From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 18, no. 2, August 2003.

It was business and leisure for the Speakers and Clerks of Pacific parliaments when they met in Tonga for their 34th conference from June 28 to July 3.

The conference, attended by over 70 people, coincided with the 85th birthday celebrations of King Taufa‘ahau Tupou IV, and the Heilala Festival, from June 21 to July 5, a time for feasting, dancing and receptions.

The king  officially opened the Conference of Australian and Pacific Presiding Officers and Clerks of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association on June 30. He asked participants to take the opportunity while they were in Tonga to observe the structure of the Tongan parliament.

In reference to a recent BBC television documentary on the life of the British reformer Oliver Cromwell, the king pointed out that there was a parallel between what took place in Britain during the 1600s and what took place in Tonga during the 1800s. He said that Cromwell led a revolution that resulted in the beheading of the king, Charles 1, and establishing parliament as a sovereign body to rule Britain.

He said that in Tonga, which used to have three kings, a similar occurrence took place when the military power of the ruling monarchy converted to Christianity and took over the running of the country from the Tu‘i Tonga, the divine ruler of Tonga, and the Tu‘i Ha‘atakalaua, which used to have the political and the executive power.

The King pointed out that under Tupou I the people were freed from chiefdoms, and a Tongan parliament was established to assist the King in running the affairs of the country, as it is today.

The conference was chaired by the Speaker of the Tongan Legislative Assembly, Hon. Tu‘ivakano.