LEADING THE WAY

NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER JACINDA ARDERN AND HER COUNTRY HAVE BEEN GLOBALLY PRAISED FOR THE EMPATHY, SUPPORT AND PROTECTION GIVEN TO MUSLIM CITIZENS FOLLOWING THE DEADLY ATTACK BY AN AUSTRALIAN WHITE EXTREMIST IN TWO CHRISTCHURCH MOSQUES

The image of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hugging a grieving Muslim woman projected onto the face of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, was a moving tribute to an honest and brave politician attempting to deal with horriic violence against Muslims. Ms. Ardern and her country have been globally praised for the empathy, support and protection given to Muslim citizens following the attack by an Australian white extremist that killed 50 Muslims attending prayers in two Christchurch mosques two weeks ago.

A second tribute came in the form of an open letter from 13-year old Summer Joyan, an Australian Muslim schoolgirl, who called on Ms. Ardern to become that country’s prime minister and said she should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

“Many world leaders could learn a lot from the way you have held your nation together and comforted those who are grieving,” Summer wrote. She pointed out that in her high school “not a single teacher or igure of authority even mentioned the attacks. They don’t acknowledge that a white supremacist murdered 50 innocent Muslim men, women and children in a usually peaceful place of worship. They didn’t offer support or reach out to the Muslim girls in my school or even provide counselling services for grief and support.”

Then she asked, “Can you imagine the comfort that my Muslim friends and I felt, knowing there was one leader in a neighbouring country (who) was on our side? If only more

politicians had the courage to stand up to injustices...”

Ms. Ardern not only consoled Christchurch Muslims and victims’ families but also committed New Zealanders to the battle against white radicalism and banned the type of assault weapons, munitious and mechanisms to boost ire power that slew and wounded so many innocent civilians in Christchurch. Furthermore, she acted without making the political calculation that her stands would make her unpopular with domestic racists and gun owners. Since Muslims amount to 1 per cent of New Zealand’s population, they cannot match the potential votes of these two groups. Ms. Ardern also ordered a royal commission of inquiry, the country’s highest form of investigation, to “get to the bottom of how this act of terrorism occurred and what, if any, opportunities we had to stop it.”

Ms. Ardern, 38, the world’s ifth youngest national leader, is both compassionate and trend-setting. She is the world’s second prime minister to have given birth while in ofice; the irst was Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto. Last September Ardern took her three-month old daughter, Neve, to the opening of the UN General Assembly session. The irst infant to attend the Assembly, Neve had her own UN entry badge. Neve’s presence was appropriate as Ms. Ardern gave her UN debut speech to the children’s agency summit where she reiterated her determination to end child poverty and make New Zealand the best place on the planet to raise a child.

While she governs the country, Ardern’s partner Clarke Gayford, who presents a ishing programme on television, has assumed the