Showing posts with label matangi tonga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label matangi tonga. Show all posts

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Young people not interested in journalism careers, say Pacific media veterans

By Gladys Hartson, Pacific Media Watch

Most young Pacific people do not see journalism as a bona fide career path, according to three Pacific Island journalists who are in New Zealand this week as part of an inaugural exchange programme sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).

At a panel discussion held at the University of Auckland Centre for Pacific Studies on Friday, Samoa Observer editor Mata’afa Keni Lesa said that while the challenges faced by island media are “multiple [and] too many to name”, the lack of training, resources, and manpower were key problems.

This also becomes an issue when recruiting new journalists into the newspaper.

“We get some young people coming through with some training – not top of the line training… But still, we train so many people [on the job] but as soon as the next job opportunity shows up, they’re gone,” he said.

Lesa has a small staff of less than ten people.

“We try work hard with what we got”, he added.

From the Cook Islands News daily paper, Nerys Case, a political journalist originally from the UK, said she has seen a “massive loss of population” in Rarotonga, especially as young people leave the country for better job opportunities overseas.

Cook Island News currently only employs three reporters, she said.

“There seems to be no interest from the young people to become journalists. It’s not seen as attractive”.

Similarly, Matangi Tonga Online photojournalist Linny Folau said that although there is a journalism training programme in Tonga that targets high school leavers for certificate and diploma qualifications, the number of enrolments are low.

“Maybe they think it’s too demanding… Some go through the programme and get the knowledge but after working in the industry, they don’t like it,” she said.

New Zealand Pacific media

Meanwhile, award winning journalist from the New Zealand Herald Vaimoana Tapaleao said there is a real lack of Pacific journalists in mainstream media in New Zealand.

As a result, “huge expectations” are placed on the few Pacific staff in mainstream to cover and be knowledgeable about all things Pacific.

Tapaleao encouraged more young Pacific people to pursue a career in journalism, in order to fill this gap and bring more Pacific –relevant stories into the mainstream.

“When you walk into our office, you can tell straight away there’s only one islander, and the only other Polynesian I know is the Maori Affairs reporter,” she said.

Participants discussed the possibilities of having more opportunities for NZ-based Pacific journalists to spend time with their colleagues in the islands, as part of an ongoing exchange programme.

Gladys Hartson is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student at AUT University and is working with Pacific Media Watch.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Pacific journalists to visit PMC this week

Pacific Media Watch

Three Pacific journalists from Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands will be visiting the Pacific Media Centre this Thursday as part of a week-long exchange programme sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, focussing on policy and social issues as well as political journalism in the Pacific region.

The visiting journalists include Samoa Observer editor Mata'afa Keni Lesa, who is also the Samoa correspondent for Reuters, AFP and the Associated Press; Matangi Tonga Online photojournalist Linny Folau, who covered key stories such as the MV Princess Ashika sinking and Royal Commission of Inquiry hearings in Tonga; and Cook Island News political reporter Nerys Case, who has held a number of senior editorial positions in various magazine publications in the UK.

The journalists will also be visiting other established media organizations such as TVNZ and Spasifik magazine as part of their tour.

For more information on their PMC meeting (Thursday, June 24, 10am -12pm, AUT Tower WT002): See a flyer


Thursday, August 20, 2009

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

Monday, August 10, 2009

Tongan tragedy: Niuean policewoman gave life of service

Niuean policewoman Sisiliah Puleheloto was working in the Solomons with the RAMSI police force. She is one of two people confirmed drowned in the Princess Ashika tragedy in Tongan waters. The ferry capsized last Wednesday carrying 141 passengers - 93 people are still missing.

By Linny Folau of Matangi Tonga

NUKU'ALOFA: Energetic and outgoing, young Niuean policewoman Sisiliah Puleheloto is remembered as a happy, smiling person who loved serving her own community and the people in the Solomons. The 24-year-old woman was working on the RAMSI mission before coming to Tonga last week for a joyful reunion with her cousins.

