Well, we knew that people were reading the National Geographic, and we were a little disappointed with their recent article on Tonga, so I guess it wouldn't have gone unnoticed that someone should extend a hand to correct some at least one or two of the suspected errors in the article.

Mayor Miller Sends Letter to King of Tonga

...

I enjoyed reading about Tonga in the November 2007 issue of National Geographic. It was with great interest that I learned about your country and its current struggles. May I also extend my condolences on the passing of your father, King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV.

In the article, you noted that America has a reputation for wealth and power, yet it also has poor people in inner cities and rural areas such as Lubbock, Texas. I was surprised to read the reference to our city, and felt compelled to contact you.

...

In Texas, there are a gazillion (as in a whole lot of them) Tongans. As I understand, the population of Tongans in Texas centres around the Dallas / Fort Worth due to previous adventures of the local governments to increase population and increase the work force.

The high schools in the area have their history pages filled with Tongan kids in their athletics / football programs.

As a student at the Fort Worth based Texas Wesleyan College (now University) I had a chance to visit with friends living in Lubbock. Texas is definitely a country of its own, and proud of it.

Going to Texas from Tonga, the car rides are definitely looonger to get places.

The devils in the details.

We finished last-weeks yap rounds with an evening of drinks at the Dupinisia Restaurant and Bar. As I recall, I was soo late that the entrees were already finished, and there wasn't anything after that except liquids.

It's a good thing we had a BBQ going at the house, even if I missed out on that one as well. This isn't looking so good.

Briefing

Subject: National ICT Strategy Development to Augment National Development

The National ICT Strategic Planning workshop brought together stakeholders from Government, Civil Society and the Private Sector. Workshop delegates assessed and initiated various policies, programmes, project proposals which they have committed to refining over the next four months. Likewise, Government is ensuring a minimal number of these projects are fully functional, at the launch of the National ICT direction scheduled for mid 2008.

Government having finalised our National Strategic Plan in 2006, have embedded significant ICT within capacity development, service development, and provisioning. In recognition of the interdependency between ICT and National Development, the Government of Tonga has long sought and accepted assistance for various ICT initiatives including the recent SOPAC sponsored e-Readiness Assessment, and the National ICT Strategic Planning workshops held with the assistance of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Commitments from the Prime Minister and senior Government officials to workshop delegates have strengthened their resolve to pursue refinements of ICT Strategies for National Development. Although various Ministers continue pushing ICT as a significant enabler of National Development, the statements from the Prime Minister at the workshop was the first public direction to stakeholders

Participants have clearly identified human capacity retention and development as a core requirement for engaging the benefits of ICT. Several options are being investigated within the working groups targeting both long-term policies and short-term projects.

Augmenting the National Strategic Plan through ICT, six Working Groups have been formed from the workshop to refine ICT plans for: Education, e-Government, Homes and Communities, Industry, Legislation, Technology and Infrastructure.

“To ensure greater involvement of Civil Society and the Private Sector, Government must be a catalyst in the ICT arena.” says Alfred Soakai of the Department of Communications. “Government recognises and promotes long term economic growth must be led by Civil Society and the Private Sector, this Workshop is one of the initiatives of Government in the ICT field to move us all forward. We can do more, and bringing together all stake holders is an important beginning.”

The Department of Communications, again with assistance from the Commonwealth Secretariat continue to support and direct discourse.

Where to Now ?

Interested individuals and organisations are invited to participate in online discourse at the following addresses:

http://groups.google.com/group/tg-educ/ Education Working Group
http://groups.google.com/group/tg-egov/ e-Government Working Group
http://groups.google.com/group/tg-home/ Homes and Communities Working Group
http://groups.google.com/group/tg-indus/ Industry Working Group
http://groups.google.com/group/tg-legis/ Legislation Working Group
http://groups.google.com/group/tg-tech/ Technology and Infrastructure Working Group
The discussions are public, including various documents, directions related to each group.

