Editor,



Mr. D. K. Fale (The King had given up his powers, April 10, 2009) and Ms. Josephine Latu's (Silence of the Moderates . . . April 13, 2009) letters made confusing interpretations of Tongan political events.



Mr. Fale accused the un-informed public of not understanding what the pro-democratic promoters "are asking for." Thank you Mr. Fale but Mr. Public here is fully informed. Please educate me on why do you and your pro-democratic colleagues always think that you know better than the average Mr. Public?



We are all in agreement that a more representative government is the democratic direction we want. But Mr. Fale confused readers by opposing a "cabinet picked from within the legislative assembly" because it "concentrates tremendous power in the hands of a few . . . "



Ministers and Cabinet members selected from or by the Legislative Assembly are democratically selected. Legislators are elected officials since this is representative democracy, not pure democracy.



The Lord Chamberlains' report cited HM George V's agreement to transfer the Monarch's traditional role to the Legislative Assembly with the 2010 Election. It did not mention anything about HM doing that at his Coronation.



Perhaps the public is confused because of pro-demos like Mr. Fale. How much more representative can a cabinet be if they were not selected from members of the Legislative Assembly who have been elected by the people?



Ms. Latu joined Mr. Fale's confusing act by suggesting there's a Silent Majority a.k.a. the Moderates. The "majority" cast their votes for the pro-democratic candidates. A Silent Majority is a fallacy. In a democracy, we either stand up and be counted or you're the minority.



And Mr. Average Public here does not think Mr. Senituli is "criminalizing" anyone "together with the Temo's." The pro-democrats did that to themselves on 16/11.



Here's a question for Ms. Latu and Mr. Fale that I have not heard anyone raised:

Who should we hold responsible for the eight lives that were burnt in the riots of 16/11? Where are the families of these victims? Shouldn't they be asking for the closures to the lives of their loved ones?



Sione A. Mokofisi

samokofisi [at] hotmail [dot] com