Results for 2001

A review of the Tongan economy by scholars and economic thinkers at the University of the South Pacific, Tonga campus, on May 29 was a bit like a group of growers assessing the possible yield that they could expect to get from what they perceived to be a well-cultivated plantation. However, their findings also revealed a mixed bag of economic abnormalities. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 16, no. 1, June 2001.

"I have never understood what too advanced means," says Crown Prince Tupouto'a, who believes that wireless telephones and a fibre optic internet connection will provide liberation for the common man greater than that originally given him by the automobile. He says that governments all over the world will have to downsize and become much smarter at collecting their revenue... and tax people when they spend and not when they earn. Interview: HRH Crown Prince Tupouto‘a. By Pesi Fonua. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 16, no. 1, June 2001.

Tonga’s first Chiropractor is John Gieschen from Kansas City, Missori who arrived in Nuku‘alofa in May. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 16, no. 1, June 2001.

A peaceful revolution is currently taking place in Tonga as we are trying to find the right combination to take advantage of what the 21st century has to offer. In business, never before have Tongan business people invested so much money in the Tongan economy, pouring millions of pa‘anga, into trade, telecommunications, tourism, agriculture, fisheries, power generation, the media, shipping, and even airlines. By Pesi Fonua. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 16, no. 1, June 2001.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES: There was no looking back for Betty Blake after she accepted a challenge to help the women and children in Tonga who were being treated badly. Betty, who has been working extensively with women in the villages throughout Tonga since 1996, is sure that the first step for women to gain equality is for women to know their rights. “About 95% of the women who filled the questionnaire did not know their rights. They assumed that once they were married their husband owned everything they had, and therefore they had to be obedient, they believed ‘it is alright if he beats me because I am his wife’.” Most of the women she was dealing with had been conditioned to think this way and it was very difficult for them to break out of it. Interview from Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.

Dr Tupeni Baba, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Fiji’s deposed government of Mahendra Chaudrey, and a man who has been held hostage twice—first by Steven Rabuka in 1987 and again by George Speight in 1999, visited Tonga at the end of 2000. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.

At last, Cabinet has decided to declare war on the pigs, which have been ravaging Tonga’s environment unchecked for the last 30 years. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.

The Vatican City wanted to help the Vaiola Hospital, said Professor Caetano from the University of Rome, when he visited Tonga’s base hospital at the end of November. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.

The Tonga Sumo Federation is starting off the 21st Century with a big bang. Two young Tongan wrestlers Tevita Taufa of Nomuka and Minaminoshima Falevai of Ha‘ateiho in early January joined professional Sumo wrestling stables in Japan, and at the same time a Japanese Sumo coach, Mr Miyazaki started coaching future Tongan Sumo wrestlers in Tonga. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.