Results for Letters

I must say I breathed a sigh of relief when I read the King's speech at the opening of parliament. I used to feel a mounting anxiety as 2010 drew closer and closer for the political reforms, and we had only just begun to see real changes to how things are run (e.g. great access to information with the new ministry web sites). -Josephine Latu

I am a Tongan now living in Australia but originally from Vava'u. After 23 years I returned to Vava'u with my wife on a cruise ship and was totally dismayed with what I saw. - Sione Tupou

By chance I see it reported in the media this week that Tonga Power will spend 16 million dollars replacing rotten and leaning power poles in a network upgrading programme commencing from the "city". From where I sit, we will have spent these millions only to find that we will remain vulnerable to falling branches as well as hurricane borne damage and still wedded to non-renewable imported and expensive diesel, the price of which is expected to return to stratospheric levels once the world takes the crunch out of credit. In short, not a great deal better. -Sefita Hao'uli

FROM OUR ARCHIVES: I am raising attention to the ranking of the winners of inter college sports in Tonga - a more real analysis of the individual schools performance will be more sensible and respectable if you consider the schools that have boys or girls only.- Siosaia Mila

I strongly believe that the current system of government is the best for Tonga. All Tonga has to do is improving minor things here and there. Major changes to the current structure of government would bring disastrous consequences that the people of Tonga would regret and hope that they were not born to this earth. A new system would be disastrous to the nature of our religion and culture which are the corner-stone of peace and harmony in Tonga. - Siosaia Fatani

I find it amazing, how the Tongan public in general are not fully informed of the actuality of what the temo's are asking for. Any form of government suggested for Tonga that has a cabinet picked from within the legislative assembly concentrates tremendous power in the hands of a few and paths the way for a dictatorship in Tonga. The current checks and balances that do currently exist between government bodies will deteriorate until they no longer exist. This means we are moving in the opposite direction of where we actually want to arrive at. Numerous articles on Matangitonga Online and letters to the editor have clearly pointed these obvious things out. For your reading pleasure and for the sake of being more informed please readers check them out. - Daniel K. Fale

I disagree with the Temos whole-heartedly on the fundamentals and agree with them in some of the peripherals, and on behalf of traditions, the simples, and the blinds, may I declare, "We want to retain monarchy, but have a democratic monarchy." A king without an absolute power is not a king, but a king who rules democratically is humanly divine. Any discontent with the government has to be legally expressed, and should resistance be needed, "Non-violent Patient Resistance" would be our peaceful war cry. Here is my starting point and our dividing line. - Senituli Penitani

Her first point - "there is no such thing as an 'absolute democracy'" contradicts both reality and history of political philosophy. Plato believed there are five forms of government: one just (aristocracy) and four unjust (democracy, timocracy, oligarchy, tyranny). Democracy, according to Plato, is a "rule by the masses." Surprisingly, Plato did not like democracy because he believed it is "a rule by all the desires." Plato's definition and 16/11 prove that "absolute democracy" exists. - Senituli Penitani

As a qualified and experienced volcanologist who has worked in Tonga for almost 30 years I have had experiences and heard of many more, that indicated getting too close to erupting volcanoes is extremely dangerous and on many occasions life threatening. - Paul Taylor