Tonga, where time begins with prayers [1]
Wednesday, December 1, 1999 - 09:00. Updated on Friday, January 15, 2016 - 13:55.
From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 14, no. 4, December 1999.
By Pesi Fonua.
Tonga is the first country in the world to welcome the Year 2000, at the stroke of midnight on December 31, an hour ahead of any one else.
When Tonga adopted Daylight Saving on October 1, it advanced its clock one hour ahead of its neighbours Fiji and New Zealand.
The race to see who would greet the Year 2000 first has been won by Tonga, so the saying that ‘Tonga is Where Time Begins’ is undisputed. But why are we so eager to get there first?
King Taufa‘ahau Tupou IV had the perfect answer to that question, saying: “it will mean that Tongans’ prayers will reach God first.”
Tonga’s Millennium celebration, as envisaged a few years ago, would have been a costly but spectacular event, with the intention of attracting tourists to Tonga, and earning millions from the broadcasting of the celebration world-wide. The visions did not materialise, simply because no investors were to be found.
We may not be able to host the kind of celebration that the Western world expects, or to earn millions from broadcasting rights as some people projected, but nationally and individually Tongans have their own way of marking this historical moment in our lives.
Our membership with the United Nations is most certainly a nice way to end this century, knowing that we are now counted among the nations of the world. Tonga may now sit and talk with the other 187 members of the UN on matters that concern us and the rest of the world.
The recession appears to be subsiding and more Tongans are committed to investing in accommodation, super-markets, power generation, television, commercial fisheries and agricultural—ventures that in the past were considered possible only for foreign investors.
On an individual level we are witnessing a big increase in residential house building, not only in Tongatapu but throughout the Tongan groups of islands. The building of roads has altered the landscape of the villages and towns throughout Tonga.
Telecommunications have been improved tremendously, and now it is possible to make telephone connections to anywhere in the kingdom. Telecommunications are expected to make another “giant leap forward” before the end of the year 2000 if plans for a second carrier are realised.
It has already been anticipated that the biggest achievement of this coming Millennium celebration will be that Tongans residing overseas, and who are visiting Tonga for the first time in many years, may see the golden opportunities and will return to invest and to build up Tonga.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Millennium, and if you can’t be in Tonga to see the first dawn, have a look at our new web site: http://www.matangitonga.to [2]