Why Samoa for new media group PacMA?

By Kalafi Moala: Pacific Media Centre

In the days immediately following the announcement of the launch of the Pacific Media Association (PacMA), the question has often been raised about why Samoa was chosen as the place to register this new organisation.

Last week on August 10, several media owners and journalists from the Pacific region met in Apia to form the new association. A new constitution was formulated and registration of an incorporated society was sought with the government of Samoa.

In addition to a new code of ethics for the organisation and its members, a set of bylaws is being currently written to guide the conduct of the affairs of the organisation.

Headed by probably the Pacific region’s most successful and experienced media owner and journalist, Samoa’s Sano Savea Malifa, the men and women that make up the organisation promise to be the embodiment of PacMA’s mission to promote and defend values of media freedom, ethics and good governance, and provide training for all media in the Pacific region.

Malifa plays a major role in the selection of Samoa as the founding ground for PacMA.

But it is more than that. Samoa hosts some of the most effective media operations in the region – be it print, broadcasting, or on-line. And these operations are not flash-in-the-pan overnight sensations.

They have paid the price in years of covering the hard yards. In the case of Malifa and his print media enterprise, he has suffered in previous years many obstacles, including countless lawsuits, physical attacks, the burning down of his press plant, and other disheartening inconveniences.

Samoa, however, has gone through its own quiet reform in so many facets of its political, economic, and social life. The result has been an environment conducive to the development of media freedom and journalistic professionalism.

The National University of Samoa is running a journalism school, and who knows what other educational development in media is ahead at this growing institution?

Free media environment
The government of Samoa has not only given the island nation comparable political and social stability, but has been largely responsible for creating a free media environment.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi has himself been a staunch supporter of media freedom. Despite having been at times scrutinised by the local media, he has been a mature and responsible leader in his response.

On the evening that marked the launch of PacMA, Tuilaepa, despite a busy schedule, and another function he needed to attend, “dropped in” and congratulated the founders of PacMA, encouraged the members in its stand for media freedom, and gave a speech that welcomed the organisation.

He was especially thrilled that the new organisation was founded and will be operating out of Samoa.

It was hard to think of too many other island nations in the Pacific that can match the welcome, the hospitality, and the media freedom environment that Samoa offers.

What makes PacMA a unique media association is that it is to be primarily driven by media owners, the journalists and media practitioners who work in the industry. Too often organisations end up being run by bureaucrats whose ties to the actual professional services provided for people are no longer there.

It is time a media association is run primarily by people who are engaged in media as part of their everyday occupation.

Another major facet of the PacMA ethos that is fundamental to its formation and ongoing practice is that of independence from the aid infrastructure in the region that often results in “funding traps” in which service organisations become entangled and unable to fulfil their mission.

Obviously, there is no organisation that can survive without funding. But PacMA has chosen to be self-funded, and allow Pacific generosity to be a sustainable provider. There will be specific projects, however, from time to time, for which the organization will seek funding assistance.

The consensus at the founding meeting was: “We will not let funding dictate our vision and mission agendas.”

So be it. PacMA wants to be independent of what has become a very dangerous trend in NGO and regional organisational operations, which is a total dependence on donor funding agencies.

PacMA has its work cut out, not only in reestablishing the traditional media association roles and responsibilities in the region, but also how to wisely facilitate the new realities of emerging new media, gender driven media initiatives, and the future of our industry rooted in the growing youth media practitioners that need all the encouragement and help they can get.

Kalafi Moala, publisher and chief executive of the Nuku'alofa-based Taimi Media Network, is deputy chair of PacMA and himself a key campaigner for media freedom Pacific-style. Photo of Savea Sano Malifa, Samoa Observer.

New Pacific media body PacMA formed at Samoa meeting
PacMA website

Media kingpins start new group after divisive PINA resignation

By Josephine Latu, Pacific Media Watch

A group of established media veterans have formed a new group – the Pacific Media Association (PMA) – after this week’s resignation announcement by former vice president of the main regional body, the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) John Woods.

The new media organization includes as key members Samoa Observer founder Savea Sano Malifa, Vanuatu Daily Post editor Marc Neil-Jones, former Fiji Sun publisher now an editor at the Samoa Observer Russell Hunter, Taimi Media Network CEO Kalafi Moala, and Cook Islands News editor John Woods, among others.

Moala said the plan was to support independent media while avoiding organisational bureaucracy, and unlike PINA, the PMA it would be open to members from Australia and New Zealand.

“It’s been long overdue to have an ‘industry driven’ media association in the Pacific whose core values include press freedom and the united and co-ordinated effort to lift Pacific media to a high level of journalistic performance. Our independence is vital if we are going to fulfil our professional duties to our region,” Moala told Pacific Scoop.

Woods resigned earlier this week over alleged lack of transparency and maladministration in PINA, as well as the lack of action over Fiji’s media controls.

“Today’s media freedom situation in Fiji… is totally intolerable. A body like PINA should have led the outrage 24 hours ago. I am ashamed that we have reneged on our constitutional obligation to oppose censorship and media controls in Fiji,” he stated in his letter of resignation, circulated on the Pacific Islands Journalists Online network.

In response, PINA president Moses Stevens told Radio New Zealand that the organisation stood by its approach, stating: “Fiji is not a normal democratic government… It’s a military regime and we cannot deal with the situation as we would deal with a normal democratically elected government.”

PINA is currently based in Fiji, where the media has been heavily censored by the military regime in power.

Lisa Williams Lahari, founder of the Pacific WAVE network, said she was “sad but not surprised” at the recent PINA developments.

“This week’s crisis proves the point that we need to get regional media in order,” she told Pacific Scoop.

“I want an association that’s different from PINA. Anyone who as observed the repeated calls for transparency would know it’s a confirmation there’s a lot of trouble,” she said.

Lahari called for a new approach to regional media in forming alliances with new Pacific advocacy groups and media networks that have formed in the past few years.

She said her organisations, Pacific WAVE network and the Pacific Freedom Forum group, were ready to sign on to the PMA.

It is yet uncertain where in the Pacific the new organisation will be based, although Samoa has been suggested due to its air links and media environment.

Photo: Taimi Media Network CEO and publisher of the Taimi 'o Tonga newspaper Kalafi Moala is one of the founders of the new Pacific Media Association.

