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Construction of accommodation facilities for participants of the 53rd Pacific Islands Leaders’ Meeting is underway.
photo: Facebook/PM News
With the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Summit set to open in Nuku’alofa, Tonga in a few days, every effort is still being made to ensure accommodation for visitors.
Tonga’s Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni told RNZ Pacific earlier this month that the leaders’ meeting “is one of the key meetings in the Pacific.”
He said Tonga was “honoured” to host this year’s conference and was “working hard to make it a memorable experience”.
“We’re looking forward to really showing people our culture, our food and what Tonga has to offer.”
RNZ Pacific spoke to our Tonga correspondent Kalafi Moala about this and other matters relating to the summit.
Moala first talked about this week’s Shocking news of 17 arrests in ten days Accused of importing and trafficking millions of pangas of methamphetamine.
(The transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.)
DON WISEMAN: First, can we talk about what appears to be a series of highly coordinated drug busts that have occurred over the last few weeks, resulting in large amounts of methamphetamine seizures and involving a range of interesting individuals.
Tumora: Recently, 17 people were arrested, and I heard that more are coming. The leaders of the group that was arrested are all deportees. One of them was identified as a deportee from Australia. But I think it’s interesting that a gang has been formed in Tonga, or has been formed, and they are suspected of being one of the main drug distributors here.
The amount of money involved is huge. A lot of assets were seized as a result of this arrest, such as cars and motorcycles. What we heard from the police is that they have been waiting for the right moment. They have been following this and have known about this for some time, and this arrest is the result of the investigation. They feel that now is the right time to act.
Construction of accommodation facilities for participants of the 53rd Pacific Islands Leaders’ Meeting is underway.
photo: Facebook/PM News
DW: You would think that in a small place like Tongatapu, this kind of activity would be hard to hide.
kilometer: Absolutely right. There are a lot of people who know what is going on but either turn a blind eye or shrug their shoulders and think “it’s none of my business”. But for those of us who live here, it’s reassuring to know that the police are paying attention and at least they are taking action.
DW: Do you think the upcoming forum summit will motivate them in some way?
kilometer: No, they have been doing this for a while. In fact, if they wanted to impress the Forum, they should have avoided making arrests at this particular time because it would not be good for Tonga’s reputation to do so when there are tourists. But I spoke to a source in the police department and they said they finally got everything they needed and the timing of the arrests had nothing to do with the Forum. They did it at the perfect time.
Deutsche Welle: At the forum, we have discussed in detail the issue of whether there is enough housing, but as far as I know, at least some housing is now open and can be lived in, right?
kilometer: Temporary housing that has been set up is 150 prefabricated houses in four different locations. The largest site opened last week (Saturday). No one is living there yet. Accommodation is at another location. In fact, the actual meeting will take place right in the town.
The housing there is already open. They are opening a media centre there and a lot of journalists who arrived early, especially from the Pacific Islands Forum, are already staying there. The other two housing sites are not yet completed. This could be embarrassing for the government because they are issuing press releases telling people it’s completed.
But there are two places, I just went there today (Wednesday), and there’s nothing in there. Those houses are still empty. There are no beds. They’re still trying to get the plumbing hooked up, and people are going to arrive by the weekend. So, I don’t know what they’re thinking, but the organizers here – they must be worried – but they’re trying to make a good impression. They’re going to house everybody, and I hope they can do that.
DW: The government has called on residents to see if they would like to host tourists, and there has been a big response.
kilometer: Some are opening their homes and even renovating one or two empty rooms in their homes with the help of the government. As of yesterday (Tuesday), I heard that some of the homes that have been open have been booked. The concern is the prefabricated homes – the 150 homes that are being built. Less than half of them are ready for occupancy. The other half, they are still renovating.
The 53rd Pacific Islands Leaders’ Summit will be held next Monday.
photo: Facebook/PM News
DW: In terms of the forum, it’s obviously a very important event for Tonga, which holds the chair of the organization. What are the most important things for Tonga? What do they hope to get out of the conference?
kilometer: Based on the events of the past few months, I believe Tonga is very hopeful that this conference will bring funds to Tonga for issues such as the effects of climate change, as well as for economic and social development. These are all goals that the Tongan government is pursuing. They believe that this conference may lead to some important friendships, and the venue is in Tonga, and they hope that the guests will at least look at Tonga, see where development is needed, and hopefully provide funds.
You have to remember that it is the first time that the Secretary-General of the United Nations will be attending the Forum, and there will be many other development partners who will be there as observers or guests, whether they are from France, China or Japan.
There is a training going on right now for journalists listening in on how to cover the Pacific Islands Forum. The training started with two government journalists announcing in the training session to be wary of foreign journalists coming here to discredit Tonga. It’s basically a propaganda ad to say “Hey, let’s cover some good stories for Tonga”. That’s why the government thinks that reporting on things like drug arrests, that this is not a good time. It’s not a good story.
They started the meeting this week. They went on to say, ‘Be careful of the foreigners who come here to discredit Tonga. Let’s tell Tonga some good stories.’
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