Democracy
Sir,—A University of Auckland political scientist, Professor Graham Bush (May 23), forgets to mention that the Westminsterstyle democracy he speaks of was brought here from Australia, England and elsewhere and was forced on the Maori people down the barrel of a gun. The Maori complained and resisted the flood of settlers, land speculators and con-men who arrived here in shiploads, but they were branded rebels and traitors for trying to stem the flow and protecting their property and rights. Those who were not killed were jailed or exiled to Tasmania and elsewhere. It was just last year that they brought back the remains of one old soul who was exiled in 1846. I doubt that it has done him any good. Albert Henry, a former premier of the Cook Islands, was found guilty by a New Zealand-type judicial system for flying his political supporters home; a breach of the democratic process, it was said, but they failed to recognise that they had been doing the same thing for 149 years. — Yours, etc.,
T. TEWEEHI. June 5, 1989.
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Press, 27 June 1989, Page 32
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178Democracy Press, 27 June 1989, Page 32
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