M¯aori culture

The headmaster of a prominent Wellington school said ‘‘Ma¯ ori culture that we need to engage with ...’’ What Ma¯ ori culture? Before the arrival of Europeans, Ma¯ ori culture – through several centuries of isolation – was the most primitive in the world and consisted of inter-tribal aggression, the very basic needs of survival that were required by Stone Age tribal units. Kill or be killed.

This is what happened but you will not see it recorded by Orange, O’Malley and co.

Te reo is a bastardised form of English and bears no relation to the language that greeted Cook.

The problems that Ma¯ ori have in education are not because of the evils of colonisation but by the reluctance of present day part-Ma¯ ori Renaissance elitists to accept the advice of their former leaders, like Sir Apirana Ngata, who said that education and proficiency in English were the keys to Maori achieving equality.

The lack of objectivity in the general media was obvious with the TV1 news, where only Ma¯ ori or pro-Ma¯ ori opinions on te reo were presented.

A national binding referendum on these matters is the only democratic solution but this can only succeed when there is acceptance that we are all New Zealanders and not seek ethnic exclusivity and privilege.

But the ‘‘privileged’’ need not fear these comments, as the less-than-objective media will see that they are not published.

Some may regard this as ‘‘hate speech’’ but it is verifiable history.

Bryan Johnson, O¯ mokoroa