Endnotes:

The Tonga Strategic Development Plan is available online at http://www.tonga-now.to/Article.aspx?ID=600

The Working Groups currently meet online using GoogleGroups.

The Kele'a has some interesting write-ups this week.

* Why are QSC Ex-Students adamant / belligerent about buying a TOP$3million property that is obviously not worth the money, and they wish to put it to use that is already provided by many other services in Tonga.

* What is the disagreement between the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Ministers' Office that lead to the delay in this year's budget ? Did they really try to spruce up the damned economy ?

* Why is the President of the Free Wesleyan Church preaching holier than tow when everything points to the other with his own actions ? (Read: recent appointments)

You know it hurts when you give credit to the Kele'a for breaking news that should have been covered by the other mainstream papers, but they conveniently led slide ...

It seemed at first that the freeze on parliamentary reports from the Tonga Broadcasting Commission was supposedly an internal matter, but according to the latest Pacnews report, there has also been a ban on recordings inside parliament which tends to support the view that Government forced the closure of the weekly program from TBC covering debates in parliament

TONGA BROADCASTER'S PARLIAMENT BAN CONTINUES

Thursday July 5, 2007, 4:01 pm

NUKUALOFA, July 5 Asia Pulse - The Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC) says it is still being prevented from covering parliament despite assurances from the government that a ban has been lifted.

The prime minister's office said a ban on the TBC's daily parliamentary reports has been lifted after a reporter apologised following complaints from cabinet ministers about a lack of balance.

But Katalina Tohi, the manager of Television Tonga and part of the TBC, said this was simply not true.

Ms Tohi told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat Programme it was extremely frustrating, especially for radio and television outlets which need audio and vision.

She said journalists are still unable to record the proceedings of parliament.

"We really don't understand, we get calls from people everywhere asking why aren't you doing the parliamentary reports," Ms Tohi said.

"But then there it is, you can't do anything."

The reporting of parliament by TBC staff has been on hold since 15 June.

(Pacnews)

Hard to know who to believe in anymore ? Well, what did you think, this is war! After-all, it is politics.

There's a strange thing about the Kava import restrictions (bans?) in Australia.

Apart from the fact that it seems the federal government is jumping on solving the symptom of the problem, to assuage public opinion against their inactions over the 'aborigine problem.' After all, the rampant alcohol abuse by aboriginal communities have not lead to bans of imports on alcohol, which has a world ready list of documentation on the damage it does to body and soul.

Let's just say that the Australian Government doesn't really want to bite the bullet and take the action required to resolve the actual problems of the people in aborigine communities. Kind of like the problem with Sydney's transport system.

But then again, Tongans crave for their own freedom to run their own country as they see fit. We have our own Sunday laws we do not want changed by outsiders and their own traditions. Let Australia set their own standards, just push them if you think it is wrong.

There is also the problem that some of the complainants, Kava Resellers/Importers, could probably be blamed for the current excess shown by some aborigines. After all, the Kava plants and their crushed cousins didn't take the nearest bus to Arnhem land, someone had to take it there and then demonstrate their wonderful qualities to the poor sods out there.

Let me here it again ? Who are the people suffering from not having Kava instead of Coffee ? Who are the people suffering from abuse of alcohol, soft drugs?

Photo courtesy of ThinkQuest Library entry on Samoans by Enchanted Lake Elementary School

Tonga-Now to continue - Minister of Finance

5/07/2007 10:42:11 a.m.

