Results for Pacific Islands

Santa Claus visited the Tongan Parliament early this year and on December 5 the House received a gift of thousands of dollars worth of digital recording equipment that will help make efficient recording of parliament possible in its move toward democracy.

The trial of five People's Representatives who are charged with sedition is postponed again awaiting a decision by the Court of Appeal, but a two-day hearing on legal arguments will be held in the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court on September 25-26.

The Government of Japan will set up an Embassy in Nuku'alofa in January 2009, the Deputy Secretary for Tonga's Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Tevita Kolo, confirmed this afternoon.

I am less confident that the proposal set forth by Mr Christopher Harder will resolve anything in the current as well as the future political situation of Tonga. To be sure, I do believe in apologizing and forgiveness in response. However, to think that an apology from all parties involved in the heinous crimes of 16/11 and a pardon from the King of Tonga will rectify the current political situation in Tonga is unavoidably laughable. -Rev Dr Ma'afu Palu

Transparency International Fiji is calling the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation Ltd to make public its recruitment process in the appointment of the new FBCL CEO, Mr. Riyaz Saiyad Khaiyum.

Judicial Independence to secure people's rights is a worldwide concern, according to Judge J. Clifford Wallace, a former US Chief Judge who was in Nuku'alofa last week for the 17th Pacific Judicial Conference.

Our leaders in government (which includes Peoples Representatives who are lawmakers) are held to a higher standard of conduct than Mr. Ordinary Citizen. Leaders are in responsible positions, and they can easily use their authority unjustly. It is the same in Tonga as it is in America. -Sione A. Mokofisi

I trust your professional journalism can let me offer a dissenting view to yours. For the sake of creating an open discussion and God willing give us all a road for reconciling to the tragic event of 16/11, for at the end, we are all victims. From the teenage boy who picked up the rock that will undoubtedly spend time in jail; the person who sparked the match that will not see him families while in jail; those families who lost loved ones; those families who lost everything and their livelihood; government officials and PR's that were caught up in the cross-fire and indeed the King himself. When all is said and done, we have all lost a part of Tonga and indeed a part of us that we have now to turned on each other. -Thomas Monson Uata

Financing for low cost housing, secure land tenure for urban residents and enforceable building codes are essential for addressing pressing urban development concerns in the Pacific.