Banned daily Tongan newspaper in big demand at border

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Tongan pro-democracy activist Alan Taione handed out copies of a banned newspaper to border police after returning home from Auckland for his father's funeral.

He expected them to confiscate the Taimi 'o Tonga (Times of Tonga) - which is printed in Auckland but has been refused a licence in his homeland - and to throw him in jail.

Instead, officials asked to take copies home, and he hopes to be free for the funeral today.

Mr Taione, an Auckland mechanic, left on Thursday with more than 20 copies of the newspaper after his father died suddenly.

Dressed in mourning black, he carried out his parallel intention of challenging a ban on the paper by proudly holding up its front page as he arrived in Tonga.

"I have nothing to hide," the 38-year-old father of seven had told the Herald at Auckland Airport before leaving.

From Tonga at the weekend, he reported passing through border controls unimpeded, although he had just one newspaper for his relatives after handing the rest out to customs and police officers and others.

Mr Taione acknowledged that the front page he flaunted was typically controversial in asking questions about the birth of a child to a granddaughter of King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV just four or five months after her wedding.

He said the timing contradicted a claim by the groom's mother, outspoken cabinet secretary Eseta Fusitua, that the bride was chaste before exchanging wedding vows.

Asked what business this was of a newspaper, he said virginity remained very important in Tongan culture, which included a ceremony on the morning after the wedding vows to celebrate consummation of the marriage.

"It is a very big thing because public figures are supposed to be doing the right thing and set an example to the people."

Mr Taione said he believed the success of his mission showed Tonga's royal family was becoming increasingly powerless to hold back the demand for democracy.

Although an unprecedented protest march by more than 6000 failed to stop the Tongan Government pushing through controversial constitutional amendments limiting press freedom, he believed it was "really scared and is just running a bluff to make us frightened".

He pointed, as further evidence of a sea change, to a refusal by the Tongan cabinet of a royal command to vote public money to a school owned by an MP facing immigration fraud charges in the United States.

The MP, Etuate Lavulavu, helped organise a trip to New Zealand in October during which 14 Tongan players became illegal overstayers.

Mr Taione has been a New Zealand resident since 1987 and intends establishing a Tongan democracy action group on his return.

"I want to promote the democratic life I have got in New Zealand, which is free, and share it with my relatives and family and urge them not to be scared."

He was saddened to learn from protesters at Auckland airport of the expulsion of a sexually abused Sri Lankan teenager just before his own flight to Tonga, calling it "a shame on the democratic Government".

"But at least people in New Zealand can get rid of politicians who do wrong things - here in Tonga, we can't vote them out."