“Give me liberty or give me death!”
“I regret that I have only but one life to live for my country.”
These are famous quotes given by what we consider American Revolutionary War heroes, Patrick Henry and Nathaniel Hale. Back in 1776 the colonists were rebelling against King George III of England and what was perceived as his tyranny. They were called the Patriots, but many people were still loyal to the king, thusly named the Loyalists. Once the war for independence was won, the people were then faced with framing a set of laws which this new country would abide by--a constitution. The people did not want a king or any person who would or could rule over them. They were inspired to come up with a government consisting of three branches—each branch having equal powers (a balance of powers) with the representatives of each branch elected by the people…a democracy. (Do I sound like a school teacher?)
Unlike the United States, the Kingdom of Tonga has a constitutional monarchy—way heavy on the monarchy side. They also have three branches of government—the king and his cabinet, the nobles (the rich dudes chosen by the king), and the commoners (elected by the people.) Some Tongans are pushing for more “common people representatives” in parliament and for more voice in their government because most of the nobles vote for what the king wants. We can see red signs painted with sayings like: “Parliament is corrupt.” “Parliament is stealing from us.”
Change has been slow in coming in the last few years, and many impatient Tongans have resorted to demonstrations, strikes, and even the burning of 80 percent of Nuku’alofa, the capital city. (Sound a little familiar--like the Boston Tea Party?) This occurred before our arrival, but the debate is still ongoing between the Kingmen and the Rebels. We hear support for both sides, but we are just “little missionaries” so we remain neutral. However, we did think it was interesting that the ultimate insult for the Kingmen was when the “democracy people” suggested the “noble” language be eliminated. You have to speak a “special” Tongan dialect when talking to the king or the nobles (the rulers of each village.) Each group calls the other “evil” and that they are each seeking power. There are a lot of heated feelings.
A couple of weeks ago was the general election for the commoners’ representatives, and today was the official opening of parliament. It started with the royal princess (the king was in China) being driven through the streets which were lined with the school children of Tonga.
All the members of parliament were waiting in the small parliament building for her royalty.
The princess sat on a large ornate chair next to a couple of rows of smaller blue chairs which were occupied by the nobles. On the other side of the room, sitting on even smaller red chairs were the representatives of the common people. (There is really a caste system here.) Then the members of parliament made the decree that the opening of parliament was now official.
As the princess glided out of the parliament building onto the red carpet, there was an eight cannonball salute. (That was pretty impressive.)
Then all the school children marched past her highness. It was a great parade with high stepping kids and loudly played instruments.
1. As Elder Thompson and I were trying to shift through our feelings about a democracy vs a monarchy, we got thinking that it really doesn’t matter your type of government IF the head, leader, president, king, premier, ruler, or whatever is righteous, if he really serves his/her people. Look at King Benjamin and King Mosiah from the Book of Mormon as examples of righteous kings who loved the Lord and created great civilizations because of it. But you also have the likes of King Noah who through his wickedness allowed his people to become servants first to him and then to the Lamanites.
We think it is great that none of the four sons of Mosiah wanted to reign as king as requested by their father as he got older. Finally Alma the Younger agreed to do the job only after refusing to become king, but by becoming the chief judge instead. These young men were worried that eventually a wicked king would destroy the people and the Church.
2. We take for granted our freedoms, our advance style of life with all the modern conveniences, and the blessing to live together as families. These people are trapped. They really live in a world of bondage because of their form of government. There is very little opportunity to promote industry. The king owns the land, the power company, and satellite companies. The people are taxed on everything they buy with a consumption tax of 15%. Competition is limited. These monopolies of the king choke the people. Because there is limited opportunity to earn money here, families divide and go elsewhere. Many people rely on relatives living in other places for their limited income. Consequently, most live a welfare style of life wanting government and families abroad to provide for them. Doesn’t it make it sound like the good old USA is a pretty great place to live?
We are blessed with hot water…nothing like a hot shower. We have hot water in our apartment, but we’re lucky! None of the missionary houses have hot water and neither do most of the Tongan houses and (for lack of better word) motels. At a couple of the places we’ve stayed on other islands, I’d just stick my toes into the shower stall, get goose bumps, and say, “Clean enough!”
In America we’re blessed with curbs, gutters, and drainage systems. Here the water piles up on the road and along the roadsides creating flooding and pools until it evaporates off.
We’ve got our poorer sections of town, but it’s not 80 percent of Americans in poverty like here.
We’ve got super markets, fast food places, huge grocery stores to make fixing dinner a breeze…Cosco and WalMart.
Hey, we have Malls that you can buy NEW clothes and all kinds of items in ONE handy location.
We have schools with pencil sharpeners instead of using knives to stripe the wood surrounding the lead.
We could go on and on about the blessings of living in the USA. But most importantly, all our family and friends are there. IT’S OUR HOME! (I know. Some of you think it’s time to start singing I’m Proud to be an American.)
Well, we are!
‘Ofa ‘atu, John and Diane
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