FLAG MANA OVER THE LAND

Haare Williams Papakura 28 January 2016

A former executive director with the 1990 Commission saw the construction and assembly of twenty-one waka at Waitangi for the 1990 Sesquicentennial, an expert in tikanga, an educator and former broadcaster, Haare Williams believes that a decision on a New Zealand flag should stay until 2040.  He claims, “Maori and service men deserve to be heard.”

I have canvassed Maori at hui, wananga and tangi and as well with rangatahi (youth) forums over the issue of a flag change, because polls say nothing about Maori opinion on anything.  These groups tell me one thing.  Don’t change.  They add our nation must first address issues of inequality, deprivation and environmental degradation.  The marae forum is the only space Maori feels ok about making choices.  

When a New Zealand-owned ship was impounded in Sydney for not flying a flag in March 1834, the British Resident, James Busby called chiefs to Waitangi to select a national flag. They chose one, which became the flag of The Independent United Tribes of New Zealand known as Te Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Aotearoa. 

As they owned a good share of coastal shipping on our waters, they chose a flag that promised security, justice and peace.   Besides, it gave them access to a burgeoning international market.  By then they knew that flags stood for mana a word not used in the treaty five years later.  It also meant control.  With the treaty in place, Maori entered the spirit of building a new nation, economic and political alongside the protection of natural resources.  The rule of democracy or the rule of many, did not count as Maori outnumbered the settler population by 500 to every Pakeha living in Aotearoa. 

The treaty that followed was a document which represented a negotiated boundary by which Maori allowed arrivals  gain access across the threshold into their homes, marae and land as respected manuhiri tuarangi (special guests) and extend manaakitanga (generosity and hospitality).  This agreed partnership was to form a new nation, Niu Tireni (New Zealand) in the form of four Articles.  The declaration of 1835 was ratified by King William IV that confirmed Maori chiefs’ mana (sovereignty) over their lands and estates, forestry and fisheries.  

That partnership was betrayed by settler rulers here and the fall-out still cuts deep.  Colonisation did not, for my part kill the heart of tikanga (Maori authority), but gave the young colony a bicultural strength – a first internationally.  Without Participation, Potentiality and Protection, Partnership is without meaning. 

 The chiefs wanted security, peace, technologies, agricultural know-how and a fair sale for their land.  Yes, but they also sought an end to musket wars and welcomed the economic vibrancy that expanded in The Bay of Islands and beyond.  They were quick to grab the language and technologies of the new-comers and in fact did many things better than their migrant counterparts.  When the Union Jack was hoisted above Pt Britomart, William Hobson was received enthusiastically and with the support of Apihai Te Kawau of Ngati Whatua they set up the new capital in Auckland. Hone Heke lost his enthusiasm for the treaty which he signed, when with only a year out he repudiated British rule and hacked down British authority at Kororareka. 

So, what does a flag represent?  For me, it is a national expression of oneness, of pride and mana across our land and territorial waters.  It says we are unlike anything else in the world.  Our current flag has deep symbolic and emotional meaning, which is much more than a mere intrinsic design.

Any change cannot sideline Maori opinion nor ignore the RSA.  Generations of our nation’s youth were drafted into the army of The British Empire and Commonwealth who fought and died under the Union Jack.  They paid the ultimate price.  We have a strong past and present to build a secure future.

At the core of our society are the storehouses of two rich cultures, Maori and Pakeha who between them are forging a third which embraces the principle of two cultures, Maori as Tangata Whenua and Pakeha as Tangata Tiriti who between them have created an emerging new New Zealand culture in which both tikanga Maori and Tikanga Pakeha are respected, accepted and protected for their separate but complimentary values.  This hybrid culture is flexible enough to welcome later cultures such as Pasifika and other strands as we grow and change the increasingly rich diversity of a multicultural landscape.

Iwi controlled economic activity with the exception of a few Pakeha entrepreneurs who had been adopted into a tribe and reciprocated by the exchange of skills and technology they brought.  The chiefs’ main motive for signing the two declarations?  The answer: access to British technology, yes but also economic tools, machines and crops.  In short, development and management. 

