A US-based Tongan lawyer who was banned from entering the kingdom in 1992, claims sitting MPs should be replaced by women because they might have better ideas.
Filia Uipi, who lives in Salt Lake City, told an online conference hosted by Kele’a Voice that Tonga’s democracy was unbalanced and new people needed to be elected to Parliament before voters could expect any changes.
Uipi said people complained about politics, but they kept electing the same MPs.
“Let’s try women,” he said.
He said MPs should have the ability to help reduce the economic disparity between the lower and the upper echelons.
He said there were huge financial troubles in Tonga which recalled the importance of having in the leadership people who lived with Christian core values.
He said the Late ‘Akilisi Pohiva advocated this.
Uipi said Tonga’s 2010 democratic reform was a “laughing matter” and that democracy never happened.
“Stupid”
He said the democratic reforms were “stupid” in the eyes of the world.
He said the system allowed nine noble members to represent 33 members of the king’s nobility while only 17 people were elected to represent about 100,000 people.
He wanted the people to change their minds about what was regarded as normal.
“It has been said ‘blessed are the humbles for they shall inherit the land’,” Uipi said.
“It’s no longer that. It is now ‘Blessed are the humbles for they shall be stamped on.’ ”
He said the late president of the Free Wesleyan Church, Dr ‘Amanaki Havea and the Late Bishop Patelesio Finau of the Catholic Church as well as Rev Siupeli Taliai were advocates of political change in Tonga. They were people who have core values.
Uipi said the American Constitution was based on human rights principles and said people should be free and happy.
He said this should be the basis of Tonga’s democracy in the future.
When people were oppressed they tried to change their situation.
“We cannot stay in the status quo,” Uipi said.
“The conservatives tried to hold on to the culture and traditions, but our youth and children need change.
“It is the survival of the fittest
“Let’s look at the French Revolution. Destroyed.
“The Tsar of Russia. Same thing.
“Look at the Shah of Iran. Where are they? They have gone.
“Tonga needs to move with the chariot of time.
“If not than the business people’s saying will be true. The worst is set to come. I hope not.”
Uipi was not allowed to disembark from his aircraft when he arrived in Tonga in 1992 to speak at the first ever meeting organised by the Late ‘Akilisi Pohiva and the Democrats.
The meeting was known as the Convention on Democracy and Constitution.
Papers read during the convention are regarded as the basis of the later push for democracy in Tonga which came to fruition in the 2010 political reforms.
The main points
- A US-based Tongan lawyer who was banned from entering the kingdom in 1992, claims sitting MPs should be replaced by women because they might have better ideas.
- Filia Uipi, who lives in in Salt Lake City, told an online conference hosted by Kele’a Voice that Tonga’s democracy was unbalanced and new people needed to be elected to Parliament before voters could expect any changes.
