Publisher Kalafi Moala and his wife Suliana cut the Taimi 'o Tonga cake. Photo: Matangi Tonga

Pacific.Scoop
By Pesi Fonua in Nuku’alofa

The 20th  birthday of the Taimi ‘o Tonga newspaper – once the scourge of the Tongan establishment – was marked with a thanksgiving  prayer service at the Queen Salote College Hall with the publisher and  editor Kalafi Moala announcing changes.

The occasion on November 21 was spiritually charged.

The programme was directed by Rev Savinata Moala, a brother of Kalafi,  who announced that the special thanksgiving service “dedicated the  Taimi to God”.

The Kolomotu’a Free Wesleyan Church choir set the glorifying atmosphere  with some fine choir singing. The dedication and the benediction was  led by Rev Dr ‘Ahio, president of the Free Wesleyan Church of  Tonga.

Kalafi gave a flashback on his struggle to keep his paper running over  the last two decades. He highlighted his stint in jail with ‘Akilisi   Pohiva and Filokalafi ‘Akau’ola [for contempt of Parliamentary  Proceedings], and how he moved his operation to New Zealand and then  later returned to Tonga.

Moala recalled how when he was in New Zealand he received an email  from Dr Feleti Sevele asking him why the Taimi was so negative in its  reporting.

Moala tearfully apologised for anything that the newspaper might have got wrong in the past and asked to be forgiven. He said that the paper had now changed and was also praising people.

Daily newspaper
Moala announced a new joint venture with Joseph Ramanlal and said that a  printing press was currently being established at Longolongo and the  Taimi would become a daily newspaper by mid-January 2010.

He also announced that the Taimi would have a new deputy editor, Sia  Adams.

During the three-hour long thanksgiving ceremony, there were also  reflections and encouragement speeches by the Prime Minister, Dr Feleti  Sevele, and by Pita Moala, an elder brother of Kalafi. Also present was  the Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Viliami Tangi.

The celebration ended with the cutting of a birthday cake by Kalafi Moala and  his wife Suliana, with refreshments for about 200 relatives and friends  who attended the event.

Source: 6562 Pacific Media Watch
Original Matangi Tonga url