Responding to the overwhelming reaction to the announcement of the closure of Tonga-Now, the Hon. Minister of Finance, Siosiua T.T. 'Utoikamanu, has reviewed his decision to allow Tonga-Now to continue to operate. The Minister has received extensive support messages and responses from Tongans and concerned individuals from both here and abroad for the need to keep the Tonga-Now website because it is a major source of information about the Kingdom.  The Minister has also instructed that it shall report in a non-biased and professional manner and to keep informing readers about the latest events in Tonga, particularly on economic and revenue reforms and related issues

It was a nice little bit of local drama, that further gave credence to Kele'a's current edition which accused there having been conflicts between the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance. Seeing as how there is so much incredible articles in the Kele'a and their online partner TongaStar, it is hard to give them credit, but Tonga-Now.to being scheduled for closure sure put a lot of interest into the Kele'a's print.

Welcome back Tonga-Now.to, even if you hadn't left the building (anyone seen Elvis?)

I really think Tonga-Now is doing great service for the Government and People of Tonga. Keep up the high standard of reporting and give us enough information so we can make up our own minds about what is going on.

I haven't been onboard a US Destroyer, and am unlikely to, but if we get lucky enough with the below invitation from the visiting US Destroyer John Paul Jones, that would be exciting stuff (to say the least.)

It's not as if the US haven't been visiting, as friendlies, for the longest time. It's just great to have a general invitation from a greater nation.

 It is a tremendous honor to be in Tonga on the 4th of July. Tonga and the United States have been allies in the Global War on Terrorism and in other coalition operations for many years. Just as the war for American independence required out forefathers to take a stand, Tongan and U.S. forces today are working together to fight oppression and tyranny. In celebration of the U.S. Independence Day, U.S. Ambassador Larry M. Dinger and I will host a reception for royal, government, and business leaders aboard JOHN PAUL JONES on the 4th. The evening promises to be a wonderful opportunity to make new friends and strengthen those friendships that already exist. It's also a perfect way for my officers and crew to showcase our great ship. Aside from the reception, we're all looking forward to experiencing all that Tonga has to offer.

-James J. Housinger, Commander, Commanding Officer USS John Paul Jones

Revenue Services Department, elsewhere known as the blood sucking animal of Government or one of the two eventualities of life (death and taxes, but I'm not sure which one ?)

Revenue Services is pushing out a survey for their Consumption Tax 'partners' (those who earn enough to be taxed more) trying to get a feeling for how many would be willing to fill out their tax forms online.

Personally I would have hoped that Revenue would have had this in place for a few more meaningful (head-ache ridden sections) such as filling out those forms to get anything into the country.

But its a start.

Maybe next time you look into Tonga, all our Consumption Tax paying business will be submitting their forms online (except when they need the submission back-dated, so they'll take it in to the first cousin on their wife's best friend's mother's side.)

Go Tonga!!

We seem to be getting more information about the new rubbish collection service bestowed upon us by our illustrious, no hankey-pankey government.

It is only now that we seem to be getting informed that the TOP$10.00 a month fee is not voluntary, and that ALL households will be required to pay whether they use the service or not.

Tonga-Now: Trial rubbish collection service conducted

The service will cost each household TOP$10 and is a new compulsory charge under the Waste Management Act 2005. Each household will be charged for the service whether or not he/she makes use of it.

Seems to have been overlooked as an issue while they were promoting the new dump / rubbish pick-up.

When we first heard the news about the $10 monthly fee I thought that it was exceedingly generous and that the only way that they were going to make this profitable (i.e. make enough money to buy new trucks 'cause the roads are going to kill the trucks they are using now) is to somehow either get a majority of Tongatapu residents signed up, or force everyone to pay.

We were previously using a private firm, Waste Management Ltd, to pick up our rubbish at a cost of $8 pa'anga per pick-up, and now Government is going to pick-up my rubbish FOUR times a month for only $10 pa'anga a saving to me of ($8.00 x 4 - $10 = $22.00). Geezz living in Tonga is just getting cheaper!!

Visit bTonga

I must have missed this one when it first came out, but when I finally saw it I thought how cool can this be.

The Talaki are purposely printing the mobile phone numbers for their reporters which seems to me to be the first time I've seen this in any newspaper. Of course, the scale of people and news is much smaller in Tonga but it sure looks cool that the Talaki want to reach out to their readership and for getting news leads as soon as possible.