Futa Helu: 'A genius who built something from nothing'

FOR MORE than four decades, 'Atenisi Institute founding professor 'I Futa Helu has been one of the greatest philosophers in the Pacific, with an extraordinary international influence on education, social and political discourse - and even media. His sad passing this month at the age of 75 has left a gap in the intellectual leadership and humanity in Tonga and the region. The Pacific Media Centre joins with the many who have been touched by Futa's charisma, insights and wisdom. AUT's foundation Pacific professor Tagaloatele Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop praised how he had "captured the dreams of youth" and PMC's director, associate professor David Robie, spoke of a contribution to media independence.

Other tributes have been sent to the PMC. Taimi 'o Tonga newspaper publisher, broadcaster and author Kalafi Moala had this to say:

Futa Helu was the kind of talent that comes around in a society only once in a while, and extremely hard to try and reproduce or imitate. He is from a family line that have excelled academically, and it really is no surprise that he made his mark in Tonga and the Pacific in education.

But what was special about Futa was the way he built something from nothing. He was a genius who was well educated in so many diverse fields. He will be missed greatly. We await the emergence of others like him to help take us further in Tonga in our search to know truth.

Dr Wendy Cowling, one of six scholars inducted at 'Atenisi last June on the occasion of Futa's 75th birthday celebrations, dedicated this poem to his memory:

The pandanus garland
For Futa Helu (1987/2010)

The fire-coloured,
sweet-scented fruit
was sacrificed
to make this garland.

The children took the fā
at my request
for I knew
the withering fruit
would scent the air
long after my going.

…

Our memories
of our Loau –
your songs,
your stately dance,
your speech,
so full of gravitas,
unlike the garland
will not wither
but sweetly remain.

Malo, malo kaumea!
Ofa ātu aupito.

Wendy E. Cowling
Hamilton, New Zealand

Tongan philosopher Futa Helu dies - Matangi Tonga tribute

Crown Prince calls for 'closure' on Ashika tragedy

By Kalafi Moala: Pacific Media Centre

NUKU’ALOFA: Tonga's Crown Prince Tupouto’a Lavaka has tried to bring closure to Tonga’s worst marine tragedy by asking those who have been rescued and the families of the 72 people still missing “to remember and to celebrate . . . life.”

At a special memorial service held at the Free Wesleyan Church at his village estate of Pea, the Crown Prince urged national unity and togetherness.

“I pray, and appeal to you all – that now is the time to put aside differences. Now is the time to work together,” he said.

Rev Dr ‘Ahio, the president of Tonga’s largest denomination, the Free Wesleyan Church, presided over the well-attended memorial service that included the Prime Minister, Dr Feleti Sevele, and other ministers of the Crown; Speaker of the House, Hon Tu’ilakepa; and other members of Parliament, as well as those rescued and the families of those unaccounted for, friends and relatives.

The Crown Prince said: “We remember those whose lives were lost on the Princess Ashika, but at the same time we celebrate those that were saved. Not all was lost.”

This attempt to bring closure has come as the NZ Navy and their Tongan counterpart concluded their search and video taping of the wreck and remains of the sunken vessel.

Commander Chris Kelly of the Tonga police, while thanking Lieutenant-Commander Andrew McMillan and the captain and crew of HMNZS Manawanui for their support and assistance in the search for the Princess Ashika, said: “We have undertaken our rescue operation, search processes and resources deployment to maximise the response capability available to us over the last 14 days . . . I consider we have exhausted all likelihood of finding survivors and in that respect I believe the families of the 72 persons unaccounted for can complete closure for their loved ones.”

At a special reception after the church memorial service, representatives of each family affected by the Ashika tragedy gave tearful and heart-moving speeches, accepting the fact they need to bring closure and move on in their lives.

Crown Prince Lavaka, a former Prime Minister, who is now Tonga’s High Commissioner to Australia, said: “In times of national crisis nations are forged and defined.”

Greatest disaster
The final confirmed figures stand at 54 rescued, two recovered dead and 72 unaccounted for, presumed dead. It is believed this is the greatest disaster Tonga has suffered since the influenza epidemic of 1918.

The Crown Prince lamented: “Memories are all we have of those loved ones. Those memories perhaps show the fragility of life; and that we should always treat those close to us as if we will not see them again.”

A Royal Commission of Inquiry has been appointed and has started its work, which will include the analysis of the one and half hours of video from the wreck of the Princess Ashika and the surrounding area.

The families of the victims, as well as those rescued responded warmly to the call by the Crown Prince for closure.

Maka Taliuku, a relative of one of the victims, and a "talking chief" in his own right, spoke for the families of those unaccounted for: “We thank you your Royal Highness for your humility in meeting with us, and organising this service…

"We will go from here and pick up our belongings at the shipping office by the wharf, and we will disperse to our various homes, thankful that on this day, we have accepted the reality of the situation… we are satisfied, and we will return to our homes bringing closure to our grief for our loved ones.”

Kalafi Moala is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Taimi 'o Tonga and the Tongan Chronicle. Pictured: The Princess Ashika. Photo: TNews.

More reports at Matangi Tonga

Moala explores Tongan democracy and identity issues

By Pippa Brown: Pacific Media Centre

Publisher and broadcaster Kalafi Moala led an intimate and spirited philosophical public discussion last night on what it means to be Tongan with a sense of place in the world.

The issues of modern Tonga and how to take the country forward without losing its sense of identity dominated the discussion as the kingdom moves into a fresh era as it progresses toward developing a new constitution.

When Tongans express a sense for democracy there is also a voice saying “please don’t touch my Tonganness, my identity that was established over 3000 years ago,” says Moala.

“Even radical reformists do not want to break up this system.”

Moala, who publishes both the Taimi ‘o Tonga and Tonga Chronicle, was being hosted by the Pacific Media Centre at AUT University to talk about his new book In Search of the Friendly Islands and the constitutional reform consultations.

As the problems of diaspora and the dispersing of people and culture become greater with the issues of globalisation, consequential loss of identity were likely to become more prominent, he says.

Moala introduced the statement, ‘I belong, therefore I am’, and contrasted it to ‘I think, therefore I am’, as being fundamentally important to Tongans and other Pacific peoples in knowing who they are.

He says young people are starting to question who they are as they move among other social structures and although this can relate to anyone, it applies in particular to people in the Pacific.

The quest for identity is a huge thing in the sense that for so many years being Tongan has been taken for granted.

