Re: King wanted people to achieve economic freedom [2]

Dear Editor

I enjoyed Kaveinga e Folau's dissertation and his assessement of the current state of the world economy and Tonga's place in it. He posed a number of questions which have been left unanswered. My take from KeF's contribution is that those of us who are not yet digital natives in India or fabricating in China are left to dine on the more sumptious table of innovation and creativity. Agreed. But this is also the take of every trading bloc and developed country outside of these two industrial giants - and so we're going to be up against it in that respect. We will join a long queue of nations trying to find what it can do better than the rest in innovation and creativity. In an attempt to get us from the theory and the textbooks to begin seriously optioning a number of possible things for Tonga to initiate innovation and creativity, let me put an idea or two for the economists and sociologists in our midst to tinker with, knockdown or perhaps re-engineer to test the theory but more importantly to try and turn a bankable idea in the broadest sense of the word into dollars in the government's coffers at home.

I read with some surprise KeF's account of T4s quest for economic independence for Tonga in the 80s - and it would be fair to conclude that clock-watching had very little impact on an otherwise long and relatively healthy reign. It wasn't clear from KeFs conclusion as to whether he considerd T4 successful or not. What is clear though is that KeF would have preferred Tonga without the likes of 'Akilisi and Edwards and perhaps a more compliant public service would have also suited him better, but that would be wishful thinking on his part. These political reformers and a militant public service didn't come into being in a vacuum and I'm glad that KeF at least acknowledges that the Prime Minister has had a role in allowing the situation to escalate to this point. T4's realm offered little to encourage innovation or creativity. One can go further and suggest that some of his attempts at innovation and creativity left a lot to be desired. His reign also brought on political unrest from the community the likes of which we have never seen in our history. At it draws to a close, the Finance Minister's appraisal of our economy over the last few days may help put some detail around T4's overall performance as an architect of our economy.

Imagine if every Tongan national or former national were to make a direct economic contribution to the country by way of a weekly "tax" (and I don't want to tie us down to the semantics at this point but I'm merely seeking a term which defines a regular and voluntary tithe to the national coffer) based on their income overseas. The sum need not be more than 100 Tongan dollars (2 dollars a week) per year per earning individual. Factor in the number of Tongans and their descendants now living abroad and are of "earning age" and capacity and it's conservatively at 100,000. Annualised, this is $10m today. Over the last 20 years since the mass migration out of Tonga in the 70's - we could be looking at $150m - 200m over that period. Scale this up or

down realistically but you're left with an income stream that would consistently outperform all our other exports to date. Our voluntary remittance capacity of $60m annually is evidence that these estimates are not out of the ball-park.

Tongans abroad

Let me take us back to the sixties. At the end of Salote's reign and T4 made it easier for Tongans to go abroad, KeF and myself included became the most exportable commodity that Tonga ever had. Cheap to produce, self sustaining to a large extent in high demand from time to time and particularly from our trading partners. In the main we were and are almost xenophobic. Almost to a man or woman, we left feeling a debt of gratitude to our country - a sense of loyalty if you like which would have made it a bankable idea. In other words, a trust fund with specified economic goals and objectives based on Tongan pride, loyalty and a willingness to produce would have been 25 years old by now. The remittance income for Tonga over this period is an additional $1 billion pa'anga conservatively. That amount would have also remained unaffected so that as a nation, we could have parallel income streams - remittances for family and basically consumer spending to prop up the local economy. Another for investment in capital infrastructure

or on public utilities.

The point that I'm making in support of KeF is that T4 and his government officials could have been more creative and innovative then and can still do so now - especially when each year for the past 25 years, they would have witnessed a net inflow of $30M plus and growing through remittances. The trust fund would have been a small step away and an even smaller percentage of the total take. But in government's hands these funds would have been a more useful investment tool and possibly valued at more than the remittances by now.

Refused to engage seriously

Instead, we opted to sell passports and nationality and to trust-fund Mr Bogdanoff's lunacy and at our costs. Which brings into question KeF's passionate account of T4's quest to provide economic independence. The legacy that T4 will leave will not only be one of a leader who had a personal collection of clocks (now I realise why he had to wear two timepieces back in the eighties) to tell him when the trading floors of international stock markets begin trading. He will also leave a nation divided and likely to be isolated because he continually refused to take his people with him. The climate which allowed Pohiva and the reformist elements in Tonga to thrive was made possible by a leader who continued to refuse to engage seriously with his subjects on matters significant. He and his Queen will March for Jesus but won't respond to repeated petitions on issues that the nation's christians have signed to or that Christ himself would march to support if he were in our midst today.. But I digress..

I'm looking forward to KeF's second instalment and grateful that he's bringing to light a lot that has not seen the light of day. That we differ on some detail and is no great matter. Each to his own but I'm keen to build on his ideas to see if they can make a difference today.

By the way, I believe that the success of a trust fund proposal based on the sense of duty and loyalty of Tongan subjects abroad will require the reciprocity from the leadership and the government as an entity. This is a government and a leadership which plays fast and loose with

accountability - in a word, only when it suits them. For those reasons, earning an income from its most exportable commodity is unlikely to get the nod because the accountability mechanism will be by nature rigid and transparent. It will be difficult to manipulate. For KeF's benefit, innovation and creativity on their own won't be enough. Political accountability - the sort key items that 'Akilisi and company have been calling for are necessary evils.

My guess is that the level of subscription to a trust fund initiated today will be adequate to be economical but would comparatively be less than if it were done during Salote's realm.

Sef Haouli

sef [dot] haouli [at] ihug [dot] co [dot] nz