WikiLeaks cable: Tongans in NZ appalled by violence but still back reform
November 26, 2006 Tongans in New Zealand appalled by violence but still back reform
date:2006-11-26T18:32:00 source:Embassy Wellington origin:06WELLINGTON930 destination:VZCZCXRO8467 PP RUEHPB DE RUEHWL
#0930/01 3301832 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 261832Z NOV 06 FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3530 INFO
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC
PRIORITY RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 4623 RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 0616 RUEHSV/AMEMBASSY SUVA 0536 RHHJJAA/JICPAC
HONOLULU HI classification:CONFIDENTIAL reference: ?C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 WELLINGTON 000930
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR D (FRITZ), EAP/FO, EUR/RPM, AND EAP/ANP NSC FOR V...
?C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 WELLINGTON 000930
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR D (FRITZ), EAP/FO, EUR/RPM, AND EAP/ANP NSC FOR VICTOR CHA SECDEF FOR OSD/ISD JESSICA POWERS PACOM FOR
J01E/J2/J233/J5/SJFHQ E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/24/2016 TAGS: PGOV, PREL, TN, NZ SUBJECT: TONGANS IN NEW ZEALAND APPALLED BY
VIOLENCE BUT STILL BACK REFORM REF: SUVA 508 AND PREVIOUS
Classified By: Consul General John Desrocher for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
1. (C) Summary. A prominent member of the Tongan community in Auckland reports that, while local Tongans were shocked by
last Thursday's violence in Nuku'alofa, it has not dissuaded them of the need for democratic reform. Local Tongans put
much of the blame for the violence not on the pro-democracy movement but on thugs in the employ of various business
rivals. Far from decrying the New Zealand/Australian intervention as antidemocratic, most New Zealand Tongans support it
as necessary for law and order. End summary.
2. (C) Sefita Haouli, a New Zealand-based Tongan, operates a local radio station that serves the Pacific Islands
community; Haouli is well plugged in to local Tongan opinion. He told the Consul General that New Zealand's
50,000-strong Tongan community was shocked by last week's events. According to Haouli, Tongans in New Zealand maintain
strong interest in their homeland through bonds of family, village and church.
3. (C) Haouli was dismissive of suggestions that local Tongans might oppose the presence of Australian and NZ forces in
Tonga as a prop for the monarchy. Haouli argued to the contrary, reporting that local Tongans believe the NZ/Australia
intervention was inevitable and essential to restoring order. Despite the initial reaction of some pro-democracy
activists, most local Tongans see violence as a far more serious threat to reform than the NZ/Australia intervention.
4. (C) Haouli considers himself a moderate, but one who sides much more with pro-democracy forces than with the
monarchy. He feels in step with the rest of the Tongan community in New Zealand, which he describes as generally
pro-reform. Tongans resident in New Zealand, he explained, appreciate first hand the benefits of democracy and a
transparent, free market economy. Haouli did not think last week's violence would weaken the cause of reform or frighten
off those who support democracy. Haouli argued that the nature of the violence was key in that regard.
5. (C) Closely echoing reftel, Haouli attributed the violence not to the pro-democracy movement directly but to criminal
deportees from Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. Haouli described a complicated web of business rivalries, with
factions hiring deportees to intimidate and sabotage their opponents. These business factions have connections with
various political elements, including reformers. Reformers, he said, took advantage of these connections to whip up
public support, a plan that spun out of control last Thursday.
6. (C) This criminal involvement, Haouli said, meant that Tongans in New Zealand did not see last week's violence as an
attack by pro-reform forces on the status quo, but rather looting (with a clear anti-monarch and anti-foreigner slant)
by criminal thugs. Had deaths or injuries occurred among political figures on either side, as opposed to people Tongans
consider common criminals, Tongans might have been much more inclined to reconsider reform.
7. (C) Like Sitiveni Halapua (reftel), Haouli put considerable blame on PM Sevele for creating the conditions that led
to the violence, but Haouli stopped short of calling for Sevele's resignation. Like Halapua, Haouli said that Sevele's
presentation of an alternative proposal for reform, outside the framework set up by Halapua's National Committee on
Political Reform, was the spark that set off the conflagration. Haouli noted that demonstrations in Nuku'alofa had grown
more and more frequent and that violence may have been inevitable.
8. (C) Haouli passed on a report about two businessmen particularly close to the King (possibly brothers Sefo and Soane
Ramanlal) who fled to New Zealand during the violence. Haouli reported that the men, who had a very difficult time
WELLINGTON 00000930 002 OF 002 getting out of Tonga, had called the King upon their arrival in New Zealand and berated
him in very harsh terms for not better protecting them and their businesses. If true, Haouli said, this would be an
extraordinary case of lese-majeste and a significant blow to the King's prestige. Haouli found it interesting that the
government had not intervened more aggressively during the violence, suggesting the King was not confident of the
support of his police.
9. (C) Kalolo Fihaki, a Tongan who works for the New Zealand Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs in Auckland, generally
agreed with Haouli's assessment. He confirmed that Tongans in New Zealand overwhelmingly support the intervention by
Australia and New Zealand, noting that those two governments had been the strongest proponents of reform. Fihaki argued
that no one had benefited from last week's events. The King had been unable to stop the violence, the PM had looked
incompetent, the democracy movement had associated itself with thugs, and the Nuku'alofa business district had gone up
in smoke.
McCormick
ENDS