Social relationships
“It is not so much that ‘I have’ but my belonging that shapes everything else that I am,” says Moala.

“In Tonga, the social relationship starts with the family, from the immediate family to the kainga (extended family) which contribute to the grouping of the families who make up the village which combine together to become a region and a nation which then become the fonua.

Moala says the more people look at this belonging and social structure within Tonga, it shows how the relationships work within the family and the strong traditions and headships that lead.

“It’s the people, it’s the land, it’s the nation,” says Moala.

The difference is that Western identity is based on what a person does while Tongan and Pacific identity are based on who people are and the relationship with family, village and so on.

“It is not what you do that really matters in the relationship,” says Moala.

“I belong, therefore I am: Belonging is the relationship of who we are and how we base our relationships in Tonga,” says Moala.

The structure is clearly defined even before Christianity. It is always important that we have a head of the structure from the immediate family where the father figure protects, provides and teaches to the emotional support the mother brings, he says.

Within the relationship courtesy, loyalty, sharing and love are very much part of the social structure. In this sense of structure or Kainga there is always a headship person to relate to.
It is very clear in this society knowing who people relate to, family, kainga, village, and nation and within this nation, the head, says Moala.

“We as a nation are progressing toward reform and the people want changes to happen but they are saying please don’t let it affect my Tonganness and my relationships and relationships to the land and the issues that need to be resolved spiritually for our future,” he says.

Concept of land
Tongans have a strong relationship to the land. The Tongan concept of land and the spirit and life of the land we belong to always remains even as generations come and go, says Moala.

The system of tenure and generational inheritance remains in the sense of Tonganness when returning to the homeland.

“The issues of land extend to the ocean and seabed,” says Moala.

The oceanic kingdom of Tonga comprises 169 islands, 36 of them inhabited and extends over a distance of about 800 kilometres.

Spirituality plays a large part in Tonganness. Moala sees the strong thread of spirituality that binds the people in their relationship with one another and the land as becoming stronger.

“The movement of people across borders is opening up more spirituality as there is more out there to explore,” he says.

Modernisation has made some issues difficult to grasp within the Tongan and Pacific world which are clearly defined in Western terms.

“It is important for us to find conceptual tools that we can use to construct new thought patterns to allow us to find what we are looking for,” says Moala.

“As scholars, media and academics we are trying to probe into this new era of Pacifica and we need to find and create the right conceptual tools."

“The challenge of walking into the future is how we develop new tools,” he says.

Consensual methods
The consensual methods we traditionally use to provide solutions to problems are deep in our culture together with the peace and harmony that come with it says Moala.

He says one of the problems of cultural dispersion and diaspora is that wherever Tongans and Pacific Islanders are in the world they encounter these issues of identity.

“In international cities where there are large populations of Pacific Islanders churches become very important and almost like a refuge,” says Moala.

He thinks the Pacific as a region identifies with a lot of similar issues that we need to find a solution for.

“It is important to find the tools to walk down the aisle together and discover who we really are,” says Moala.

Vaea Hopoi is a student who also works with youth who are dependent on alcohol and drugs. He thinks the biggest problem for Polynesians is a loss of identity and not knowing where they come from.

“I believe you must know your history to know who you are now and to know where you are going in the future,” says Hopoi.

Moala questions why the Pacific region is trying to solve the current Fiji political problem in an confrontational way.

“Why not solve it in a Pacific way and let the Pacific sovereignty leaders meet Fiji and see how we can open up the dialogue,” he asks.

Moala thinks New Zealand is a country that is standing in confrontation with Fiji so Māori may offer a solution. Going in as an outsider hasn’t worked but to look at the issue as Pacific brothers in the broader sense of fonua may work.

New framework
“It hasn’t been solved within the current framework so we need to find another one,” he says.
He thinks the Forum had the right to suspend Fiji “but we don’t need to keep beating them up.”

Moala says the heads of government in the Pacific Island Forum may have some conflict with the duality of the Pacific and Western frameworks.

It is important to apply criticism and look at the challenges facing the Tongan and Pacific Island people he thinks. He says rather than standing outside and looking in we need to come to the culture.

“While it hurts talking about these things it feels good to be a part of it,” says Moala. “We need to report on it but report on it from our own perspective.”

David Robie, associate professor in communication studies at AUT and director of the Pacific Media Centre, commented on how Moala was one of the only journalists in the Pacific who is reflecting on these new issues of belongingness and sense of identity.

“Media reflects a society and its sense of identity and yet in the Pacific this is very much influenced by New Zealand and Australia,” says Dr Robie.

Moala thinks people need to learn to be comfortable with the two sides of traditional belonging and Western way of thinking, to overcome the confusion with identity.

He says some concepts cannot be explained because the tools are not there and “it may be a role for Pacific scholars to investigate and construct these tools and find how to put it in words”.

Top photo of Kalafi Moala last night by Pippa Brown; photo of Moala and Taimi in Nuku'alofa by David Robie. - PMC .

Pippa Brown is an AUT Graduate Diploma in Journalism student on internship with the Pacific Media Centre.

In Search of the Friendly Islands, by Kalafi Moala, published by the Pasifika Foundation
Taimi 'o Tonga

Veteran media freedom champions speak out for uncompromised Pacific news

By David Robie in Apia: Pacific Media Centre

Veteran champions of a free Pacific media spoke out strongly in defence of an uncompromising public watchdog role for the region's news organisations at an Article 19 seminar in Samoa this week.

Savea Sano Malifa, editor-in-chief of the Samoa Observer, spoke of his lifelong pursuit of the “hidden stories” at the UNESCO-sponsored seminar, which had a “courage under fire” theme.

“When I started out as a journalist, I realised that I didn’t care much about the everyday, obvious news,” he said.

“Especially the ones that were being deliberately hidden in order that they remained so for a very long time.

“That was the stuff that kept up the pressure to dig deeper.”

Netani Rika, editor-in-chief of the Fiji Times, whose newspaper led the challenge against unprecedented draconian censorship by the military regime after the abrogation of the 1997 constitution at Easter by publishing blank spaces in retaliation against the gag, called for more training of media workers “under fire”.

“How do we build their courage? Simply, by not backing down,” he said.

“It is vital indeed it’s our duty – to ensure that journalists continue to make every attempt to cover the issues that matter to the people, even if the stories we write do not portray our rulers in a good light.”

