Ownership of Tongan records would remain with the kingdom, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints said today.
Mormon Elder Aisake Tukuafu said the church had offered to digitise national records to preserve them for the future.
“The Church has provided this digitisation and preservation service, free of charge, to governments around the world,” Elder Tukuafu said.
“The ownership of the records here would stay in the hands of the Kingdom, the government and the people of Tonga.”
He said digitising the records would help preserve them for generations to come and allow Tongans to access information about their ancestors.
“As is the case in other countries where we offer this service to governments, the Church obeys the laws of the land including national data privacy laws,” he said.
As Kaniva Tonga news reported yesterday, the government is processing approval for the church’s FamilySearch unit to digitise Tonga’s births, deaths, marriage and other documents.
Deputy Prime Minister Semisi Sika. Who is a Mormon, said Tonga was not the only country to allow the Mormons to digitise its records.
Last year South Australia partnered with the Mormon to digitise its official records including social welfare records, family history, and school admissions.
In 2013 the Papua New Guinea government announced that it had partnered with the Latter Day Saints to digitise the nation’s birth, death and marriage archives.
It is understood Niue has also agreed to let the Mormons digitise its records.
FamilySearch holds more than three billion records and offers services which include image capturing, digital conversion, preservation, online indexing and access.
The main points
- Ownership of Tongan records would remain with the kingdom, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints said today.
- Mormon Elder Aisake Tukuafu said the church had offered to digitize national records to preserve them for the future.
For more information
Mormon digitising of Tonga’s records would benefit country, Deputy PM Sika says
