I was at an event recently where the national anthem was played, and it is very embarrassing to say that none of the New Zealand Pakeha VIPs there were able to sing the Te Reo version of our national anthem. They ended up singing the anthem, in English, twice.
Korean Day 2012 - Drawing competition - Maori and Korean girl doing a hongi
As regular reader of my blog, you would be aware of my interest in promoting closer relationships between tangata whenua and the ethnic community. There are many similarities between both communities, culturally, the tikanga, kaupapa, and more. Maori, as well as the ethnic communities, are about tupuna as well as mokopuna.
Both the ethnic communities and tangata whenua needs to have more korero, dialogue, to make sure that there are interactions. It is important, not only because of the similarities, but also as a respect. Ethnic communities need to respect those who are the guardians, the people of the land; and for Maori communities to respect the wisdom and the contributions ethnic communities bring to Aotearoa, as the host.
It is also important that the people acknowledged ethnic communities have lived here pre-Treaty. The Chinese were here and because they were simply acknowledged as “aliens”, they are not part of the Treaty. On the other hands, Indians were considered as British Subjects because of their association with the British settlers. Therefore, this is a part in the history where Chinese were never acknowledged and fitted in Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
I have raised this question before – why newcomers to New Zealand must be fluent in English but there is nothing to say they need to learn Te Reo? I am no where close to being fluent, and I don’t believe we should all be forced to be fluent in Te Reo, however, isn’t this a respect, that we learn some te Reo?
The answers I get is – Oh, English is the most widely spoken common language. Of course it is, and so it should. However, if English, te Reo, and sign language are all official language of New Zealand, why shouldn’t newcomers have some initiatives to learn te Reo?
Not only that there is a lack of language learning, but no newcomers have any proper introductions to Maori culture. Most of us see the “singing and dancing Maori” (as I call them), and all they know about Maori is the haka, the tattoos, the crime rates… We need interactions between Maori and the ethnic communities.
I was absolutely moved when Ngati Whatua o Orakei won the Maori Business Recognition Award 2012 at the Aotearoa New Zealand Maori Business Leaders Awards. I have worked with them for many years and they have always been very welcoming and understanding of the newcomers. They make sure that newcomers are welcome and understand their culture and history in a very simple to understand way. They are also very aware of any cultural or religious needs and will provide halal catering where needed.
Ngati Whatua o Orakei Trust Board winning the Maori Business Recognition Award 2012 at Aotearoa New Zealand Maori Business Leaders Awards
Dane Tumahai meeting with the GEILI visitors from HK
The ethnic communities are also working very hard to engage with tangata whenua. There is a large number of ethnic students who study te Reo at Unitec, and if you haven’t heard by now, Nga Tangata Hou, a kapa hapa group made up of only ethnic communities. (Yes there is an American in a group – he is still considered as “ethnic” in New Zealand as long as he is not considering himself as New Zealand Pakeha)
Nga tangata Hou is open to all New Zealanders who love waiata. They practice weekly and is a great place to engage with tangata whenua, and a great way to “show off” to the mainstream community, how much they know about Maori tikanga.
Nga Tangata Hou at Auckland International Cultural Festival 2012
Do check out Nga tangata hou, email them at ngatangatahou@gmail.com.
Why waste your time writing an article about this?!
People will make up their own minds on what they do and not do…what are you trying to do? make a point so that hopefully someone influential will pick up on it, introduce legislation and force people to learn a culture or language they dont want to….way to drive racial tension!
And worst of all, by making big deals about this kind of stuff, it demonstrates racism. Why is it that in the US, a black president is ruled in a non-racist party, yet in NZ, we need a Maori party to put in their 2 cents for the maoris….problem is, that is more racist then anything the so called ‘white people’ do or say.