Move Pacnews
Kalafi Moala, publisher of both the Taimi ‘o Tonga and Tonga Chronicle and who was unconstitutionally jailed for contempt of Parliament in 1996, called on the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) to move out of Fiji and shift its regional news service Pacnews in protest.

“They should get out of Fiji so that they can function independently,” he said.

“We don’t believe they should remain silent. In terms of media freedom, journalists in the Pacific are looking for fresh leadership.”

Russell Hunter, expelled by the Fiji regime while he was publisher of the Fiji Sun in February 2008, also called for Pacnews to move out of Fiji.

“It is appalling that a body that has consistently stood up for media freedom for a quarter of a century or more should have maintained its operations in a censure environment one minute longer than it needed to,” said Hunter, who is now development editor of the Samoa Observer.

Savea Malifa also warned young journalists to defend their independence and not fall foul to the Pacific free “beer and food” culture.

In our small societies, the urge for compromise is compelling. Many journalists succumb to it. They are invited to their governments’ cocktail parties, they accept free beer and food, and they lose sight of the ethics.”

Marc Neil-Jones, publisher of the Vanuatu Daily Post, said his paper constantly challenged assaults, intimidation and bullying by authorities by publicly exposing such behaviour.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Asia-Pacific bureau’s Deborah Muir and Kalafi Moala were lead trainers for the seminar, organised by the recently formed Pacific Freedom Forum (PFF).

PINA failure
The forum’s facilitator, Lisa Williams-Lahari, a longtime Pacific women’s advocate now based at Otago University, steered the programme – a regional response to the failure of PINA in recent months to respond with timely campaigns to defend the region from assaults on media freedom.

The seminar conducted two days of freedom of speech and expression mobilisation and practical training exercises under the Article 19 umbrella – from the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. The programme was designed to monitor the region’s media more stringently.

A final day of strategic mapping for the forum’s future, leading to the two-yearly PINA convention in Vanuatu in mid-July followed.

The forum issued a final communiqué today outlining its action plan and declaration, including working towards becoming registered as a non-government organisation.

The network also plans to work with other regional organisations with similar objectives such as the IFJ, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Regional Media Centre, AUT University Pacific Media Centre and its Pacific Media Watch project, University of the South Pacific regional journalism programme and the National University of Samoa journalism programme.

The forum explored a regional strategy to have a strong presence at the University of Queensland-hosted World Media Freedom Day event in Brisbane, Australia, next May 1-4.

Picture: Taimi Media Network publisher (left), Fiji Times editor-in-chief Netani Rika and Vanuatu Daily Post publisher Marc Neil-Jones. Photo: David Robie.

• Dr David Robie is director of the Pacific Media Centre. He was present at the “Courage under fire” media seminar with the assistance of the NZ National Commission for UNESCO.

Samoa 'Courage under fire' seminar final communiqué
Pragmatic approach to Fiji censorship

Tongan defamation ruling a 'wake up call', say editors

By Josephine Latu: Pacific Media Watch

As World Media Freedom Day marks a strengthened drive towards free speech and a free press in the Pacific, some media editors in Tonga are more concerned with the alleged abuse of these rights.

A recent defamation case involving the Kele’a newspaper has focused public attention on the balance between media freedom and media responsibility in Tonga.

In late March, Tonga’s Supreme Court imposed a crushing fine of TOP$500,000 in damages on the pro-democracy newspaper Kele’a for defaming the Prime Minister, Dr Feleti Sevele, and his economic adviser Rob Solomon.

The newspaper was also told to run a front-page apology to the prime minister for six weeks.

The case involved a letter to the editor published in October 2007, making allegations about Solomon’s appointment to the prime minister’s office, and a July 2007 editorial making allegations about the prime minister over government loans from China.

A regional media freedom group, Pacific Freedom Forum, recently condemned the ruling as “excessive” and “draconian”, making the comparison that “on a per capita basis, the fine would be equivalent to a NZ$8.3 million judgment in New Zealand - an unheard of amount even for a much bigger country and economy".

However, Taimi Media Network head Kalafi Moala, who oversees both the Taimi ‘o Tonga and the Tonga Chronicle, as well as Talaki deputy editor Tevita Motulalo, disagree.

“If you’re going to say something is ‘excessive’, you have to go back to the offence and examine how excessive the offence was,” said Moala.

“We’re talking about two years of constant accusations and defamation.”

Personal attacks
He believes Kele’a continues to violate other Tongans’ right to free expression by personally attacking those who do not hold the same political views in their newspaper.

Moala has also been accused by Kele’a of using government resources allocated for the Chronicle to benefit his independent newspaper, Taimi ‘o Tonga – an allegation Moala rejects.

Talaki’s Motulalo also applauded the judge’s decision, calling the ruling a “wake up call” for the press to be more cautious and accurate about what they print.

“Press freedom is related to the people’s right to know – not just to know any information, but the correct information,” he told Pacific Media Watch.

Pesi Fonua, president of the Tonga Media Council and editor of Matangi Tonga Online, said that there was always a possibility of abusing media freedom, although he pointed out that people should be allowed to make “fair comment” on public figures.

“With defamation you have to take it case by case. The Defamation Act needs to be looked at. It makes it difficult to differentiate who is a public figure,” he said.

However, acting director of the Friendly Islands Human Rights and Democracy Movement, and former publisher of Kele’a, Siosiua Po’oi Pohiva, said the lawsuit indicated the government was “desperate” and “out to crush” the newspaper.

He is one of three people named defendants in the lawsuit.

Pohiva defended the newspaper’s role to “provide an alternative perspective in the media and to look at things in a way that would benefit the people”, saying that most of the media in Tonga were “puppets” of the government.

“We’re afraid the quality of journalism in Tonga may be held back or threatened by money and power,” he said.

Pohiva believes the defamation case should have been struck out because the editor at the time, Tavake Fusimalohi, died in December 2007, thus preventing a fair investigation.

The court has placed the Kele’a under receivership, managed by accountant ‘Aisake Tu’iono. He has until May 15 to collect money from the defendants and come up with a report.

Josephine Latu is contributing editor of Pacific Media Watch at AUT's Pacific Media Centre.

Kele'a damages ruling excessive, says PFF
Supreme Court awards damages against Kele'a

Publisher’s book 'speaks directly' to global Tongans

By Steve Chae: Pacific Media Centre

An outspoken Tongan journalist and publisher has released a new book that speaks directly to Tongan communities in New Zealand about the dilemmas of culture and the global diaspora.

