Bumpy road to a 'multicultural' New Zealand<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): It was a sunny, but puzzling May morning at the
\nNew Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute. Signs pointed toward
\nthe main entry, but other notices declared the site was closed
\ndue to \"inconvenience\". Behind the gate were two big women in old
\njackets. One asked, \"I'm Double, she's Trouble -- are you for our
\ncause or for tourism?\"<\/p>\n
\"Well, both,\" I said, thinking this was part of the show.<\/p>\n
The Japanese tourists descending from coaches, however, were
\nquickly ushered the other way, maybe only catching a glimpse of
\nthe red and black posters, one of which read \"Maori land -- not
\nfor sale\".<\/p>\n
'Trouble' led me to a traditional Maori meeting house, a
\nmaere, though of new construction and carpeted. She whispered
\ninstructions on meeting their leader. Things began to look
\nserious. The story, conveyed after a solemn welcome address in
\nthe Maori tongue, was that the site had been occupied by 150
\nMaori (most were now at work) since April 3.<\/p>\n
Ironically, the protest was against the management of the Arts
\nand Crafts Institute, a non-profit organization aiming to
\npreserve Maori heritage.<\/p>\n
\"Reliable sources tell us Japanese investors are about to buy
\nthis property,\" said Tuhipo Kereopa, a family therapist. However,
\nthe institute's public relations officer, Patrick Tamati, said he
\ndid not know where these \"rumors\" came from.<\/p>\n
The protesters insist the occupation is merely the \"beginning\"
\nof a larger movement to gain their \"intellectual and property
\nrights\". New Zealand's white majority, they say, have long gained
\nfrom selling Maori culture, besides taking their land unfairly.<\/p>\n
Visitors to the island nation are told that \"New Zealand is
\nproud of its Maori heritage\" but Kereopa points to poor health,
\nunemployment and poor education among the Maori.<\/p>\n
The Maori make up 12 percent of New Zealand's population of
\n3.5 million and, at about 500,000, are the largest minority among
\nPolynesians and an increasing number of Asians.<\/p>\n
Similar protests, though reportedly uncoordinated, were
\noccurring at other places.<\/p>\n
A radical Maori group enraged Prime Minister J.B. Bolger at an
\nAuckland demonstration against the Asian Development Bank
\nconference when they threatened \"terrorist\" attacks if the
\ngovernment continued to ignore them.<\/p>\n
Education<\/p>\n
But is all this really new? \"With better education we're
\ncatching up and starting to claim our rights, and the whites
\ndon't like it,\" said 'Trouble.'<\/p>\n
The May edition of Auckland's Metro magazine also reports on
\nnew radicalism speared by educated urban Maori. In the 1970s, the
\nreport states, \"Maori discontent re-emerged after a strange
\nsilence...\" attributed to \"a lack of understanding by largely
\nuneducated Maoris.\"<\/p>\n
Things cooled down after many placed their hope in the
\nWaitangi Tribunal, set up to address claims. But a lecturer on
\nMaori issues says Maori are angry now that the government has not
\nacted on the recommendations from the Tribunal, such as
\neducational programs.<\/p>\n
Whites are also grumbling. In response to an article on the
\nMaori issue earlier this year in The Jakarta Post, a letter from
\nan Auckland resident stated that Maori are too lazy to work,
\ndrink too much and occupy 40 percent of jail space. Also,
\ncompared to a European student in law and medicine who needs A+
\nto be promoted to the next year, \"a Maori student only needs C+,\"
\nwrote Paul A. Medhurst.<\/p>\n
In Otara, Auckland's low income housing area, a single mother
\nof four admits many are not enthusiastic about finding jobs,
\nbecause hard work brings little monetary difference to the dole.<\/p>\n
\"It's quite tough,\" says Ronga Goodwin of a weekly NZ$185
\n(Rp 274,734) in government support she gets for her family.
