Dear Editor,
I am an avid reader of your online paper sir, and would like to post the humble view of a few here in Auckland I speak for a small group of young male adults from New Zealand who moved here from Tongatapu to study so that we may bring back to Tonga the little we have learnt to better our country as much as we can. Just like the hundreds before us have done.
We watch in disbelief and are awe struck by what is happening in our beautiful Kingdom.
In our adopted country we witnessed last night a mature Tongan male trying to head butt his way through a police barricade to seek the presence of the King. This thug who thinks himself a martyr or saviour of our Tongan brothers and sisters is nothing but a self-gratifying egotistical heat stirrer who is strangely enough the instigator for this disgraceful act of borderline tyranny of his own country.
Burning our flag? Our flag that symbolises peace? My flag that was held up by Paea at the Olympics in Atlanta? Your Flag, which symbolises where you come from, the rural community where I ran and played bare footed. Was taught the basic necessities to life, the formulae that has been voiced on from one generation to the next. Our Flag, which we are proud to sport the greatest rugby player in the history of the game. We watched our flag which generation upon generation before us paid respect to honour the soldiers that died for our country, the police, the leaders of our country turn into nothing but ashes flaked into the nothingness.
What a pity that he has used his oratory skills to sway the pure visions of our Tongan community in New Zealand. Unfortunate that he has resorted to such a lowly neanderthalic way of communication not only did the supporters he rally, strike the un retaliating staff at the King's residence in Epsom but all New Zealand and worldwide press would have seen how this master orator, the demagogue of the weak and helpless of a so-called democratic movement flung his hollow bowl of a cranium to charge at a Police line.
How tearful he became afterwards with his plea for everyone in Tonga to go back to work as there was no point in protesting since he... could not see the King. Excuse me sir, but who are you to demand an audience in such an undisguised disrespectful tone? It is my young "kei si'i" view that I ask in superfluous respect to this man that, had his actions occurred in Tonga, his beautiful shining thing that sits upon his shoulders would have been the prime target of many a stone. With retrospect has his action caused any impact on the deliberations in Tonga or New Zealand? Nothing. But embarrassment and the images of his face spread across TV and for this ignorance we the next generation carry his repercussions.
Displays of violence
Fleeting words by a Tongan teenager as he struck his Tongan sister more than once with his fist using obscenities when the cameraman asked "Are you sorry for punching the girl?" the teenager replied "I don...t f****n care, I'll hit her to the dance floor that's gangsta!" This unruly display of violence and disrespect was transmitted all over New Zealand on TV. To the mother of the teenager be proud that this is what you have raised in a land full of opportunities the stench of his rap-wannabe filled veins, will choke him until all you are left is with is the historical moment in which your son appeared on channel one news. He is atomized by the masses of society following like a dog to the bekoning of a ignoramus and by doing so loses his cultural traditions, the sweet Tongan ingredients, which distinguishes US fom the REST.
Oh how the tide has turned, how I once held my head up proud to be the only islander in my class, how proud I was to be Tongan and distinguish myself from other Polynesian cultures, yes, we were proud me and my boys. Now our lecturers approach us cautiously first asking if any of us are Tongan royalty than, when realising we are not, begins his machine gun babble of how Tonga is in such a political rut, making wild claims about the monarchy and so on. We now "pretend" that our values are still intact, that what happened will be redeemed. This does not endanger our mission to finish what we started but has wearied the spirit a bit.
The King is here for medical reasons as far as we are aware the engagement party of his granddaughter is an occasion which we as Tongans should respect.
Please think first before aggravating a situation that will cause harm to others. Set the examples of peace and be a representative for the democratic country we desire, do not evoke the emotions of the majority by parading your thoughtless woes on to them. You are just slowing down the process and putting more pressure on the work generations before struggled to change. We are a minority in this adopted country and being accepted here is a whole new mission on its own. We wish that the Public Servants and their families all the best in their endeavours to secure what is rightfully theirs and that a peaceful resolution will result for both parties.
Long live the 'Friendly Islands'and God Bless the King!
Fkaps atu
J. Ragga, R. Enbeeh, I. Flava, O. Scooh
Lalo Kasia Crew
Auckland, NZ.
ka_polu [at] hotmail [dot] com