Kalafi Moala’s book, In Search of the Friendly Islands, deals with core issues of violence and a vision towards peaceful change in the Tongan communities both inside and outside of Tonga.

“The title of the book is appropriate because the Tongan communities in New Zealand are still in search of peace and there are no answers yet,” said Rev Epeli Taungapeau, of Manurewa Methodist Church, who was at the book launch at the Onehunga Community Centre last weekend.

He cited the roadside shooting of 17-year-old Halatau Naitoko by police in Auckland earlier this year as an example of violence impacting on the community.

He was concerned about the violence people see in mainstream media, saying: “Tongan communities here have to search for ways to make New Zealand a peaceful island.”

In Tonga, violence has increased related to the struggle for democracy in the only kingdom among Pacific Island countries.

Since 1989, Moala has published a bi-weekly newspaper, Taimi ‘o Tonga (Times of Tonga), criticising the monarchy and advocating democracy.

Banned paper
This was banned for a period in Tonga but Moala continued to publish the paper in Auckland since 1995. It is now based again in the Tonga capital of Nuku’alofa.

Moala has lived abroad extensively in US and New Zealand, but now lives in Tonga. He has observed the diaspora of Tongan communities and the issues they are facing, including violence.

Moala said it was important to ask why this was happening and to think about the alternatives.
He believed it came down to the “character of the man”.

He said that Tongan people’s faith in religion in the time of a “culture of transition” will see Tongan communities move towards peace.

Tongan Advisory Council chair Melino Maka said the people wanted their community media to discuss more proactively all of the issues happening inside and outside of Tonga.

He believed expanding Tongan talkback radio was important as it was the most effective way to channel people’s voices on these issues.

Moala’s book will be launched in Tonga this weekend.

Picture: Tongan broadcaster and community advocate Will 'Ilolahia (right) shares a joke at the book launch. Photo: Del Abcede.

Steve Chae is a student journalist on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course at AUT University.

Review: Master storyteller's challenging vision

In Search of the Friendly Islands, by Kalafi Moala. Hawai'i: Pasifika Foundation Press, and Auckland, NZ: Pacific Media Centre (AUT University).
ISBN 978-1-877314-75-9. 148 pp.

Reviewed by Josephine Latu: Pacific Media Watch

Kalafi Moala is no stranger to confrontation. He spent 26 days in prison for contempt of Parliament in 1996, along with MP ‘Akilisi Pohiva and fellow journalist Filo ‘Akau’ola. The ruling was later overturned as “unconstitutional”, but this didn’t stop the government from systematically banning his newspaper, Taimi ‘o Tonga, from the kingdom - twice.

Before that, the Taimi team had suffered numerous raids, arrests and threats at the hands of the authorities.

Things have changed since these landmark crackdowns on media freedom - Moala has now taken over the government-owned Chronicle as one of his projects – but as his new book proves, the man still has an uncompromising propensity to "tell it like it is".

In Search of the Friendly Islands, his sophomore publication, is sure to make waves - and not only with the governing authorities. It is a jolting dose of realism for any Tongan.

The title addresses Moala's scepticism with the myth of a perpetually serene and culturally idolised “Friendly Islands”. Instead, the Tonga he portrays is a problematic site of contested power, tangled by the influences of modernisation and globalisation.

In less than 150 pages, the book probes the gross contradictions found in Tongan culture - chronic violence, elitism, and religious hypocrisy, among others, interweaving historical accounts, philosophical reflections, and political analysis with lucid real-life stories. It’s what Moala calls the “Pacific mode of story-telling”.

He argues that the traditional Tongan culture is rooted deep in a system of domination and oppression. But importantly, more than just politics, it involves the power of “men over women, parents over children, aristocrats over peasants, nobles over commoners, teachers over students, priests and ministers over laity, and rulers over people” (p. 31). It’s how Tongans relate to the world.

Cultural brutality
This ideology of domination-oppression has inspired the violence common in both Tongan history (the "Dark Ages" of bloody civil war) and today’s communities. The very first pages vividly recount actual stories of such cultural brutality.

“Social conditioning” drives it home, and from a very young age, a Tongan child will learn that there is a pecking order, and everyone knows their place.

Yet, in a grim twist, Moala spends a chapter discussing how the “oppressed became the oppressor” during the notorious 16/11 riot of 2006 that destroyed 80 percent of the capital’s business district and left eight people dead. A long-time champion of reform, he explicitly denounces members of the current democratic party, as well as the foreign press who persist in portraying them as “the” voice of the people.

"Parachute journalists" ignore all the knotty facets in Tonga’s political movements - break-away parties, factions and turncoats – let alone understand the role of culture.

However, any Tongan is vulnerable to moral corruption and self-interest, and Moala follows with many an amusing anecdote that show the ambiguity of Tongans towards certain "Christian" or "traditional" fundamentals. For instance, forms of “trickery” or deceit are often condoned – if you can get away with it.

Meanwhile, Chinese immigrants are heavily discriminated against precisely because they are stereotyped as “cunning”. Ironically still, at the macro-level, Tongans rely on huge injections of aid from the Chinese government, in a relationship that will likely be permanent.

Moala continues to probe Tongan politics and society and the last three chapters of the book deal with the hefty issues of culture, social structure and spirituality. His challenge is to approach reform at a deeper level of ideology and psyche.

The key problem is not the lack of seats for People’s Representatives in Parliament, but the mentality that had normalised this system for years - one steeped in a culture of domination and oppression, and still very much around.

Soul-searching
For Kalafi, political reform can only fully come about with cultural reform, and it can only be successful through soul-searching at a spiritual level.

In Search of the Friendly Islands is a courageous book with an essentially positive message – one that heralds change. It will likely garner some disapproval because it is so candid (as professor Ian Campbell speculates in his foreword – “many Tongans will be embarrassed by what Kalafi has to tell them”).

Who would be proud of “the incompetence of Tongan clergy and community leaders” to deal with domestic violence (p. 25), or child-rearing habits that yield “Tongan kids [who] do not argue; they just attack each other” (p. 28)?

However, Moala’s clever style is not to simply state his opinions as truth. A master storyteller, he provides personal stories and incidents well-known in the community, and asks, "well don’t you see it too?"

It takes a degree of guts to bring one’s own views to the public forum, and invite debate and much-needed dialogue.

