Kāhu ki Rotorua: Koeke hui opens dialogue on leadership issue

Crowd shots of Te Matatini at Eden Park in Auckland. Photo / Alex Burton

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See below for English translation

OPINION

E tika ana te ihu o te waka o Te Arawa e tae ai ia ki mahau o Houmaitawhiti. Nōku noa tēnei whakaaro i te hui o te Pukenga koeke o Te Arawa.

Ko te take e raruraru nei a Te Arawa i ēnei rangi ko te ngoikore ko te kore rānei o te wahakōrero kotahi e kitea ai te motu i te iwi e tū marae ana. Me pēwhea e tutuki ai tēnei kaupapa? Me he rangatira ia? Me tika hoki tana tātai?

Me he mātanga ia ki te whakapapa ki te whaikōrero? Rānei kai te titiro noa tātau ki te kanoi o te tangata? He āhua kotahi rau tangata i tae ki te poho o Tamatekapua i te paraire ko hori. E tika ana hoki he kaupapa nui kai te aroaro o te iwi, he ahakoa i hui a Te Arawa, kīhai i eke ki te taumata i wawatangia ai e te hunga. Ka pouri katoa ngā manawa.

Wheoi anō, e kore pea e taea te whakararata i tēnei kaupapa i te hui kotahi anahe, inā rā hoki te pakari o te kaupapa.Kai te ao e nōhia nei tātau te mate. He mahi, he nama, he aha noa atu. Nei  ētehi o ngā take e noho angiangi ana ngā paepae o Te Arawa. Mātau pai katoa te hunga whakarongo ki ēnei take.

Kāti. E pai ana ki a tohe tata e noho pakitara ana, engari ka uru mai he manuwhiri, ka puta atu rānei a Te Arawa me rangatira kē tātau.Ko taua kōrero rā e kī ana, tāhia te marae ki a tū te hokotahi.

Ko te Matatini te take kai te hamuti tātau. Ka hui a Te Arawa ka puta te whakatau a te marea mā Te Rangikawhiti Leonard e whaikōrero. He ahakoa he kore hiahia nōna ki te tū. Ka whakaae. Nā wai rā ka tae a Te Arawa ki Te Matatini, ka tū a Te Rangikawhiti me te reka hoki, ka noho tō tātau rangatira, ka mātika a Ken Kennedy ki te kōrero.He waimarie nō tātau i tāmīngia tēnei mahi āna e te tohe nui a Tainui me Ngāti Whatua.

Kīhai taua take e whakamoeā e te iwi, nā reira te hui nui i tū ki Te Papaiouru. Hai tā te tiamana o te hui ki a Paraone Pirika, kai ngā whakaritenga, kai ngā tikanga te huarahi e pai ai tēnei take. Tū mai ana ngā wahine me ngā kuia ki te tuku ō rātau whakaaro ake.

Mātua kia noho haumaru ai ngā nohinohi me ngā tamariki. Wheoi anō rā kua hui te iwi, tāria te roanga ake o ngā hui. Ko te hui ahurei o Tūhourangi ka tū ki Te Pākira a te Pīpiri te ngahuru mā tahi. 

E ono ngā rōpū whakataetae, e rima ngā rōpū whakangāhau ka tū. He kaupapa manaaki i te mauri o Tūhourangi te take i Whakaaraara ai te ahurei nei.Ko Manuariki Davis te pou whakahaere.Engari kai tēnei ahurei kai te kaha kitea te mano tamariki e tū whakangāhau ana.E āta ngāwari ana ngā taitamariki tāne engari anō ngā kōhine. Mō te pakanga mō te hemo noa atu te take.

Āpōpō heke iho ai ahau ki taku rangi whakangungu tuatahi. Kua whakahauā ahau e te iwi ko te take me rua pakeke takiwā o te whitu tekau ki ia rōpū tū ai. Ko māua ko Sally Tawhai West ki Te Pākira. Ki te kore ahau e heke ki te pā ka hāmenetia tātau.

Kīhai au i noho roa i te wiki ko pahemo he mauiui nōku. Kai te pēnā tonu taku tinana nō te Tūrei ko pahemo hoki nōku e tuhituhi ana.Kati he whakapae nōku hai te whakatau ki Te Pakira mō te kaupapa Iwi-Leaders ka ora anō te tinana.

Kai te hui mātau me te whānau o Tā Howard Morrison āpōpō ki te Centre. Ka nui te harikoa o taku manawa. Ka hoki anō ahau ki te titiro ki taua whare rā, ā, he mōhio hoki nōku ki āna waiata katoa. He pai ake tēnei mutunga wiki i te mutunga wiki ko pahemo.

I Hinemihi kē ahau i te tangihanga o taku hoa kura a Metcalfe Wharerahi Wallace Hawe.I kura tuatahi māua nā wai rā ka tūtuakitaki anō nō te wā māua e hakoke ana i Tamakimakaurau.

Ka tae māua ki te paepae o te kaumatuatanga ka rongo au e māuiui a manawa nei ia. Engari tēnei rangatira mō te manaaki i ahau. He tuku mai ki ahau ngā kai papai, he rongoā me āna kame whakaora i ahau e noho taumaha ana.

