Haare
Williams of Tuhoe believes that this week we saw the emergence of a hero, the
Land Rights Negotiator, Tamati Kruger whose temperate approach has inspired a
nation …
 |
| Tamati Kruger - APN Media |
Ko te tangata whai i nga tipu o te ora, koina te tohu Mana Motuhake
This week our nation saw a hero emerge in the stature of Tamati Kruger, the Tuhoe Land Rights Negotiator. He will be remembered like Parekura Horomia, for his assertive but temperate approach in the face of a long and protracted trail of betrayal by the state. A month ago, I asked Kruger, “What’s the price of Settlement?” His reply was quick but calm, “… not the price but the cost?”
“Heroes don’t live forever, but those who live without trying are
forgotten.”
On a chilly Saturday morning July 24 1991, Te Whakatohea and Ngati
Awa, including Wairemana Taia, great grand-daughter of Mokomoko assembled at
Waiaua Marae (Opotiki) to hear Sir Douglas Graham as Minister of Justice. It was one of the most moving moments of the
post-colonial era as the minister presented the Mokomoko tribe with the deed of
official pardon. In Te Kooti and Rua
Kenana we heard negative (Pakeha) constructs of Tuhoe as dissidents, who
provided sanctuary for criminals in the Urewera canopy of bush, mountains and
mist.
“Sorry.” Saying that word to
a parent, a sibling, a wife, a friend, a people or a nation is
emancipatory. And what about saying
“Sorry”, to nature. Yet for some, it is
one of the hardest things to do.
For many, there is a problem.
For some, it is in the giving; they cannot handle it. For others, it is the receiving. They cannot accept it. What about you? We all know that apologies can heal yet no
one seems prepared to put up a hand and start.
We live in a society that is prone to blame rather than take responsibility
for our actions. Actions that hurt
another. Pride too gets in the way, but
sooner or later we all do something that hurt another.
Apologising is probably the healthiest, most cleansing of actions we
can ever make. So take a deep breath,
phone mum, dad, a friend someone you have avoided for some time and simply say,
“Sorry Mum,” I know of four where these simple words have changed their lives
forever. Confession is a charade unless
it is matched with genuine action.
While there is still a cultural sniff at the work of The Waitangi
Tribunal, there are many reasons why its actions be applauded as they lay the
foundations for a future Aotearoa New Zealand.
The tribunal places a lot of importance on our future as a nation and
the growing importance of biculturalism across a culturally diverse
nation. It is also acting as a catalyst
in preparing for some dramatic social and political changes now taking
place. Te Tiriti o Waitangi-The Treaty
of Waitangi agenda through the work of the tribunal holds the greatest
potential for peace and justice in our own land.
Mokomoko was executed for a crime he did not commit. A congregation of Catholic Maori women,
children and elderly men were butchered by the Militia while in worship on a
Sunday at Rangiaowhia near Te Awamutu in 1864. In the US, teen Karla Tucker was
executed for a crime she committed a half a lifetime earlier as a drunk-sodden
prostitute. To the humanist in us, these
are barbarous acts even in the American south where guns are fondled as the
accoutrements of manhood, where the John Wayne swagger is a statement of
manliness; they do not seem to understand that gratuitous violence and counter
violence soon become the same thing. Is
this the only way to mitigate public outrage?
Where is forgiveness? We saw
forgiveness rise out of South Africa through Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. It happened in our own parliament this week.
Let us think of forgiveness, not as a weakness but an act of courage
and strength, as a humane and decent gesture.
Let us suggest that where there is no forgiveness, there is little hope
for a better society, then despair and its hoon companions of rage and violence
slips easily into the vacuum.
Before healing can occur in the hearts of the aggrieved, repentance
is a start that is followed by confession.
Restitution follows; a genuine attempt to restore that which has been
damaged and seek justice whatever the cost.
Tuhoe have never been passive.
For over a century, they were portrayed by the state as offensive in
various forms of resistance before being dispossessed by a combination of
military force and the legislative power of the state. This kind of intemperate action seemed to
Maori to be convincing proof that (some) Pakeha New Zealanders can be very
rabid in defense of their assimilationist agenda. After all Tuhoe, the children of the mist they
say harboured criminals and lawbreakers.
Forgiveness and redemption come when we recognise that we have the
ability to empower ourselves and others by simply saying, “Sorry.”
“Tamati, is the price enough?”
Kruger replied, “$171 million for the expropriation of land, language
and wellbeing? How much is enough?”
At the heart of our nation is a spirit of generosity, the light of
redemption that Kruger is holding up above the gloom from which shines
maungarongo (peace and redemption), whanaungatanga (hospitality and
generosity), Kaitiakitanga (protection of our core values), and mana (authority
of the partners of the treaty).
… thank you Tamati for showing us how naked we are in the wake of a
litany of betrayals.
“…those who live without trying are forgotten.”