To dismiss your post in one sentence, New Zealand is a British colony, thats the way it is, thats the way it will always be. If those NZ Pakeha VIPs (another highly racist comment – why not label them as New Zealanders? that’s what they are right, are we not one country? racial and cultural differences aside?) don’t want to learn the Maori language or learn the maori culture, who’s to say they are in the wrong? For one I know i am culturaly aware, I enjoy learning about new cultures, but the fact that the maori culture gets shoved down kids throats at schools in NZ with their very own Te Reo class and the fact that “NZ Pakehas’ are in fact disadvantaged compared to Maoris due to Maoris being able to get free education grants, free tutoring at University, it makes someone like myself not be interested in the maori culture because there is this tension there. If you’[re forced to do something, you’re not likely to enjoy it or be apart of it when you are not forced right?
Its like a sports match, you get on with your team mates great because you all want the same thing, you are all in the same boat on the field, whereas to the other team, they hate you, they want nothing to do with you apart from beat you. Apply this to the maori culture, why cant everyone get along, why cant there be equality for all NZs, after all, Maoris arent the only ones that struggle from learning, social or otherwise problems, some white people are unfortunate to be in this situation too and do you see them getting handed out special scholarship grants etc? I get that as a country we are trying to get more maoris and polynesians into education and work, but everyone is born with the same opportunity to succeed in life, it is up to each individual to pursue their dreams.
To conclude, everyone has their own view on this, but as a well travelled and culturally accepting person, i believe that maoris create their own problem. I never look at a person and judge them based on their skin colour, spiritual or cultrual background. I hate referring to them by using the term Maoris, I feel racist saying that. Why cant we all be New Zealanders?! who cares what went on back in the days of the treaty, its in the past, move on. Noone has taken anything from anyone, we live in a free world where if you want something bad enough you can get it if you work hard…lets forget about stupid land claims etc, so you may say the british stole all of the land, but as a “pakeha” that hasnt benefited me, so why would claiming it back benefit anyone. There’s enough free country side in a country like NZ for everyone to enjoy together. And for the moneyside of that, as I said, you have the opportuntiy to get what you want in life if you work hard to earn it…..note the term EARN! Just cos I’m a British decendant being ‘pakeha’ doesnt mean I get free land, so why is there always land claim issues cos the ‘maoris’ claim they are missing out on whats theirs. did you earn it? and there will be some idiot mention about their ancestors….my ancestors got things taken from them im sure, do you see me claiming for that now? no because I know noone cares and I have to earn what I want in life.
All and all, we can be a racist country and complain about these issues for years to come, only for them to still be a problem for the next generation. lets all grow up and live together as one, provide benefits for everyone, not just one racial group.
as a nz european, i totally agree with all of your comments, trace. do you have any comments to add to your article bevan?? or are you trying to say that maori and ethnic communities should stick together while nz pakeha should be isolated? if so f!@# you!
Hi there, I wanted to first thank both of you for replying – I wanted to reply and couldn’t find the time to write a response as good as yours.
I think this work PAKEHA or NZ European is awful to start with, the word Pakeha is discriminative and unfair. Europeans who came to New Zealand has a diverse background and culture. English, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, Jewish… they all present a different culture and lumping them into one is not acceptable.
I encourage diversity; that is, we retain our cultural heritage and yet integrade with each other. I hate the word “melting pot”, which means you become someone else just to become harmonised. Diversity is important, we know that in the biological world too. Diversity creates interesting mix and strengthen the species.
The issue with the Treaty is very complex and I totally agree, many British descendents have no interest in that and they are not even responsible for what happened. Many migrated to New Zealand post-Treaty and really they should not be isolated. How many people remember that the Jews came to NZ as a refugee?
Most people would say and perhaps agree that racism is derived from the lack of understanding. I have been advocating for people to understand and respect other cultures, though you do not have to accept and practice it. For example, as a Hong Kong Chinese, I can never understand why Mainland Chinese have to squat wherever they want, and why the heck they always spit. That I cannot accept, but understand that is their culture.
In my previous role dealing with newcomers to New Zealand, they feel very comfortable with the European culture and can settled quite quickly. New Zealand is indeed part of the Commonwealth and this is the reason why me and many others migrated here.
However they were scared of Maori because all they see are the haka and tongues poking out.I think it is important for the ethnic communities to understand the indigenous people of the land, and then you can make your own decisions about what you think. Despite the complex issue amongst indigenous people and the setlters, New Zealand is a pioneer in first nations/indigeous affairs.
