Dear Editor

I join all Tongans around the world in thanking the Almighty for bringing the strike to an end. I believe it is too early to correctly say whether it is the PSA or the Cabinet who won this memorable ordeal. The PSA may have got what they wanted but we are yet to see at whose expense are they getting their demands.

In courts, the lawyers will always win and will always be paid whether they win or lose their cases. In times such as the strike, the media will always win regardless of whether they are really professional in conducting their businesses. Here are some observations of what I think were shortcomings in the reporting of the strike by the media:

1. The reporting that the principal of Tonga College was transferred to the main office of the Education Department because of his involvement in the strike. This is in fact true but I did find it surprising that none of the media reported that the main reason behind the transfer was to get the school back into operation. It is not too difficult to know that the arrangement was a temporary one and it would not be practical to send someone to run the school without the full authority of the position of principal. It was therefore a temporary transfer of a few school teachers for the benefit of the hundreds of students at the school. It was not a punishment as such. The timing may be wrong but the intention is fully justified and should have been reported accordingly. I believe the media is to be partly blamed for the resultant damages at Tonga College. Tonga High was able to cope because the principal was still there and Heti Veikune has just pointed out the false reporting that she expelled the head prefect for participating in the strike. Is this related to the damage at Vava'u High?

2. Interviews of people about the strike. Tongan programmes in the Radio 53 PI in NZ, especially Sefita's, did an excellent job in airing interviews both with a non-striking civil servant and representatives of the PSA that visited Auckland. The ability to interview a Cabinet Minister (Sevele) was excellent too. It would have been nice to interview both parties in the same programme but understand that they visited Auckland at different times. Sefita's ability to moderate talk back phone calls was excellent. He demonstrated that he is neutral and helped whenever he can to explain issues to callers who seemed not to fully understand the issues being debated. On the other hand, we have a TV programme in NZ with a Tongan lady who can't play a neutral role in moderating panel discussions. There is also a radio programme in the US who only interviewed Pohiva and the strikers live from Pangai Si'i but not once interviewed one from Cabinet or the government's side. It is therefore a pity that US listeners were only given one side of the coin to look at.

3. Then the most disappointing one was the reporting by foreign media that Tonga is one of the poorest country in the world, some reported it as at or below poverty line. The exception is of course Tapu Misa's column in the NZ Herald which shows the professional quality of the lady. What is poverty anyway?

The United Nations has just released their Human Development Index Report for 2004. The HDI measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development:
...· a long and healthy life, as measured by life expectancy at birth
...· knowledge, as measured by adult literacy rate
...· and a decent standard of living, as measured by GDP per capita at power purchasing parity in US$.

In this UN report, Tonga is ranked 54 out of 177 countries. This is the highest among the Pacific Islands countries. Samoa is 74, Fiji is 92, Vanuatu is 118, Solomon is 128 while PNG is 137. In Oceania, the Ozy are at the top at 3, Kiwis at 19 and followed by Tonga at 54. Tonga has achieved this top position well ahead of 123 other governments including our fellow Pacific Islands and many others that have democratic forms of governments. Of course NZ TV One, the NZ Herald and certain quarters of the Tongan media are not interested in sensationalizing this major achievement. I can therefore, Mr Editor, fully appreciate from this HDI ranking why some are very cautious with unconditionally embracing democracy.

Our saying 'Oku mate pe e Tonga he ngaue 'a e Tonga is always true. However Steve Halapua proved this wrong through his Talanoa skills. From the Cabinet was Fielakepa and Maliu Takai from the PSA. Malie tolu'i Tonga High! When there is a mess, we bring in a Ki He Lelei Taha to sort it out. That's exactly the King's vision when he established the school in 1947, perhaps an exception to the reported pie-in-the-sky schemes of HM.

'Ofa atu

Sailosi Finau, Auckland, NZ
sailosifinau [at] yahoo [dot] com [dot] au