Living the Dream [1]
Monday, September 25, 2006 - 19:30. Updated on Sunday, December 15, 2013 - 16:38.
Editor,
Thank you for keeping us in the picture over the last few weeks. We continue to be in awe of what is possible today and your efforts at keeping us informed has helped to shape the thinking behind this short note.
We used to dream about the information age and its mind-boggling assortment of hi-tech tools and eye-popping possibilities. The fact is that we are now living the dream, thanks to Matangi Tonga and this forum, and of course a lot more besides.
That we are revelling in the wonders of a world we never thought we would see in our lifetime was brought home to me even more when I was able to watch the three-hour formal burial ceremony of the late king at Mala'ekula from the comfort of an air-conditioned Auckland office , while thinking back to 1965 when I too, was at the same place and at a similar ceremony.
When the New Zealand state broadcaster, TVNZ and Maori Television decided to cover the funeral in Tonga I thought it would be the usual 50-seconds news pieces for a couple of days and probably a short feature to follow several weeks or even months after the event. Well I couldn't be more mistaken.
Maori TV devoted more than two hours of live continuous coverage in New Zealand with commentators Dr 'Okusi Mahina of Auckland University and Auckland lawyer Nalesoni Tupou, providing commentary and their own insights into Tongan society to go with the satellite feed. TVNZ on the other hand gave the event extensive coverage with news pieces, several special reports including the now famous piece by reporter Mark Sainsbury, resplendent in his tauanga'a and interviewing, Paul Karalus a former Kiwi now Tongan Cabinet minister who was also in mourning ta'ovala. To top this off, TVNZ gave the event wider international coverage by streaming its live feed via its website for more than two hours with their reporter Sandra Kailahi and local Tongan broadcasters putting the event into context for the international viewers. The funeral of our late king was ...attended... by an all-time record and probably more Tongans from abroad than those living at home.
For me, the event was a convergence of a number of dimensions ... of our immediate Pacific neighbours, of nations and the leaders of the region, of historical ties as well as new alliances, social, political and econimic interests, of cultural as well as kinship links. It was also an interesting convergence of religion and of the different faiths, given the multi-denominational nature of the service and in the eyes of many who have never set foot in Tonga, our indigenous cultural tranditions appeared to sit comfortably alongside the attributes of imported English and European pageantry. I'.m sure that there were many more but the other convergence ... that of technology, was partcularly poignant. It was best exemplified by the experience of one of our own luminaries, Dr Sitaleki Finau, who is now working in Auckland but was with me at Mala'ekula on that day in November 1965. He was at Mala'ekula again last week and he relayed this personal anecdote to our Radio 531pi listeners and was the inspiration for focusing on convergence.
Sitaleki was amongst the many Tongans who hopped on our Prime Minister's plane and left Auckland at 5am on the day to be at Mala'ekula and was seated by the time the event was streamed by TVNZ on their website.
Unknown to him, one of his daughters now living in Fiji was followingthe event on the ...net and spotted him in the throng. She also recognised a very close cousin who was there also but some distance from her father. Partway through the service, daughter saw that her father, like many of the dignitaries who came prepared for the long day with ...sleeping... sunglasses, was nodding off from time to time. She got on the phone and texted her cousin at Mala'ekula who crept across and prodded a sleeping dad to tell him that daughter in Fiji wondered if nodding off in public was likely to put the family name at risk with the rest of the family, the village, the nation and just perhaps the world!
I don't know how Fiji's mobile phone network operates but that wakeup text to Mala'ekula from Fiji could have easily been from any one of Sitaleki's extended family members who are spread all over the globe.
I]m told by TVNZ staff that Sitaleki's daughter was able to see her father in real-time because their cameras were linked wirelessly from Mala'ekula to a dish at Tonga Telecom who sent the same to a satellite hovering mid-Pacific which in turn sent the signals to another satellite above the west coast of the US. This was then sent back to Tonga for broadcasting locally as well as to the receiving dish at TVNZ which it then fed to its website for hosting and streaming. I was watching the same pictures both on the internet and also on Maori TV who made it possible for those in New Zealand who are not on the net to see it at home on television.
On looking back both Sitaleki and I had no idea when we were sitting at Mala'ekula in 1965 that we would be sharing this story with you today.
Talk about living the dream...
Sefita A Hao'uli
sef [dot] haouli [at] ihug [dot] co [dot] nz