Calls For Tonga To Rethink Sabbath Observance Laws
Article – RNZ
Concern is mounting in Tonga over the Sabbath Observance Laws, which ban many activities on Sundays., RNZ Pacific Senior Journalist
Concern is mounting in Tonga over the Sabbath observance laws, which ban many activities on Sundays.
Most recently, Police Minister Paula Piukala stopped an air ambulance from coming in, saying there was no emergency to justify the flight.
The kingdom's tourism industry – which is central to its economic recovery – has long had concerns that many businesses are not allowed to trade, and about the impact on tourism.
Meanwhile, Chinese construction workers have had the right to work on Sundays while completing various projects in the country.
We asked our Tonga correspondent Kalafi Moala what prompted the recent concern.
(The transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.)
Kalalfi Moala: There was a recent incident in which permission was sought from the police for a medical airplane to land in Tonga, apparently for some kind of emergency, and the Police Minister did not allow that because he had made inquiries with the Minister of Health, and they did not have any record that there was an health emergency.
That has become a public issue that had been discussed because the Minister decided to really emphasise the fact that we do have Sunday laws in Tonga. It forbids the air travel and opening of businesses and trading and all that. But of course, we have always made provision for airplanes to land for emergencies.
The Minister's explanation is that, somehow we had received some kind of information, there were people who were using that provision to come into Tonga, whether it is through a yacht or through an airplane for [illegal] drug delivery purposes. So. that is the excuse and the discussion goes on.
But there have been calls that we need to review the Sunday Laws in Tonga because some of the issues concerning the ban on trading and all of it, is just a little bit unreasonable, and there is a bit of hypocrisy associated with that.
For example, stores are not allowed to open. But you can pay extra money to open a restaurant, and even bars allowed to open, and different activities are open. But there is this public emphasis coming from government leaders that we need to reinforce the Sunday laws.
Don Wiseman: Well, one of the critical things, I guess, is Tonga is trying to encourage its tourism industry, and you need to be trading on a Sunday, don't you, for the tourists?
KM: Correct. Even the local people are beginning to feel a pinch. They are feeling their freedom is being encroached upon in certain things. You know that it needs to be allowed, because in their thinking, why would an activity like that break the spirit of the Sunday laws, where people are allowed to go to church, but the normal operations of government offices and trading is not allowed.
But it is just getting a little bit too far, and you're correct, you cannot have planes landing in Tonga with tourists coming in, and on Sunday, there is nothing that is open. They feel like kind of lost. They have a day wasted in Tonga.
DW: Well, the stopping of the medivac plane coming in does seem particularly odd, doesn't it? It's coming in, presumably for an emergency. Even if no one in the hospital seems to know about it, certainly the police knew about it?
KM: Yes, it was an odd situation.
There are no detailed explanations given. But then, of course, they point out the fact that there has been a major construction carried out by a Chinese company in Tonga, and they work on Sundays. They kind of work secretly, apparently, on Sundays.
So there has been kind of an uproar on that. Why are they allowed to work on Sundays? The question has been: what is breaking the Sabbath Law with these guys that are working away?
It doesn't disrupt anything going on in Tonga concerning the Sunday. I think this discussion is very important for Tonga because sooner or later we have got, or at least some lawyers or parliamentarians and the leaders, to sit down and really take a look at the Sunday laws.
Some reviews need to be taken. Some adjustment needs to be made.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
2 hours ago
- Scoop
On The 36th Anniversary Of The Tiananmen Square Massacre
JUNE 3, 2025 In the spring of 1989, tens of thousands of students gathered in Beijing's largest public square to mourn the passing of a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader who tried to steer China toward a more open and democratic system. Their actions inspired a national movement. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in the capital and throughout China took to the streets for weeks to exercise their freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly by advocating for democracy, human rights, and an end to rampant corruption. The CCP responded with a brutal crackdown, sending the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to open fire in an attempt to extinguish the pro-democracy sentiments of unarmed civilians gathered on Beijing's streets and in Tiananmen Square. The CCP actively tries to censor the facts, but the world will never forget. Today we commemorate the bravery of the Chinese people who were killed as they tried to exercise their fundamental freedoms, as well as those who continue to suffer persecution as they seek accountability and justice for the events of June 4, 1989. Their courage in the face of certain danger reminds us that the principles of freedom, democracy, and self-rule are not just American principles. They are human principles the CCP cannot erase.