When you have some local event happening, or just seen the latest accident speed-dial these guys/gals and get someone on the spot.

Way to go Talaki team.

Lists are always a good 'rule-of-thumb' that allows us to begin reviewing knowledge in a field, as well as providing base ethos values. For security, Microsoft have a number of short lists up to help Microsoft Software users with securing their environment.

The best part of the checklists ? Technology is not a panacea. If you don't already know that, then you really need the list.

• 10 Immutable Laws of Security Administration
• 10 Immutable Laws of Security

10 Immutable Laws of Security

• Law #1: If a bad guy can persuade you to run his program on your computer, it's not your computer anymore
• Law #2: If a bad guy can alter the operating system on your computer, it's not your computer anymore
• Law #3: If a bad guy has unrestricted physical access to your computer, it's not your computer anymore
• Law #4: If you allow a bad guy to upload programs to your website, it's not your website any more
• Law #5: Weak passwords trump strong security
• Law #6: A computer is only as secure as the administrator is trustworthy
• Law #7: Encrypted data is only as secure as the decryption key
• Law #8: An out of date virus scanner is only marginally better than no virus scanner at all
• Law #9: Absolute anonymity isn't practical, in real life or on the Web
• Law #10: Technology is not a panacea 

Visit bTonga

Came across some news through http://www.tongausatoday.com so I thought it was a good time for a reminder of the Major news sites focused on Tonga, as well as other possible Tonga related news feeds.

Matangi Tonga: http://www.matangitonga.to

Planet Tonga: http://www.planet-tonga.com

Tonga Broadcasting Commission: http://www.tonga-broadcasting.com

Taimi 'o Tonga: http://www.timesoftonga.com

Tonga USA Today: http://www.tongausatoday.com

News Feeds

In general, I follow the news on Tonga using the RSS Feeds I've put together on the frontpage of Nomoa.com as well as a slashed together feeds.

Google News: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=tonga&ie=UTF-8&scoring=d&output=rss  

Matangi Tonga (via Google): http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&resnum=1&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&q=site:www.matangitonga.to&scoring=d&output=rss

Yahoo News:  http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/rss?ei=UTF-8&p=tonga&c=&eo=UTF-8 

Tasilisili: http://groups.google.com/group/tasilisili/feed/rss_v2_0_msgs.xml

Times of Tonga: http://timesoftonga.com//component/option,com_rss/feed,RSS2.0/no_html,1/

Tonga-Now.to:  http://www.tonga-now.to/Media/podcast/rssFeed.aspx?ID=2243&mode=2 

With the above 'feeds' I get the latest news on Tonga delivered to my desktop, by using a program that 'aggregates' collects the feeds. When I want to check the above 6 websites to see whether there are any news updates on Tonga, I don't have to look at all those websites separately (taking a lot of time.) Instead, I just open my News Aggregator (RSSOwl) and it checks the websites for me, and gives me the latest updates.

Coool!!!

www.Tonga-Broadcasting.com has the broadest news information, and unfortunately they've not got themselves indexed by Google's News service so I can't build an RSS feed from it (yet) but if you really must keep in touch with the pulse in Tonga, it wouldn't hurt you to visit this site at least once a day.

Ko e vakameili 'eni 'e ua 'i Tonga ni.

Two cruise ships are in Tongatapu today, we first noticed this morning as I went to take Ma'ata Ngalo'afe to school and these gigantic things are hanging out offshore. We also saw stalls being put up at one of the bus-stops beside the palace office and knew something was up.

I can read the sign on the large one in doc "Aurora" but didn't bother looking for the one offshore.

These seem to be mostly retirees and of the elder generation, and it seems most disembarked this morning and were enjoying a day off the vessel and were just casually walking/browsing through the road. It looked like this boat let's you hire or bring your own bicycles because there were a few people cycling around, while others were jogging (at least it seemed like they were part of the boat contingents.)

