REVIEW: Courageous media catalyst fuelling change behind kingdom's facade

Review of Island Kingdom strikes Back: The Story of an Independent Island Newspaper- Taimi 'o Tonga, by Kalafi Moala

Abstract

Review of Island Kingdom strikes Back: The Story of an Independent Island Newspaper- Taimi 'o Tonga, by Kalafi Moala. Auckland: Pacmedia Publishers, 2002, 304 pp. ISBN: 0 473 08687 5.

If publisher Kalafi Moala had wanted to bring attention to Tonga's lopsided political system he couldn't have done it better than writing Island Kingdom Strikes Back. Since its release in late 2002, the book has continued to fuel debate about the way Tonga is governed by providing a window through which we can see behind the kingdom's friendly facade. Obviously the book isn't a favourite reading in Tonga's royal palace and in the months that followed its release no effort was spared by the kingdom to strike back.