A few days ago, I wrote about an incident that occurred on a Saturday evening nearly three weeks ago in Nuku'alofa. I went out of my house to investigate why dogs were barking, I saw several young men throwing stones at a dog, and I went to break it up. These young men appeared to be part of a crowd of more that a dozen people who had gathered in a field adjacent to our house. As a caretaker of the property, I have no objection to people assembling peaceably, but I certainly object to cruelty against animals. The dog, already provoked and fearing for its safety, managed to cull a toddler from the human herd and nipped her on the lower back. When Marilyn rendered first aid, she saw that the girl's skin was red where it had been pinched, but it was not broken. The child's mother thanked Marilyn for her kindness and concern.
The dog, frightened as is was, had showed admirable restraint by employing a proportionate use of force. Nevertheless, what had been a peaceful crowd suddenly became an unruly and ugly mob that for some reason decided that I was to blame for the dog biting the girl because I had intervened to stop several young men in their number from throwing stones at the dog. Would this mob have turned against a fellow Tongan, or was their rage directed against my white skin? Of course, it would be a prodigy for a Tongan to object to throwing stones at a dog.
The customary governmental function regarding animal control in Tonga is for the police to shoot a dog that has been accused of biting a human. It might be any dog that gets shot absent proof that a specific dog was involved; I imagine that the mere accusation is sufficient, no due process is afforded to the accused, because almost no one in Tonga cares about a dog.
I am not accountable for every dog that wanders through the field next to our house. I have no idea what dog was involved in the incident in the dimming light nearly three weeks ago. As darkness descended, the police arrived to disperse the mob, and I thought that was the end of it. No one was injured.
Two days ago, four police detectives showed up at our house and told us that the mother of the toddler had filed a complaint against Marilyn and me... a criminal complaint! It is not my purpose to dwell upon the treachery, spitefulness, and greed of this despicable woman; rather, I wish to address the actions of the detectives. First of all, I will emphasize that they were polite to us throughout; nevertheless, I was outraged, not simply by this woman's baseless accusation after Marilyn had attended to her daughter with the common compassion of a Christian, I was outraged when the detectives insisted that we must go with them to the downtown police station to write a statement... and to be fingerprinted no less!
Marilyn and I responded that we would do no such thing, that we would not cooperate without our attorney being present. One of them insisted, "This is our procedure. This is Tongan law."
I put my wrists together so that he could handcuff me. "Come on, let's do it."
The detective backpedalled. "We don't want to do that. We respect you."
I told them that they could get our fingerprints from the US Government; the armed services fingerprinted us when we served on active duty.
We immediately attempted to reach our attorney by telephone. We also spoke to a friend who is standing for a seat in Tonga's Legislative Assembly in next month's election. Marilyn and I also discussed telephoning Grant O'Fee, the police commissioner. At that point, the detectives dropped their insistence that we go with them downtown. They asked us for identification, which we produced; they wrote some things in their notebooks and they departed.
"This is our procedure. This is Tongan law." I say that this is absolute rubbish! As a former protectorate of the British Empire, Tonga's legal tradition derives from British law. In the main, the rights of anyone on Tongan soil are the rights of an Englishman or of an American. The detectives could not have compelled us to go to the police station, as that would have been arrest without warrant, and since we were not in the act of committing any crime when the detectives arrived at our house, it would also have been arrest without probable cause. Neither could the police have compelled us to make any statement, whether written or verbal, as we have the right to remain silent.
What is going on in Tonga? Are citizens and legal residents not protected by the rule of law? This sort of police behavior has been illegal in the United States since the Supreme Court's Miranda decision. But in Tonga, police get away with it, it is their "procedure," because Tongans live in awe of government and they are not under any circumstances ever advised of their rights.
Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of the government. The history of liberty is a history of resistance.
--Thomas Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States
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