PDP v THRDM on Shoreline and tax issues
Monday, June 6, 2005 - 16:30
The THRDM pre-election campaign did not deal with the issues, instead they focused on a negative campaign against people.- Sione Lolohea
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Impact of THRDM march felt
Impact of THRDM march felt throughout the Kingdom - Sailosi Finau, Auckland, New Zealand
I must thank Sione Lolohea for his opinion on my rating of the THRDM (8) and the PDP (0) with regards to the Shoreline march. I must also admit that even though I mostly live outside of Tonga, I am still a Tongan and I am still an electricity-paying consumer in Tonga. Certainly, my assessment may not be the same as how others may rate the march.
My assessment was based on the impacts of the measures taken by the two democratic camps. While not officially under the banner of the PDP, the march by Futa and his troops only attracted about 70 people. And while I would not dispute that the PDP raised Shoreline's high power tariff in their election campaigns, the impacts of these campaigns and march were nothing as compared to the impacts of the THRDM's 26 May march.
The impacts of the THRDM's march were felt throughout the kingdom right before it even got started. A TV station stayed up as late as 1 a.m. to show all the panels for and against the march. Among these was a panel involving PDP members who were against the march. Numerous radio announcements were made on the evening of the 25th to deter people from marching. Senior civil servants were on the TV and radio in a last minute desperate effort to discourage people from marching. Cabinet hurriedly met to come up with a solution and Shoreline made a last minute compromising offer on the 25th.
I would not dare mention the impacts during and after the march, as I would be forced to give THRDM 88 and a much bigger duck for the PDP. - Sailosi Finau, Auckland, NZ