Up to 1840 of 443 convictions for petty crimes, only nine were committed by Maori.  Missionaries in the Bay of Islands and elsewhere reported, “Literacy amongst Maori was widespread,” and only fifty-percent of the settler population could not read.  Up to 1860, Maori owned and operated thirty-seven flour mills in Waikato-Hauraki-South Auckland.  In 1853 fifty three Maori owned trading ships of 14 ton or more were registered in Auckland.  Another example; in 1857 East Coast Maori sold 46,000 bushels of wheat, owned 200 head of cattle, 500 pigs, and founded markets in Australia.  Ownership was not a Maori concept …what they exercised was Kaitiakitanga over land, fisheries, forestry and nga taonga katoa (everything they deemed precious). 

Flags quickly sprouted on marae flagpoles across the nation.  Te Kooti of Turanganui-a-Kiwa (Poverty Bay) decided to match British authority with a personal flag measuring twenty-two feet, and he sat in the saddle upon a great white Arab stallion he named Pokaikaha which matched the mana (power) of General Duncan Cameron.   The Hau Hau movement flew flags which signaled mana over lands in Taranaki and Waikato.  Rua Kenana, the self proclaimed prophet of Maungapohatu had his peaceful flag confiscated in 1916 as “a rebellious flag.”  In recent years the Tino Rangatiratanga flag attracted public angst as “the flag of those troublesome protestors.”

All this tribal enterprise carried out by a people who owned and worked their lands and confident in tribal mana.  On the face of it, the two races seemed to come together.  Maori were coping with the influx of settlers and their land use and trade were burgeoning.  The country seemed safely on the road to prosperity and cordial race relations. Well, it didn’t go that way.

The treaty is not about privilege. It’s about the most basic principles of justice and law.  The tribunal’s kaupapa is not about who’s right or who’s wrong but recognise the importance of peace, reconciliation and justice.  He maungarongo ki te whenua, he whakaaro pai ki nga tangata katoa.

The flag change?  Some say, hold it.  Let me scotch any rumour that I’m an oracle, a visionary luminary washed ashore in nautilus shells, or a mid-night tooth fairy.  2040 is only twenty-five years away.  In 1990 a mere twenty-five years ago our nation celebrated our Sesquicentennial. By 2040 we will all have reason to celebrate a treaty that is like no other.      

For a start the land settlement process will have reached a new and exciting dynamic. We will have buried the lizards of colonisation in the long drop of colonial history.  The country will be well on its way towards reconciliation, justice and peace.  They will emerge with sizable assets which will be translated into strong business partnerships which will provide the resources for management and development together with kaitiakitanga, the protection of natural resources like forestry, water, seabed and seashore.

Maori will be positioned to recover some of the 66.5million acres they lost over the past two centuries by artifice of parliament and The Maori Land Court.  Our kids in primary schools will learn tikanga and te reo as a natural part of the primary school curriculum using successful Kohanga Reo, Kura kaupapa and Wananga learning techniques.  The nation will be ready for a Maori PM, probably two (women). Waitangi Day 2040 will be a day like no other.  With Maori leadership strong, we can expect the nation to again rise to new challenges as it did between 1835 and 1860. 

This year on Waitangi Day it is important for us all to reacquaint ourselves with our nation’s history, tragic though some parts are.  We have good reason to celebrate a cornerstone that has endured one hundred and seventy-five years of trial, challenge and change.  2040 will be an opportunity to plan and build upon another threshold of trust, peace and a renewal of the treaty promise.

My final plea to John Key and Andrew Little is, hold the decision to 2040 and allow time to weld our nation under the wairua (living spirit) of a uniting banner. 

The corollary of this decision would mean inscribing Maori values or tikanga into state policy and into a constitution.  A new culture of professional leaders, Maori and Pakeha will emerge who are comfortable in both cultures and languages looking, not just to justice and history but beyond to business and development capitalism. 

Make people richer, make our service men and women richer, make Maori richer and we are all richer as a nation.