Her Tongan cousin 'Akesa Luani, of Puke in Tongatapu, said Sisiliah was looking forward to a trip on the ferry to the outer islands, and on Wednesday afternoon had boarded the ill-fated Princess Ashika with 'Akesa's brother, Dwenelle, 25.

"Unfortunately the dream holiday has turned into a nightmare, which has cost her life and the lives of many innocent people. I am shocked and still can't get over the fact that Sisiliah is one of the victims and I will never see her happy face again," says 'Akesa, who is now dressed in black.

Gripping seats
Dwenelle, who returned as a survivor, was in tears when recalling the tragedy. He last saw Sisiliah gripping the seats inside the passenger lounge, as the floundering ferry rolled over, swamped by waves in the middle of the night.

Sisiliah remains one of the 93 people who are missing after the ferry sank in Ha'apai waters on Wednesday, August 5.

With one female body recovered so far, 'Akesa feared for the worst and was down at the Longolongo Police station on Saturday morning, August 8, giving police a full description and a photograph of Sisiliah.

"But they said it's not her," she says.

'Akesa's elder sister 'Ana also emailed from New Zealand, trying to find out about Sisiliah. She said her family there are absolutely devastated with the news that she is still missing.

Service
She said that Sisiliah, a New Zealand citizen, a police officer for the Niue Police Force, was currently serving in the Solomon Islands under the Regional Assistance Mission (RAMSI).

She arrived in Tonga for the first time on Monday, August 3, on leave from work. Because it was her first visit, Sisiliah wanted to do some sightseeing and see what it was it like in the outer islands.

"She had so much to live for she enjoyed working and serving the people in the Solomons. And she just had so many dreams and vision for the future," says 'Akesa.

Outgoing
Sisiliah is being described by both her cousins in Tonga and New Zealand as a very outgoing, energetic and down to earth person who was always happy and smiling.

"She loves children, her job and working with the community. We are not giving up hope that she may still be alive out there, waiting for help to come. She's a strong person and I am sure she is out there somewhere," says 'Akesa.

Sisiliah was due back for duty in the Solomons at the end of the month and was to depart Tonga this week.

Devastated
Dwenelle, who accompanied his cousin, said he happened to go out onto the upper open deck of the ferry to have a smoke and talk with a friend, while Sisiliah remained inside the passengers' lounge.

Then suddenly, as the ferry overturned, the water came up so quickly that he could not get back into the passenger room to help her. He said that as he was gripping onto the seat outside on the deck, he last saw her gripping onto the seats inside the passenger room as well.

"I am thankful that I am alive, but I am still devastated that my cousin didn't make it and is still missing out there," he says tearfully.

Dwenelle had Sisiliah's camera, which showed the happy pictures of her Solomon's service and reunion with her cousins.

Pictured: Top: Policewoman Sisiliah Puleheloto; above: The Princess Ashika. Photos: Matangi Tonga.

More reports at Matangi Tonga

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

PINA summit fails to stand up for media freedom

Pacific Media Watch

Matangi Tonga editorial by editor Pesi Fonua

PORT VILA: The Suva-based Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) continues to struggle to establish itself as a champion of media freedom in the Pacific Islands.

Meeting in Port Vila last week, about 200 PINA members and observers from around the region were addressing the important issue of access to information.

But what appeared to be a sincere intention by the former PINA board to turn its biannual convention into a Pacific Media Summit under the theme "Breaking Barriers - Access to Information'" did not live up to expectations.

Despite the great effort to attract as many participants as possible to attend the Vanuatu PINA inaugural summit, their contributions did not see the light of day, because most participants were not permitted to attend the AGM, and so some serious observations made by working
journalists and media people were not translated into the decision-making process.

No decisions
The few members who were tasked to evaluate and to take action on matters raised during plenary sessions and panel discussion simply could not make any decision, and for the first time ever at the end of a PINA convention there was no communiqué.

The PINA secretariat and its board restricted its thinking capacity by closing its membership registration in March, so that any member who did not pay its membership fees by March 31 would not be able to vote at the annual general meeting in July.