I was speaking to an ex-Race Commissioner and he said the reason why we need to protect Maori culture is because they are not really in other parts of the world, if their culture and language is dead in the country of origin, then everything is dead. Whereas there are billions of Chinese and Indians back home and their culture and language is kept alive.
In New Zealand’s, the definition of “eethnic” is everyone who is not Pakeha, Maori or Pacific Islanders. Therefore, not all ethnic communities will find a connection with Maori.
The only reason I have to identify “race” in my article, as much as I hate the terminology, is because I see everyone at that event as New Zealander, a Kiwi. I know I see myself as a Kiwi. I actually really hate it when people only see me as Chinese and makes all the assumptions of who I am because of how I look. (I just had this today, by another English migrant, who doesn’t even have a NZ passport!)
Ethnicity is self identified, as well as their identity. (And this is why I put on my blog that I am a 1.5 Generation Hong Kong Chinese Aucklander – I came to NZ pre-1997 when Hong Kong was still a British colony. One of those who refused to be associated with Mainland Chinese. Talk about racism!)
In short, I do not support any form of racism/isolation, whether it is the European vs. Maori/Pacifici/Ethnic or vice versa. (I’ve tweeted about this before – I had colleagues who have made anti-Pakeha comments which I condemned.) This article is to encourage people to go out and understand others, get together (not ganging up) and create something amazing for this country.
My idealistic world is that one day we no longer see people of their race, while they maintain their cultural practice and live happily ever after.
Hi there, I do really appreciate that you take the time to reply to commenters and basically substantiate everything you wrote. I believe
all cultures have words or expressions to describe people that are foreign to them, for example hong konger’s refer to white people as
‘gwai lo’ or ‘ghost person’ due to our appearance, while for islanders they would refer to us as ‘palangi’ or ‘pale skin’. While this may
seem unacceptable this is reality and we need to just take it as a compliment so that any racial undertones are quickly obliviated. I
believe now to be called a palangi or gwai lo is simply not as effective in terms of being racist as they once were.
I’m not quite sure about the term melting pot…I thought it could just be used to describe an environment where you could find everything,
or see all types of people…not necessarily that they have to be somebody else to create harmony in any particular environment.
I also believe that diversity creates beauty and there are many examples of that I can point to around me based on my own experiences.
I think too that there is a growing resentment amongst not only europeans but all non-maori ethnic groups due to ongoing seemingly never
ending treaty claims and a feeling of maori having this sort of sense of entitlement to everything without hard work. If you look at the
stats, you generally see that although maori make up a mere 10% of the population, they make up 90% of the criminals – why this is can be
attributed to many factors, however aimlessly asking for handouts I do not believe to be the answer.
China is a big place and there are vast differences amongst regions – yes the squating thing is a very unique cultural trait, especially so
while smoking, and I think this may also be where the spitting comes in. Regardless of what we think about it, you can’t change a society
overnight and this also holds true to the environment here in NZ, which as you agreed is in fact a British colony. And let’s not escape
the fact that this is a major reason you decided to emigrate to NZ pre ’97 when everything was up in the air in hk, and lots of people
thought that the s!@# was about to hit the fan.
I agree that the majority of caucasian and as you refer to “ethnic” communities are, not to mince words, afraid of the maori. The maori
themselves are partly to blame due to their agressive nature and criminal tendencies. We also see that Maori is an official language of
NZ, but so what…when less than 10% of native maori speak it, why should anyone else be willing to? And what use is it? I’m sure I would
rather learn any other language except Maori. Mandarin, Japanese, German, French, Italian, just about anything.
I agree that NZ is a pioneering place in general. Afterall, we were the first to give women the vote for example. And as for race
relations, you just have to compare NZ to Australia where there is no treaty and the aboriginies are treated very poorly.
It is true that places with large populations such as india or china have no trouble keeping their culture and language alive. Is it not
the responsibility of Maori themselves to keep their own culture and language alive? I just don’t feel there is the sentiment amongst them
to do so, and this is nobody elses fault to be clear. Quite frankly I’m sick and tired of hearing Maori blaming everyone else for their
problems except themselves. And not all ethnic communities find a connection with Maori for sure. Maori don’t even identify with their
own culture a lot of the time.
