Anthropology Program
Tongan History Association Newsletter
Vol.13 No.2, October 2002
Tongan History Association Conference
Nuku'alofa - 8-11 July 2003
It is with great pleasure that the executive committee of the Tongan History Association announces the details of our next conference.
The conference will be held in the meeting room of the Free Wesleyan Church Centre, Kolomotu’a, Nuku’alofa. It will run from 8 –11 July, 2003, and has the theme “Tonga From the Stone Age to the Space Age”.
David Burley, a noted archaeologist from Simon Fraser University who has undertaken extensive fieldwork in Tonga, has agreed to be the keynote speaker for the conference.
Registration for the conference will be $50.00, which will cover morning and afternoon teas and lunch. A list of accommodation will be posted on the THA website or, if you do not have internet access, you can contact the secretary of the THA (see details on the last page of the newsletter). Participants will be responsible for making their own accommodation arrangements.
Papers should be of 20 minutes’ duration or less. Abstracts of papers can be sent to Hon. Tu’ivanuavou Vaea, secretary of the Tonga Traditions Committee, P.O. Box 6, Nuku’alofa, Tonga, or by email to: tontrcom@kalianet.to
Advance registrations can be sent to Salote Fukofuka, University of the South Pacific, P.O. Box 278 Nuku’alofa, Tonga, email: fukofuka_s@usp.ac.fj
Further details will be posted on the THA website as they become available: http://sunsite.anu.edu.au/spin/PACASSOC/TONGHIST/tonghist.htm
Internet
Online Tongan Bibliography. This can be found at http://coombs.anu.edu.au/Biblio/biblio_tonga_internet.html. If you wish to have items added to the bibliography, you can contact Helen Lee with the details and she will add them to the site. Email: h.lee@latrobe.edu.au
PasifikaNET is an online directory of Pasifika organisations. If you belong to a club, sporting group, business or association, visit http://www.pasifikanet.com to register your organisation.
Potatala ‘a e Kolomu’a Network. There is a new website that is aimed at discussing some of the issues facing youth. Princess Nanasipau’u Tuku’aho is among those who was responsible for the website’s inception. The Potatala ‘a e Kolomu’a Network site can be found at: http://community.coloradosprings.com/servlet/cs_ProcServ/dbpage=page&gid=01261001301025511277482073
Publications
Books
The Island Kingdom Strikes Back (see review this newsletter). Available from Kalafi Moala PO Box 1198 Ashville NSW 2131. Send a cheque for AUD$40.00.
Journal Articles
Spurway, John, ‘“Hiki mo e Faliki”: Why Ma’afu Brought his Floor Mats to Fiji’, Journal of Pacific History, 37:1 (2002), pp. 5-23.
Book Review
Kalafi Moala, Island Kingdom Strikes Back: the Story of an Independent Island Newspaper – Taimi ‘o Tonga, Pacmedia Publishers Ltd, Auckland, 2002. 297 pages, plus glossary and bibliography. Foreword by Professor Futa Helu.
Reviewed by Elizabeth Wood-Ellem
Jesus said “ . . . you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32)
These are the words that inspired Kalafi Moala to found, in 1989, the Taimi ‘o Tonga, Tonga’s only independent, regularly published newspaper.
Kalafi Moala left Tonga aged seventeen and lived overseas for 25 years, studying theology and serving as a missionary in Papua New Guinea and Japan. When he returned to Tonga in 1988, it was as a US citizen as well as holder of a Tongan passport.
Son of the highly respected Masiu Moala, Kalafi noticed that Kele’a, published from time to time by the then Pro-Democracy Movement (Temos), was extremely popular among the people, and decided that the Taimi ‘o Tonga would tell it like it was. The newspaper was located first in Nuku’alofa and later in Auckland.
The theme of this book is the lengths to which the Tongan Establishment is prepared to go to silence criticism of the Government. There is plenty to laugh at, to astonish, and to grieve over. Whichever emotion is evoked, the book holds your attention from beginning to end. It is a book that everyone interested in Tonga should read.
In the course of the book, many old stories are retold, adding details to what is already widely known. For example, the story of the sale of passports, which led to the migration of foreigners to Tonga, a country that many indigenous people want to leave. Another is the story how ships registered in Tonga and carrying the Tongan flag came to be carrying weapons to the Middle East. There are many more stories.
The most amusing story is the one in which Kalafi describes returning to his house in Nuku’alofa after an absence of two years, and the destruction he finds. Oh that the word “repair” was more frequently in the minds of occupants of houses and drivers of cars, he thought.
The core of the book is concerned with the “trial” by the Parliament of Tonga of three people: Tongatapu people’s number one representative ‘Akilisi Pohiva, Kalafi himself, and the deputy editor, Filo ‘Akau’ola, for “contempt” of Parliament. A motion brought by an MP to impeach the Minister for Justice had been handed to the Clerk of Parliament, but for some unknown reason had thereafter resided in the briefcase of one of the nobles’ representatives for two weeks. Believing that the motion had been tabled in Parliament, Taimi ‘o Tonga published an item about it: the “contempt” charge was for jumping the gun. In Tonga, Pohiva and Filo received summonses to appear before Parliament. Kalafi arrived in Tonga from New Zealand before his summons had been executed. It was not clear to him what the offence was. Nevertheless the three men voluntarily appeared before the House, and the “trial” began. It seems to have been decided quite quickly that the three were guilty of contempt, but for the rest of the day and evening there was an extraordinary discussion between the members as to what the punishment should be.
