Chief Justice orders Cabinet to refrain from moving strikers

Winners at the end of the day - John Rambo
We have read many articles on the grievances raised by the PSA committee and the striking servants and as far as I gathered the Government with utter arrogance and ignorance had moved to remove those on strikes from their various posts.
To me that is a foolish move to widen the chaos already building up in the Kingdom and it will further escalate to unnecessary outcomes where law may bear no meaning at all. But fortunately, these are upstanding citizens with tolerance and equipped with enough intelligence that peace begets peaceful solutions.
Even, the few police officers who obediently stuck to the loyalty code of conduct are mindless of what moral conviction these people are seeking.
The figures of “60,70,80”, in my opinion is beyond the inherent capacity of our economy to sustain and I am in no position to blast the PSA on how feasible these figures may be.
The recommendation by the King to bring in an independent auditor is a responsible move by the old King, and I was not expecting anything major to achieve from the marching, but my heart goes out to all the people who are on strikes. History will look back to this day and remember those who struggled not for today but for the generations to come.
A moving speech by a THS student (who marched alongside his parents), said “he will be the winner at the end of the day” and surely that is the hope of every Tongan for all of the strikers to be winners, so stay the course! On a final note, Ativeniana Pomana RULES!!! - John Rambo

Kupesi ‘oe kaha‘u - Vilo Niumeitolu, South Australia
Ko e ta kupesi ‘o e kahau. Hufanga he fakatapu kae fai atu ha ki’i popoaki talamonu ki he kau ngaue fakapuleanga moe ‘enau si’i tuku ngaue ‘oku lolotonga fai.
‘Ofa ke ola lelei. Na’aku lau hifo ‘a e trade deficit 2004 ‘a Tonga $175m!
‘Oku ‘asi ai ‘ae mohe moe tamate ‘oku fai ‘e he kau minista mo e kau taki ‘o e pule’anga kae ‘ikai ke fai ha feinga ke fakamo’ui ‘aki ‘ae tuunga ma’u’anga pa…‚anga, meihe va’a ‘o e pule’anga, pe ko e pisinisi fakafo’ituitui.
Kapau tetau fakatata mo fakafehoanaki ‘a e kau taki ‘o e kuonga ni mo e kau taki ‘o e kuohili Tupou 1, Ma’afu etc ‘oku nau mohu taleniti ange kinautolu hange ko e tupu’anga ‘a e fo’i lea Hala o Vave…‚ fekau’aki mo e hake ‘a e lotu fakakalisitiane ‘i Tonga, na’a nau feinga ke fakamo’ui e fonua mo tupu ki taupotu maolunga kae tuku ‘a e si’i…‚ tamate’i ‘a hono kakai.
Kapau te tau hanga hifo ki he konga ‘o e trade deficit 2004 ‘e lava tokoni ai ‘a e kau taki ke feinga ke fakalahi e maketi hange koe fish export $3.9m (2004) ‘oku totonu ia ke ne ‘omai ha pa’anga ($50m or more?) ‘oku lahi ange he kapau te tau sio ki he maketi ‘o muli hange ko e maketi Siapani ‘oku fu’u lahi tautau tefito ki he tuna.
Pea kapau ‘oku ‘i ai ha ngaahi palopalema fakamaketi pe fakatekinikale ke veteki kae hoko ‘a e feinga pea ‘oku totonu ke fai mo tu’u ha kau taki te nau lava ‘o fai ‘a e ngaue.
Pea ka tau hanga hake ki he konga ‘o e import $20.2m (2004) Distillate ‘oku tonu ke fai ki ai ha ngaue (technology transfer and R&D) ke lava ‘e he local organic oil fuel replacement ‘o fakalele’aki ‘a e minisi mo e ngaahi me’a lahi ‘e ‘ikai teu lave ki ai.
Koe tafa’aki fakatekinikale te u lava ‘o tokoni atu ki hono langa kapau ‘oku fiema’u.
‘Oku fu’u lahi ‘a ‘etau kau poto he ako mo e kau ma’u mata’itohi ‘i he ngaahi va’a kehekehe ‘o e ‘ilo kae ‘ikai ke ‘a ‘a e kau taki lolotonga ke faka’aonga’i kinautolu ke nau kau ki hono tataki mo hono fakamo’ui ‘a e kahau ‘o e fonua ‘o hange ko e ta kupesi na’e fai ‘e he kautaki ‘o e kuohili.
‘Ofa atu. - Vilo Niumeitolu, South Australia