Bevan, you are allowed to identify yourself as a kiwi and I’m really pleased you do – you have just as much (and let’s not worry about
being politically or culturally correct) right as anyone else to do so. Yourself and other asian communities provide and give back to NZ
so much more than the native maori do in general. You don’t need to disagree or make any comparisons because it’s just my opinion as
another european kiwi. When you say “people see you as” Chinese, I just want to say, so what? You are and always can be both Chinese in
terms of “ethnicity” and still kiwi in terms of “nationality”, I think it’s important to differentiate these terms.
To be honest, we are all in our own ways a little ‘racist’ but I think to be fairer to you and your family, you decided to emigrate to NZ
at a time when there was a lot of uncertainty about what would happen post 1997, so I would say this is unfair or misrepresentative to
label as racism, especially more so due to the fact that ethnicity wise, you are still chinese whether you come from the mainland or from
hk.
I think the term I used was in itself was a bit harsh, I know you didn’t intend any ‘isolation’ and this is what you are working towards in
all of your work. I understand and appreciate that you are working towards a better environment to suit all of us kiwis as a country that
let’s face it is inevitably going to be made up of a diverse range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds as we move forward.
I wish you all the best and please find someone soon ok! You are a lovely person who deserves someone, which is not to say you are not
allowed to be content being single either!
Thanks for the kind words. I guess when I say I don’t want people to see me as “Chinese” only is that I want people to see who I am and that I am also capable of doing a whole of different things other than just ethnic/Chinese things. A Caucausian South African guy, who have been here in NZ for only 5 years, assumed that all the work I do are related to the Chinese community only and asked me how they are doing. He made an assumption about me because I am Chinese. I told him bluntly that I have no idea how that group is doing because I am not closely affiliated with them. My work is pan-ethnic, and I go out and fight for the rights of “ethnic” communities beyond Chinese. There are enough people in the Chinese community who fight for their rights, I don’t need to do this.
Even as Chinese, there are many different ethnicities and culture. I am 1/16th of a Manchurian, and for some strange reasons I felt very uncomfortable when the Chinese community was celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Republic – because the Manchurians were taken over the Han Chinese.
And of course, there is the different Chinese groups such as HK Chinese, Taiwanese Chinese, Singaporean Chinese, Malaysian Chinese, etc.
Interesting discussion about “Gwai Lo” because I remember how I used to argue with my ex about this. His friend in HK told him it meant, as you said, “ghost people” and he felt uncomfortable. It may not be a PC description, no HK Chinese would agree that it is discriminative. White guys in HK have a prestige that a name like “gwai lo” means nothing.
Thanks again for the kind words and thanks for making me respond. I did want to respond but I could have just sit on it and have all these thought run in my head!
Umm! You are welcome
It’s always good to type out what’s running through your head huh! How about gwai mui then?! maybe a bit of prestige too? (i know what you mean anyway!) but that’s why i said it doesn’t have any affect if the group who it applies to takes ownership of that term! a bit like how black people call each other the N word without causing offense! It’s good how you realise the chinese community has lots of outlets now, but still they definitely need people like u because u are knowledgable from so many angles…(or u know how to relate to everybody).
Hi Bevan
That`s my first time to read your article. Actually, I had done a lot of approach to different ppl, but desire and jealous will never end unless take into action to solve such issue. NZ has to face the truth and future—British is calculating on its own interest but ignore the Common_wealth of Nations even HK which had been return to PRC. I am a northern man but doing charity for leprosy-affect people in Canton.The world is changing.
Pakeha, Maori or Chinese those name should not be equal to a racism or discrimination. Community engagement is on the way if we persist to doing communication in the society. For me, I am doing charity for Cantonese so I should learn to bend in Cantonese community. For British, the Scotsmen and English never stop their contempt to each other. Fiji Indian always dislike the Asian Indian. Pakeha and Maori also get issue. The problem of Chinese community is simple—– politics relation between PRC, PC and Singapore (HK belongs to China but indenpendent constitution). The issue of NZ is the absence of knowledge and communication. My manager is an American, but I can proudly told him that my nation defeated American Army in Korean war and Vietnam War. Those war give Chinese a pride. Clash and conflict make both disaster and respect.
