The people of Tonga have, for decades, been moving from their homeland in search of work and a higher standard of living. In fact, the biggest contributor to the economy is remittances from Tongans abroad. Which is why, last year, the Tongan parliament amended citizenship laws to allow Tongans – especially those living overseas – to hold dual citizenship. In part one of this two part series, we look at this popular new scheme, launched in January, and why it’s important to Tongans – even abroad – to be tied to their land.
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Talent: Melino Maka, Chairman of the New Zealand Tongan Advisory Council; Va’inga Tone, Secretary for Foreign Affairs in Tonga; Dr Cathy Small, University of Arizona author of Voyages: From Tongan Villages to American Suburbs.
CONNORS: More than 100,000 Tongans live overseas, more than currently inhabit their homeland. For many, living overseas gives Tongans a chance to get better jobs, a more comfortable lifestyle, and a chance to help their family back home.
But this doesn’t mean they have turned their backs on being Tongan. The chairman of the New Zealand Tongan Advisory Council, Melino Maka, is one of those that had to make the hard choice to leave home.
MAKA: I’m just simply talking as a Tongan, to change from being a Tongan to a New Zealander is a major thing for us, because some people feel like that you betray your country and it is difficult to explain to someone else if you haven’t experienced that.
CONNORS: A lot of that disconnect is about to end, as Tongans can now become dual citizens. Holding citizenship in their homeland as well as the country where they live.
The Secretary for Foreign Affairs in Tonga, Va’inga Tone, explains how Tonga’s migrants played a large part in the dual citizenship decision.
TONE: Well, dual citizenship is something that was raised to a great extent by Tongans residing overseas and it was put to parliament and then the government and it took a little bit of time. It is now passed with all and regulations regarding dual citizenship.
CONNORS: A large number of these proactive Tongans live in the United States.
Dr Cathy Small, of the University of Arizona, is the author of “Voyages From Tongan Villages To American Suburbs”. She’s been working with the Tongan expats in the Pacific and the United States for decades.
SMALL: They don’t want to give up the Tongan citizenship and so what I think it allows them to do also is to become US citizens now, because they could be both. And so I see it working in both directions. With a green card which is what many Tongans have without becoming US citizens, they are really unrestricted. But it does restrict them in ways that you don’t realise at first in that you can’t vote for instance, you can’t get US grants, you’re not in a favourable position when it comes to applying for colleges, you may have to come to school as if you were a foreigner and pay outside tuition costs. There are small business grants that you can get as a US citizen. There are other kinds of things and I think that having dual citizenship would allow you to have the best of both worlds, which is really what most Tongans, especially Tongan-Americans are after.
CONNORS: Dr Small says Tongans will no longer have to split their choice between home and work. She says the new citizenship act has recognised their tough decision.
SMALL: The new law is a positive, because it makes possible legally what I think are in many peoples hearts. There are many people here who feel dual loyalties. They feel themselves to be American, they appreciate what this country has to offer them and their children, but they have major loyalties to Tonga that come out in remittances and that come out in sending kids back to Tonga, and come out in travelling on almost an annual basis sometimes back to Tonga for holidays. And even kids who are brought up completely here, the football team that has a lot of Tongan members will do Tongan dances, they’ll do Maori dances. I mean the Polynesian heritage that they have is very strong and I think that this kind of a dual citizenship allows them to create legally what really is in their hearts emotionally.
CONNORS: Melino Maka, of the New Zealand Tongan Advisory Council, is in no doubt that it’s a popular decision.
MAKA: I think was have to happen, because there’s more and more Tongans born overseas than in Tonga. This change is well overdue.
