By Michael Field
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (July 31, 2002 – Agence France-Presse)---Tonga, Polynesia's last kingdom, which is beset with political and economic ruin, is about to be hit by a book that claims its Royal Family, lost in a "dark forest of moral and social bankruptcy," will either collapse or face revolt.
"My prediction is that things in the island kingdom will worsen until authorities relinquish their unbalanced hold on power," newspaper publisher Kalafi Moala writes in "Island Kingdom Strikes Back," the story of his independent weekly Taimi O Tonga (Times of Tonga).
"If they don't, the people will rise up and take in their own hands the destiny of the island kingdom."
Tonga is ruled by the near absolute King Taufa‘ahau Tupou IV, 88. His children, Crown Prince Tupuoto‘a, 54, and Princess Pilolevu Tuita, 51, have in recent years seized control of key businesses.
The youngest sibling, Prince ‘Ulukalala Lavaka Ata, 43, is the life-term prime...