Ka tanumia taku hoa ki Te Mu. Ki te hakari ka whai wāhi ai ahau ki te kōrero ki tana makau tawhito, he wahine mātauranga, he wahine tuhi pukapuka hoki. Ko Dr MeLani ‘Lani’Anae.Hai tāna ko te wā o te kaupapa,Dawn Raids 1974-76, tētehi wāhanga pōuriuri kua titia ki tōna rae, ko whakairongia ki tana manawa.

Ko ngā mahi tautauhea a te kawanatanga ki ngā Poronēhia e kore rawa e warewarengia.Nā tēnei mahi taurekareka a te kawanatanga ka ara ake ko te rōpū Polynesian Panthers.Ko te painga iti noa ka hua i tenei kaupapa he pukapuka awhina i te hunga tohe ki ngā Pirihimana. Nā David Lange taua pukapuka i tuhi nōna e roia ana, ā, nā wai rā ka eke ia ki te taumata nui o Aotearoa hai Pirimia. Kai te mana tonu āna kupu.

— Na Raimona Inia i whakamaori

English Translation

OPINION

The Pukenga Koeke o Te Arawa hui about leadership was a step in the right direction.

We are talking here about one man to speak on behalf of the Confederation of Arawa Tribes at major gatherings outside our rohe.

What would be the criteria?

Would the speaker be chosen for his expertise in whakapapa and oratory, or would he descend from hereditary leaders?

There would have been more than 100 of us at Tamatekapua last Friday to discuss the issue and it would be fair to say that most people left the hui unsatisfied.

But it would be naive to expect that such a heavyweight topic could be settled in just one meeting. Or even four.

Work and family commitments mean that many paepae struggle to fulfil their commitments. It is often necessary to juggle speakers, kai karanga and kai tautoko.

Everybody understands that.

But it is all right for us to acknowledge our issues at home, but we need to put our best foot forward when we are entertaining people from outside our rohe or are visiting another district.

The hui had been called because at Te Matatini in Tamaki Makaurau the agreed protocols were not followed.

At a prior hui at Tamatekapua Karl Leonard was chosen as the sole speaker for Te Arawa. He agreed but would have preferred not to speak.

However, after he finished Ken Kennedy got up and spoke.

Luckily for us, this departure from the agreed process was over-shadowed by a spat between Tainui’s Tukoroirangi Morgan and Ngati Whatua.

The matter was not allowed to end there and so we had the hui last Friday.

Chair Paraone Pirika said there were processes that could be followed to clear the air and set protocols.

Mothers and kuia said they wanted to be sure their children felt safe during unrest at events.

I await a follow-up hui with interest.

One good thing to come out of that hui was whanau living outside Tuhourangi territory want to come to our ahurei.

And things are really heating up on that front.

The ahurei is set down for Te Pakira on June 11, the day after the Tarawera eruption commemorations, also a momentous day on our calendar.

Six competitive groups and five non-competitive are ready to show their talents.

The ahurei was started to preserve our Tuhourangitanga, remember our history and keep our kapa haka classics alive.

Manuariki Davis has been charged with organising this event and she is doing a superb job. One really different aspect about this ahurei is the number of younger tamariki taking part.

The boys are pretty laid back but those girls ...

They are quite determined they want to lead the action song and the poi.

What they don’t want is to share the limelight.

My first practice is tomorrow, and I have been instructed that I have to be there because each competitive group must have two performers over 70 years old.

For Te Pakira that is me and Sally Tawhai West and if I don’t turn up we will be disqualified or at least marked down.

There are even a couple of whanau groups participating.

I had to excuse myself from practice last weekend because I was suffering after having the remnants of a tooth removed during the week. I still felt a bit icky on Tuesday when I was writing this column.

I’m sure I’ll be fine for the whakatau at Te Pakira for the two-day Iwi Leaders’ Forum which started yesterday.

Tomorrow, I have a date to see a Tribute to Sir Howard Morrison by members of his whanau at the centre that bears his name.

I’m looking forward to that because I’ll know all the words to the songs, and I want to have another look around the centre.

That will be a nice way to go into the weekend because last weekend I was at Hinemihi for the tangi of my old school mate and whanaunga Metcalfe Wharerahi Wallace Hawe.

We were in the primmers together and met at random times when we lived in Auckland.

Back home as retirees we kept in fairly constant contact.

He had severe heart problems, but he was always watching out for me — giving me rongoa and finding inhalers so I could better cope with my asthma.

He was buried at Te Mu opposite the Buried Village, and I had the most charming and interesting companion at his hakari, his former wife, author and academic Dr Melani “Lani” Anae. She describes the Dawn Raids of 1974-76 as ‘the most blatantly racist attack on Pacific peoples by the New Zealand government in New Zealand’s history’.

The raids led to the birth of the Polynesian Panthers.

At the hakari Lani said one good thing to come of the raids was a handbook for youngsters of what to do when confronted by the police.

The advice provided by the late David Lange, a lawyer who went on to become Prime Minister, holds true today.