Results for Tonga

A Tongan-owned immigration consultancy, started in 1995, has helped over 5,000 Tongans gain legal status in New Zealand. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 2, August 2002.

If you know anything about Polynesian hip-hop, you will have heard of ‘King Kapisi’. Hailing from the ‘Poly-town’ of Auckland, New Zealand, the 28 year-old Samoan who shot to hip-hop fame in 1998 with his hit track Sub-cranium Feeling, tore-up centre stage for the first time in Tonga in July. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 2, August 2002.

Giving children freedom to create, play, make friends and learn while having fun in a specially prepared environment is what ‘Alisi Fifita (26) offers at her new pre-school in Nuku‘alofa. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 2, August 2002.

Tonga’s 28 year old Bank of Tonga was renamed Westpac-Bank of Tonga after the Tongan Parliament amended the Bank of Tonga Act on July 15. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 2, August 2002.

Tens of millions of pa‘anga in government expenditure that used to be disregarded in the annual Budget estimates, have this year been incorporated into the figures—beefing it up to $112 million in operational costs. This is a new approach by a new Finance Minister, Siosiua ‘Utoikamanu, to make government operations more “transparent”. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 2, August 2002.

Tonga’s Judo champion ‘Epoki Faka‘osi was determined to add a Commonwealth Games medal this year to his achievements. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 2, August 2002.

Peter Semone, the Vice President of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), (pictured above, centre) wants tourist operators in the Pacific islands to revitalise their interest in the organisation. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 2, August 2002.

The restructuring of the Royal Tongan Airlines marked, “the beginning of the reform in government statutory boards,” Tonga’s Prime Minister Prince ‘Ulukalala Lavaka Ata promised, at a Press Conference he called on July 9, to explain his initiative to restructure the ailing national airline. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 2, August 2002.

If you are wondering why Tonga’s Minister of Health, Dr Viliami Tangi, sitting in the dentist’s chair is smiling, it is because at last Tonga has a Preventive Dentistry Unit for reaching school children. The Ministry of Health has been without a mobile school dental van for more than 10 years. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 1, May 2002.