Tonga's law makers: like a blind man trying to find his way

Parliament needs people with integrity - Fred V. Sevele: I refer to your comment entitled "Tongan Lawmakers: Like a Blind Man Trying to Find His Way" dated 22 Oct 2004, the gist of which surprised me very much in view of some of the recent legal and financial disasters in the Kingdom ...– on all of which you have reported. Your articles and comments have in general been balanced and adequately researched ...– hence my surprise at your comments in question.

My response to your comments may appear somewhat lengthy, but, given the enormous importance of this subject, about which there appears, unfortunately, to be a great lack of understanding, I ask that you kindly print it in full in both your website and magazine. I do hope that it will generate further constructive discussion, and even some blasting from you and those of your kith and kin holding similarly opposing views. I stand corrected, of course, if I misinterpret your comments.

Your opening observation that the recent overturning by Chief Justice Webster of the media laws means that we must have qualified lawyers as Members of Parliament is debatable. I, for one, do not share your conclusion that we need qualified lawyers as members of Parliament to make laws in the Tongan Parliament. Granted, having lawyers in the House would help; but it is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for discussing and passing sound and sensible laws.

What we need are sound, clear thinkers, with common sense and with the national interests foremost in their mind; and, above all, we need in Parliament people with integrity. Of course, we need qualified lawyers to help in the drafting of the Bills (the mechanics of law-making - which are done by the qualified lawyers in the Crown Law Office). But the essential foundation for good bills/laws is integrity and a good intellect, guided by genuine concern for the overall national interests, and not for self-interests.

I wonder if this was the underlying reason for Government's recent choice of Siaosi T '‘Aho, a non-lawyer, to be Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, replacing qualified lawyer '‘Aisea Taumoepeau. Is there a message here worth noting?

The Ministerial Orders, Orders-in-Privy-Council and Ordinances that led to the banning of the Taimi 'o Tonga last year were all promoted and pushed through Cabinet and Privy Council by the "government'’s two top lawyers" referred to in your comment. They were supported by the top Government legal advisor, the Solicitor-General, and her team of qualified lawyers from her Crown Law office; and, as if that wasn'’t enough, the Government's top Secretary -Chief Secretary and Secretary to Cabinet ...– was roped in apparently to give it additional ballast.

All the above "laws-making" were subsequently declared by the then Chief Justice Gordon Ward to be ultra vires, invalid and unconstitutional. The Government was then advised by its top lawyers, again, to appeal those rulings, which appeal the Court of Appeal subsequently dismissed with costs.

As if stung into a state of mental stupor, the same top government lawyers and their blind disciples stepped on top gear and drafted the media bills and the constitutional amendments to Clause 7. These Ministerial Chiefs then toured the Kingdom, in the wake of the visits by the Seven Pro-Democracy Members, shamelessly telling the people that the proposed bills and constitutional amendments were legal and that the Seven Democracy MPs were not telling the people the truth. (You yourself personally experienced this deception game after you gave evidence to the law committee on the proposed media operators...’ bill; and then you were subsequently accused in Parliament by one of the government lawyers as not being truthful!).

It was the elected non-lawyer Peoples'’s Representatives in Parliament and five of the Nobles who were arguing in the House that the media bills and the proposed constitutional amendments were unconstitutional and illegal. But to no avail. The Government qualified lawyers had won over the rest of their Cabinet colleagues plus four of the Nobles to carry the day. Fortunately, Truth Always Win!

As you know well, Pesi, the Hon Prime Minister appeared on TV and outlined the following reasons for the ungainly departure from the House and Ministerial ranks of your two top lawyers: their wrong legal advice to Government, the many court cases mounted and lost with considerable costs to the taxpayers, and the overturning of the orders, ordinances and laws, and constitutional amendments by the Court.

Your reference to the discussions in the House on the Bill for Qualification and Accreditation Board, and the Amendment to the Order in Public Places Act sidesteps the crux of problem:

that the Government Ministers responsible for those particular issues were found short in their understanding of what they themselves had supposedly formulated; and that was why they, and not the House, were wondering around, as you rather aptly painted, "like a blind man trying to find the entrance to Talamahu Market on a Saturday morning". And this is not an isolated instance. Rather sadly, for all of us concerned non-lawyer Tongans, it has always been the order of the day. But, hey, we Tongans are not alone in this respect.

Finally, Pesi, the following facts ...– most recent events - should persuade you that perhaps it is some lawyers and perhaps some journalists who are sometimes "like a blind man trying to find his way". Of the six Ministers sacked from Cabinet over the past decade, four, or two-thirds, of them were qualified lawyers with degrees from NZ Universities: Two of the four were responsible for the largest financial disaster/loss Tonga has ever suffered ...– the Loss of the Trust Funds - and its embarrassingly humiliating story. (But, to be fair, as Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, David Tupou was, in my view, a good one). The other two, the recently departed, were the architects of the despised media laws which brought about the biggest ever public protest march in our history, drew the worst ever international condemnation of our Beloved Country, and would undoubtedly prove to be the most costly court case ever mounted against Government. - Fred V. Sevele, (MP - No 2 Representative for Tongatapu)

Only the Best for Tonga - Wes Manu: I am not surprised that the MP would give a contrasting view point on the article you made, and I think, in all fairness, it gives a genuine notion that open and varied discussions ensure that opinions from different angles are well considered before any conclusion is stamped on any subject matter. And rightly so, the opinions freely expressed by the MP (Parliament needs people with integrity) best demonstrated a calculated answers to some of the key questions you pondered (Tonga’s lawmakers:like a blind man trying to find his way).

The public does not necessarily have to agree with everything he had said yet those who may read it will find that most of what he mentioned is enough to convince a blind person that what he is holding is the genuine article he requested. We should not however dismiss or alienate lawyers from actively involving in any law-making decisions but I think values that must embedded in these people as what the MP had suggested is integrity and putting first the interests of the nation. Anyone who has these necessary qualities is qualified to take on the task of making laws.

I applaud both of your respective view points and I think everyone who should read both of your articles should note that these are the ideas of two Tongans who desire nothing but the best for Tongans. All the best in your endeavours and we appreciate the online version of the Matangi Tonga. Wishing everyone at Matangi Tonga a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year. Great Job! - Wes Manu, Australia