Results for 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.

It was success at last for Koliniasi Afuha’amango (72), the newly elected Vava’u People’s Representative to the Tongan Legislative Assembly, taking over from William Harris, the Vava’u No. One People’s Representative who died last year. 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.

The $20 million that has been invested in the development of infrastructure in Vava’u during the past 15 years, will enable this part of the country to exploit its full potential in tourism, agriculture and fisheries. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 2, June 2000.

A new wireless telecommunications system being designed for Tonga will be the first of its kind to be used on a nation-wide basis anywhere in the world. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 2, June 2000.

An office to deal with all public complaints will be established at the beginning of the government’s next financial year on July 1. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 2, June 2000.

The outcome of the King of Tonga’s first visit to China in 1997 and the termination of the Taiwanese presence in Tonga, was the resignation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 1, March 2000.

A second television station for Tonga is expected to begin broadcasting on July 4 this year, once a conflict over channels allocation is resolved. From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 1, March 2000.