King Tupou VI Photo: 2019 Mark Tantrum
The King of Tonga, Tupou VI, is being asked not to sign legislation that would end parliamentary control of two key ministries.
Last week, under an urgent vote, the Tonga Legislature voted for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be remade as His Majesty's Diplomatic Services, and to be run outside of parliament, under the auspices of Crown Prince Tupouto'a 'Ulukalala.
The Tongan parliament states that the purpose of the Bill is "to modernise and strengthen the framework for the conduct and implementation of diplomatic and consular relations, while also enhancing oversight of immigration in alignment with national interests".
It includes the establishment of His Majesty's Diplomatic Services, creation of the Diplomatic Services Board, administrative provisions, appointment of overseas representatives, regulatory powers and transitional matters
To some in country, this is a reversal of the more democratic reforms introduced in 2010.
RNZ Pacific spoke with its Tonga correspondent Kalafi Moala about the motivation for the change.
(This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.)
Kalafi Moala: Basically, it's still a Ministry of Foreign Affairs being moved from government service under the Cabinet to become a service under the King, directly under the King and his Privy Council. That's the major change that has taken place.
In other words, all diplomatic services, all the foreign type of ministries, including immigration, issuance of passports, all of that have moved from the Cabinet or the Prime Minister's Office to become a part of the King's responsibility in the palace. And it's a huge one.
Don Wiseman: And why? We don't know do we?
KM: Well, from the previous government, there was pressure from the King expressing dissatisfaction on the Minister of Defence and Minister of Foreign Affairs, which is why then Prime Minister Sovaleni, resigned from holding those portfolios. There was an expression from the King of dissatisfaction.
Now with this government, what they have done is passed law in parliament that the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence will move over under the King's jurisdiction.
DW: And they did that right at the end of the parliamentary term, didn't they? Was there any opposition within parliament?
KM: Well, that was the thing that surprised the public, because the law was brought in as an emergency law, or urgent and it was passed without debate and no opposition. It was just passed.
And then a press release came out to the public that here is a law, and those of us outside parliament were just absolutely surprised because what it looked like is just a beginning of a reverse of the reform that took place in 2010. In other words, that the parliament would choose the prime minister, and the prime minister elects his ministers and all the government services.
But here we've got one of those services being handed back to the King, and who can tell what other services will in future be handed back to the King? It's a kind of a reverse of what happened with the reform of 2010.
DW: In terms of the Ministry of Defence. What's happening?
KM: The Ministry of Defence, of course, have always been under the King's jurisdiction, and we do have a constitutional clause that says the King can't declare war without parliament's consent. The King had always had a say with the Ministry of Defence, but the Minister was an appointment of Cabinet.
In this case, it would be direct appointment of the King as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
DW: In terms of what's happened in Foreign Affairs, could the general public expect any difference in the nature of the services, provided?
KM: The services can remain the same, there are some people that are saying that this is probably the Palace Office's response to a lot of accusations about the misuse of funds.
Much of that funding comes from overseas in terms of foreign aid, and now with the Foreign Affairs and Defence moving to the Palace Office, that means that they will be managing all of the diplomatic relations and aid or any assistance that come from overseas.
It will be directly under the King's supervision.
DW: What about funding? Where is that going to come from? Presumably, Parliament's not going to be voting for a budget for the Diplomatic Service.
KM: Definitely, one of the complaints is that it will be coming as part of the Budget. There is, of course, the Royal budget, which comes from the Budget, the King's wages and all that.
But this, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it will come in from the from the Budget, the national Budget is part of our services and it will be supervised by the King instead of the Prime Minister.
DW: It's a remarkable situation, isn't it? There's not going to be a peaceful coexistence. Is there?
KM: Definitely not. Because as we speak today, a public petition is being handed over to the Palace Office in opposition of this move.
The petition calls for the King to please not sign into law the legislation that will come out of parliament. But what a lot of people are afraid of is it seems to be a regression, or a reverse, of what happened in the pathway to democracy that happened in 2010 and even though we've had some struggles with that, but this seems to be a direct act of reversing that.
DW: Who's behind the petition?
KM: The petition is really brought in by the Democrats, actually the followers of Akalisi Pohiva from the Ke'lea. But it's gathering a bit of support from the public.
The interesting thing is, some of those in parliament were strong supporters of the 2010 reform, but when this law legislation came in, they all voted for it. So there's a lot of very strange things happening in this country now.
