Editor,
This letter is an expression of my thoughts and feeling based on what I hear on the news regarding the death of a young NZ male Police officer who is also a fellow Tongan in our homeland. This young man was our pride in the New Zealand Police Force, news of him described him as a hero for heroic acts he has done in New Zealand for New Zealanders and now this beautiful life is cruelly snuffed out of this world. I express my condolences and respects to the family.
On the other hand I also feel very sad, for all the actions which contributed to his death that happened at Central Nukualofa Police station, I hate to hear that Tonga Police is associated with violence and crimes because Tonga Police is and should be the authority that I am to trust, who will keep me safe and protect me from harm, respectable people who have the best interest of the community at heart to protect the community and prevent chaos, moreover would think that this section of the Police Department had received some education on how to treat people in jail according to the Universal declaration of Human Rights, especially after the riots and all the commotion relating to that.
Nevertheless, there are too many bars in Nuku'alofa and alcohol has contributed to the deaths of many of our people before, in my opinion the issue of granting too many bar licenses should be carefully considered because excess consumption of alcohol leads to accidents and non-communicable disease (NCD) such as diabetes, which could cause other NCD such as high blood pressure bringing about the occurrence of heart disease leading to stroke and premature deaths.
Furthermore bar owners should be held responsible for everyone's health and wellbeing, especially their customers to ensure they are escorted safely to their vehicles and driven home by someone who did not drink alcohol or taken a taxi home safely.
Now that this incident highlighted Tonga Police perhaps there is a need to increase their budget especially in the area of their continuing further education to increase their capacity and skills to better deal with new incoming challenges in their line of work, overall I hope that justice will prevail for those who seek it and solutions are applied to reduce gaps in our system so that we can avoid things like this is the future.
Kind regards
Naomi Fakauka
