Divisive rhetoric chips away at communities

The following letter to the Gisborne Herald appears under the title above and the name of Eddie Tuhaka:

Rawiri Waititi’s divisive comments and behaviour against the present Government, calling them a white/Pākehā Government, is racist and unacceptable. He and the rest of them did not complain when they all got their pay increase from the white pay review board.

As a Māori, he/they do not speak for me and many others. In the future, when he retires from Parliament and gets a handsome superannuation payout for life from the white Government, he will have done absolutely nothing for Māori.

His tipuna, Hone Waititi, who was a teacher, educationalist and a great community leader, will not be happy with his behaviour. The great work done by Hone and other great leaders, such as Sir Apirana Ngata, will be undone by this man.

I did not know that there was a Māori Health Authority until the present Government said they were going to close it down. If I’m sick, I go to my GP; if I have an emergency at home, I call the ambulance; if I need medicine, I go to the chemist, etc. With these and many other health services available for us all, what does the Māori Health Authority do? With a shortage of medical staff across all departments, where are they going to get their staff, medical specialists and money from?

Having spent many years in the military, many of my fellow soldiers were Pākehā, but we did not look at each other as Māori or Pākehā, just fellow soldiers/mates. We served alongside and trained with military personnel from many other countries. Comments were made to us about how well we worked and trained closely together, and how our camaraderie was strong.

Make no mistake, the Māori/Pākehā working combination in the military is second to none, and I know this is the same in many other areas of our workforce/ community. There were also many Pacific Island mates who served, which made our camaraderie even stronger.

In the NZ Police, our instructors at Police College were Māori, Pākehā and Pasifika, and of course this is right across the police force itself.

Continued divisive rhetoric by this guy will slowly chip away at our communities. Meanwhile, he will still happily be picking up his increased pay cheque.

Lastly, the words from Sir Apirana Ngata, used at our last Anzac Day: “We are of one house. If our Pākehā brothers fall, we fall with them.” And I know from experience, that this will always go both ways.

Eddie Tuhaka

First published here