Tonga

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Country in the southwest Pacific Ocean, in Polynesia.

Government
Tonga is an independent hereditary monarchy within the Commonwealth. Its constitution dates from 1875 and provides for a monarch who is both head of state and government. The monarch exercises executive power by presiding over an appointed 10-member Privy Council, which functions as a cabinet and is headed by a prime minister.

There is a single-chamber legislature, the Legislative Assembly (Fale Alea), of 30 members, which include the monarch, the Privy Council, nine members elected by the 33 hereditary nobles of Tonga, nine members directly elected in multi-member constituencies by universal adult suffrage, and two governors. The assembly has a life of three years. Political parties are allowed to operate as pressure groups, but cannot achieve power and form a government.

History
The original inhabitants were Polynesians. By the 12th century, Tongan chiefs controlled a small ‘empire’ across the Pacific. The first European visitors to the islands were Dutch, in 1616 and 1643 (Abel Tasman). Captain Cook dubbed them the Friendly Islands in 1773.

Tupou dynasty
The contemporary Tongan dynasty was founded from the 1820s by Prince Taufa'ahau Tupou (1797–1893). He established dominance over other chiefs and became paramount chief of the house of Tupou in 1845 and was crowned King George Tupou I in 1875. He consolidated the kingdom by conquest, encouraged the spread of Christianity, and granted a constitution, which included freedom of the press and limited the power of chiefs. He was succeeded by George Tupou II (reign 1893–1918) and Queen Salote Tupou III (reign 1918–65).

Independence
Tonga became a British protectorate from 1900, but under the terms of revised treaties of 1958 and 1967 recovered increased control over its internal affairs. Salote's successor, her son King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, led Tonga to full independence, within the Commonwealth, in 1970. Tonga joined the United Nations in 1999.

In the 1990s a pro-democracy movement emerged, led by Akilisi Pohiva's People's Party. It campaigned not to overthrow the monarchy but for better representation in the legislature for commoners. It won a majority of the nine directly-elected seats in the legislative assembly in the general elections.

In March 2002, the US company InterOrbital Systems reached an agreement with the government to use the Tongan island of Eua to launch rockets taking tourists into space, beginning in 2005.

Tonga supported the USA's ‘coalition of the willing’ invasion of Iraq in 2003, and a small number of Tongan soldiers were deployed, as part of an American force, in Iraq in 2004.

Commoners enter the cabinet
In March 2005, the first elected MPs entered the cabinet, cabinet members having previously been appointed by the royal family. However, in mid 2005 pro-democracy protests increased, with calls for a lesser role for the royal family in government. This may have been a factor behind the decision, in March 2006, of Prince Ulukalala Ata, the prime minister since 2000, to resign. He was replaced by Dr Feleti Sevele, the first elected commoner to be prime minister.

In September 2006, King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV died and was succeeded by his 58-year-old eldest son, George Tupou V, ruling under the title Siaosi Tupou V. As the new King was unmarried and without children of his own, his younger brother, Prince Ulukalala Ata, was designated the heir to the throne. In November 2006, there was rioting in the capital, destroying three-quarters of the buildings in the central business area, as the pressure for political reform increased.

The wingless dragon holds jewels in its claws to represent prosperity. Saffron yellow symbolizes the power of the monarchy. Orange-red stands for Buddhism. Effective date: c. 1971. >>