Male chauvinism in the Friendly Islands Human Rights and Democracy Movement

In the Kele'a, a Tongan weekly newspaper, of  31 August 2011 on page 26 is a letter to the editor by a Solomone Palu. He wrote that the only woman in the four-member Tonga Rugby Union Authority, Aloma Johansson, would not be of much use to the national side unless she joins in massaging the players. This is demeaning to Ms. Johansson who is a certified accountant, a businesswoman and is honorary consul of Sweden to Tonga. The Kele'a is owned by Po'oi Pohiva (it said so on page 6 Kele'a 27 July 2011), the director of the Friendly Islands Human Rights and Democracy Movement (FIHRDM), which pretends to promote human rights here. And received much, much money from kids in Christchurch, New Zealand who call themselves the Christian World Service. Palu proudly stated on page 24 of the Kele'a 24 August 2011 that he is a member of the FIHRDM. Somehow the following actually believe or chose to believe that the FIHRDM is a genuine human rights organization: Imrana Jalal, that so-called brave crusader for human rights; Radio Australia's Bruce Hill (sorry, no comments on this one); the Talaki newspaper (Tonga); journalist and professional noise maker Michael Field whose specializes in getting himself thrown out of countries; Television NZ Pacific reporter Barbara Dreaver; and others who loved to be duped. Obviously they must also believe in tooth fairies and in the existence of Snow White. The FIHRDM seem to believe in legends too. A few years ago FIHRDM spokesman Finau Tutone delved into history and came up with the origin of human rights; it actually, according to this sage, started with a pharaoh and his slave! It took two half-hour programs on prime time television to explain this ridiculous claim.