Editor,

THE letter sent to Matangitonga Online from Mr. S. Pohiva concerning how the Tongan government and economy are sinking, is very interesting in many ways. One interesting aspect is how Mr. S. Pohiva attempts to camouflage himself behind the names of others, but more especially because the letter ironically reveals a pessimistic outlook from the Temo themselves towards the democratic changes about to take place in November this year. However, as Mr. Pohiva's letter articulates - what better way to keep doing what they do best (ie. talk) than to blame things on the economy and the current administration. I feel like I am listening to garbage from U.S. politics already! Yippeee, demon-crazy... oops, I mean demogracy is here! (by the way, that was not a spelling mistake).

The main purpose of my letter is to expose the misinformation and also the faulty logic in the ideas presented in Mr. Pohiva's politically motivated letter, which was presented in a very personal manner and not academically objective as one would normally expect from a list of well educated individuals.

For the sake of brevity, the main question that I would like to tackle is that of "systemic failure at all levels" in government, and the accusation that the current Prime Minister of Tonga is the root of this "endemic dysfunction". Anyone with knowledge of organizational behaviour would have immediately picked up on the illogical stance and even conflicting narrative of the letter that stated at one point that, ". . . it [is] very clear that there is endemic dysfunction in the current government administration of Prime Minister Sevele. This has led to systemic failure at all levels from the operational through to the executive level".

Organizational decay is a phenomenon that naturally occurs in all organizations over a long period of time. The fact is, throughout history, all organizations have decayed at some point in time to the point of total collapse and non-existence, or they have re-invented themselves to continue in a transformed existence through another era of time until again the re-occurrence of organizational decay again forces the organization to re-ask the same age-old questions. In short, the phenomenon of systemic failure and endemic dysfunction are not achieved overnight, or to be pertinent to our current discussion, under one administration, but is actually a natural event due to the constant changing of situations, environment, personnel, and a lack in the ability to adjust and effectuate needed change to the overall success of the organization. To even suggest that systemic failure is because of one person, one administration, or one decision is not only unfair but is utterly false. At the same time, it must be remembered that the effort needed to reform and cause systemic change to foster and ensure success in an organization does not just happen overnight.

It is a common misperception to view a single decision as the key turning point for a tragedy; however, in most cases it is systemic failure that is the real culprit. The misperception lies in the fact that the "single-decision" point of view makes the wrong assumption that the rest of the system is working perfectly. Although it is true to say that even one decision could have changed and avoided an undesired outcome, the fact still remains that systemic failure only happens when a complex web of inter-related and interdependent happenings, which can include many bad decisions, all happen together in concert to create the disaster. The final report of the Ashika Commission confirms that there were many layers of misinformation passed on as the truth, and these false truths were what many decisions were based on. Only intentional misdirection and intentional fabrication of false-truths are justified in being prosecuted to the full extent of the law. To prosecute decision-makers who acted in good faith but were given reports that were false but passed off as truth would in itself be robbing justice.

The letter is also false and quite presumptuous to state that the Tongan Government and economy will fail if the current Prime Minister does not resign immediately. It is also false to again imply that any looming economic recession is also the fault of the current administration in reference to the current budget cuts. The result of the "budgetary squeeze" in government was bound to happen sooner or later and is simply being financially responsible because the government budget has been bloated ever since the 2005 civil service strike which saw about 2/3 of the government budget go to 5,000 civil servants while the rest of the 95,000 Tongan residents had to make due with the remaining one-third of the government budget for public services. To maintain high government expenditures with no revenue streams coming into government would mean that Tonga's macroeconomic stability will be put at risk. In other words, what the letter is implying that the current administration is intentionally hijacking the Tongan economy is false. Are we supposed to believe, as the letter infers, that it is a good practice for government to spend money that it does not have? To me it makes perfect sense to cut government spending when less money is coming in.

The letter also does not make sense, referring to the Prime Minister as a power hungry tyrant trying to hold on to power at all costs, because it is very well documented that the Prime Minister and the present cabinet have accepted that elections will be held in November and they are prepared to leave after the new government takes over. All of the current cabinet members have children and family that are currently living in Tonga and will continue to live in Tonga, and yet this letter would have us believe that the current Prime Minister and Cabinet want to hijack the new government so that their families and loved ones living in Tonga can suffer together with the rest of the country in the near future? Need I explain the illegitimacy of such a thought?

Last of all, the provocation referred to in the government press release after the Ashika Commission's Report was submitted, had nothing to do with the findings of the Commission on the sinking of the Ashika, or the short comings of government and this fabricated idea that the current administration is going into self-preservation mode. Issues of Tonga's sovereignty are at stake when foreigners over-step the terms and conditions of their appointments, such as but not limited to, such issues brought up beyond the scope of the Ashika that went off on tangents on issues concerning the Monarch of Tonga, and I would also include the approach and methods of such approach as part of the intricacies that all foreigners should be mindful of, as Commissioners or not, when they are in a sovereign and independent country. And issues of sovereignty trumps petty politics because if Tonga loses sovereignty the right to self-determination by the Tongan people will not matter, whether monarchy, or democracy, or other, because our palangi neighbours will be calling the shots for us in our own country.

And for those who like to sing songs of revolution, the only true revolution in this life is the offering up of a broken heart and contrite spirit on the altar at the feet of our Lord.

Faka'apa'apa atu,

Daniel K. Fale

mauitekelangi [at] gmail [dot] com ( mauitekelangi [at] gmail [dot] com)