Bring in an outside mediator - Mele Payne Lynch, California, USA
The PSA srikes in Tonga, though romantic as it may sound, is a revolt developing.
Negotiation is obviously failing and I am not sure whether it is due to lack of common sense, logic, reasons, focus, structure and priority, but it is a clear indication that the direction this strike has been leading up to is slowly becoming an impasse and a harbinger of an unsuccessful process for both the government and the civil servants.
Isn't it time to bring in an outside mediator to liaise and mediate between the PSA and the government in an effort to achieve the goal and objective at hand? Negotiation is a collaboration towards a “win-win” solution and definitely not the stubborness that has been witlessly (but may be poetically) rendered thus far.
The faith and future of the people (public servants) are in the hands of a few leaders that are negotiating in their behalf. Is the lack of success due to lack of logic, reasons and structure?
The communities and public are directly and indirectly impacted. Is it possible that the PSA need to reorganize and restructure their priorities, other than just “showing me the money” i.e. education, healthcare, and so on, and address them in order of importance to the public and community. Otherwise, the students are not making progress towards their future, the people are in their death beds in the hospital, and private businesses and communities are adversely impacted.
At the end of the day, it will be the community and the poor that will suffer. Those who can afford to send their children and sick relatives overseas will do so and the revolt will still go on!
The Palace has moved for an independent audit and that is a reasonable course of action. It will also help to better govern and operate the day to day businesses because it will help distinguish the productive and non-productive employees, identify people who take their job seriously (and with passion) and those who use their job as a hammock and waiting for pay day, and the dead weights can be eliminated (with their heads attached of course) and allow the competent, qualified, willing and not so corrupt individual to work and excel in their profession, and ultimately rewarded and compensated accordingly.
In following through the news, there have been offers on the table and the PSA leaders should advise their supporters on the consequences, benefits and their long term effect and goal. Let the civil servants discuss and assess the offer based on what would serve in their best interest and the need to maintain a synergy within their family and community.
It would be fair if the people go back to work with the salary increase offered to date, but still with a contingency plan to continue negotiating and possibly strike again if within 90 days to 6 months, if the heads of the government do not honor their agreement and do not follow-up on on-going negotiation. This will also allow the heads of each ministry to evaluate each employee performances and reassess their qualifications and asset to the government. When it is time to negotiate again on “money”, both sides can fully justify and substantiate their actions.
The consequences (and the wake) of the revolt will be costly because there is a combination of stupidity, selfishness and stubbornness, definitely a lack of direction, structure, organization and priority. The civil servants should evaluate the leaders that they are putting their faith in to negotiate their future, what is their success rate and what is their contribution to the communities, public and the gov't?
Are they putting their faith in people who have not proven successful with their personal and professional lives, of little consequences to the government, without significant contributions to the betterment of the government and community, on a vengeance? Or are they just leaders fighting for their own libido…and that ladies and gentlemen, a new definition for libido – “ALL TALK AND NO ACTION!” - Mele Payne Lynch, California, USA

Economic growth attempts by HM were successful to some extent - S. Ma‘afu Tupou, Neiafu, Vava‘u
Please allow me to reflect on some fundamental things that the average Tongan should be well aware of, because the “pay rise” that the civil servants are seeking rests on one thing and one thing alone and that is the “Tongan Economy”. It is therefore relevant to ask the question whether the Economy could sustain the payrise now being advanced by the PSA.
The reason why I raise this important factor is because, since I grew up, I witnessed some of the attempts by His Majesty to initiate projects that would bring to Tonga economic benefits, which should flow on to the people. It comes to mind the Tonga Commodities Board, His effort to make Fua'amotu Airport a major centre of air transportation, His effort to secure land in Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Hawaii etc. for agriculture purposes, The Royal Tongan Airlines(RTA), The Passport Project, Establishing diplomatic and trade links with China, etc. All of these attempts were, and are, aimed at bringing in economic benefits to Tonga. The follow on then is a decent salary package for both the public(government) and private sectors. A basic indicator whether Tonga has a booming economy is how many that are being employed in the private sector but not in the public service. At present it may well be that civil servants outnumber their colleagues employed in the private sector.
The government's proper function is strictly to encourage and assist the private sector to thrive so that the economy could grow and the benefits from that “economic growth” flow on to the community at large in various forms including employment. All these attempts by His Majesty were successful to some extent and some of us were employed and given the discretion to lead and manage these endeavours. With regard to the RTA it was aimed to benefit the economy and it also has risks but you have to have a reliable transport network because of your export efforts and the tourist/travelling industry. I am well aware that the RTA is highly criticised even up to now. It is very easy to criticise rather than to accept the challenge of making your contribution to improving the Tongan Economy. The government can't solve that problem by itself it is up to all of us. I hope that some of us who try to actively involve in public matters should carefully assess what you are doing because at the end of the day it is the people that are being affected. After all, that is what we are professing to do, advocating the people's interests.
Establishing that diplomatic and trade links with China was a very smart move because plenty of commercial opportunities come with that, and of course there are difficulties along the way just like any other thing. Japan is the number one importer from China and then the US. Japan overtakes the US. The US borrow China's export surplus funds. China is now an economic powerhouse and India emerges as the other one. The reason why I raise this issue because Tonga's association with China is highly criticised and the Tongan people to their disadvantage ended up being misinformed. So it is up to us to exploit these commercial, and other, opportunities that China offers and I am sure that both the Tongan and Chinese Governments will give the support that is needed. I noted that the current no.1 PR for Vava'u took up the initiative by sending his son to study in China as a first step.
Let me go on to illustrate something which I believe is lacking and I use the Passport Project. Substantial amount of funds, about US$40 million, were raised from this and there was an attempt by His Majesty to expand or diversify the investing of this money. An amount were lost via Bogdonoff. A few points I want to raise here are; I believe that there was nobody from the People's and Noble's Representatives came up with a scheme of similar nature at the time, which would generate funds that would ultimately benefit Tongans in the long term; no-one from the general public as well came up with one; not even today, or before the Bognoff affair, no-one outside the Tongan Government has put in a credible and detail proposal of how the (remaining) funds could be invested for the benefit of us now and future generations. It may well be that the Tongan Government could look at how the private sector manage superannuation funds in developed countries and state-owned investment powerhouses like what Singapore is doing. It is an involved task like the various efforts that His Majesty undertook in the past.
We still lack, I feel, economic and political maturity, which I have demonstrated by using the Passport Project. I believe that we have to have some maturity politically and economically otherwise it is a recipe for disaster if His Majesty grant us that wish for electing all. The adverse consequences of course will bear by the people which we do not want to happen. Unless we demonstrate that maturity I believe political reforms is a slow process.
Malo 'Aupito - S. Ma‘afu Tupou, Neiafu, Vava‘u