By Pesi Fonua

Lord Sevele, who was Tonga's Prime Minister for five years, from February 2006 to December 2011, during the planning and the implementation of the Political Reform Program, has described HM the late  King George Tupou V as "a visionary leader and a man of substance," who further democratized Tonga's Constitutional Monarchy system of government by surrendering to parliament some of his executive power. 

This peaceful nature of Tonga's political reform was the hallmark of a reform that was initiated by his father, King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV in 2005, when for the first time the king appointed three elected People's Representatives, Dr Feleti Sevele, (later titled Lord Sevele), Fineasi Funaki and Peauafi Haukinima, as Cabinet ministers. This process was continued by King George Tupou V with the implementation of the Constitutional and Political Reform with a parliamentary election under a new electoral system in November 2010.

But the peaceful reform faced its first big challenge in 2006.

 "Unfortunately some people wanted to take things into their own hands and sparked off the riot in 2006, because the change was already taking place," Lord Sevele told Matangi Tonga in an interview on March 25.

"The other thing that I think is an enduring legacy of His Majesty, but many politicians fail to recognize, is the importance of having unity under a constitutional Monarchy framework, with the monarchy at the apex. It is that unity in power which brings Tonga together and has led to stability, and it is something that we should treasure and not change," he said.

As one of three elected People's Representatives appointed as Cabinet ministers in 2005, Dr Sevele became the Minister of Labour, Commerce and Industries, shortly before he became the Acting Prime Minister of Tonga, when Prince 'Ulukalala Lavaka Ata resigned as Prime Minister on 11 February 2006. A few months later, following the death of King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV on 10 September 2006, Dr Sevele became the first commoner to be a Prime Minister of Tonga. 

Lord Sevele said that when he was invited by King George Tupou V to become Prime Minister, and to continue with the political reform that had been initiated by Tupou IV, he accepted the offer.

Lord Sevele leaving parliament for the last time on 30 September 2010

Minority government

Lord Sevele believed that the minority government that has been put in place, along with a unity of purpose, can work.

"In simple terms, in the House, members work together for the common good, which means [finding] compromises.

"The main aim of whatever is discussed in parliament is for the betterment of every Tongan. That is the unity of purpose.

"Unity of power is when you combine government, parliament with the monarchy as the head. If you look at all the major political changes we have had, since King Siaosi Tupou I, that the over-riding concern of the monarchy has been the welfare of her people, and it was the same with the late king," he said.

An example of how the king used his power to protect the rights and the welfare of the people, was his refusal to give his consent to the latest amendment to the Arms and Ammunition Act.

"What parliament did was to reduce the penalty at a time when there was an increasing number of crimes, involving firearms. It is mind-boggling, how it got to that, and his refusal to sign it into law was rightly so," he said.

He believed that parliament should allow the reform to work. "Let's not change things, let's allow the system that we now have to play itself out. I don't know why one would like to change things again, because unless you allow things to settle, to work, you would not know the advantage.

"This talk about letting the nobles be elected by the people - oh my god, I hope not. It is wrong, morally it is wrong.

"You know with the nobles since 1875, they have had an equal number of representatives as that of the people, because they had to give up a lot of their power and influence, and the deal was that they retained a proportion of power in parliament, and that is why it is our obligation. Because if the nobles did not agree to it, it would have been very difficult," he said.

Lord Sevele did not run for re-election in 2010, and left government to return to the private sector.

Since then, he has remained interested in the current strive to revive the economy, but he has not been asked to make any contribution to the restructuring of government Ministries.

"If I am asked, I am willing to assist, but you know I feel a bit disconcerted that the first thing they looked at was the reconstruction of Nuku'alofa, and [the investigation] has been a waste of money, and yet government allowed it to happen. There was no money loss.

"When we came in we did not look back over what happened to the public servants' strike, or Royal Tongan Airlines. I said, guys let's move on. There is no point in looking backward. Sure, if there was fraud, they should be looked into. Let's look at what needs to be done.

"These were the visions of the late king, that out of the ruin of the 2006 riot, let's build a modern town. We ought to continue with that but, unfortunately, parliament in its wisdom or lack of it, did not pass the Ordinance Act that we passed in Privy Council to allow the formation of city councils for Nuku'alofa, Neiafu, and Lifuka," he said.

Lord Sevele deeply regretted that parliament threw out the Ordinances. He said that King George Tupou V's idea was for the council to continue with the development of Nuku'alofa to where it should be.

"It is a real pity that they threw that out, but I guess it was a lack of appreciation of the true role of the new democratic government to do things for the betterment of everybody," he said.

"I have heard of talk about poverty, but under our system there should not be any poverty. Those who do not want to work will face hardship," he said.