Scoop
15 hours ago
- Scoop
China: Immediately And Unconditionally Free Human Rights Defender Dr. Wang Bingzhang
Press Release – Fortify Rights Eight Parliamentarians Urge U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy to call for the release of Dr. Wang Bingzhang (LONDON, June 3, 2025)–The People's Republic of China should immediately and unconditionally free Chinese human rights defender Dr. Wang Bingzhang, said Fortify Rights today, on the eve of the 36th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre of pro-democracy protesters in 1989. In a letter to British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, eight British Parliamentarians call for the release Dr. Wang Bingzhang, who was abducted in Vietnam in 2002 and sentenced to life imprisonment in China for his pro-democracy activities. He has spent 23 years in solitary confinement. Now aged 77, concerns are growing about Dr. Wang's physical and mental health. 'We warmly welcome these initiatives by British Parliamentarians to highlight the appalling case of Dr. Wang Bingzhang, who has endured solitary confinement in a Chinese jail for 23 years and whose abduction from Vietnam and forced rendition to China is widely recognised as arbitrary and in violation of international law,' said Benedict Rogers, Senior Director at Fortify Rights. 'Governments worldwide should condemn this egregious case of transnational repression.' On June 27, 2002, Dr. Wang was in Mong Cai, a city in Vietnam bordering China, meeting Chinese labor activists. A group of men reportedly accosted him and forced him into a waiting van, which then transported him by boat to China. The Guangxi Public Security Bureau then took him into custody, and he was later charged with 'offenses of espionage' and 'the conduct of terrorist activities.' He was tried by the Intermediate People's Court in Shenzhen, and sentenced to life imprisonment. His trial lasted only half a day and was closed to the public, and he was denied the right to due process, access to a lawyer, and a fair trial. Eight U.K. Parliamentarians have written to the British Foreign Secretary David Lammy this week to ask him and all U.K. ministers and officials to raise Dr. Wang's case with the Chinese government and call for his immediate release. The letter urges the U.K. government 'at every opportunity, public and private, to call on the government of the People's Republic of China to release Dr Wang Bingzhang and permit his return to the United States to be reunited with his family, immediately and unconditionally.' The Parliamentarians include the Chair of the U.K. Parliament's Joint Human Rights Committee Lord Alton of Liverpool, the Director of the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute Baroness Helena Kennedy KC, the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG) on the Uyghurs and Hong Kong Blair McDougall MP, the Chair of the APPG on International Freedom of Religion or Belief Jim Shannon MP, and Luke Taylor MP, urge the Foreign Secretary also to consult and coordinate with the United States, where he lived for over twenty years and where his family still resides. Dr. Wang's family members welcome the support from British Parliamentarians. In a statement provided to Fortify Rights on May 26, his daughters Qingyan and Tianan Wang, his son Times Wang, his brother Bingwu Wang, and his sisters Jinhuan, Yuhua and Mei Wang, said: We are the family of Wang Bingzhang. Every June 27th is a very sad day for us because this is the day when our relative Wang Bingzhang was illegally abducted from Vietnam to China by the Chinese government. Later Wang Bingzhang was illegally sentenced to life imprisonment by China and lost his freedom forever. For 23 years, countries in the world with freedom democracy human rights and rule of law have long spoken out for Wang Bingzhang's freedom. Today we see British MPs speaking out for Wang Bingzhang again, calling on the Chinese government to release Wang Bingzhang. We believe that this voice of justice will spread throughout the world. Thank you to the British people for their call for justice! Blair McDougall MP and Lord Alton have also recently tabled written Parliamentary Questions in the House of Commons and House of Lords, respectively, and Jim Shannon MP has tabled an Early Day Motion on the case. Dr. Wang is an internationally respected leader of the overseas Chinese pro-democracy movement and a distinguished medical practitioner. He founded China Spring, a publication Time magazine described as 'the voice of a movement among Chinese inside and outside the country to restore democracy and resume liberal reforms begun by Deng Xiaoping in 1978 and discontinued in 1980.' He later founded the Chinese Alliance for Democracy, and in May 2024, he was honoured with Freedom House's Freedom Award. In 2003, soon after his unfair trial resulting in a life sentence, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared that 'the detention of Wang Bingzhang is arbitrary, being in contravention of articles 9, 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.' Under international law, arrest and detention are unlawful when individuals are engaging in a protected activity, such as exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. Dr. Wang's family continue to pursue his release, having recently established a new alliance to free Wang Bingzhang. Although Dr. Wang is permitted to receive one visit per month from immediate family members, lasting only 30-40 minutes, monitored by prison guards, his family members have been unable to obtain visas to enter China as a result of their advocacy on his behalf which puts them at risk of being detained and jailed as well if they travel to China. The most recent visit Dr. Wang received was from his youngest sister Mei Wang, in May 2024. She reported that he was in very poor physical and mental health. 'At Fortify Rights, we are deeply concerned about Dr. Wang's continued imprisonment, and add our support to his family's campaign for his release,' said Benedict Rogers. ' After 23 years in solitary confinement, it is vital that Dr. Wang's case is not forgotten. We call on China to immediately and unconditionally release Dr. Wang, and on the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and the international community to do everything possible to put pressure on China to free him.'