Unfortunately, many regular members of PINA had not paid their dues by that date and so were not permitted to either attend or to vote in the AGM in Vanuatu, although they were present to participate in the various workshops, plenary and other sessions preceeding the AGM.

It was an unfortunate decision to disallow voting of a significant number of members who were there, particularly at a time when PINA needed as many constructive contributions that it could get to help with its decision-making process.

A mere 24 members (who were paid-up at March 31) were left to deal with the numerous pressing issues that PINA has to deal with to regain its credibility.

Fiji media suppression
The Fiji government suppression of its media dominated the summit plenary sessions, for very good reasons, because the PINA secretariat and its regional news outlet PACNEWS are based in Suva, Fiji, and of course participants were saddened by stories of Fijian journalists of how their work was being censored and how they were working under threat by the military government. Even the Fiji journalists testimony in Vanuatu was made difficult by the presence of Fiji military censors taking part in the meeting who said they were there to report back to
their military government.

It appears that PINA voluntarily decided to become a lap dog instead of a watchdog:

* PINA shied away from revoking the PINA membership of the Fiji Ministry of Information - the same ministry that places censors in news rooms in Fiji;

* PINA brushed off the suggestion to remove the PINA secretariat and the PACNEWS from Fiji;

* PINA did not make a strong statement against media suppression in
Fiji, which had been a proposition that a majority of participants
supported during the summit.

Meanwhile, one of two decisions that the PINA AGM made that was relayed through the "coconut wireless'" was that there had been a new approach to the selection of the president and the vice-president of PINA.

The president of the host country, in this case Vanuatu, would become president and the vice president would be the president of national news association that will host the next PINA convention, the Cook Islands.

The new PINA board members are:

President: Mosese Stevens, president of the Vanuatu Media Association, a public relations consultant
Vice-President: John Woods, editor of the Cook Island News
Radio representative: managing director of the Solomon Islands
Broadcasting Commission
TV representative: Tapinga Lavemaau, a camera operator with the Tonga
Broadcasting Commission
Print representative: Michael Jackson, publisher/editor of a newspaper
in Niue
National organisations representative, Samisoni Pareti, a journalist
with Islands Business International, Fiji. (Fiji apparently no longer has a national media association).

Feeble
The feeble outcome of the PINA Pacific Media Summit 2009 is a matter of grave concern for many Pacific Islands journalists and media people who sincerely believe that there is still a need for a credible regional news association.

Pacific Islands News Association
Matangi Tonga
Cafe Pacific on PINA 2009

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

'‘We have a little girl here, come down and work it out'

The year Ofa Donaldson was born, in 1972, there were 3600 adoptions in New Zealand. But rediscovering her Tongan cultural roots was an extra challenge.

By Sylvia Giles: Pacific Media Centre

Proud family photographs hang on the walls of the Donaldson’s Hamilton home - just like houses up and down New Zealand. Ofa Donaldson’s picture is somewhat conspicuous in the family line up, as the only brown face in an otherwise palagi family.

Being adopted may not make Ofa, 36, unique - in 1972 there were 3600 adoptions in New Zealand. It does not even make her unique in her own immediate family, where a younger brother is also adopted, the pair being followed by two biological children.

Yet Ofa’s Tongan lineage stares her in the face.

“It wasn’t like I looked in the mirror one day, and was like, ‘Oh my gosh, Mum! I’m brown! What’s going on?’

“It was just a natural thing. I always knew I was an adopted kid. It was just like I was adopted, and Mum and Dad were Mum and Dad,” she says.

“It was really funny around teenage years. Mum would come down to school, and I’d yell out, ‘Mum!’ and my friends would be like, ‘Aye? Your mum is white!’ But for me it was always a fun thing.”

Strictly speaking, Ofa Donaldson’s surname is still Talatala, as her adoption was never made formal.

“Mum and Dad just got a call from social welfare saying we have a little girl here, and would they like to come down here and work it out?”

