It is one thing for these so-called champions of democracy to fail in pushing for more democratic reforms, it is totally another to be entertaining undemocratic ideologies. The flirtation with the aristocracy is revolting on its own, but to go further into supporting the interests of an autocracy, is appalling.
These flirtatious MPs, if appeased, would undermine the foundation laid before by others who pioneered democracy in Tonga. To say that they have betrayed the guiding principles of democracy could be inaccurate because it would then suggest that they had these principles in the first place. Recent events may have indicated that these are opportunists who never did.
There are in fact genuine supporters out there. All they need is a proper organized movement, not for satisfying the power lust of these opportunists, but for bringing about real positive changes. Can PTOA be that organized movement?
In terms of furthering democracy, it seems that PTOA may have fallen too far from the pro-democracy movement that it started as. Coupled with the level of toxicity that it has for the past few years, PTOA has become the destination for where common sense goes to die. It is neither the latitude nor the longitude that would attract intellectuals for the appropriate discourse and actions required.
