Tongan Media Bleep II: School-Boy Brawl a “Hate” Crime - Op Ed

NUKU’ALOFA - In Part I, we profiled school-boy brawling in Tonga to 40-plus years of a public nuisance turned deadly crimes.

In Part II of this sad Tongan saga, we will explore alternative solutions, for Tongan authorities and school administrators have failed to end the violence. 

It’s time for new Tongan laws against “hate” crimes. But the Tongan media, authorities, and school administrators are in denial to call it for what it is: acceptance of “violence” in Tongan society of assault and battery; wife and children abuse; excessive capital punishments in schools, and equating abusive habits with affectionate metaphors.  

Analogous to the spectacle amphitheater Games in the Ancient Roman Empire  of gladiator duals − but without state sponsorship of Emperor and Constable − the modern Tongan actors are re-enacting the Gladiatorship duals. Began as a game of curiosity based on a false presumptuous school “honor,” sadly now it has resulted in crimes of public and private property destruction, to assault and battery, and to murder. 

“Go fight with honor, and die,” said the slave-owners who bought and trained Roman gladiators to become prize-fighters, and killers in Roman amphitheaters, even at the Colosseum in Rome. Victorious gladiators gained their freedom (even a loser who fought well, spectators showed thumbs-down, was spared), but the unlucky losers (thumbs-up) went to Paradise. Unlike the school-boy brawls in Tonga there’re no winners: There’re only losers.  

This writer has identified a young family whose murdered father was a victim of Tongan school-boy brawling. The young man’s tragic death − mistaken as a Liahona High School student by drunken former students of another school − his badly mutilated corpse was discarded on the street in Havelu − face unrecognizable. He died leaving behind a wife and an unborn child; the little girl is now three years old. But the killers are now freed from prison, and are walking the streets of Nuku’alofa, perhaps to kill again. How unjust this system seems to be, where Police authority is ineffective, and obviously in a culture where “violence” is acceptable.   

VIOLENCE REACHES GLOBAL RECOGNITION 

Why in 2006 the violence spilled onto the streets of Nuku’alofa in a full-gear rioting. Led by current Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Põhiva and his pro-democracy party, they burned private properties in the business district in a failed coup d’édat (revolution), justifiable by political reasons. Tonga is indebted for over $100 million loan from China to rebuild Nuku’alofa. Future generations of young Tongans are on the hook for the loan payments, but they had nothing to do with it.

An American anthropologist (Dr. Niko Bernier) called the rioting a “failed coup d’état”,  and a New Zealand historian (Dr. Ian C. Campbell) called it unnecessary violent crimes. In addition to eight (8) lives lost in the rioting, there was no “injustice” cause to justify it, writes Dr. Campbell.  

To end this public debacle, and shameful crimes once and for all, it’s time to go “out-of-the-box” from “politically correct” traditions, and into “critical thinking” modes. It may not be beautiful and the business-as-usual pleasant experience, but one needs to look into the mirror and face reality. 

MORMON LEADER CALMS FEAR OF SCHOOL CLOSURE

A recent visit to the Kingdom by a Mormon Church (Liahona High School benefactor) leader, General Seventy Authority Elder Kim Clark − LDS worldwide Commissioner of Education − did not escape being drawn into the local media fray.  The Mormon academic leader − a Harvard University Ph.D. economist, and former administrator −  came to announce Church renewed commitment to upgrade the quality of education to its schools in Tonga, and other Pacific Islands.  

Unfortunately, the Tongan media’s inept role to help find the appropriate solution to this local problem, entrapped this international leader by asking: Will the LDS Church close down Liahona High School for its students’ role in school-boy violence? Elder Clark was unfairly put on the spot to lift the responsibilities from clueless local leaders. Meanwhile, the media have a disdain dislike for foreigners who are “parachute journalists” by commenting on local issues after a few days in the islands.

And before he left Tonga, Elder Clark had realized the trap he was conned into, and restated his comments about closing Liahona High Schools: The Church does not close schools because a few troublemakers are responsible for the violence; schools in New Zealand and Mexico were closed because their governments were able to do a better job educating their people than we did. And that is the Church role in building nations that need our help. Elder Clark assured the media, and Liahona High School parents, that the school is in good standing with the Board of Directors.

SOLUTION 1: POLICE OVERWHELMING FORCE?

But the Police hands are tied. From an experienced and retired police inspector, the legal microscope is conclusively ruled “inoperative.” No arrests, no convictions, no punishments. Therefore, these public disturbances go unchecked, crime pays, but the public outcry is rising into a crescendo.

Strategy #1: Police awaits fighting commencement, then officers rush to the scenes. But social media-watch use foot soldiers to forewarn fighters of a dispatched transport. On other occasions, multiple fights during a block party along Taufa’ahau Road main drag during the 2015 Coronation Week, the police transports were impotent in heavy traffic. 

Strategy #2: Police patrols were seen making the rounds near bus stations, and along Taufa’ahau Road after school, and during special events. However, the fights erupted elsewhere in Nuku’alofa. They seemed well organized and fine-tuned like coordinated guerrilla warfare. Police are always a minute late, and a dollar short; neither do they get help from law-abiding citizens who seem to rally behind their school of choice.

Strategy #3:  Overwhelming police force is the current mode of control. Increased police recruits are visible; instead of twosome patrols, they sweep through Nuku’alofa en mass. No public gathering allowed for uniformed students, and they must board their respective bus transport, and be gone. Resembling a police state, a recent official Police News Release to the media announced they may altogether cancel this month Annual Inter-Secondary Schools Athletics Championships.

But wait just a minute. Last year’s championships were free of school-boy violence. Liahona High School, one of the active schools in this kind of after-school activity, sat out 2015 championships. However, their boys are still fighting on the streets of Nuku’alofa. lt is then fair to say, that the Annual Inter-Secondary Schools Athletics Championships are not the cause of school-boy brawls?

In Part III next week, other solutions considered have net borne fruits. Alternative solutions are proposed in the next segment.

(Sione A. Mokofisi is a published Tongan bilingual writer in English and Tongan. He is Director of English-Journalism & Business Management at Tonga International Academy, Havelu, Tongatapu. He holds a MBA from the University of Phoenix-Arizona; a B.S. degree from BYU-Hawaii. His opinion expressed herewith are not necessarily of this Website. E-mail contact: s1mokofisi@yahoo.com).

     

Author: 
Sione A. Mokofisi