Lord of the ship

Swimming with Sharks Chapter 3.2

To live in the Pacific means to have few choices. 

Governments give lip service to safety, but unless some rich country gives a Pacific island a ship, chances are the only financial option is a rust-bucket. 

Again, Tonga found itself making that choice. This though was cynicism at the highest level; people making decisions would never sail on the boat they bought. 

The sinking of MV Princess Ashika on the night of 5 August 2009 attracted media attention in a way few other Pacific tragedies have done so. I could not get to Tonga for the drama as the only available flight was via Fiji; Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama’s regime had already locked me up once before.

Princess Ashika. From Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Sinking of the MV Princess Ashika