KEY POINTS:
A national reconciliation process will be necessary for Tonga to recover from last November's riots and move towards a more democratic future.
Dr Malakai Koloamatangi, of the University of Canterbury, told a Pacific Co-operation Foundation seminar in Auckland yesterday that democratisation could not be achieved without reconciliation.
To play the blame game for the riots was not constructive and it was better to talk about degrees of responsibility.
"I can't see a way forward until there is some reconciliation ... the timing is crucial. It should be swift," Dr Koloamatangi said.
It was also important that reconciliation was a separate process from the court cases against those accused of inciting or taking part in the riots.
Tonga was unusual in that the country seemed to have been making good progress towards democracy on the eve of the November 16 riots.
It had already been recognised that the regime needed to change and then had come the upheaval. The reverse was usually what happened - upheaval followed by the recognition that change was needed.
"So the timing of the crisis was peculiar and rather unique," Dr Koloamatangi said.
There had been optimism a new system might have been instituted for the 2008 elections but that was now delayed with 2011 the earliest mooted.
"In that sense, the riots achieved the opposite objectives of what the people had wanted."
Dr Koloamatangi questioned whether some of the protagonists actually spoke for the people they claimed to represent but he was sure Tongans generally wanted a democracy but in their own style and not a classic Western liberal model.
Two high-profile Tongans had been invited to Auckland to speak at the seminar, where they presented conflicting views as to the background of the riots.
Lopeti Senituli, political adviser to Tonga's Prime Minister Fred Sevele, agreed reconciliation was desirable but it would require acknowledgment by those who were responsible for the rioting, contrition and forgiveness.
Mr Senituli said the Tongan Government wanted political reform through "transplacement" where the leadership was transformed in peaceful dialogue with the people.
But it was still considered important the monarch had some meaningful role in governance and it had been suggested he should be allowed to nominate four Cabinet ministers instead of 14.
There had also been some suggestion of a sunset clause where over time the King might finally relinquish even that.
But Mr Senituli said there was a wariness about disenfranchising the King which could lead to the demise of the Tongan royal family.
"We do not want to see Tonga go down the same road as other Polynesian kingdoms ... we have something unique."
Tongan MP Akilisi Pohiva, a people's representative, said the Tongan Government had ignored warnings of violence for years if the demand for democracy was resisted.
He said the riots were triggered by a pro-monarchy group which had been allowed to set up at the same park as the pro-democracy protesters.
He called for the Tongan Government to honour its agreement to proceed with a new political structure, agreed to as the riots broke out, which would see 21 representatives elected by the people and nine by the nobles.
The legality of the agreement document, signed by Mr Sevele, was now being challenged in court.
Mr Pohiva said he could not discuss the matter in detail as it formed part of the sedition charges he and four other people's representatives faced.