There were 'shuttle' buses between major locations and the vessels, although I didn't try getting on one to get more details of how they worked (like it wouldn't be too obvious that I didn't come on the boat 8-)

The offshore boat disembarked passengers using their own day-tripper boats. Which is kinda weird because those things look a whole lot better than some we've got at the wharf (ahhh, what money and good stewardship can achieve.)

I wonder, if when the kids are grown and out of the house, whether me and mum wouldn't mind going on a trip such as this. My dad just sees expense, expense whenever I suggest he takes a long break, and I'm not sure how far off the tree son has grown?

Note: Silver Shadow is the other boat, routing through from New Zealand to Fiji. Aurora is routing through to New Zealand from Nouvelle Caledonia(?)

Matangi Tonga goes registered version

I've been wondering how much the new registered version of Matangi Tonga would come to.

It's a pretty good deal, so why don't you get registered to enjoy even more premium news. And blessed of all, you can pay over the counter if you browse the Internet to find news about your neighborhood.

date: Tongatapu 2007.02.20

Over the Counter Payment

Register and pay for a Matangi Tonga Online Subscription at our Nuku'alofa Office.

1. Local subscribers are Users who are resident in Tonga and normally living and working in the country.

2. Come to the Vava'u Press Ltd, Matangi Tonga Online, office, located on the corner of Hala Holomui and Railway Road, Pahu, Nuku'alofa. Office hours: 9:00 am to 5:00 PM Monday to Friday.

3. Fill out a subscription form.

4. Choose your subscription package.

Tongan pa'anga prices for local subscribers:
World Wide Individual 1-day, $3.00
Access to all premium content for 1 day.
World Wide Individual 1-month, $15.00
Access to premium content for one month.
World Wide Individual Half-Year, $49.00
Access to premium content for six months.
World Wide Individual 1-year, $85.00
Access to all premium content for 1 year.

5. Pay for your subscription. We accept cash, EFTPOS, Visa and Master cards from individuals, as well as cheques on approval.

6. We will manually enter your subscription and your password will be sent to your email address.

7. All subscriptions must be prepaid in order for User to access Premium Content.

8. Call 25779 for answers to any queries you may have about Over the Counter Payment of subscriptions.

Driving down the foreshore, waterfront of Nuku'alofa when I saw the "bunkering" sign beside Touliki Naval Base and two campers (Shell personnel) under their little tent hanging out in the wierd weather we're having at the moment.

The MV Sara Theresa, of Singapore, was hanging around off the coast and tied down for supplying your little Kingdom with some fuel.

The weather's overcast in Tonga right now, with a high level of humidity.

Go well, Go Shell

Sincerely appreciate the efforts Pesi, Mary Fonua and their team are doing at Vava'u Press to get themselves back online. It would seem that the purveyors of truth (the Demolition Movement) may have targetted Pesi and Mary's service as it has recently been quite critical of the movement's methods (along with being critical of government as well.)

Although citizen journalism has helped us thus far with getting some news of what is happening in Tonga, it is nonetheless quite different when professionals put finger to keyboard (although it would have been nice to get larger images?)

Matangi Tonga has been an incredible resource for Tongans overseas and local with cutting and insightful interviews. I've disagreed with some of their editorial work, but their value to Tonga and Freedom are much more than can be measured.

Best wishes to the team and hopefully you can be up and running smoothly before too long.

Sam T

Kisione Taufa has a blog up on Planet-Tonga and he's been allowed, together with other news/photographers to walk the destruction that is now in the restricted access zone.

There's more @ http://planet-tonga.com/ktaufa/2006/11/19/faingamalie-faita-he-feituu-tapu-controlled-area-o-nukualofa/#more-8 but a beginning snippet is below.

FAINGAMALIE FAITA HE FEITU'U TAPU (PROHIBITED AREA) 'O NUKU'ALOFÁ.

