trouble in the fale alea

Over the last few weeks the group of democracy protesters that congregate in pangai si’I, a park opposite parliament house, had grown and become more vocal. I had planned to write about how their number and volume had increased enough that their singing was disrupting parliament. However, on Thursday 16 some of the protesters escalated matters still further and, as you have read, Nuku’alofa was disrupted stopped by riots and fires that destroyed much of the centre of town.

The group gathering in pangai si’I were, or are, protesting about the manner in which Tonga is transitioning from being an autocracy to a democracy. The outcome has seemed inevitable for some time, but the pace and manner of change has troubled many. The singing and, regrettably, rioting have been over the failure of parliament to come to any agreement about the various proposals for reforming itself, particularly how members of parliament should be selected.

The Tongan parliament is an interesting body. While Tonga was credited with a high degree of political stability, there is nothing stable about the manner in which parliamentarians are elected. Filling the Fale Alea (parliament house) certainly is a complicated process.

At the last election, the process started with the people electing nine members and the thirty-three hereditary nobles electing nine of themselves as members. The King then appointed a Cabinet, which is added to the already elected members. However, since the King’s appointments included some of the 18 already elected members, this required by-elections to find replacements – as it seems you can’t be a member of cabinet and an ordinary elected member of parliament.

Following the election, the Prime Minister appointed by the King resigned and was replaced by a popularly elected member of Parliament. His seat then became the subject of another by-election. The new Prime Minister has since appointed his own cabinet with three new members and later expanded the size of cabinet to include two more new portfolios.

Tonga now has a large, for its population, parliament of 33 members. That is approximately one member of parliament for every 3500 people.
And it doesn’t look like the process of filling it will become any more stable in the near future as there are a number of opinions about how this should occur and enough passion. The following is my understanding of the various positions.

The National Committee for Political Reform recently completed nation-wide, and diaspora-wide, consultations and proposed a “roadmap” to achieve political reform including all members of parliament being elected. After the people elect all members of parliament, the King would then appoint a Prime Minister from the elected members, and the Prime Minister would appoint his Cabinet Ministers from the elected members of the House.

Cabinet, prior to the protests, was proposing that that there be nine noble representatives and 14 people's representatives. The Prime Minister, chosen by parliament rather than the King, and the King would have still chosen the 12-14 members of Cabinet with the only limitations being that at least two-thirds be already elected members of parliament and at least two-thirds be the choice of the Prime Minster. The King would still be allowed to appoint a third of Cabinet at his discretion and he and the Prime Minister may have collectively appointed 3 or 4 people of their choice.

It is easy to understand what the pro-democracy movement find the Prime Minister and King being able to appoint non-elected members to cabinet so objectionable. However, given the way government operates in Tonga, there are some good reasons for allowing. The most important is the need for Ministers to be well qualified as they are not provided with the extensive support by their departments that Ministers in Australia enjoy.

Consider the following scenario*:

George: Is there somebody you think would make a capable transport minister?

Fred: Well George, there is nobody elected to parliament with much experience in transport. They are mostly former teachers and lawyers. I could give one of them the job, but I am not sure they are up to it and transport is very important for Tonga.

George: Do you know anybody else who could do the job?

Fred: A friend of mine, Ralph, has worked in transport for several years. He ran a shipping company and has worked across the Pacific advising other governments on transport policy. I would like to give him the job.

George: OK.

Why is Ralph getting the job, because he is the friend of the Prime Minister or because he is the best person for the job? Would Tonga be better off with Ralph as transport minister or one of the teachers and lawyers that was democratically elected? This is why both sides of the debate about democratic reform in Tonga could be right, and why a solution to the current problems is unlikely to be decided upon in the very short-term. Hopefully, at least, we have seen the last of the violence.

* This scenario is fictitious. Any similarity to anybody living, dead or Tongan is entirely coincidental.