Results for 2001

An on-line direct link between the Tongan Police, the Interpol and five other Pacific island countries will be established soon under a $210,506 project that was approved at the 66th General Assembly of the Interpol in New Delhi last year. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 16, no. 1, June 2001.

The $3 million pa‘anga Shopping Centre development on Nuku‘alofa’s Taufa‘ahau Road is a dream come true for Tongan businessman, Tevita Misa Fifita. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 16, no. 1, June 2001.

If by July Tonga has not repealed its 1984 Off-Shore Banking Act, the 29 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will endorse a ‘Defensive Action’ against Tonga and six other Pacific island countries. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 16, no. 1, June 2001.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES: There was no looking back for Betty Blake after she accepted a challenge to help the women and children in Tonga who were being treated badly. Betty, who has been working extensively with women in the villages throughout Tonga since 1996, is sure that the first step for women to gain equality is for women to know their rights. “About 95% of the women who filled the questionnaire did not know their rights. They assumed that once they were married their husband owned everything they had, and therefore they had to be obedient, they believed ‘it is alright if he beats me because I am his wife’.” Most of the women she was dealing with had been conditioned to think this way and it was very difficult for them to break out of it. Interview from Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.

Tonga’s new Prime Minister Prince ‘Ulukālala Lavaka Ata, at the end of his first 12 months in office, appears to be taking a tight control of everything from economics to controlling the pigs in the villages. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.

Two of Tonga’s well-known writers who died shortly before the arrival of the 21st century. Dr Sione ‘Amanaki Havea translated the gospels. Patricia Ledyard (Matheson) wrote that she had learned from her Tongan neighbours that "gratitude is the proper attitude toward life”. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.

The $52,000 in cash prizes given at the Jesus 2000 Rugby Tournament in January amounted to the biggest prize ever offered for rugby in Tonga. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.

Millions of pa‘anga in private investment money is currently being poured into commercial development along a two kilometres stretch of Taufa‘ahau Road between the Nuku’alofa Post Office and Fanga. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.

A small Tongan contingent attended the 2000 Sydney Olympic. They were pictured with TASA officials, Hon. Tevita Tupou, and Stephen Finau with the Sydney Opera House in the background. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.