My apology to Tonga [1]
Wednesday, July 1, 2009 - 12:41. Updated on Wednesday, September 11, 2013 - 09:45.
Editor,
During a live television interview here in New Zealand on 21 June I made a thoughtless remark which has caused great offence to Tongans both within the Kingdom and elsewhere. When I became aware that I had caused offence to my fellow law practitioners in Tonga, I immediately wrote a letter of apology to the Tonga Law Society, sections of which appear in a Press Release by the Tonga Law Society published in Matangi Tonga.
I now wish to unreservedly apologise to Tongans everywhere for the offence which my foolish and thoughtless remark caused.
Some readers will be aware that I have operated the law firm Garrett & Associates in the Kingdom since 1999. The firm continues today under the day to day stewardship of my long standing colleague Ms Paea Tohi. My links with Tonga are however much deeper than commercial or professional ones, and go back much further than 1999.
I am married to a Tongan, and we have two beautiful children, one of them born in the Kingdom. I bring my children back to the Kingdom for visits regularly. I have very close links with my Tongan family; indeed my mother in law is currently visiting us in New Zealand, as she does often. Both Tonga and its people have been a significant part of my life since I first made an extended visit to the Kingdom in 1982, long before I became a lawyer let alone an MP.
I hope readers will accept my heartfelt apology in the spirit in which it is tendered.
David Garrett
phlatohi [at] kalianet [dot] to