After all, what Moala sees as “deceit” among Tongans, others may see as resourcefulness - a resistance to the moral regime; what he sees as political self-ambition, others may see as vital radicalism; and while much of his descriptions appear to be about Tongans "in general", others may wish to avoid generalisations about any culture. There are always pockets of resistance to any status quo – Moala himself represents one of them.

He rightly points out that “culture is not God Almighty” (p. 111). One will always find contradictions as old becomes new, young becomes old, ideas are borrowed while others are lost.

The challenge for modern Tongan culture is how our people can adapt to these changes in a way that is safe, productive and constructive for everyone. There are questions to ponder together - what traditions should be kept and what can be done away with? Should Tonga immediately "cut and paste" a foreign model of democracy? How can leaders effectively convey changes to the masses?

As a Tongan, reading this book was wholly engrossing - but not because I agree with everything Moala writes. The most important contribution of this book is that it encourages the reader to look beneath the surface, inviting different interpretations and reactions that will hopefully result in dialogue.

The issues - moral, cultural, political - are apparent in any society faced with globalisation and development. However, people need to be encouraged to question why things are the way they are and whether there are different solutions.

Josephine Latu is contributing editor of Pacific Media Watch at AUT University.

In Search of the Friendly Islands is available from:
Pasifika Foundation Press, Hawai'i, or
Pacific Media Centre, RRP NZ$34.95

New book by former Tongan dissident
Media crusader's blighted dream

Hard-hitting publisher optimistic for Tonga's future

By Kacey Maher: Pacific Media Centre

Journalist and publisher Kalafi Moala has declared an optimistic vision for Tonga, saying: “My dream is that we will have a nation with freedom without domination, order without tyranny.”

“We're searching, we are seeking together as a people, for those solutions.”

It was a startling message contrasting sharply with a widespread image of white beaches, delicious food, and melodic singing that many people hold of the “friendly islands”.

Moala himself is softly-spoken, jovial and perpetually smiling.

Yet Moala is a hard-hitting journalist who has spent more than his fair share of time imprisoned or banned from his home country due to his paper Taimi ‘o Tonga’s past efforts to promote democratic reform.

Kalafi Moala was launching his new book, In Search of the Friendly Islands, at the Onehunga Community Centre and Library at the weekend.

His book is an attempt to educate both Tongans and non-Tongans about hidden truths behind the country’s peaceful demeanor - truths that, according to many who attended the launching, are mostly forgotten.

“There's a certain denial in Tonga that anything bad ever happens,” said American Hilary Scothorn, who, as an art historian has visited the country with her Tongan husband, artist Philip Tohi, on many occasions.

The book is “re-reporting” incidents that Tongans may have felt more comfortable forgetting, she said.

'Courageous book'
“I think it’s a very courageous book,” said New Zealand journalist Dr David Robie, who is director of AUT University’s Pacific Media Centre, in his speech at the book release.

“It is something of a reality check.”

Moala wastes no time getting to the point in his book.

“For me, the innocence for which my country of birth has been known was truly broken with the killing of ‘Ova and Ngauamo’s suicide,” writes Moala.

The first chapter, entitled “This is not the friendly way,” describes this and other brutal murders committed by Tongans, both on the islands and abroad in an attempt to highlight the growing trend of violence within Tongan communities.

The next chapter is no more forgiving, explaining how even the term “Friendly Islands”, given to Tonga by Captain James Cook, was an ironic misnomer.

Cook came up with the nickname after being welcomed and feasted by the chiefs of the island but, Moala corrects, the feast was organised in order to murder Cook and steal his ships.

Cook was saved only by the disorganisation of the chiefs and the subsequent failure of the plan, Moala writes.

Eye for the truth
And it is this unapologetic eye for the truth that has landed Moala in conflict with the Tongan authorities at times.

In 2004, his then Auckland-based Taimi was denied a licence by the Tongan government because of its criticism and “outsider’s” view.

Moala’s first book, Island Kingdom Strikes Back (2002), gives an account of both the newspaper’s struggle and that of his family for an open forum of information.

Broadcaster Sefita Hao’uli, and longtime friend of Moala, said: “I have never seen the floor of Tonga’s prison and I never would want to - even if you paid me.”

He praised Moala’s courageous attempts to tell the truth in the face of government censorship—attempts that saw him both imprisoned and banned from Tonga.

“But for someone to stick to a principle…that takes some courage.”

Moala’s paper suffered most during the constitutional monarchy of King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV. For nearly 40 years until he died, the king ruled with near absolute power.

However, King George Tupou V has brushed aside the authoritarian-type rule of his father and has begun to introduce a dialogue of democratic reform for the island nation that has been a constitutional monarchy for 160 years.

Mood for change
Now, in 2009, with a more relaxed government under King Tupou V and a growing feeling among Tongans that they want things to change, Moala is back living in Tonga and has absorbed the government-run paper the Chronicle into his publishing business.

“Twenty years ago we were told by the Chronicle that we wouldn’t last two months,” said Moala in his speech. Now, 20 years later Taimi ‘o Tonga owns the Chronicle.

However, despite the changes and the pathways towards reform, Moala’s optimism is cautious.

“No one has come up with any reliable assurances either of whether the system we are changing into is going to be better than what we now have,” Moala writes in his book.

The real change of reform, he says, is coming from the Tongans living abroad - those who, with a greater world view, can see Tonga’s place in the global society.

Once solutions are found, they will help not just Tonga but the entire Pacific region, according to Ana Currie, who heads the Pasifika Foundation Press.

“The whole region right now is in a fight for self-determination,” said Currie, “Tonga has the potential to be a shining beacon for all of the Pacific Islands.”

Photo of Kalafi Moala at the book launch by Alan Koon.

Katherine Maher is an American student journalist on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course as part of her Study Abroad programme at AUT University.

School 'unfairness' led to Moala’s media success

By Lucy Mullinger: Pacific Media Centre

Publisher Kalafi Moala’s civil rights streak began early – as a high school student. His friend and broadcaster Sefita Hao’uli told at the weekend how Moala had already brushed against government authority in school.

Teachers at the state-run Tonga High School, where Moala was head prefect, would “cane us if we tried to speak Tongan,” said Hao’uli.

Speaking at the launching of Moala’s second book, In Search of the Friendly Islands, Hao’uli described the clothes they had to wear at school – “thick blazers, socks up to our knees and caps in sweltering tropical heat”.

