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corruptions have, in the last ten to fifteen years, become headlines and
eye-catching stories of the newspapers, in particular the ?Times of
Tonga? ? and the ?Kelea??, literally meaning ?Conch Shell?. In reaction
to their revelations of corruption in high government levels such as

misuse of public funds, public property and authority, government was
quite certain to shut them down. But after they had defeated in several
but most court defamation and sedition cases where they were plaintiffs

they were again desperate once more to shut down freedom of the press
once and for all.
Clause 7 of Tonga?s Constitution states, ‘It shall be lawful for all
people to speak, write and print their opinions and no law shall be

enacted to restrict this liberty. There shall be freedom of speech and of
the press for ever but nothing in this clause shall be held to outweigh the
law of defamation, official secrets or the laws for the protection of the

King and Royal Family’. This clause has remained virtually unchanged
since 1?75. Because it could not make the five bans it placed on the
Times of Tonga newspaper stick, the present Tongan government

wanted to amend the clause adding tight new conditionalities to the three
existent limitations. The eight new conditionalities that were proposed
are: in the public interest, national security, public order, morality,

cultural traditions of the Kingdom, privileges of the Legislative
Assembly, contempt of Court and commission of any other offence.
Most of the new conditionalities were already addressed in existent
legislations such as the Criminal Offences Act, the Order in Public

Places Act, the Legislative Assembly Act so there was no real need for
their entrenchment. But the proposal to introduce ?in the public interest?
and ?cultural tradition of the Kingdom? would have virtually given the

Tongan Government a blank cheque as to the limitations they can
impose on the freedom of the media (and on the freedom of speech and
opinion mind you) in Tonga.
On 29 July 2003, the Legislative Assembly adopted by a final

ballot of 13-10, the Media Operators Act which was intended to limit
foreign ownership of a newspaper operation in Tonga 20%. It was quite
obvious that this Act was designed to keep out ?Times of Tonga?

newspaper from Tonga if its ownership structure remained the same in
2004. This conclusion is drawn from the fact that the Foreign Investment
Act adopted by the Legislative Assembly in 2002 allows for 25%

foreign ownership of companies operating in Tonga and the fact that the