Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Recommendations for more democracy in Tonga may cause uneasiness says historian

Posted at 22:22 on 10 November, 2009 UTC

An historian who has written extensively on Tonga says there will be widespread nervousness about the recommendations for greater democracy in the country.

The Constitutional and Electoral Commission has submitted its report on how the country could embrace a more democratic monarchy.

It would see the authority of the King and his Privy Council reduced - something George Tupou the 5th indicated he was ready to accept at the time of his coronation last year.

But University of the South Pacific academic, Dr Ian Campbell, says while most Tongans will go where they are led, they will be uneasy about a significant diminution in the powers of the King.

“I think most people still have confidence in the King, and probably would have, for traditional and cultural reasons, probably a bit more confidence in an aristocracy, which we might say, for want of a better phrase, people bred to rule, than people like themselves who have come up from the ground.”