Monarchy and Mana: New Zealand must think outside the box, Joop Teernstra

Sun, 23 Jun 2002 23:00:00 +0000

Like Australia, New Zealand is questioning the role and need for its antipodean Monarchy.

The majority is still in favour of maintaining the ethnic link to Britain and its monarchy.

As the society becomes more integrated with Asia-Pacific , this may not be the case in the longer term. In younger circles too, Republicanism is favoured. New Zealand’s current Prime Minister, Helen Clark, has publicly and not always tactfully advocated Republicanism.

It is a pity that so many New Zealanders fail to see the third option: an indigenous Constitutional Monarchy.

For the Maori’s the possibility of the election of a Royal family from among their nobles would be of riveting interest. A Kingdom of Aotearoa would have infinitely more appeal than following Maori apartheid extremists.

A Maori family honoured with nobility and hereditary rights to the throne of New Zealand would mean a restoration of Mana (standing, dignity, power) for all Maoridom.

It would be a positive break from the “victimisation culture” of on-going Treaty of Waitangi claims. It would be a forward looking New Treaty with the benefit of a modern Constitution for all that the nation never had.

For the Maori’s the concepts of Chiefdom, nobility and Royalty come traditionally. There has once been a Maori King and there is a Maori Queen. Hawaii was a kingdom and the only never colonized part of the Pacific is still a kingdom (Tonga).

But the honour to supply the nation with a Royal family should not be restricted to the Maori’s. There should be national consensus on the choice of that family. A Royal commission could be tasked by the present Monarch to short-list a list of eligible families for a national referendum.

What makes a Constitutional Monarchy preferable over a Republic? Ask this from a clever people who traded their former United Republic (one of Europe’s oldest) for the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Ask the Thais.

It is of great value to have a National symbol that fulfils its role in times of upheaval when unity is needed, standing above all political parties and Constitution-bound to stay a-political.

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Monarchy and Mana: New Zealand must think outside the box, Joop Teernstra