Editor,

Modern Tonga was born, as Pacific historians claimed, out of a marriage of convenience between monarchy and Christianity; may I propose that postmodern Tonga should be conceived out of a marriage of necessity between philosophical, cultural, and political motifs and paradoxes which constitute Tonga's political reality. We need to reflect deeply on how to merge the present political reality and the democratic ideals, traditions and post-modernism, culture and politics, monarchy and democracy. Any attempt to create a short-cut solution by unreservedly embracing democracy is, nothing short of political suicide.

As we anticipate the planned 2010 experiment with democracy, may I challenge Tonga's political engineers to refrain from a black and white, either-or, democracy-only approach to Tonga's political reform. I refer to the pro-democracy movement's attempt to remove our king's power and adopt England's model of government. I beg Tonga to be different, original, and organic - a democratic monarchical form of government where the king sustains and shares his power with his people, while the people give their tacit consent and participation, as that which is already flourishing during the last decade. As America was founded with the world's ideal form of government (democracy), postmodern Tonga should also be founded upon her own ideal (democratic monarchy).

Democratic monarchy is philosophically based upon merging and adapting of Aristotle's moral theory of the golden mean between two extremes - democracy and monarchy; Immanuel Kant's transcendental idealism - a combination of rationalism and empiricism; Waldo Emerson's transcendentalism - a combination of democratic spirituality and direct connection between people, God, and nature; and also on the two foundations of Western Civilization - Judaism's practicality (faith) and the Greeks' reason. Why such a quest for this unique form of government?

Democracy has failed substantially in developing nations, including the Pacific. Harvard's political scientist Samuel Huntington argued that culture is one of the main causes for democracy's failure in developing nations. Democracy has reached its highest point in history, according to Huntington. And, it will not go better.

Instead of allowing culture to be an enemy of democracy, Tonga should befriend the two. Rigor and virtuous intellectual struggles are needed to accomplish such a task. Looking at the development of democracy in Tonga, culture and leadership are the main hindrances. In fact, 16/11 is undoubtedly a failure of the pro-democracy leadership and history will unpack their passive silence and hold them accountable beyond their graves. It was not directly a fault of the mob, but a consequence of the courtship of ideas consummated at offices between high-profile academics whose mission has been none other than to remove the king. Their failures as leaders should urge every thinking Tongan to consider an alternative approach. Now, is democracy the best form of government for Tonga?

Most people believe that democracy is the best form of government as if it is an absolute proposition from our Creator. Should that statement be true, all of the democratic governments in the world including the Pacific would have performed better than Tonga's monarchy. Contrastingly, reality reveals that Tonga fares better than almost a hundred democratic nations in the world; in terms of human development, Tonga has been the top among Pacific Island nations. Claiming that democracy is the best form of government, therefore, needs to be qualified.

It would have been better to have said that democracy is the best form of government for some (or most) nations depending on culture, religion, leadership, and national intellectual maturity. That statement better reflects reality and democracy's political capacity. Claiming democracy as a one-size-fits-all form of government for our world only reflects the idealists' forgetfulness of reality. How can one account for millions of babies murdered in democracy's ivy-league nations - Europe and the United States? "But still, it is the people's choice," one may argue. That's precisely the problem. The people's choice, in the context of abortion in democratic nations, can be stupidly irrational. Americans knew that Obama is a supporter of abortion, yet the majority voted for him. Democracy, then, is undoubtedly a dependent variable - it depends on other factors for its success.

Senituli Penitani

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