Maori can't decide on their own flag
This is pathetic. The Prime Minister is happy for the Maori flag to be flown in Auckland on Waitangi Day, but Maori cant decide which flag to fly. I have not heard any major opposition to the Tino Rangitiratanga flag flying, the local tribe is happy with the flag flying, so its a pity they just didn't get on with it and decide to fly it.After making a song and dance about not being able to fly the flag last year, the leaders of the Maori Party don't even know which flag to fly when they are given the chance. Another flag discussed is the 1834 flag, which wasn't a Maori flag but was associated with the Declaration of Independence. Someone tell the dissenting head-in-the-sand Kaumatua that we are commemorating the signing of the Treaty at Waitangi, not the Declaration of Independence, and that Maori want a Maori flag. Anyway, why is it up to the Maori Party to sort it out? The flag should just be put up. No consultation needed; no need to feed faces at hui.
The last government decided it didn't have time to consider the issue last year, the current Government decided immediately. It's Maori that are holding this back. If someone wants to pay a return flight to Auckland and supply me with a flag and a pole, I`ll put it up myself. Is it that hard?
Labels: Maori flag
4 Comments:
Politics is a very interesting field of discussion, and is open to interpretation and cultural points of view.
We all have values and desires and get frustrated when things take time and what appears to us a silly time wasting causes things to be held up.
But that is what politics is all about...
Making sure that everyone get's to have their say.
The moment you push your cultural values as being more valid than someone else's, or start making rude comments about the process in which another culture goes about doing things, then you have left the arena of politics and have changed your views from political views to racist views.
Racism is a form of ignorance which is easily fixed by doing a little homework and finding out why!
Free speech is a treasure to be held on to, but don't ruin it by introducing racist comments in your political blog.
I'm all for free speech. I'm all for freedom of culture in going about doing things.
If Maori are trying very hard to decide between a flag that does not represent Waitangi Day and one that does, its a no-brainer. Hui could have been held earlier and it is not racist to suggest this.
Regular readers of this blog will know full well my views on Maoridom and the Maori Party and they are positive to say the least. None would consider me racist, rude, ignorant or failing to do homework.
If Maori want a Maori flag, then all Maori must agree on it. Rushing things will make things even more of a mess than they are.
The big issue in my mind is that they want the Maori flag flown alongside the NZ one. This is completely inappropriate in my mind, as the Treaty of Waitangi was between Maori and the UK. NZ only existed as a result.
Therefore if two flags are to be flown together it should be a Maori one and the Union Jack, symbolising the historical treaty partners. Or just the NZ flag should be flown, symbolising the united NZ formed through the treaty.
Flying the Maori flag and the NZ one could be interpreted as giving official recognition to the separatist movement, which is a very bad idea - NZ is one country as agreed to in the Treaty, there is one law for all, and Waitangi must not be turned into anything else.
http://sjdennis.wordpress.com/2009/01/15/maori-flag-on-waitangi-day/
If we had to choose a new NZ flag, there would also be little agreement. I think the present flag is terrible. I'd prefer some version of the white silver fern on black or the blue and green koru-based options also offered.
It's weird how people expect Maori to be monolithic. Perhaps a reflection of their own tendency to lump all Maori together rather than anything REAL related to actual Maori.
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