Sione Teisina Fuko (born circa 1950) is a

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

n politician and former Member of the

Tongan Parliament The Legislative Assembly of Tonga () is the unicameral legislature of Tonga. History A Legislative Assembly providing for representation of nobles and commoners was established in 1862 by King George Tupou I. This body met every four years a ...

for the island of Ha'apai. He is a member of the People's Democratic Party. Fuko is from the village of Ha'ano on Ha'apai and was educated at

Piedmont Technical College Piedmont Technical College is a public community college with its main campus in Greenwood, South Carolina. It serves seven counties in the Lakelands region of South Carolina. Six additional County Centers also serve students in Abbeville Count ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

and later at Faith International University & Seminary in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

. He worked as a schoolteacher at St Andrews High School in Nuku'alofa, before moving to the

Bank of Tonga A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. As banks ...

and then the Tonga Development Bank. He was first elected to Parliament in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. On 15 November 2006, he gave two speeches to OBN Television and at Pangai Si'i shortly before the

2006 Nuku'alofa riots 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of tiling the plane. A hexagon a ...

. He was subsequently charged with two counts of

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech or organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, establ ...

. On 25 March 2009, he was acquitted. In November 2009, Fuko was appointed to Cabinet as Minister for Revenue Services. Unlike previous Cabinet appointments, he was not forced to resign his seat, and continued to serve as a People's Representative. Fuko ran for re-election in the 2010 election, in the

Haʻapai 13 Haʻapai 13 is an electoral constituency for the Legislative Assembly of Tonga, Legislative Assembly in the Tonga, Kingdom of Tonga. It was established for the 2010 Tongan general election, November 2010 general election, when the multi-seat regi ...

constituency, but was unsuccessful.

References

Members of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga Living people Government ministers of Tonga People's Democratic Party (Tonga) politicians People from Haʻapai Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) {{Tonga-politician-stub