King was the wrong person to be petitioned, says Veikune

Petition to King is a Petition to Government - Jason Faletau:
I wish to respond to your article “King was the wrong person to be petitioned”, in reference to Noble Veikune’s statement on the protester’s petition. I think his statement is a direct insult to our intelligence and against the average family who stood up and took part in the march to the King’s palace.

According to Noble Veikune, the protest march to the palace was misguided, that the king was the wrong person to hand over the petition, and then went on to say that a petition by the PR was inappropriately tended to the king earlier on. If Noble Veikune is smart and thinks that the petition should be directed to parliament, then he should hand deliver the petition to parliament himself. Why look for excuses, and why patrionise us Tongans? It is as though the vast population of Nuku’alofa doesn’t know who the government is or who the monarch is. In a crisis like this, the government and the monarch are the same to the eyes of every Tongan protester. They don’t make distinctions (nor should they) about who is who. To the average protester, a petition to the king, is a petition to the government. Period. So I think Veikune is simply crying foul and should take his pathetic ‘elitist’ mentality to his backyard.

Another thing. Why is it that it is so easy for the king to appoint ministers, but now it requires a different process for the ministers to be sacked? This is exactly the sort of thing we have been arguing for years. That ministers standing for parliament should be endorsed via an election process, and then sacked if they don’t uphold the rule of law, etc.

I acknowledge that for the constitution to be amended, the ministers must ‘act’ in the interest of the ordinary people. They must also act in good faith. From where I sit, I think the government should start the process now by engaging in a series of consultations with the people with a view to amending the constitution, and then introduce a new form of government that is acceptable to us Tongans. If the government and those leading for democratic changes come together and discuss an acceptable format, then we won’t need a royal commission like that suggested by Veikune, or a chief justice to preside and intervene in this process. Those ministers already appointed by the king will only need to stand down from office, and then have every right to run for office again as member of the public. - Jason Faletau, Sydney, Australia

Bypassing protocol: Tei ‘Akaveka, Australia
With regards to Mr Faletau’s response to Noble Veikune we can see it’s an emotional outburst without real clarity.

Did anyone in the country he resides in ever petition John Howard and it became the agenda of parliament? I think not. Not even in a democratic government is this normal practice. Parliament has to be petitioned directly or via each representative in parliament that would champion the cause.

His personal outburst that the Noble should take his comment to his backyard is the typical faama response, what a pity from a so called intelligent gentleman.

The whole time of the strike many things were mentioned by the PSA in their list of what they call dishonest practices, and one was the bypassing of proper protocol by the ministers to retain wealth for themselves etc?

The King resides over Privy Council when matters are deferred to it from the Cabinet (parliamentary meetings). Going directly to him is bypassing the proper chain of protocol, I believe this is what Noble Veikune was pointing out. You cannot ask to put a stop to a practice then go right ahead and do it yourself, or is it a case of do as I ask and not as I do scenario? The average protester should be well versed before he picks up a sign and protests, or are you saying Mr Faletau that some protesters just followed without knowing? Be careful or you risk insulting those you support for their intelligence.

Why is it easy for His Majesty to appoint but difficult to remove? It’s in the same cloth of, you can have your allotment of land given by the king to you and registered but he cannot take it away. It means that it’s a protection of office, not even at the whim of his Majesty if you disagree with him can he remove you from office, and the people should be grateful for that and very clever of His Majesty’s forebears to protect their people by this law isn’t it?.

Follow the protocol Mr Faletau, as there is inevitably always one in every form of government, and you will be surprised how similar they are whether it’s a Monarchy, Democracy or Socialist. I don’t mean to upset you but just to clarity for you as you seem a mite upset. - Tei ‘Akaveka

Petition to King a natural process: Sela Mafi
I would like to congratulate the team of Matangi Tonga for the excellent website and coverage of up-to date current affairs news in Tonga and especially the impartial manner in which it is presented. I would also like to express my gratitude to Pesi and Mary for creating a forum for people like myself to feel comfortable about expressing our views on topical issues, which are critical in creating a better Tonga for our children and for all of us who still call Tonga home.

I am writing because I would like to add my …‘five seniti…’ contribution to the comments made by ‘Akaveka to Faletau’s letter. I think that maybe ‘Akaveka missed the point of Faletau’s letter regardless of the emotional tone in which it was written.

Faletau is correct in the title of his letter a petition to the King is a petition to the Government. Until Tonga changes from a constitutional monarchy to a new form of governance, or until the King no longer has the “power of veto” then in contemporary Tongan society the King and the government are concomitant by natural process, and to state otherwise lacks an understanding of the governance of a constitutional monarchy.

Logical process

A second important point that must be made is that if it is the government that the petitioners are having grievances with, then it becomes a pointless exercise to present the petition to the same people. Therefore petitioning the King is the most logical process regardless of protocol because he is the next level up and in Tongan terms he has constitutional right to veto any government actions. Until this process changes then any grievances regarding the Cabinet Ministers in Tonga must be addressed to the King. Unless Tonga has other grievance mechanisms in place, that is separate and impartial of the government and has jurisdiction over the King’s power of “veto”.

