Penitani approves denying food for the poor ^Featured

Editor,

SENITULI WANTS TONGANS TO BELIEVE THEY'RE “UNIQUE” AND DIFFERENT FROM EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD. His flawed logic keeps telling Tongans they “need rest on Sundays…to feed their souls. And he has not addressed the poor people not getting their bread on Sunday.
 
1. He's confused between "uniqueness" and "nationalism". Tongans should feel proud about their heritage, and traditions. But that does not mean they're special and better than anyone else in the world. Tongans can be corrupted just like other countries, and there's enough of that in our Government, and churches.

2. He wants Tongans to remain ignorant so he can keep preaching "guilt" trips to simple folks (like we need a day of rest, to feed our souls, etc.), so to keep people poor, and obedient. The world did not trash monarchies, to quote an old and tired cliché. Corrupted monarchies (except for a few like the Kingdom of Hawaii) did it to themselves, so did dictatorships, and socialist states. People want their God-given rights of each person to have his/her free agency.

3. "Romantic dance between Government and Religion?" What kind of sick logic is that? You romanticize about controlling people's thoughts, actions, and aspirations. Why because you know better than me about what I want for myself and my children? You write without proof, and when you do, it's flawed logic.

You wrote: ”Tonga proved that the Church has immensely and positively supported politics."  You missed the point: "positively supported politics" is not the same as "Church and State" working in concert. What is your proof, Senituli?

4. The Church should not jump in bed with politics, because the Church is the conscience of the country. It should have the guts to tell Government they're wrong when it needs to be said. A perfect example was the handling of the CEDAW treaty. But now, the Church is on the wrong side for helping Government reduce a food source. Now Church Leaders should feel empathy towards the poor who are hit hardest by the closure of bakeries on Sunday.

5. He does not believe in the "Reformation" because he wants to hold political power and religious power to subdue poor folks, keep them in poverty and humble, and uneducated.

6. Who are you to tell me that "I need rest?" A dictator tells people what is good for them, instead of trusting people's free agency to choose for themselves.

7. No evidence of business losses on Sunday? Why then Tonga never balance its budget each year, and always needs donations from other donor countries? Your misuse of data illogically is being dishonest by comparing private businesses to the Tongan Government: Airplane landing fees, ships docking fees, and closed bakeries and restaurants reduce revenues on Sundays. Do you need to review your economics textbooks?

8. Flawed logic: Nobody in Tonga works 7 days; there are laws against that. Why bring that up as a logic argument?

This is too much baloney rhetoric from an educated man like Senituli. But I don't know if this is an intellectual paper, or an insult to everyone's intelligence.
When someone starts "personal attacks" in a public discourse, it's a sign of a weak argument, to "muddy the water."

Excuse me Mr. Penitani. I'm not anymore Westernized or Americanized than you. I am 100% Tonganized, but I gave up taking garbage from the likes of you before I went overseas.

Now my eyes could see how you use flawed logic to justify Church and State corrupton.

Sione Mokofisi