We need to make a voice loudly in the society as Chaplin making speech in the Great Dictator: I dont want to rule or conquer anyone, I should like to help everyone if possible. Jew, Gentile, Black men, white.
We are human, and NZ can have a great future if we do something. Not only for self-interest but the humanity of the world.
Fear is not an option unless we do something right with faith.
In God, We Trust.
Wishing you all the best.
“The answers I get is – Oh, English is the most widely spoken common language. Of course it is, and so it should”
Sorry – why should English be the most widely spoken language? Why shouldn’t it be compulsory at school? It’s a real shame that we don’t do more to hold on to Maori language.
Pakeha is a positive term. Given that there isn’t much else unique about New Zealanders of European descent – they should welcome the term. ‘New Zealander’ is meaningless as anyone can be a New Zealander (just fill in a form and pay some money) but to be Pakeha actual New Zealand heritage.
@martha as an nz european your comments I feel I have to resond to address. Bevan was just meaning that she had no problem with English being the most widely spoken here, i.e. not bitching about it. Trace was saying it shouldn’t be compulsory because that breeds resentment if people have no interest in learning a language. Yes, it’s a real shame but the way to “do more” should seriously be looked at so that you get people wanting to learn and not forceably. Pakeha is a Maori term. I’m sorry you don’t feel there’s much else unique about NZers of european descent. NZer is not a meaningless term in so far as American is a meaningless term – it refers to a nationality. Pakeha is not NZ heritage, Maori (or more correctly maoriori) is NZ heritage. We have so many ‘pakeha’ in NZ that we assume pakeha is nz heritage.
@baiBing: I think it’s true that Britain as a nation needs to focus on their own as a first priority, just as China needs to for their own as their first priority. HK has been returned to Chinese rulership, so I’m not sure if you think it should still be treated as a commonwealth country, and if so, what should the British do? They have no entitlement any longer. Your comments about English/Scottish and Fiji/Fiji-Indian are so true but that doesn’t mean China doesn’t have this problem. What about how mainlanders always think Taiwanese and Cantonese think they’re better than them? What about how Han Chinese traditionally thought they were better than other Chinese? At the end of the day, when confronted with ‘other’ nationalities of course all Chinese will be united as a whole just as all Europeans would be despite as you say always being at contempt with each other. I agree with your comment about the biggest problem for China at this time being political though. The biggest problem for NZ is not absence of knowledge and communication, I think people in NZ overall have more wordly and culturally accepting views than say the average censorship-ruled person in China. The most major problem in NZ is that we are, ethnicity and culturally, such a diverse nation. Countries like China don’t have this problem…yet. The problem here in NZ is how you go about integrating and making all these people from quite diverse backgrounds all get on together while living in the same place. Wishing you all the best with your community work in Cantonese regions. Also agree NZ can have a great future if we do things right!
Mate, thanks for your comments to my words, as I said in the last comments that the world is changing. Critise and intolerance has been used as a weapon to attack any ethnicity. For you, Chinese is a problem. That`s the major problem to you so-called Pakeha or European. Racism would always been used for the aggressive attack. We dont fear because we had nuke weapon to protect our land and people, we dont fear because we can creat a better future for our own. Integrating is a verb until you drop you bias to other ethnicity. Thats ezy to make bullshit but harder to clean it up. Can you do something to make NZ better than before? I can guarentee to achieve. Can you?
@BaiBing I’m sorry you feel Chinese are a problem for myself or europeans. Perhaps you had bad experiences? Yes, integrating is a verb promoting an action, but there’s no bias here mate! I am able to really enjoy socialising and working with chinese and other ethnicities. I think all ethnicities in NZ need to have such action, as it’s a good idea that all the ethnicities here get on well together. I’m confident and proud to say I make NZ a better place each day, hey just being here is a good start, right?