Tei ‘Akaveka, you are right in stating that no form of political system is perfect, and you cited that if one petitions John Howard it does not become a parliamentary agenda. However you can’t compare Australia’’s form of government system to Tonga, it defeats the purpose of the argument that there is no perfect model of governance that fits all, what might work in Australia may not necessarily work in Tonga. What Tongans should strive for is not a perfect system of government, because it’s merely impossible, but at least a model that best suits Tongan society, and this can be achieved without removing the King as the Head of State. Samoa and England are two examples of this model of governing.

Passionate about life

Lastly, I found it quite odd that a Tongan would comment on another Tongan…’s emotional state of mind, when we are known as people whom are passionate about life and all its daily takings! It is like “the pot calling the kettle black”.

Is this not part of our notion of “‘‘Ofa” that the former Honourable Dr Senipisi Langi Kavaliku discusses in his academic studies, and what Dr Asinate Samate explained in trying to understand Tongan people? Tei ‘Akaveka I highly recommend you read Dr Kavaliku’s paper on “ ‘Ofa” and Dr Samate’’s paper on “Understanding Tongans, involves the heart as well as the mind” (Re: Dr Samate…’s paper is available on the Matangi Tonga website), both excellent papers in explaining why Tongans by nature are governed by emotions and obligations.

“It’s a matter of the Heart guiding all else”.

Thank you Tei ‘Akaveka and Jason Faletau for inciting such an interesting debate.
- Sela Mafi

Petition route the result of grievances ignored: Jason Faletau, Sydney, Australia
‘Akaveka was correct in part in pointing out the protocols that need to be followed, and the role of parliament with respect to the receipt of all petitions. However, in my article, I was not disputing the protocol at all. I was merely criticising Noble Veikune for the way he portrayed the protesters as being misguided. As pointed out in the article, the good noble has in fact used language that can only be interpreted as one intended to ridicule…‚ and patronise…‚ the intelligence of all protesters, let alone all Tongans. Another word, the noble regarded his comments as one speaking from above, looking down to his subjects, as though the protesters need to be educated.

In this country and in any democratic nation, a petition can be presented to anyone who is a member of parliament. In Australia, there is no law preventing protesters from handing a petition to Howard or to the Governor General. If a petition is received by any of these individuals, it is their responsibility to deliver this to parliament. That is why I made the point that it was inexcusable for Veikune to start rattling…‚ about his protocol lecturing and for unnecessarily attacking the intelligence of allTongans. All he had to do was to deliver the petition to parliament.

Collective decision

The protesters decision to take their petition directly to the King, as you can imagine,ignores all the processes that are required by protocol. But their collective decision to take this particular route does not imply they were misguided,to quote noble Veikune’s criticism. The protesters simply chose a different path to air their grievances and taking it to the king may turn out to be a very good strategy. Surely the thousands of protesters who joined the petition march to the palace can’t be all that misguided.

What a pity that ‘Akaveka seems to absolve noble Veikune from all the sins…‚ he has committed by his portrayal of the protesters as misguided, as though they need to be educated. When people are angry knowing their grievances have been ignored, then they have every right to move their campaign to the next level. I don’t think the protesters need to be well versed with the rules suggested by Mr ‘Akaveka. What you are implying is right in the normal course of events. But this is not one of those events unfortunately. If you persist with the same argument, people will continue to ignore Veikune’s rules and protocols and there is simply nothing we can do about it. But the government can’t just ignore the petition because to do so will damage their reputation, and the King’s, further.

Let me also correct you on my view about the removal of minister’s from office. I sympathised with the great majority of Tongans who wanted a parliament free of corruption and elitism. The public had a genuine concern about the level of corruption amongst many politicians, including those individuals from the royal family. The existing problem confronting us Tongans is the lack of process to allow the removal of ministers from office. It is one thing to say that it is ok for the king to appoint ministers as he like. But what do you do when the minister is found corrupt? Who will remove him? Or what’s preventing the king from removing the minister? Under a democratic Tongan parliament, a politician caught in this particular predicament will be easily removed by the parliament or via other legislative processes. A royal commission for example.

Preferred sensitivity

How we arrive at this particular point of time is very unfortunate. It is unfortunate because the vast number of people do respect the royal family and would have preferred that the recent events be dealt with sensitively and at a local level. Personally, that would have been my preferred mode. But the PSA’s grievance is much bigger than the pay equity Mr ‘Akaveka. What they are also arguing for is a constitutional change that will see the country’s parliament and ministers directly elected by the people, and reduce the monarch’s role to a ceremonial status.

Do you also realise that Tonga’s public servants are the lowest paid in comparison to other countries of equal status? Cultural constraints make us inferior and that we shouldn’t ask for pay rise, etc, otherwise one will be castrated for being selfish…‚ and ta’e fakatonga. But there are no constraints placed upon the nobles, the politicians, and some members of the royal family. Apart from the fact they all live nobly, some politicians are grabbing business initiatives that would have been better left to the public. In doing so, their earnings tripled or skyrocketed leaving thousands of ordinary families at a poverty level. I did choose my words carefully about Noble Veikune. His criticism of the protester’s petition is nothing more than an elitist language deliberately used to demean the protester’s cause for pay rights. And that is not helpful. - Jason Faletau