Issue 86 - editorial

A new era?

The whole debate about which flag might fly on the Auckland Harbour Bridge for Waitangi Day is shaping up to be something much much bigger than that. The many spurious reasons for not allowing the Tino Rangatiratanga flag to be flown - that it doesn’t represent a country and only country flags have been given that honour – not only beggars belief but severely tests Maori patience. Especially when we’ve all seen a Telecom and a Silver Fern flag flying over the bridge; or is my geography so astray and there are actually countries of those names somewhere in the world?

And, adding insult to injury, I recall that last year the Transit NZ spokesperson telling us which flags were allowed had a broad Afrikaans accent. Oh please!

It was a deft move by the new Prime Minister to say that he would be happy to fly a Maori flag but would defer to the equally new Minister of Maori Affairs Pita Sharples to say which one.

In that one move and the outflow from it, I believe we have arrived at a new dawn in the development of this country.

There will be a major and testy debate about ‘which’ flag. But now people, many of them Pakeha, are saying why just talk about the Maori flag? Why not a new flag for the country because we’ve moved on from when we had to have the Union Jack in there somewhere.

Remember the outcry when Hinewehi Mohi bravely sang E Ihoa before an international rugby test a few years back? Been to one lately and seen how everyone stands up and belts out the te reo lines off the big screen?

Waitangi Day 2009 will have been and gone by the time you read this, but in this issue we highlight the love affair Maori have had with flags over the years and meet the only surviving designer of the Tino Rangatiratanga flag. I’m hoping you’ll give real consideration to the story behind that flag. You just may find the thought that went into its design will sweep away any prejudices you might have developed around how some people have used the flag.

While we are on the subject of symbolic change – as the supporting story to our feature on flags argues – why stop there? Why don’t we ditch the meaningless name ‘New Zealand’ and get a decent name for this country while we’re at it?

I also believe that we are on the brink of a new political dawn with the developing relationship between the National and Maori Parties. Some of you might say that I would say that given that I ran as a Maori Party candidate in the last election; but you might also pause to consider that I could be privy to knowledge on how the arrangement is building.

As always this issue is packed with good reading. So enjoy the rest of your summer with a copy of Mana close at hand.

Kia ora