Who Owns Tonga: Dialogues with Sefita Hao'uli, Kalafi Moala, and Melino Maka

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aut.relation.endpage162
aut.relation.issue(1)
aut.relation.pages49
aut.relation.startpage113
aut.relation.volume7
aut.researcherBrown Pulu, Teena Joanne
dc.contributor.authorBrown Pulu, TJ
dc.date.accessioned2014-05-27T21:43:15Z
dc.date.accessioned2014-08-03T07:30:06Z
dc.date.available2014-05-27T21:43:15Z
dc.date.available2014-08-03T07:30:06Z
dc.date.copyright2014
dc.date.issued2014
dc.description.abstractAbstract “Who owns Tonga?” asked Sefita Hao’uli. “We do. The people,” I quickly pitched back. But do we really? Quietly I second guessed myself after blurting out an idealistic reply. It might have sufficed the correct response in a liberal democracy where by one general election registered voters elected all their members of parliament. But in the Kingdom of Tonga’s 2014 election year the dread squatting on my conscience murmured the monarchy and nobility owned Tonga, while ordinary people leased meagre pieces from the upper class for a price. What social and economic cost did the country pay for not having a liberal democracy? By having nine nobles’ seats in parliament where thirty-three title and estate holders, all male, elected their class representatives to Tonga’s legislative assembly, did this impede the political system from democratic reform? This last essay in a series of four dialogues with Sefita Hao’uli, Kalafi Moala, and Melino Maka prods a recurring sore in the side of democratic politics and liberal notions that all citizens are created equal by modern constitutional arrangements. How can these principles be practiced under a parliamentary structure that starkly exhibits partiality towards noblemen over and above commoners?
dc.identifier.citationTe Kaharoa: The e-Journal on Indigenous Pacific Issues, vol.7((1)), pp.113 - 162 (49)
dc.identifier.issn1178-6035
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10292/7534
dc.languageEnglish
dc.publisherTe Kaharoa: The e-Journal on Indigenous Pacific Issues
dc.relation.replaceshttp://hdl.handle.net/10292/7236
dc.relation.replaces10292/7236
dc.relation.urihttp://www.tekaharoa.com/index.php/tekaharoa/article/view/169/127
dc.rightsTe Kaharoa is a free access, multi-disciplinary, refereed, electronic journal with a focus on indigenous issues in the Pacific region. It is supported by Te Ara Poutama – the Faculty of Maori and Indigenous Development – at AUT University.
dc.rights.accessrightsOpenAccess
dc.titleWho Owns Tonga: Dialogues with Sefita Hao'uli, Kalafi Moala, and Melino Maka
dc.typeJournal Article
pubs.elements-id167034
pubs.organisational-data/AUT
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Te Ara Poutama
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