Locals attack Laws over 'brown slug' slur

Michael Laws

Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws is in trouble with his city's educators for calling the late King of Tonga a "bloated, brown slug".

Educational institutions there fear the mayor's comments will cost them business.

For more than 50 years many of the Pacific Islands' future leaders have been educated at Wanganui's boarding schools, Hellen Puhi Puhi, licensee and director of the Born and Raised Pasifika Early Childhood Centre, told the Wanganui Chronicle.

Mr Laws wouldn't lower the New Zealand flag when King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV died.

He also refused to back down from calling the King a "bloated, brown slug" on his Radio Live talkback show.

Mr Laws answered critics by saying it was time for people to look at the facts of a country governed by an aristocratic elite who enjoyed stunning luxury while their people lived in poverty.

Mr Laws said Tonga, where a privileged few owned all the land, controlled all the commerce and ran the Government with little or no democratic input, was different from other Pacific nations.

"In my view, you don't honour a leader who maintained and even strengthened such inequity."

Whanganui Ucol moved to distance itself from the mayor's remarks as it has Tongan royal undertaking fashion studies.

"We will certainly be assuring her family that Whanganui Ucol is a safe and supportive place to study," principal Suzanne Frecklington said.

Mr Laws' comments had come as a huge shock, Mrs Puhi Puhi said.

Wanganui had always been a welcoming place for the Pacific community but some families might be thinking twice about sending their children to the city, he said.

"As with anywhere, the values and belief systems within the Tongan community need to be respected.

"Throughout the world there are different kinds of leaderships and governments that are not fully understood or comprehended by people who do not belong to the respective community."

- NZPA