Tonga is unique because it is the only Pacific monarchy that survived colonization. When the British arrived, they found Tonga to already be heavily Christian, and with a constitution to boot (thanks to missionary Shirley Baker, a key figure in Tongan history). The would-be colonizers chose to leave the friendly King in place, and only make the island a protectorate in the British Empire. Thus Tonga became the only country in the Pacific never to have been formally colonized (which I think explains why, unlike the islands of Samoa and Fiji, Tonga has no McDonald's downtown).
As democracy eventually took root in American and British pacific colonies that gained independence, Tonga remained an absolute monarchy throughout her history. In recent times, criticism of the monarchy has been on the rise (the royal villa is one of the largest houses I've ever seen but I can't get a decent picture because the driveway is miles long, yet something like 40% of Tongans live below the poverty line). Parliament, where the King appointed the majority of the MPs and chose the ministers, was just a rubber stamp for his decisions. When King Tupou IV died 11 Sep 2006, it looked very much like the Crown Prince had no real plans to move Tonga towards democracy. When it looked like the parliament would adjourn for the year without any steps towards democracy, riots broke out in November 2006 with government offices and assets of the King initially targeted. I say initially, because more than 60% of the downtown area was destroyed, including Tonga's only theater and bookstore, much to my chagrin.
As a result, the Prince's coronation was delayed all the way until now. A "state of emergency" of declared, giving the Prince powers like the ability to randomly close streets for no apparent reason when I'm biking downtown. Also, as many as six New Zealand police officers swarmed the country to help keep the peace.
So, everyone have been looking towards Friday's coronation celebration with a bit of trepidation as to what might happen. The Prince earlier agreed to sell off his controlling stake in Tongan assets including the power company, a telecommunications company, and even the brewery. But it still came as a pretty big shock when the Prince announced earlier this week, days before his coronation, that he would immediately relinquish almost all his political power to the Prime Minister.
The majority of the seats in Parliament will be decided by vote in 2010's election. The King will still attend Parliament, but won't have a say in the government's affairs. Essentially, he chose to go the British route instead of the French route (off with his head!). Tonga's pro-democracy leader was one of the first to respond to the announcement. "I think his majesty has made history," he said. "Monarchies in Europe always found it difficult to relinquish their power but in our case our monarchy did something which was different. He was willing to surrender his power to the people and remain only as a ceremonial monarchy from now on." Plus, he got over $30 million selling off his assets. Not too shabby for a week's work, I say.
So, the monarchists are happy, the pro-democracy people are happy, the hundreds of palangi amassed in the streets who will still get to see a coronation are happy. And what better way to jump start the celebration then to give the gift of fire to thousands of Tongan children! Yesterday was the start of the three-day coronation festivities, and last night Tonga's schools were given the task of lighting palm-front torches around the islands of Tonga. Not the best idea to give ten foot flaming torches to young children? Well it can't be much better then arming them with machetes, which we do every Wednesday to tackle to dense brush around the school.
Loading up our torches. Not only were the kids told to each carry a torch to the beach, this truck made four trips. And that was just our school!
Flares were launched from Tongan Defense Force ships around the island telling us when to light the torches.
Which was right about...now. Thank you Prometheus!
Just like Narnia, Tonga does have a street lamp. But in this picture, those points of light are torches on part of the stretch of island 'Api Fo'ou was responsible for.
