Our "Sitz im Leben"
The King’s funeral has stirred up a lot of issues in Tonga, mostly political issues and economical issues. This blog is out of our class conversation during lunch that got me thinking about Tonga and our sitz im leben. Most, have heard of our sitz im leben and found it interesting, others have found it selfish and greedy. The King’s death has not only brought out the good deeds but it has also brought out the bad. Nonetheless, we are faced with Job’s question to his wife, “Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” (Job 2:10). For us Tongans, I think that this is one of the questions we need to think about, “shall we receive the good at the hand of our King, and not receive the bad?’ This is also a question for everyone to ask and think about, “shall we receive the good at the hand of our friends (or families members like father, mother, sister, brother etc), and not receive the bad?” In the context of Tonga, the question is shape to ask, “Shall we received the good at the hand of our “leaders”, and not received the bad?”
The problem in Tonga, nowadays, that we grew up as followers who today want to be leaders. We grew up into a family of hierarchy where the father is the head of the family, and as children, we show our respect to our father by doing; what father says, children do. That is our responsibility as children to our families; is to do what father says. There’s an old saying in Tonga that a father ones said to one of his kids. During a feast preparation this father told the eldest son to go and get a foil from town but his son had other ideas. The father turn around and said to his son, “I don’t need your thoughts my son, I’ll do the thinking in this family, all I need from you is your strength to do the work.” This is the kind of mentality that we as Tongans are brought into. We were not brought up to think, we were not brought up to be leaders, but we were brought up to be followers.
If we move into a wider context outside the fence of your own household, we are looking at hierarchy in villages. Tongans lived within villages that have their own chiefs and nobles, these chiefs and nobles are the head of each village. Their responsibilities as heads of each villages concern the good of the village as a whole. As you can see leaders in villages have limitations. As fathers, their limitations are bound to their ‘api (household), talking of villages is beyond a father’s restriction. A minister is a leader, but one that limits his leadership only to within the church and to his role as a minister. A rugby coach is also a leader and again but only to his rugby team. A principal of a school is also a leader but only to his teachers and students and the list of leaders goes go. In each case of the leaders mention above, it is their capability, ability and their qualification that defers them from being a follower to being a leader.
Now, let’s take a look at Tonga as a whole. The hierarchy system now in Tonga has both its positives and negatives. There is not a governing system out there in the world that is perfect let alone the hierarchy system in Tonga (if you know one then please let me know). The most talked about political issue in New Zealand today is the unlawful spending in the lead up to last year's election. We can argue that each party are paying the money back, however, the negative of the governing system has already shown to exist. What are the people going to do? Would having are re-election solve everything for New Zealanders? A similar situation can be see in the governing system in Tonga. Would democracy solve Tonga's problem? Is this the only solution to Tonga's governing system? There is a need for a detail investigation to find the root of the problem in the Tonga's governing system in order to provide a solution. Because Tonga is so rooted in the hierarchy system that if this hierarchy system needs to be replaced it might as well need to start at home. Nonetheless, the positivies and the negatives in the governing system in Tonga will not stop the people's responsibilities to their families, villages and to Tonga. And regardless of the financial status of the “followers” (people) in Tonga, they still have their responsibilities to their “leaders”, whether it is in the family, the villages or for Tonga as a whole.
The problem in Tonga, nowadays, that we grew up as followers who today want to be leaders. We grew up into a family of hierarchy where the father is the head of the family, and as children, we show our respect to our father by doing; what father says, children do. That is our responsibility as children to our families; is to do what father says. There’s an old saying in Tonga that a father ones said to one of his kids. During a feast preparation this father told the eldest son to go and get a foil from town but his son had other ideas. The father turn around and said to his son, “I don’t need your thoughts my son, I’ll do the thinking in this family, all I need from you is your strength to do the work.” This is the kind of mentality that we as Tongans are brought into. We were not brought up to think, we were not brought up to be leaders, but we were brought up to be followers.
If we move into a wider context outside the fence of your own household, we are looking at hierarchy in villages. Tongans lived within villages that have their own chiefs and nobles, these chiefs and nobles are the head of each village. Their responsibilities as heads of each villages concern the good of the village as a whole. As you can see leaders in villages have limitations. As fathers, their limitations are bound to their ‘api (household), talking of villages is beyond a father’s restriction. A minister is a leader, but one that limits his leadership only to within the church and to his role as a minister. A rugby coach is also a leader and again but only to his rugby team. A principal of a school is also a leader but only to his teachers and students and the list of leaders goes go. In each case of the leaders mention above, it is their capability, ability and their qualification that defers them from being a follower to being a leader.
Now, let’s take a look at Tonga as a whole. The hierarchy system now in Tonga has both its positives and negatives. There is not a governing system out there in the world that is perfect let alone the hierarchy system in Tonga (if you know one then please let me know). The most talked about political issue in New Zealand today is the unlawful spending in the lead up to last year's election. We can argue that each party are paying the money back, however, the negative of the governing system has already shown to exist. What are the people going to do? Would having are re-election solve everything for New Zealanders? A similar situation can be see in the governing system in Tonga. Would democracy solve Tonga's problem? Is this the only solution to Tonga's governing system? There is a need for a detail investigation to find the root of the problem in the Tonga's governing system in order to provide a solution. Because Tonga is so rooted in the hierarchy system that if this hierarchy system needs to be replaced it might as well need to start at home. Nonetheless, the positivies and the negatives in the governing system in Tonga will not stop the people's responsibilities to their families, villages and to Tonga. And regardless of the financial status of the “followers” (people) in Tonga, they still have their responsibilities to their “leaders”, whether it is in the family, the villages or for Tonga as a whole.
posted by sea at 12:07 AM
2 Comments:
This is a fascinating post, it is so difficult for anyone to see things from another's perspective. But a frank autobiographical description like this can help!
I wonder though about the deeply conservative tendency in what you write, how does that fit with the huge changes that technology is making to how we communicate and so live? No society can remain the same as the world we live in changes, so the question is how must, might Tonga adapt to the 21st century without simply copying NZ or Australia or the USA none of which are good or appropriate models?
Good point Tim,
Yes I do agree that no society can remain the same as the world we live in changes. There has been some really good articles about how Tonga can adapt but frankly cannot seem to find them. Nonetheless, a very good suggestion made is to go back to the origin. That is to investigate the two poles that holds Tonga; the church and the state (government). It seems to be that at the moment these two poles are not working together and the problem seems to occur as each of these two poles are going in their each and individual ways. And it shows today. Now the question is how can Tonga restore the relationship between these two poles?
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