From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 16, no. 1, June 2001.

By Pesi Fonua.

A peaceful revolution is currently taking place in Tonga as we are trying to find the right combination to take advantage of what the 21^st Century has to offer.

In business, never before have Tongan business people invested so much money in the Tongan economy, pouring millions of pa‘anga, into trade, telecommunications, tourism, agriculture, fisheries, power generation, the media, shipping, and even airlines.

The features of the country, particularly Nuku’alofa, are changing so rapidly that people who left Tonga five years ago will not recognise the place when they return.

Nuku’alofa today has more television towers, FM radio stations antennas, and satellite disks are sprouting over the town, while commercial and residential buildings are coming up in places you would not have thought possible to build before, as swampland is filled.

The laying of 33 kilometres of new water pipes for the whole of Nuku‘alofa at a cost of $19 million is a project that will guarantee that Nuku‘alofa will have one of the best water systems of any Pacific island capital. When a fibre optic cable is put in to link-up the central business area of Nuku’alofa, and a widespread wireless telephone system, the capital of the Kingdom of Tonga will then be connected to the Information Super Highway and taking steps to become part of the global economy.

Considering the fact that Nuku’alofa with a population of just over 21,000 is served by three television stations, six newspapers, two magazines, three FM radio stations and one AM station, we should be the most well-informed population in the Pacific islands.     

In government, the appointment of a young Prime Minister, Prince ‘Ulukalala Lavaka Ata at the beginning of 2000 appears to be the start of a changing of the guards, as older Cabinet ministers are retiring and younger ones are appointed. Naturally, younger leaders at the beginning of a new millennium view the world differently and will do things in a different way.

Looking at the line-up in Cabinet at the moment, the most-senior Ministers are now the Minister of Police the Hon. Clive Edwards and the Minister of Justice who is also the Attorney General and the Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Tevita Tupou.

While the community in general appears to be getting more affluent we are also facing the problems which are common in more developed countries, such as traffic jams, air pollution, house breaking, drunkeness, drug abuse, littering, alongside the perennial local problem of pigs digging up the roadsides and gardens.