Results for 2000

The mystery of where the Tongan people came from 3000 years ago, continues to intrigue scholars from around the world. Helping to trace the origin of our ancestors, their way of life, and their migration from Tonga to the rest of Polynesia, a group of Japanese scholars visited Tonga in mid-August in preparation for a two-year research program, which they hoped to start in August 2001. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 3, September 2000.

The Tonga Trust Fund was established by the Tonga Trust Fund Act on 3 November 1988. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 3, September 2000.

Australia has further tightened its immigration policy for “high risk countries”, including Tonga. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 3, September 2000.

The Jester to the King of Tonga, J. D. Bogdonoff visited the Kingdom in July. As might be expected, the visit was a mixture of pleasure and business for the Jester. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 3, September 2000.

The campaign by some Tongan shop owners for government to put a halt to the establishment of Chinese run shops, particularly in Nuku’alofa, has brought a mild reaction from the Chinese community. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 3, September 2000.

There were tears in the eyes of eighty year old Vera Simpson as she returned to Tonga for the first time since she left at the age of 15. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 2, June 2000.

Television Tonga prepared for the launching of its service on July 4, with a workshop on television news and programme production, held at the Tonga Broadcasting Commission’s Main Studio in Nuku’alofa in May. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 2, June 2000.

The Sydney 2000 Olympic Torch Relay arrived in Tonga on June 2, and the first carrier was Hon. Fane Tupou Vava‘u Tuita, (centre page) who began the torch relay from the Ha‘amonga ‘a Maui Triathlon in eastern Tongatapu. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 2, June 2000.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES 2000. "It seems to me that the whole approach to life in the Pacific Islands forever sails very closely to what we refer to as ethnicity, which is the way anthropologists and paternalistic aid donors forgive our basic racism....Another example nearer home was the racially motivated and cowardly violence, which young jobless, and dare I say it, hopeless Tongans, visited on our Chinese owned shops last year; an act of such barbarity that it shamed and disgusted me and every other Tongan of my generation...." Crown Prince Tupouto‘a comments in an interview with Pesi Fonua. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 2, June 2000.