The boys were confused about why they needed to dress this way. But they knew one thing: “The moment you were in uniform you couldn’t speak Tongan.”

“We all thought what a silly uniform and why do we have to speak English, a language we don't understand?”

The unfair high school treatment propelled both men towards a media career.

Hao’uli later launched the 531pi Pacific community radio in Auckland and Moala now runs the government newspaper Kalonikali – the Chronicle. Twenty years ago when he sought help from the state paper, Moala was told his newspaper Taimi ‘o Tonga would not last three months.

New era
But the Taimi group has now taken over, marking a new era in government and press relations.

During the two decades he has owned the Taimi ‘o Tonga - a newspaper which according to Pacific Media Centre director Dr David Robie “aimed to bring alternative perspectives and voices into Tonga's public sphere” - government laws often curbed freedom of the press.

During October 1996, Moala was jailed for alleged contempt of Parliament and banned from his own country for more than four years, the newspaper was raided 12 times during a period of three years and he received death threats

His Auckland-based newspaper suffered because it practised “freedom of the press”.

Moala has won many different awards, including the Pacific Media Freedom Award for his fight for democratic reforms.

“I believe that without Taimi being in place, things wouldn't have changed as much as they have. Kalafi has made a real contribution to Tonga,” said Sefita Hao’uli.

“Any journalist worth his salt will learn how to write, spell and use proper syntax –
but without courage, the stories will be empty,” Hao’uli added.

“Kalafi is much more courageous than many of us.”

Finding solutions
Moala’s earlier book, Island Kingdom Strikes, published in 2002, was written mainly about the scandals and injustices that were carried out by the government and royal authorities. In Search of the Friendly Islands deals with Tonga’s problems and finding solutions.

According to his publisher, Ana Currie, Pasifika Foundation Press, a Hawai’i- based group, was keen to publish this book with the help of AUT University’s Pacific Media Centre because of the “great work Kalafi has done for Tonga and the Pacific Islands”.

Currie met Moala back in 2003 and having lived in Hawai’i and travelled all over the Pacific, she appreciated “what Kalafi was fighting about”.

Innes Logan, publisher of Spasifik, the only mainstream media Pacific magazine in New Zealand, said: “There must be a new way we can confront the problems that we face”.

Moala said: “My dream and hope for Tonga is that we will have a nation with freedom and without anarchy”.

Picture: Kalafi Moala being interviewed by CBA's John Cameron and Shona Caughey at the book launching. Photo: Lucy Mullinger.

Lucy Mullinger is a student journalist on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course, AUT University.

Pasifika Foundation Press
Book launching photo gallery
In Search of the Friendly Islands

Storytelling the tough Tongan issues

By Josephine Latu: Pacific Media Watch

Tongan publisher Kalafi Moala uses real-life examples for storytelling about sensitive Pacific issues in a new book launched in New Zealand at the weekend - such as elitism, religious hypocrisy, child abuse and domestic violence, racism against Chinese immigrants and the exploitation of tradition.

“It’s an uncomfortable truth,” Kalafi told Pacific Media Watch about his vivid Tongan examples.

One story in his book, In Search of the Friendly Islands, is a gritty childhood memory of a boy getting his earlobe clipped off by his own father – because he “wouldn’t sit still” during a haircut.

“But that’s part of transparency. We have to bring up those issues – we’ve got to face it, we’ve got to embrace it so we can come up with certain solutions,” said Moala.

The courageous book by Taimi ‘o Tonga publisher Moala - arguably the kingdom’s most prolific media figure - was launched at the Onehunga Community Centre and Library in Auckland on Saturday.

The event brought together various Pasifika media personalities, including New Zealand Herald columnist Tapu Misa, Spasifik publisher Innes Logan, Radio 531 PI founder Sefita Hao’uli, Pasifika Foundation Hawai’i executive director Ana Currie, Pacific Media Centre director Dr David Robie and MP Carmel Sapuloni.

It also marked the launch of Pasifika Foundation Press, which published the book along with AUT University’s PMC.

In Search of the Friendly Islands, is a candid critique of Tonga’s political, social and cultural challenges, and deals with many misconceptions that the public – including the foreign press – may have about the issues.

'Parachute journalists'
The book is also so outspoken that University of the South Pacific Professor Ian Campbell predicts “many Tongans will be embarrassed by what Kalafi has to tell them”.

In a separate chapter, Moala talks about the notorious riot of 16/11. Rather than a freedom protest, he claims the crisis was driven by self-interested “pro-democratic” leaders wishing to seize political power through mob force.

Overseas “parachute journalists”, Kalafi claims, got it all wrong.

The two-time Pacific Media Freedom Award winner said much of the reporting about Tongan politics by Western media are “very shallow”, often pushing a simplified “one size fits all” democratic model that ignores the complexity of the Tongan situation.

His message is that social and political problems will not be solved simply by changing the political and economic system – it involves a spiritual and ideological dynamic as well.

Associate professor David Robie described the book as “brutally honest” and a “reality check on Tonga today”.

“While some might see Kalafi’s message as pessimistic, I see this as essentially an optimistic book – one that is a challenge of how to be far more constructive about change,” he said.

As a long-time advocate of democratic reform and media freedom in Tonga, Moala is indeed positive about the nation’s future, and is opting for resolution and reconstruction in his campaigns.

In addition to operating the weekly Taimi ‘o Tonga and TV channel TMN-2, his newest venture is taking over operations for the government-owned Tonga Chronicle (after being threatened, sued, and banned by the government in previous years).

“I’m far more optimistic now about Tonga than ever before in my life. I see a lot more togetherness, in the political, social and religious spectrums,” he said at the launch.

Pictures: Top: Kalafi Moala with columnist Tapu Misa; Middle: Sefita Hao'uli; Above: Josephine Latu interviewing businesswoman Salote Lilo. Photos: Del Abcede.

In Search of the Friendly Islands, by Kalafi Moala. Published by the Pasifika Foundation Press and AUT Pacific Media Centre. ISBN 9781877314759. NZ$34.95 South Pacific Books Ltd.

Moala's message: Freedom without anarchy

Staff reporter: Pacific Media Centre

Publisher Kalafi Moala has warned Tongans to decide on what sort of nation they want for their future, saying mere political reform is not enough.

