From the House, Minute no. 1, Monday 31 May 2004.

There was not a Member in the Tongan parliament who understood what the King of Tonga meant when he said in his speech from the Throne to open the Tongan Parliament on Thursday May 27, that a group of foreign investors would be arriving in Tonga this month to invest hundreds of millions of dollars.

The comment by the King occupied the Tongan Legislative Assembly when it began its 2004 session on Monday May 31. Following the swearing in of the new Niua's Nobles Representative, Hon. Fotofili, the House proceeded to work on a draft of a letter thanking the King for opening the session. The letter was prepared by a Letter Reply Committee, chaired by the Minister of Police, Hon. Clive Edwards.

However, after the nine paragraphs letter was read, a Noble's Representative, Prince Tu'ipelehake, wondered if anyone in the Reply Committee could clarify a paragraph in the letter that said, "We are so thankful for the blessing that has been given to us by Your Majesty, and the proposed arrival next week in Tonga of a group of investors to establish a company here."

Hon. Clive Edwards told the House that he could not help the Prince, and, in fact, no one could clarify the meaning of the paragraph relating to investors.

The Prince said the same question had already been asked by both the New Zealand and the Australian High Commissioners after the opening of parliament.

What followed was a debate over whether the House should attempt to decipher what the King said in his speech on opening parliament, or if they should just say that they were blessed with His Majesty's farsightedness and vision of the future forseeing investors coming to invest hundreds of millions in Tonga.

Noble Nuku did not think it was needed for the House to dissect the speech from the Throne.

The Speaker, Hon. Tu'ivakano, believed that they should just reply to the speech from the Throne, and then later on they could try and interpret the speech.

Hon. Vaha'i, with a biblical approach, reminded the House that Jesus Christ did not come to do away with the Old Testament but to clarify the Old Testament. He suggested for the House to do something that neither the Cabinet nor the Privy Council had ever done. He proposed an amendment to add on the words: ...“Your Majesty, the Members of the House are warning you to beware of the foreigners who are trying to gain your favour and then run away with our money." He then referred to the Royal Jester Bogdonoff who invited the King overseas, awarded him with a Phd., and then ran away with the Trust Fund. He pointed out that under the present King, the country had never ever lost so much money.

The Acting Prime Minister, the Minister of Works, requested for Vaha'i's speech to be deleted from the Minutes because he was blaming the King, but the Trust Fund was looked after by Trustees.

The House voted on Vaha'i's amendment and it was rejected 7-16.

The Minister of Land, Hon. Fielakepa, proposed a change to paragraph 3 of the letter and to use only once the honorary expression "Hou'eiki" in reference to foreign diplomats, and therefore there was no need to repeat it again for each diplomat.

The Minister of Police, Hon. Clive Edwards said that they copied paragraph 3 from the reply letter last year, which was exactly the same as the year before. He said that it had been used two years in a row, but if they wanted to change it this year, it was okay by him.

'Akilisi Pohiva told the house that this was the 18th time that he had participated in drafting a reply letter, and he had never voted in favour of the reply. He said that it was like looking out to an overcast day, because the reply letter was full of lies and flattery.

The Speaker called for votes and the letter of reply was passed 18-5.

The Speaker also called on Nobles Fotofili and Noble Tu'i'afitu to take the reply letter to the Palace.