Ne faingam lie ' o ma' u ha ngaahi ata mei loto Nuku' alofá, hili hono fanongonongo mai e he LetiM Tongá a e faingam lie ki he kau faiongoongó e faka' at a e fait he feitu' u tapu o Nuku' alofá. Na' e tataki mo tokanga' i p e he Ofisa Ma' olunga mo e ni' ihi mei he Taumalu' i Fonua a Tongá a e kulupú koe' uhi ko e ngaahi " Crime Scene" ke oua na' a uesia.

Ko hono fakama' ala' ala ena e Lafitani Sikalu a e kau faiongoongó a ia na' e fakahoko i he toumu' a o e api nofo' anga o e Palesiteni Siasi j esiliana Tau' at ina o Tongá. Ne iai foki moe kau faiongoongo mei he Televisone Uluaki, Tolu, mo e Tangata Pasifika o Aotealoá. Ko e toenga ko e kau faiongoongo fakalotofonua ma' ae ngaahi kautaha ongoongo kehekehe p o kau ai au mei he Planet-Tonga..

I hono fakalukufuá, ko e anga eni eku vahevahe lalahi ki he ngaahi maumau mo e mofia i loto Nuku' alofaá.

NGAAHI FALE OKU KEI HAO IKAI HA MAUMAU

Ko e Maketi Talamahu.

Ko e Falekoloa Naunau Langa o e South Pac Builders Ltd.

Ko e ngaahi pisinisi kehekehe a e Fund Management House.

Tonga's riot makes the 3rd page of the Daily Telegraph with a bright picture of Narrotam engulfed in flames.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/ 2006.11.18 22:00

1. Troops begin patrols in Tonga

   News Interactive - 1 hour, 45 minutes ago

   AUSTRALIAN troops have begun patrolling Tonga's international airport in an effort to restore calm, as dozens of Australians prepare to flee the strife-torn South Pacific nation.

2. Aussies fleeing Tongan strife

   News Interactive - 2 hours, 47 minutes ago

   AUSTRALIAN troops and police have arrived in Tonga as dozens of Australians prepared to flee the strife-torn nation on a Government sponsored flight to Sydney.

3. Australians touch-down in Tonga

   News Interactive - 2 hours, 55 minutes ago

   A DEPLOYMENT of Australian troops and police has arrived in strife-torn Tonga.

4. Aussies fleeing Tongan strife

   News Interactive - 3 hours, 10 minutes ago

   DOZENS of Australians are fleeing strife-torn Tonga on a Government sponsored flight to Sydney.

5. Diggers to patrol Tongan airport

   News Interactive - 5 hours, 10 minutes ago

   A CONTINGENT of Australian troops deployed to Tonga will begin patrolling the troubled nation's international airport later today in an effort to restore calm to the South Pacific nation.

Other than that ? We had a great birthday party at Anna and Ilavalu's celebrating their daughter's (Kalesita) birthday.

They say that any form of advertising is good advertising.

But the front page of the New York Times ?

Thanks to Jason Kearns, former Peace Corp Volunteer, and a friend to Tonga/Tongans for the heads up.

Definitely too many heads thinking its cool to trash other people's property.

Oh yes, there was nothing remotely anti-government about all the wanton destruction and definitely a lot of pure adrenaline driven greed. 

Apparently, the Police knew at the onset of the rioting and violence that they were definitely outnumbered, underpowered, to deal with the ruckus, so they did the next best thing.

The Police apparently spent a lot of their time with that new consumer toy, digital cameras, taking photos of people in the process of committing crimes (as well as being dufus.)

This has lead to the quick apprehension and subsequent jailing of dufus's.

Hurrah for modern technology, just think of it. If this kind of thing had broken in Tonga while another Minister of Police was still in charge, there would not have been enough of these cameras to count on your hands. Today, we all know of the news through these expensive and cheaper models.