Results for Letters

The price of watermelons, or any commodity, has lots to do with everything in trade, and in international commerce. Changes in prices can send ripple effects around the world. -Sione A. Mokofisi

I hope that NZ PM Key's visit (July 8, 2009), and Minister for Foreign Affairs McCully (July 20, 2009), to Tonga were not empty promises to removing barriers in Tonga-NZ trade policies.Tongan farmers are still handicapped by more trade barriers. -Sione A. Mokofisi

Your correspondents Kik Velt, Dan Clem and Paul Kidd have all helped us understand a lot more about tsunami and their potential to wreak havoc. What I have taken from their contributions is that mother nature has already provided a perfectly good warning system for tsunamis. It's called an earthquake. We continue to ignore this at our peril.- Sefita Hao'uli

While it is true that in the deep ocean a tsunami's wavelength is so broad that the wave's height is almost imperceptible, we all know that many small Pacific islands are barely above sea level, and many do not have the sheer drop-offs to the seafloor that would prevent a tsunami from slowing down and rearing up into a very perceptible and very dangerous wave. Both of these traits mean that tsunamis can be dangerous to many Pacific islands, whether the tsunami begins nearby or far away. -Dan Clem

Random house has finally given us two versions of a dictator. However we are still to hear from Mr Fale which definition leads his argument, because the second version is arguably applicable if for example Bainimarama did things like withholding health services and medicines to a certain region of the country that opposes him which then led to people there dying from preventable diseases. Corruption, nepotism and murder of minorities and political opponents are obvious weapons of choice that he will also not sit and twiddle his fingers on. - Sam Tupou

I have been defending the position that there have been "successful" dictators, not necessarily "good"; this is a totally different argument. I have also been stating facts that refute generalizing dictators as "failed wannabes", because in reality - as I have been arguing - even in our current world, dictators do exist and some continue to be successful. - Daniel Fale

Webster defines a dictator as a person having absolute authority and supreme governmental powers. The nature and characteristics of a dictator is not part of the definition of the word. I fail to see where Mokofisi got the idea that murder, corruption and nepotism is part of the definition. On his part, he fails to realize that the same characteristics is present in all forms of government. The news is replete with accounts of these in democratic America. Read about corruption in Israel. - Sione Lousiale Kava

The Random House Dictionary defines dictator as, "a person who exercises absolute power, especially a ruler with absolute, unrestricted control of government". There is also a broader meaning of the word dictator used by political scientists that is given to leaders of one-party states or similar set-ups in which a dictatorship does exist in practice like Cuba, and yes, Singapore, and yes, Dubai. You do not have to kill thousands of people or do any other atrocity to be considered a dictator, as it seems Mr. Mokofisi believes this to be a requirement for a person to be a dictator. - Daniel K. Fale

A brief read of Lee Kwan Yew's success as Prime Minister of Singapore (1959-1990) does not show the life of a dictator. Instead he rose through the Singapore Parliament as PM during British rule, and developed one of the poorest states in SE Asia to rival Japan's industrial economy. He was accused of running a tight ship, but that's the price of "transformation" I would say. - Sione A. Mokofisi