another. All have failed to play their individually leadership roles in a ...just principle... during the overall political reform process up to the Black Thursday.
They were all there, in conflict with one another...s ideas, leading up to the first ...anarchy... ever happened in Tongan history since 1900, and also they were there embarking on some self-centred arguments on whose ...proposed form of democratic government... should be used for Tonga. Their difference in viewing how many representatives to be elected to the House, what year for the first democratic election to be held, and whatnot tended to divert their attention away from carrying out and forth their individual responsibilities in conjunction with the principles of democracy and the rule of law, which are built on justice, wisdom, courage and temperance - the four virtues of human happiness and serenity that were engineered in Classical Greece (the Founding Land of democracy).
In various ways, the conflicting ideas of these leaders regarding the issue of whose proposed form to be used for Tonga has directly led on to the blazing of the capital Nuku...alofa. Nevertheless, this was the ...fourth destruction of such a capital by fire... since the beginning of the bloody civil war between the 18th and 19th centuries (in almost a century), which resulted in the formation of the present Constitutional Monarchy by King George Taufa...ahau Tupou I (the victor). Nuku...alofa was burned down three times in the 19th century, with law and order last century, and here again history partly repeats itself with the human follies of mass destruction.
It is not a new episode anyway, but this time is a ...purely conflict of ideas... between academics, politicians and business people, without using clubs, arrows and spears as such, that was emerged as the final crisis leading up to trickle the barbaric and undemocratic acts of looting, burning and stealing. Foremost, this act should be declared as a ...loss for democracy..., rather than a ...victory for democracy... as in the language of Pohiva and his Anarchists live on air several times while the capital was turning into ashes. It is very unwise to justify the act of unjustice as a just and legitimate act. In other words, we are talking here of a ...crime for humanity..., and only Pohiva, Idi Amin, Hitler and Bin Ladin with their followers declared straightaway after the event, that, violation of the civic life and its civil liberties by harming and terrorizing citizens is a victory for the nation.
This calling for Halapua, Sevele and Pohiva with his Anarchists to all step down however should be differentiated from the question of 'who were directly responsible for committing this crime'. The wisdom of Greek philosophers from Socrates up to Seneca (even Jesus Christ), Confucius and Budda in the East, with the exception of scholars like John Lock and Karl Marx, never advocated violence as an act of justice. Although violence or war is a permanent factor of society, this should not be a reason for us to take advantage of things and justify that it is morally good to act in such a manner. Criminals should pay the price for their crimes in accordance to the rule of law, otherwise Tonga will be worse off than the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Somewhere in the Kingdom, there are people who were fully responsible for masterminding and supporting this crime for humanity. Irrespective of who they are and where they come from, they should all be brought into justice and punished accordingly. If this legal responsibility can...t be conducted fairly by Tongan police force and army, than there should be an appeal to Australia and NZ troops and police to stay in put in Tonga and finish up the job.
Why Sevele? He failed and his Minister of Police ...Aho and Commander
Kolokihakaufisi to ...keep peace and protect the properties and lives... of the
citizens of Tonga, including Government buildings and the public servants, when anarchy was sweeping over the capital. According to Lopeti Senituli in an interview with Lavinia Naufahu Tunitau here in Canberra last Sunday, that, it was better off for the police not to do anything at all because it was so ...dangerous..., and from his own experience of the riot during the first coup in Fiji, he believes it was the right move by the Tongan Government for the police not to take the risk. Senituli, the Political and Media Advisor of Sevele in this respect, should resign as well. Police and Army are always at risk all the time, and their main job is to keep peace and protect the properties and lives of all citizens. Sevele as a Prime Minister and his Minister of Police ...Aho, Commander Kolokihakaufisi and Senituli should all resign straightaway for failing to ...even try... and minimize the destruction of Nuku...alofa, which has consequently created 'lasting pains' and 'un-healing scars' in the hearts and minds of all victims.
Why Halapua? He failed to do the ...right thing... with the materials on political, social and economic reforms being gathered from Tongans world-wide through the employment of ...Talanoa Method..., not only that but there are a number of methodological and philosophical shortcomings in his analysis of the Report, from a standpoint of political philosophy, logic, sociology and Tongan history-tradition. Halapua...s decision with his NCPR to put forward a proposed form of democratic government together with the Report during his presentation to the House was not an act of justice at all. There was no announcement and no discussion with the Tongans before and during the ...Talanoa Method... that a proposed form of democratic government by the NCRP would be included in the Report. The general understanding is to collect people...s views and proposed forms through ...Talanoa Method..., then compile and analyse them and present to the King and the House. Instead of doing this, Halapua came up with a proposed form, which was appeared to undermine all the other proposed forms being collected from the people. This move might be the main impetus behind the decision of Sevele and his Cabinet to come up in response with another proposed form, which effectively urged Pohiva and his Parliamentarian Anarchists, among others, to rush home and draw out their individual proposed forms a few weeks before 16/11 and started calling and crying around, ...why yours and not mine....
Why Pohiva? The answer is short but sour. Pohiva is the Leader of the Pangaisi...i hooligans that committed the crime for humanity, which is actually a violation of human rights and a defeat for democratic principles with their virtues of wisdom, justice, courage and temperance. Cutting the King...s and Queen...s heads was one of the last phrases spilled out from the hooligans... leaders at Pangaisi...i before they destroyed the heart of people of Tonga. Also on the ...16/11 Taimi ...o Tonga Newspaper..., Pohiva was quoted by the Editor, ...we will take over power by force.... In the same radio program by Lavinia here in Canberra, she interviewed Pohiva after Sentuli, and I had a chance to talk with him live on air. At the end of the talk I asked him to resign straightaway. He replied, ...none of the well-known scholars in Tonga has told me to resign..., which can imply that I am not good and educated enough to ask him such a question. I responded by saying, ...where are the well-known scholars now who led the Pangaisi...i mob, most, if not all, contradict themselves many times in public, as we are witnessing in the consequences of last Thursday event....
I would like to unfold under question to Pohiva and the well-known scholars in Tonga: ...Why King George Tupou I and Shirley Baker managed to safeguard Tonga from the intervention of any foreign power in our local matters, even a direct colonization, but not us with our ages full of many PhDs and Masters.... My answer is as simple as a piece of cake: ...Tupou I possessed wisdom though with no tertiary degrees, whereas our main problem nowadays is too many PhDs and Masters with no wisdom at all.... It reminds me of one of Tupou I's speeches (derived from the Old Testament), ...My people are devastated due to lack of knowledge and wisdom....
Faka'apa'apa atu,
Siosiua Lafitani Tofua'ipangai
Lo'au Research Society (LRS)