From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 14, no. 2, May 1999.

The Tonga Pro-Democracy Movement has changed its name. In the process of changing its image from that of a political organisation to become a Non-Government Organisation, it is now called the Tonga Human Rights and Democracy Movement.

Rev. Simote Vea, its Chairman, said they wanted to change their image, "from an organisation that focuses its interests in trying to get its members into the House, to an organisation that works to educate people about their rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Children Rights, etc."

He believed that Human Rights, "does not have political connotation", and they did not want to be identified as just a political movement. Secondly, he said that because Human Rights are becoming a world-wide concern, by including Human Rights in their name enabled them to work in affiliation with a number of international organisations, such as the Commonwealth and Various United Nations agencies.

Thirdly, he said it was to mark the 50^th year since the United Nations pronounced the Declaration of Human Rights.

Future crisis

Simote said that most rights, “such as religious rights and the Freedom of the Press are guaranteed under the Tongan Constitution, but we do not have the political right to change our leaders.”

Simote believed that the people had not demanded their political rights because there had not been a crisis, “so time is on our side to prepare now for a possible future crisis.”

Meanwhile, the popularity of Tonga’s Pro-Democracy Movement has been declining since it was established in 1995. Candidates for the recent General Election who associated themselves with the movement lost ground compared to the previous election. Membership of the movement has been estimated to be as low as about 40 over recent months, and Simote said that he did not know their membership numbers. “With the kind of organization that we are running membership is irrelevant,  because it will always start off as a minority, but there are a number of people who are supporting us but they will never become members.”

Simote believed that the large number of people who voted for PDM associated candidates in the previous parliamentary election three years ago were an indication of the number of people who were currently supporting the movement.

Simote said that to become a member of the Human Rights and Democracy Movement there was a registration fee of $2.00.