Maliu Mafi As we grow older, we think more about our legacy and how we want others to remember us after we’re gone. As a result, some engage in services to the church, to their community and NGO’s while some believe that serving the nation is their true calling. As the November Election Day draws near, more people will want to serve their respective electorates and genuinely believe they are the best people for the job. They are highly qualified, they are professionals in their respective fields and they want to end their career running for the highest office in…
Author: Kalafi Moala
Kalafi Moala Sioeli Mafi (not his real name) was a promising youngster growing up in one of the villages in Tongatapu, and attending a good high school. He has topped his class in the last 3 years, and intends to go to University after high school. But he has a problem brewing in his young mind, as he encounters something he really dislikes. He is emotionally disturbed about it. “I try to do well in school so that I can be better qualified for whatever I do later in life after I graduate,” he says. “But my mother is spoiling…
Maliu Mafi The under representation of ethnic Tongan-owned businesses in the private sector today is a concern. On the other hand, our Asian friends seem to be doing quite well and have dominated our retail and wholesale sectors. They have built bigger businesses now compared to 10 or more years ago. The question must be asked: “Why are Tongan people showing little interest in business?” When King George Tupou I stated “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Isaiah 4:6), our people turned our attention to formal education as our way out of poverty and it was and still…
Savenaca Narube (former Governor Reserve Bank of Fiji 2000 – 2009) “Many people know that the national debt is fast approaching $8 billion. But do you know that the debt liability of this Government is already over $10 billion? Our GDP is about $9 billion. This means that we are wallowing in debt. What do I mean by debt liability? Debt liability includes the government debt plus the debt of government owned companies that are guaranteed by Government. Why should we add the guarantees to the government debt? We must do so because the Government will be required to pay…
Kalafi Moala The common name for it among Tongans is UJAMA. It is how pyramid schemes are identified; schemes that have enticed and in fact left hundreds of Tongans in New Zealand, Australia, Tonga and other places devoid of hundreds of thousands of dollars they’ve paid as investments with promises to be paid back up to ten times what they’ve paid in. But just as complaints continue to pour in from so many Tongan families, UJAMA has proven to be the latest scam that have invaded with fraudulent promises the Tongan communities. A pyramid scheme is a fraudulent system of…
Kalafi Moala Nine key RSE employers from the Nelson/Tasman province of New Zealand met at the end of the week and decided to go directly to the highest level in Tonga, as something needed to be done to get the workers home. The common feeling is that it is negligent on the government’s part to continue to ignore the plight of RSE workers who needed to be repatriated. Promises have been made they would be a priority among those repatriated. The truth is that they are not. There are repatriation flights arriving in Tonga with no RSE returnees. Why their…
TOT Admin Staff Derek Chauvin, 45, faces 40 years in prison as he’s found guilty on ALL three charges of murder and manslaughter in death of George Floyd: Minneapolis cop is cuffed in court as cheers erupt outside · The jury returned its verdict on Tuesday afternoon after just 10 and a half hours of deliberation · As the verdict was read out Chauvin looked on silently in the Hennepin County courtroom · Jurors spent three weeks listening to testimony about the day George Floyd died under the weight of Chauvin’s knee during an arrest outside the Cup Foods convenience…
Reuters News Service Battling to find hospital beds, distraught people are flooding social media and messaging apps with heartbreaking pleas for oxygen, medicines and room in intensive care units. India is being hit by “Three Million” Covid cases a day! · India reported 386,452 new cases Friday, while Covid deaths jumped by 3,498 over the last 24 hours · Medics believe actual numbers in world’s second-most populous nation could be up to 10 times higher · This means more than 3 million could be infected daily, and the death toll could top at over 30,000 per day · US Air…
Eoin Harte Tupou played a crucial role for the Reds as they beat the Brumbies in the most dramatic fashion thanks to a try from James O’Connor in the 85th minute of the game. The Wallabies prop, also known as the ‘Tongan Thor’, hasn’t seen his family since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, and wished his mother a happy Mother’s Day on Australian TV Channel Nine. “Oh man. Just thinking to last year at exactly the same time we lost in Canberra. We came here and worked hard this year and to get the win like that – I’m…
Rebecca Abbot, eternitynews.com.au The Australian Government has announced its support for the development of an age-verification system that will make it harder for children to access online pornography in Australia. The announcement came in response to recommendations made in a report titled ‘Protecting the age of innocence’ by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs. The report was first tabled in February 2020. The key recommendation of the report was to introduce mandatory age verification for online pornography platforms, as well as for gambling websites. In writing the report, the committee drew on research from…