Late in the evening the three were told that they that they had been sentenced to 30 days in jail, the maximum sentence. They were immediately incarcerated in Nuku’alofa jail. The conditions in the jail were sufficient to turn anyone’s stomach, and Pohiva, who suffers from allergies, was taken to hospital after one night in the lockup. In a country that prides itself on its godliness, one would expect that cleanliness (being next to godliness) would be strictly observed!
Even more bizarre was that Kalafi and Filo (Pohiva still being in hospital) were put into the maximum security section of Hu’atolitoli. Far from being the relaxed environment described by persons who have never been occupants, the restrictions placed on the three (for Pohiva eventually joined them) was strange punishment for publication of a not entirely untrue story. I shall leave it to the readers to discover for themselves the details of the imprisonment and the eventual release on the order of the Supreme Court after 26 of the 30 days’ sentence had been served.
In the midst of despair, Kalafi recounts the kindnesses the three received. The names of the families who provided them with food must be for ever engraved on his heart. Among the gifts brought to them in jail was high quality US toilet paper, which Kalafi used to write articles for Taimi and letters to his staff, passing these on to visitors by means of a handshake. Quite amazingly, the SUTT minister of his choice was only once permitted to visit him. However, each prisoner was provided with a copy of the Bible, the favourite book of most Tongans.
Kalafi relates other occasions in which the Taimi ‘o Tonga was sued, in what seemed to be an attempt to bankrupt the publication. Further, he was charged with falsely claiming to be a Tongan, although he had continued to hold his Tongan as well as his US passport. Most fascinating was how Kalafi was charged with “angering a public servant”.
All scholars (indeed every person) like to hear the “other side of the story”. This is it.
Member News
‘Alisi Fineasi has a new address. You can now contact her at Boston University, School of Education, C/O Dr. Karen Boatman, IEDP- International Education Development Program, 605 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Kerry James is in Sydney for three months. Her address is: Unit 405, 99 Jones St, Ultimo, NSW 2007.
Jehanne Teilhet-Fisk passed away (see obituary below).
Obituary - Jehanne Teilhet-Fisk
Dr Jehanne Teihet-Fisk died on 28 August 2002. She earlier had hepatitis, but was diagnosed last year as having a brain tumour, which was the cause of her death.
Jehanne (PhD UCLA 1975) was most recently a professor at Florida State University, specializing in Non-Western Art History, with a strong anthropological focus. She was accustomed to visiting Tonga with her daughter, Samantha, and a group of her students. She also took her students on field trips to West Africa, Aotearoa/New Zealand and Tahiti. Included in her work were studies of American folk art.
We knew her best as an art historian, and she gave papers at THA conferences on hairstyles, grave decorations and the kiekie, among other things. She was a judge in the Miss Heilala and Miss Galaxy festivals, where she was sometimes introduced as Dr J. Hahn. At the last ASAO meeting, the section on Hybrid Textiles in the Pacific was dedicated to her, and she was delighted with the idea of being so honoured.
Jehanne was warm, generous, humorous, and will be missed by all her friends in the Tongan History Association and other Tongans who came to know her over the years, as well as colleagues and friends in other fields where she was well known and well loved.
Compiled by Phyllis Herda and Elizabeth Wood-Ellem
THA Executive
President: Professor Futa Helu, ‘Atenisi Institute, PO Box 90, Nuku’alofa, Tonga.
Fax: (676) 24819
Vice-President: Dr. Elizabeth Wood-Ellem, 28 View St, Alphington 3078, Victoria, Australia. Email: eowe28@optusnet.com.au
Secretary-Treasurer (Tonga): Mrs. Salote Fukofuka, USP Centre, PO Box 278, Nuku’alofa, Tonga. Email: fukofuka_s@usp.ac.fj
Secretary-Treasurer (Overseas)/Newsletter Editor: Dr. Meredith Filihia, P.O. Box 253, Craigieburn 3064, Australia. Email: mfilihia@optusnet.com.au
THA CONSTITUTION: Any members who would like a copy of the THA Constitution please contact Meredith Filihia
PAYMENT OF DUES: Our financial year is from July to June, so dues should be renewed by the end of June each year. When sending dues please address cheques or money orders to the Tongan History Association (except for those sending to the NZ rep, in which case make payable to Phyllis Herda). Dues are $10 per year or $35 per five years for salaried members, and $5 per year and $18 per year for students/unsalaried members (all amounts in the currency of your country e.g. 10 dollars, 10 pa’anga, 10 pounds etc). When you send your dues please give a postal address so the newsletter can be posted to you.
Dues can be sent to any of the following THA representatives:
Tonga: Salote Fukofuka (see above)
New Zealand: Phyllis Herda, Women’s Studies, Private Bag 92019, University of Auckland, Auckland, NZ.
USA: National Tongan American Society, c/o Fahina Pasi, Chairperson NTAS Board, Center for Ethnic Student Affairs, University of Utah, 318 Union, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA.
Europe: Dr Ute Meiser, Adam-reise-Strasse 7, 81739 München, Germany.
Canada: Dr. Heather Young-Leslie, University of Alberta, Department of Anthropology, Tory Bldg 13-6, Edmonton AB, Canada, T6G 2H4.
Australia: Meredith Filihia (see above).
Tongan History Association Membership Application Form
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