\nAnother Auckland resident said feeding a family of four costs
\nabout NZ$150 per week.<\/p>\n
When the children are older, Goodwin plans to take a
\nmanagement accounting course. Because the cropping up of
\nbusinesses looks promising, she said.<\/p>\n
The tension between the pakeha (whites) and the Maori is a
\ncentral problem that both sides are working to correct. It seems
\na never ending journey given the divisive views on what has been,
\nor has not been, achieved.<\/p>\n
A start seems to be the shift away from Europe, the ancestral
\nhomeland of New Zealand's majority, and the people's increasing
\nneed to embrace the indigenous -- the use of Maori terms
\nalongside English in publications is one sign.<\/p>\n
Royalty is reserved to the country's formal status in the
\nrealm of the Commonwealth. As a further sign of past regrets,
\npeace activists say New Zealand should apologize to Vietnam for
\nits role in the Vietnam war, as the country was just tailing
\nEurope and the United States.<\/p>\n
The 1993 agreement in which Maori were granted compensation in
\ntheir main livelihood, fisheries, was hailed as a spectacular
\nstep in realizing the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. The document
\ncontains the respective rights of the 'Chiefs and Tribes of New
\nZealand' and the Queen of England regarding land and other
\nproperty.<\/p>\n
Debates continue over the interpretations and validity of the
\ntreaty.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, still in Rotorua and a few minutes away from the
\noccupation of the Institute, the Family Dancers represent a more
\ncompromising stance.<\/p>\n
After enrapturing mostly Asian tourists with their nightly,
\nbut vibrant concert, group leader Maureen heads home to rest for
\nanother day of trying to train Maori school drop-outs in the
\nlucrative tourism industry. \"It's hard, we only have 26 weeks to
\nwork with them,\" she says.<\/p>\n
The drop-outs are mainly from homes where both parents must
\nwork, says the managing director of the training center, and the
\nfact that the youngsters are mainly Maori \"goes back a long way.\"<\/p>\n
Up north in Auckland, a bartender blurts out, \"Multicultural?
\nThat's bullshit.\"<\/p>\n
Lucia, working on the ferry from Devonport to the Ferry
\nBuilding, is a physics major and is of Mangere descent, another
\nPolynesian minority.<\/p>\n
She blames both whites and Polynesians for the social gap.
\n\"Multicultural is when we can comfortably visit our white
\nfriends' homes, but people still keep to themselves.\"<\/p>\n
Regarding education, she knows she is lucky and hopes to get a
\njob relevant to her training. \"Most Polynesians have skills for
\njobs which are no longer here,\" she says referring to changes in
\ntechnology which many cannot keep up with. She credits her
\nparents' spending habits for her schooling.<\/p>\n
Polynesians, she says, should adapt more to modern New
\nZealand. \"Once they get money they send so much home, especially
\nfor funerals, that they are left with nothing for meals and
\nrent,\" says Lucia.<\/p>\n
\"Then they have to live in dreadful government housing like in
\nOtara.\"<\/p>\n
It turned out that the place, although revealing the gap
\nbetween the elite housing overlooking the bay, doesn't come close
\nto \"dreadful\" housing in Jakarta. The white cab driver, Alan,
\nsaid it has changed a lot in the last few years.<\/p>\n
Houses and cars without smashed windows, and the absence of
\ndrunken, brawling men, proves that the police task force set up
\nto curb violence in the 1970s has been effective, says Alan.
\n\"Maybe racist, but necessary,\" he reflects. \"This is a nice
\nsurprise, they must have adapted. Back then they were pop-eyed
\nafter coming straight from villages.\"<\/p>\n
Remnants of violence exist in Otara's shopping area, where
\nheavy rolling doors and padlocks are a must. \"We're always having
\ntrouble with the boys, one took a whole tray the last time,\" says
\na Chinese bakery owner.<\/p>\n
In The Best of New Zealand, a book provided in some hotels,
\nthe writers acknowledge that the \"dynamic\" search for a new
\nidentity includes more hard work on improving relations with
\nminorities.<\/p>\n
A boat rower on a the Avon, a river evoking William
\nShakespeare's' birthplace in the England-style town of
\nChristchurch in Canterbury, south New Zealand, told of his own
\nview.<\/p>\n
\"Relations will only improve with the settlement of land
\nclaims,\" is the surprising statement from the calm John Davis. He
\nhad just said he approves of maintaining the English
\ncharacteristic of Christchurch no matter how multicultural New
\nZealand gets -- it is the main selling point for tourists.<\/p>\n
Perhaps his empathy to the Maori has something to do with his
\nmajoring in Southeast Asian politics.<\/p>\n
But Davis has a personal stake. \"My mother is half Maori,\" he
\nsays. His Caucasian features reflect that successive inter-
\nmarriages alone do not guarantee integration of minorities into
\nthe white society.<\/p>\n
The Maori already understand the pakeha, they would like it to
\nbe reciprocal. (anr)<\/p>",
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