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Pesi Siale Fonua, a veteran Pacific journalist and the publisher-editor of Tonga's leading news website, Matangi Tonga Online, has died at the age of 78.
Fonua's family announced his passing on Monday.
"It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Pesi Siale Fonua (78), well known Pacific Islands journalist, publisher of Matangi Tonga Online, and beloved husband, father and grandfather, who died on 12 October 2025, at Vaiola Hospital in Tonga," his family stated.
"Arrangements for the funeral and for friends and family to pay their respects will be shared in the coming days."
Fonua and his wife, Mary, started the Vava'u Press Limited in 1979, initially as a quarterly magazine before transitioning to an online news service.
Matangi Tonga Online is known as an independent news agency that "has no allegiance to government, or to any political body".
Tributes are pouring in for the "towering figure in Pacific journalism" from friends and colleagues.
Mapa Ha'ano Taumalolo said Fonua "was firm, immovable, and impartial" as a journalist.
"He never feared those in power when it came to asking hard questions. He had a very soft voice, but his questions were hard as a rock. I can't recall…
When Thomas Fonua was 16, he had a life-changing decision to make.
He could either play for the New Zealand men's under-19 rugby team, the first step towards becoming an All Black — or he could join Black Grace, New Zealand's premier contemporary dance company.
He had learned ballet from the age of seven, but his father advised taking the rugby path.
Loading..."I think most people know from the Pacific ... there's a lot of shame when it comes to anything outside of what we're comfortable with," Fonua told Stories from the Pacific."And so I think my dad was really concerned that people were going to make fun of me or laugh at me. That's what he said. He was like, 'People are going to laugh at you'."And I was like, 'Good. Let them laugh'."Needless to say, Fonua didn't become a professional rugby player.Instead, he would spend years touring the world as a professional dancer before becoming one of Australia's most celebrated drag queens and appearing on the smash-hit TV show RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under.Get the ABC Pacific newsletterSign up for the best of ABC Pacific each weekLoading
But before reaching the…
By Sione Tu’itahi
(Educator, writer and Executive Director of the Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand)
Building a nation begins with the kāinga or extended family. As mentioned in my second column, the kāinga is the smallest unit, but the most important building block of society. The kāinga is the foundation. Expand the family and you will have the village. Expand the village and you will have the nation. Expand the nation and you will have the world.
From a Tongan Indigenous perspective, the kainga is the first house of learning, the first house of worship and the first house of healing. Through their words and actions, the parents are the first teachers, the first priests and the first healers. They are the first leaders who should lead by example. Great Tongan nation builders of past centuries and decades came from kainga where good governance and leadership have become inter-generational strengths and wisdom.
Tufunga Fonua is a Tongan term that refers to nation building, the focus of this third column. Tufunga means to build, while fonua means people and their environment. Fonua is a Tongan socio-ecological theory that articulates the oneness and inseparability of humans and their environment. It is…