Scoop
19 hours ago
- Scoop
The Kiribat Pilot Inspiring The Next Generation Of Pacific Aviators
Article – RNZ When Salote Mataitini first dreamed of becoming a pilot, she was a child reading newspaper articles about aviators, long before iPhones or social media. When Salote Mataitini first dreamed of becoming a pilot, she was a child reading newspaper articles about aviators, long before iPhones or social media. 'In primary school, I learned about pilots through newspaper interviews, pre-smartphone era,' she said. Today, Mataitini lives out her lifelong dream. She is a captain with Air Kiribati, flying across one of the world's largest ocean states and inspiring the next generation of Pacific aviators. The early days Originally from the Garden Island of Taveuni and raised in Somosomo, Fiji, Mataitini's journey began in Aotearoa, where she trained at Ardmore Flying School in South Auckland. 'That was a great experience as I got to see different parts of the country while studying,' she said. 'While doing… my NZ commercial pilot's licence, I was lucky to be able to pick wherever I wanted to fly to, so because of that exposure, I've been to most, if not all, the airports and aerodromes in the upper North Island and Great Barrier Island.' She joined Air Kiribati as a first officer a decade ago and has flown as a captain on the Harbin and twin otter aircrafts for the past eight years. 'In Kiribati, we provide air service to 20 airports – 17 in the Gilbert Group while we are based in our HQ in Tarawa, and three airports in the Line Islands Group based in Christmas Island. So every few weeks we rotate between these two bases,' she said. 'Kiribati is a massive ocean state with atolls spread across the central Pacific Ocean. I'm quite blessed to be flying in these parts of the world where I get to cross the equator multiple times a day.' Barriers Mataitini's pathway wasn't without challenges, however. Early in her career, female pilots in the Pacific were rare, and gender bias was common. 'During the early days of my career there weren't many female pilots in the Pacific. Gender bias was very prevalent in those days,' she said. 'When I look back now, it was God's way of redirecting me to my destiny to go and work in Kiribati. 'I have been able to fully immerse myself in the culture and language because of the way the people of Kiribati have embraced me as one of their own.' While Mataitini finds peace in the sky, she said that her job is just as rewarding on the ground. 'Watching families, friends and loved ones reunited after a flight is always a rewarding experience.' Inspiring the next generation Beyond the cockpit, Mataitini is passionate about inspiring young people to pursue careers in aviation. 'Once I started flying, I wanted to do the same to inspire not only girls but the next generation of aviators. So that's when I started sharing my journey and my story online,' she said. Through her social media posts, Mataitini has become a recognisable role model across the region. She frequently receives messages from parents of aspiring pilots, and takes time to guide them, offering advice on training, pathways, and nearby flight schools. 'In Kiribati, it's become… normal for them to see me fly to their island. Compared to when I first started, it was rare to see a female pilot. 'But now when I land, I'm surprised to hear kids calling out to me, calling out my name. So I normally just smile and wave or go shake their hands,' she said. She continues to be a sought-after speaker at graduations and school events across the country, where she encourages young people to dream boldly, and pursue their goals. Today, Mataitini is heartened by the growing number of young Pacific people, particularly women, entering aviation. 'A decade later I'm beginning to see the fruits of that influence. It's great to see a number of new Kiribati female graduate pilots and a few others who are currently in Nadi flying schools,' she said. 'It's only a matter of time before they'll start sharing the cockpit with me, so I look forward to that day.' However, Mataitini maintains that women in Kiribati are natural 'leaders, mothers, and highly educated role models'. 'I see my role as an extension to theirs,' she said. 'Together, we inspire the next generation to follow in our footsteps, empowering not only females – but the future leaders of Kiribati.'