But Ofa still calls herself Tongan, especially in recent years.

“Going to Tonga and meeting actual family. I never thought it would be so important, but it was. And it was like, wow, this is actually where my family is from.”

Urban Polynesian
Unusual circumstances aside, she is a second generation, urban Polynesian, and like so many others finding her place in the Pacific. The urban Polynesian has grown in influence in New Zealand, particularly as it is growing at a faster rate than the overall population.

It is a trend apparent in New Zealand pop culture, visible across film, music, art and theatre; the latest telling hybrid is perhaps Othello Polynesia, which is just about to hit Wellington at the Downstage Theatre.

David Fane is just one of the figureheads of this movement. He is a host at Flava fm, is one of the brains behind Bro’town, and a mainstay of The Naked Samoans, and Outrageous Fortune.

Born in New Zealand, he sees a big difference between him and his parents’ identity.

“When my parents came out they joined the church straight away, to draw the community around them. My generation doesn’t feel the need to be a part of a specific island group.

“But that’s not a breakdown. There is no way we’d survive if we held on to those ways. You need to adapt.”

It’s a theme through his many projects, depicting “the Samoan I chose to be”. He makes a trip back to Samoa every three years also, initially joking it is important to him for the duty free.

“But no, and for the chance to catch up with family. But you become very mindful of the difference between being Samoan and being a Samoan New Zealander,” he says.

“You become half-bred of both.”

Pasifika heritage
Ofa Donaldson herself made two trips to Tonga in her thirties to discover her Pasifika heritage.
However after two weeks, she was so rattled by the whole experience she decided to come home early, to her “normal family, and flushing toilets and normal food”.

But her trip was to culminate in her meeting her biological father, almost by accident. In the network of Tongan families that is now woven across the Pacific, she bumped into the sister of a Tongan colleague from back home in Hamilton.

“She knew I was coming to Tonga, but I hadn’t told her when. And that’s how we met my Dad. Because she said, ‘Your Dad is here, he was been waiting 34 years to met you.’”

“It was really emotional. He cried. He could hardly speak any English. So it went me, translator and then him,” she says tracing out their positions on the kitchen table with an index finger, indicating the interloper placed between them.

“Until then I had only heard it from my mother. He explained how he got deported, how he wrote lots of letters to people he knew in New Zealand to try to find me.

“He wants you to know he hadn’t forgotten about you, the uncle explained. And he and my mother weren’t talking so she didn’t tell him where I was.”

But the voluntary pilgrimage still didn’t make the imprint of being forced to meet her birth mother as a 12-year-old child, an experience she describes as “bizarre”.

Her adoptive mother had been upset for the week leading up to it. Ofa Talatala, after all, was still a foster child.

Her Dad, on the other hand, she described as being “a typical English, middle class male: no emotion, just pat, pat, it will be ok”.

Cultural contrast
Which runs in stark cultural contrast with the next piece of Ofa’s storytelling: “When we left [her birth mother’s house], I remember her coming out of the house and standing under the tree, and just wailing,” she recalls.

“I was just like ‘get me out of here’. But it must have been so emotional on her part.

At the time I was like, ‘Oh, my god, how embarrassing, who does that? But for her it must have been grieving. And no shame in it for Tongans, I guess”.

So where does Ofa Donaldson take her cultural cues from in such situations, whether she be adult or child, in New Zealand or in Tonga?

“I really don’t know. It has been cool going back to Tonga, and seeing where I am from, but I think I am so heavily engrained in New Zealand culture.

“It’s not like I am going to drown myself in Tongan stuff now. Some people would, but I am happy to know that I am Tongan, and I’ve been there and met the people.
“I’m happy. Just putting the tapa up, I’m like, ‘that’s me!’”

Sylvia Giles is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student on the AUT Asia-Pacific Journalism course. She took the photograph of Ofa Donaldson at her home in Frankton.

Othello Polynesia

Saturday, May 2, 2009

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

Monday, March 23, 2009

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