Tonga inquiry risks causing upsets

By HELEN TUNNAH

An MPs' inquiry set up to scrutinise Tonga has been urged to tread lightly and avoid pushing too hard to try to force change in the kingdom.

Political and international relations experts, including the Commonwealth's special envoy to Tonga, Sir Douglas Graham, say an aggressive inquiry may make Tonga's rulers less willing to embrace democratic reforms.

And they warn that Prime Minister Helen Clark's efforts to ensure New Zealand is not seen as taking an Australian-style "deputy sheriff" approach to the Pacific will be jeopardised if the committee's inquiries stray too far into Tonga's sovereignty.

The inquiry by Parliament's foreign affairs and defence select committee into New Zealand's relations with Tonga will be politically sensitive, and is a switch from past inquiries which have tended to study relationships where New Zealand is the junior partner.

It follows unrest over last year's constitutional changes in Tonga, allowing a legal ban on newspapers or broadcasters seen as unsympathetic to the Government or the royal family.

That created a political storm, provoking protest marches and galvanising the pro-democracy movement, which want a directly-elected government, instead of the system under which the Cabinet and half the MPs are appointed by the King or noble families.

The inquiry's terms of reference have been carefully worded to say the committee wants to find ways of "enhancing" the relationship between Tonga and New Zealand.

But they have also been left deliberately broad, opening the door for the committee to not only explore democracy ambitions, but to hear details of nepotism and corruption allegations against the royal family and the Government.

The committee's chairman, United Future leader Peter Dunne, has said the inquiry would not be "hijacked' by Tonga's pro-democracy movement.

And Helen Clark said she hoped the committee would remain "level-headed" in its actions.

But Progressive MP Matt Robson is certain to push the inquiry into questions about standards of government and democracy in Tonga.

He says it is time New Zealand and Australia confront such problems in the region instead of "turning a blind eye for their own selfish reasons".

"We've got a duty I think to examine this. If we don't, then we are saying to Tongan people, you're just 100,000 people, you're not important."

He said New Zealand must remind Tonga when it was not living up to its international human rights obligations.

These require Tonga, as a signatory to the Commonwealth's Harare Declaration, to embrace democracy - which is what Sir Douglas has been asked to oversee by his former National party cabinet colleague, and now Commonwealth Secretary-General, Don McKinnon.

Sir Douglas said any select committee was entitled to inquire into whatever it saw fit, but wondered what it was trying to achieve.

"I would have thought they would have better things to do."

He said Tonga had made "modest" reforms in recent years by adopting a new tax system and restructuring its Government.

He and New Zealand's Clerk of the House, David McGee, will be in Tonga next month proposing new rules to make MPs more accountable.

But Sir Douglas said major constitutional issues must be decided by Tongans.

"Shouting at somebody from over the horizon and saying you don't like it is really a waste of time."

He said even ardent pro-democracy campaigners in Tonga were anxious to avoid insulting 85-year-old King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV.

"It might be that constitutional change is a bit further down the track, when there's change at the top.

"If that is how they [Tonga] prefer to do it, it's not for the Commonwealth or New Zealand or anybody else to say we don't like it."

A Canterbury University political scientist and Pacific specialist, Associate Professor John Henderson, also warned that committee members must tiptoe a delicate line.

He said it was proper for New Zealand MPs to examine areas in which taxpayers' money was spent.

"Where it gets much more questionable is when New Zealand parliamentarians start pontificating about the rights and wrongs of another political system.

"If you want change, it's completely counterproductive to take Tonga head-on on those issues."

Centre for Strategic Studies director Peter Cozens said respect for a nation's sovereignty was one of the most important tenets of international relations.

"We don't go interfering in the affairs of another state.

"There is a danger New Zealand could be seen as patronising or neo-colonial.

"We know there are problems in Tonga, but a softly-softly approach is required. Quiet diplomacy is good diplomacy."

He also wonders why an inquiry is being held into relations with Tonga, when other troubled Pacific states have not been investigated.

Almost 20 years ago, Helen Clark chaired a foreign affairs committee inquiry into New Zealand's relations with China, producing a report which recorded concerns about human rights.

She says Tonga should not take umbrage if the committee mentions "broad picture" democracy concerns.

Asked if the inquiry could damage New Zealand's reputation for co-operative diplomacy, which she has promoted as chairwoman of the Pacific Islands Forum, she said she thought the committee would be "pretty level-headed".

"It is entirely appropriate for a committee to have an inquiry into a relationship," she said.

"You would have to show some judgment, however, as to whether you look like you're interfering in another country's affairs as opposed to perhaps looking at what constraints there might be on a relationship."

Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said Tonga's Government had made no formal protest about the inquiry.

He said he was not unhappy about the review, and if the Tongan Government was concerned, it was free to ensure the committee heard its view.

That has been ruled out by Tonga's Acting Prime Minister, Clive Edwards.

"We will not subject ourselves to a select committee which is very political," he told the Herald.

"We are annoyed about it. They are playing politics. Have they done this to any other [Pacific] country?"

Newspaper editor Kalafi Moala, whose Taimi 'o Tonga is banned, has backed the inquiry and said New Zealand should scrutinise Tonga's human rights and democracy record.

"Somebody needs to say something about it and if anybody needs to it should be New Zealand, which is very very close in its relationship to Tonga.

"New Zealand should take a stand, say this is what we believe and what we stand for."

But some people among the more than 40,000 Tongans in New Zealand are understood to be wary of the inquiry, and any criticism the committee might make or hear of the King.

Tongan Advisory Council chairman Melino Maka welcomed an analysis of trade and economic relationships, saying that could only benefit Tonga.

But Tongans were "a very proud people" and might not appreciate outsiders poking their nose into their country's business.

The inquiry has received 77 written submissions, and people have asked to be heard orally. Some want to make submissions anonymously.

Those arrangements have not been finalised, and a decision has also yet to be made on whether the committee will go to Tonga to hear submissions.

Mr Dunne, who earlier said claims the committee was not a kangaroo court "would be tarnished if we turned up in Tonga", now says this is being considered.

He has been outspoken against the press bans in Tonga, but says the inquiry will not be a "witch-hunt".

"We've got to be very careful ... that we don't look like the big white colonial white brothers lecturing other nations on how to behave."

Facts and figures

Foreign affairs and defence select committee members:

Peter Dunne, chair (United Future); Tim Barnett, Martin Gallagher, Luamanuvao Winnie Laban (all Labour), Lockwood Smith, Simon Power (National), Dail Jones (NZ First), Keith Locke (Green Party), Matt Robson (Progressives).

TERMS OF REFERENCE

The committee will review:

Diplomatic relations

Parliamentary relations

Official development assistance

Defence co-operation

Trade

Any other matters it wishes to consider.

KINGDOM OF TONGA

* Population 100,000. Another 40,000 Tongans live in New Zealand.

* A monarchy - the head of state is King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, who appoints the Cabinet.

* National legislature is made up of the Cabinet, nine representatives of noble families and nine elected members.

* NZ exports about $60 million worth of goods to Tonga each year.

* Its imports from Tonga total $2 million.

* It gives aid of $5.6 million, mainly in education scholarships