IN the lead up to the Tonga General Election on November 25, a Media Dialogue began in Nuku'alofa providing a forum for journalists and the public to question candidates who are running for election.

With only ten weeks left to the General Election the forum is being hosted by the Media Council Incorporated (Tonga) and started on September 15 at the International Dateline Hotel.

This week's session saw five candidates on the hot seats for two hours of questioning. They were Lopeti Senituli, 'Alisi Taumoeapeau, 'Etuate Lavulavu, Sione Fonua and Polutele Tu'ihalamaka.

A panel of journalists led by Media Council President and Matangi Tonga Editor Pesi Fonua, Taimi 'o Tonga Publisher Kalafi Moala and Monalisa Palu moderated the questions.

In the final half hour of the program the audience was given an opportunity to submit questions for the candidates to answer.

The programme will feature five different candidates every Wednesday and will be broadcasted live on Radio Nuku'alofa and also aired on DigiTV by Taimi Media Network.

Political Reform

On the topic of Political Reform, the candidates agreed that the people of Tonga wanted change in Tonga's political system to a more democratic system where the people elect their leaders, the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers instead of being appointed by the king.

Sione Fonua, a Tongan candidate residing in New Zealand, said the reform was sparked by dissatisfaction over the current system therefore, people wanted to move to a better system. The reform would see the 40,000 registered voters elect their leaders, and he believed this system was better. The system allows people to elect 17 People's Representatives to Parliament. These representatives would then elect the Prime Minister from among themselves and the new PM would then appoint the Ministers. Sione said the new system is better becasuse instead of leaders being accountable to the king they would become accountable to the people who elected them.

Lopeti Senituli, the Prime Minister's Press Secretary, answered that basic fundamental freedoms are already enshrined in the Tongan Constitution the only one missing, is the right of the people to elect their government, and that is the reform that is about to take place.

Kalafi Moala asked why did the candidates think this new system would be better than the one that Tonga had been running under for over 100 years?

'Alisi Taumoeapeau, a former Minister of Justice and former Attorney General, said that from her perspective the most important thing with regards to the reform in November was that "we the people want the change in our political system." She said there would be good and bad, but she believed that if we pursued the good that was most important for Tonga.

"My vision is the Rule of Law, we have amended the Constitution, with the Electoral Act and Parliament Act, so it is up to us now to move it along and if there are any amendments then it should be the next government to do so," she said.

Incumpent Vava'u People's Epresentative 'Etuate Lavulavu, on the other hand, was weary in the sense that Tonga is moving towards uncertainty as there are no measures to say otherwise, so he anticipated adversity and blessings for Tonga. He pointed out that the 17 constituencies into which Tonga has been divided were imbalanced.

But when asked by Pesi Fonua on why did parliament adopt the figure of 17 constituencies, the Vava'u MP answered that this figure was presented by Government in 2007, before his time so he did not know where it came from.

Village hardship

Polutele Tu'ihalamaka from Kolomotu'a, who is running in Tongatapu no. 1 constituency, said in his village families are living in hardship some trying to make ends meet and he had witnessed no development over the years.

A pressing issue he believed was a need for government to step back into the agricultural exports industry to help export their produce. He said he had been a farmer for many years, and they could not afford to export produce overseas. He was in full support that the industry be returned to a government board to help them export their products.

However, Lopeti in his view disagreed, noting that it was evident that government businesses do not survive.

He stressed what the existing government was doing now by installing machines for quarantine purposes was to enable exporters to export produce. He thought this was good enough and should be the only involvement by government.

"Government should not become an exporter itself - leave that to the businesses but help in terms of equipment. I don't believe in bringing back government to set up businesses because many government businesses have died apart from Tonga Communication Corporation and Tonga Power that are subsidised," he said.

Women and land

In a question from the audience on whether there were any good reasons as to why a woman in Tonga should not own land, 'Alisi said there is no good reason why women should not own land in Tonga. However she was said that existing legislation has already given women rights to the land, in the form of a lease.

"The reason why I advocate that is better for women to lease than to register land is because a women has many options, she can choose to mortgage or sell her lease or even leave it in her will to her daughter."

She said that is why for commercial and modern reasons leasing land by women was the best as one could be free to do as you wished.

The forum will continue every Wednesday evening from 7:00pm at the International Dateline Hotel and is open to the public.