“ [Thank you Nepituno for this story. I shared the story below on my Facebook Page]
After 30 years, selling Tongan passport is still a major problem. Selling Tongan nationality is a big business and it is devaluing the worth and validity of a Tongan passport.
In 2009, I traveled to the UK on my Tongan passport for an academic conference. I was detained at the Heathrow International Airport for several hours because the UK Immigration Officer thought that my Tongan passport was a fake. The Officer called his supervisor and his supervisor's supervisor and the University that sponsored my travel and the conference to determine that I was a "real" Tongan and that my Tongan passport was legitimate. All these years I thought this incident was a classic case of racial profiling (I was detained with brown and Muslim looking individuals), but now I wonder if it had to do with my "questionable" Tongan passport. By the way, this is what led me to finally applying for my US passport. After 39 years of traveling ONLY on a Tongan passport, I decided (with my wife's strong encouragement) that it was time to get a US passport.
Tonga, please stop selling our Tongan Nationality. There are better ways to make money that do not compromise our nation and our citizens. ”