"Tonga's Quest for Democracy" - The 2007 CDI Annual Address
The 2007 CDI Annual Address was delivered by the leader of Tonga's pro-democracy movement, The Hon 'Akilisi Pohiva, to an audience of 100 people at the Australian National University on 24 April 2007. Mr Pohiva, who is facing sedition charges in Tonga, has been a member of Tonga's Legislative Assembly for 21 consecutive years and is one of the founding members of the Human Rights and Pro-Democracy Movement. He has been a long-standing campaigner for democracy in Tonga, the subject of his CDI address.
The past year has seen increasing demands for political change in Tonga, the only independent state in the Pacific Islands region which is constitutionally not a democracy. The Tongan political system is a form of absolute monarchy, with executive power resting with the King and his appointed Cabinet. Only nine of the 32 members of parliament are popularly elected - including Mr Pohiva, who gained the highest vote share of all the "People's Representatives" at the last election.
In October 2006, a National Committee on Political Reform, which was supported by funding from Australia and New Zealand, recommended sweeping political reforms, including increasing the number of elected MPs from 9 to 17. This recommendation was opposed by the Tongan government, and the postponement of debate in parliament on the Committee's report was followed by protests and riots on the streets of Nuku'alofa.
Mr Pohiva's speech detailed the history of attempts by the democracy movement to reform Tonga's system of government, starting in the 1970s. He also examined the ongoing attempts to silence critics of the government and the Tongan aristocracy, and the way the November riots have been used to justify further postponement of the political reform agenda, which remains in limbo with no agreed timetable for introduction of the National Committee's recommendations.
Mr Pohiva ended his talk with an eloquent plea for freedom for the people of Tonga, who unlike their brothers and sisters elsewhere in the Pacific still cannot choose or change their government through free elections.
Click on these links for a video recording of the 2007 CDI Annual Address, selected photographs of the event, and the transcript of an interview with Mr Pohiva conducted in Canberra and broadcast on Australia Network Television on 29 April:
