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New Zealand needs to wholeheartedly back the Tongan democratic movement or face the prospect of continually sending troops to aid a strife-torn neighbour, says former Progressive Party MP Matt Robson.
When in Parliament Mr Robson instigated an inquiry by the foreign affairs and defence committee into New Zealand's relationship with the island kingdom. He has been a constant critic of Tonga's monarchy and an agitator for democratic reform.
Yesterday he said the weekend violence in the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa, in which eight people died, should make New Zealand politicians think again about their dealings with Tonga.
"A drastic reassessment of their relationships with the different governing elites has to take place," Mr Robson said.
"It's time for them to solidly support the move to democracy and not get drawn into a morass of sending soldiers to clean up these situations ... New Zealand has not given help to the people, but to the elites. Now what they're giving is soldiers. What they needed before this was a firm commitment to democracy."
The unrest was predictable, and last year's long strike by civil servants a warning sign of trouble to come, Mr Robson said. The violence might cost the pro-democracy movement some support as many Tongans would feel the riots had been a step too far and that they needed to pull back.
"But I don't think they're going to pull back from wanting genuine democracy and genuine reform. It could be that they say this is not the way to do it, but the actual demands for reform won't be held up.
"From a political point of view, if I was there I might have been advising people to say look, this is the wrong way to go about it - and it is - but obviously a number of people feel they have come to a dead end and all that seems to have changed at the top is the flies rather than the dunghill that is there."
Some pro-democracy groups have claimed the decision by New Zealand and Australia to rush troops and police officers to Tonga over the weekend showed support for the Tongan Government. But Prime Minister Helen Clark emphatically denied that yesterday and said New Zealand had sent them to help restore peace.
"The fact is that Tonga had a serious breakdown of law and order," Helen Clark told National Radio.
"You can't even get back to a dialogue around what form the constitution should take until you've resolved the issue of having Tonga calm again."
It was not appropriate for New Zealand to interfere in Tonga's internal affairs, she said. However, she sent a strong signal that New Zealand would back further reforms to the country's system of governance.
"From the New Zealand Government's point of view, the more democracy the better in Tonga. We've known for a long time that a feudal monarchy isn't sustainable in the 21st century. We're keen to see change, we're keen to support Tonga working that through."
A spokesman for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said New Zealand had no timeline for how long its forces remained in Tonga.
