17th November 2024

Members of Asians communities from across Ōtautahi, Ōtepoti, Tāmaki Makaurau will converge in Te Whanganui-a-Tara next week as part of the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti organised by Toitū Te Tiriti.

Activist group Asians Supporting Tino Rangatiratanga have been mobilising across Asian communities around the country in solidarity with Māori, as this government continues to attack and undermine Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

“This is not a Māori-Pākehā issue, Te Tiriti is relevant to everyone. It is the first immigration document, and it lays out the conditions for non-Māori to live here. The agreement affirms tino rangatiratanga for Māori while delegating ‘governorship’ to the Crown to govern their own people, not Māori,” says Kirsty Fong, spokesperson for ASTR and treaty facilitator.

Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti will converge on Parliament grounds a week after the Treaty Principles Bill was introduced into the house. The Bill, pushed for by the ACT Party, seeks to redefine and erase the status of Māori as Indigenous peoples of this land.

“The hīkoi is not only in response to this Bill. It is an impressive show of solidarity among and with Māori, whose rights have been continually violated for almost two centuries,” says Nabilah Husna Abdul Rahman, another spokesperson for ASTR.

“But the tides are changing. New generations of Asian tauiwi are being exposed to the truths of colonisation in Aotearoa. We reject the Crown’s myths about Te Tiriti. We know that our safety, wellbeing and strength as a society lies in Te Tiriti being fully honoured, in Māori being able to assert tino rangatiratanga – not through the dilution or neglect of Te Tiriti,” she continues.

“To other Asian tauiwi, our power comes from organising. Through Matike Mai, Māori communities organised to envision a nation where everyone is valued and mana motuhake is restored. It’s our turn to organise our people. Join the hīkoi, but don’t stop there. Organise your school and university communities to keep these institutions accountable to Te Tiriti-centred education. Organise your workplaces to model Te Tiriti in decision-making processes. Work does not end when we trickle out of Parliament grounds. Decolonisation through constitutional transformation is the long-term goal,” says Fong.

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