“We have to decide whether we want freedom without anarchy and order without tyranny,” he said today at the launch of his second book, In Search of the Friendly Islands, in Auckland.

He said he had written the book in response to the challenges facing Tonga in an era of globalisation and conflict between tradition and modernity.

The answers lay with the Tongan people - it was up to them to shape their future, but rediscovering traditional spirituality and faith was an important part of this path forward.

Democracy alone could not solve the issues of poverty, crime and social justice.

Several speakers endorsed the publication of the book, including Pasifika Foundation Press executive director Ana Currie, leading broadcaster Sefita Hao’uli and Spasifik magazine publisher Innes Logan.

Associate professor David Robie, director of AUT’s Pacific Media Centre, described the book as courageous and likely to provoke controversy and debate for months ahead.

“While some might see the book as pessimistic, I see it as ultimately optimistic,” he said.

“Kalafi Moala believes passionately in ideas and unlike some journalism that is part of the problem in a society, he has made the choice to be part of a solution.”

The New Zealand Herald published a full page feature article on the book today, quoting Moala as asking: “Can we rediscover the values in our own culture, in our faith-based principles, that have worked for us?”

For Tongans living outside the kingdom, in particular, he said: “The call for changes to our governing structure … must involve not only the abandoning and discarding of all that is harmful but must be replaced by that which serves the divine imperative.”

The book was launched on the day that Moala’s Taimi Media Network took over management of the government-owned newspaper Kalonikali, the Chronicle.

A launching will be held in Nuku’alofa, Tonga, next weekend.

Top picture: Kalafi Moala in an interview with Tnews, above: signing a book for PMC's David Robie. Photos by Del Abcede.

Media crusader’s blighted dream
In Search of the Friendly Islands

From scourge to public conscience

By David Robie: Pacific Media Centre

Publisher and broadcaster Kalafi Moala, the scourge of the Tongan establishment for almost two decades, has turned his pen to the challenges of the kingdom’s future in an optimistic new book being launched in Auckland this weekend.

In Search of the Friendly Islands also reflects on the ‘Black Thursday’ riot in November 2006 that devastated the heart of the capital Nuku’alofa.

Moala launched the Taimi ‘o Tonga on 13 April 1989 with the objective of bringing alternative perspectives and voices into Tonga’s public sphere.

Little did he realise then that he would face unlawful imprisonment in 1996, lawsuits over trumped up charges, being banned from his own country for more than four years and death threats during his long campaign for a free press and freedom of speech.

His newspaper was raided 12 times at one stage over a three-year period. However, his campaign ultimately contributed to greater media freedom and progress towards political and democratic reform.

Moala’s 2002 book, Island Kingdom Strikes Back, gave a vivid and revealing account of his newspaper team’s struggle for a more open society and his family sacrifices for the cause.

He was awarded the inaugural Pacific Media Freedom Award that year by the Auckland-based Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA) and won the award again in 2003.

Now back in Nuku’alofa publishing Taimi ‘o Tonga after its stint in exile in New Zealand, Moala has turned to contemporary political, cultural and social issues and dilemmas facing both his beloved and resilient kingdom and the Tongan diaspora in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

In Search of the Friendly Islands covers a broad canvas of challenges and problems in search of some solutions.

Starting with a chapter dealing with violence in different diasporic settings, he delves into traditional conspiracies dating back to the “Dark Age” of Tuka’aho that led to the assassination of the warrior chief and the killing of his wives.

After a series of feuds, Tuka’aho’s grandson, Taufa’ahau, united Tonga through “brute force, ingenious leadership and new found faith”.

Other chapters deal with domestic violence, the monarchy and leadership, Christian spirituality, economic development and globalisation.

In perhaps the most contentious chapter, Kalafi analyses the rioting in November 2006 when “a demon was unleashed”, leading to eight deaths and the destruction of downtown Nuku’alofa.

He blames the riot on some political leaders and activists whom he accuses of losing sight of democratic reform and responsibility while seeking personal gain.

Moala’s final chapter offers hope for the future based on social reconstruction founded on justice, good governance and spiritual leadership.

For more than a generation, Kalafi Moala has inspired the Pacific region as a newspaper publisher and social conscience. This book is another important contribution to debate and reform about the Friendly Islands and journalism’s role in a “challenge for the soul of our very civilisation”.

>> In Search of the Friendly Islands (Pasifika Foundation Press) will be launched at the Onehunga Community Centre and Library, Auckland, at 11am on Saturday. Co-publisher Pacific Media Centre. ISBN 978-1-877314-75-9. NZ$34.95. Order from South Pacific Books.

Dr David Robie is director of the Pacific Media Centre, AUT University. This article was originally published in the Scoop Review of Books.

New book by former Tongan dissident

Kalafi Moala probes Tonga's key issues in new book

Staff Reporter: Pacific Media Centre

Publisher and broadcaster Kalafi Moala's new book on key development and social issues facing the kingdom of Tonga and its diasporic communities in Australia, New Zealand and the United States will be launched in Auckland next week.

The book, In Search of the Friendly Islands, lifts the lid on many contemporary social issues and dilemmas facing South Pacific nations.

The issues that led to the unprecedented explosion of violence on 16 November 2006 that resulted in the deaths of eight people and the destruction of 80 percent of the central business district of the Tongan capital, Nuku’alofa, are among topics explored by the book.

Executive director Ana Currie of the Pasifika Foundation Hawai'i, publisher of the book, describes it as a significant work for Tonga at this time.

Professor Ian Campbell, of the University of the South Pacific, writing in his foreword, says that while reading Moala's book, "one can imagine him seated on the floor in a circle around the tanoa talking the same way as he writes - connecting the big issues to daily life".

He believes the book can go far in teaching international experts about the "grassroots Pacific".

Associate professor David Robie, director of the New Zealand co-publisher Pacific Media Centre at AUT University, says: "For more than a generation, Kalafi Moala has inspired the Pacific region as a newspaper publisher and social conscience.

"This book is another important contribution to debate and reform about the Friendly Islands and journalism's role in a 'challenge for the soul of our very civilisation'."

>> NZ launching: Onehunga Community Centre & Library, Church St, Onehunga, Auckland, 11am-1pm, March 21.

>> Tonga launching: Tongan National Centre, Vuna Rd, 11am-1pm, March 28.

Pasifika Foundation Hawai'i
Pacific Media Centre - AUT, New Zealand
South Pacific Books