Results for Tonga

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.

The Westpac Banking Corporation became the major shareholder of the Bank of Tonga on January 4, after it bought the 30% shares of the Bank of Hawai‘i. The Bank of Tonga now has only two shareholders, Westpac holding 60% and the Government of Tonga 40%. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.

The first serious documentary to focus on traditional Tongan dances was shown for the first time at the National Cultural Centre, Nuku‘alofa, on December 2. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.

A multi-million fisheries co-venture between ‘Alatini Fisheries Company Ltd. (Tonga) and the Fortuna Company (Australia), to harness Tonga’s Broadbill Swordfish resource, began with the arrival in Nuku‘alofa on December 18 of the 132 tonnes fishing boat Sao Pedro. 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.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES 2001: Name two institutions where Tongan households invest most of their money, and the answer, without a doubt, is the church and the schools. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.

Tonga hosted the 14th seminar of the Australian and Pacific Regional branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in Nuku‘alofa from October 25 to November 3. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.

Tonga is expected to have a new 8000 tonnes container ship by January 2002, according to Erwin M. Ludewig, Tonga’s Honorary Consul to Hamburg, Germany. The new ship is a replacement of the container ship, MV Fuakavenga. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.

The wish of the Tonga government to have one body to run Tonga’s overseas and national telecommunication services, comes true in February when the Tonga Communications Corporation will be formally established. From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.