New Zealand now has five Pacific island Members of parliament after the weekend election. It’s the largest number of Pacific MPs in the country’s history.
Newly elected Labor Party MP Sua William Sio won his seat, despite his party losing government. He told Radio Australia the place of Pacific people in New Zealand’s political system seems assured.
“You’ll find that young, new faces are coming through into politics,” he said. “It’s another step forward in terms of New Zealand moving forward recognizing that, yep, the strength of our nation really is its diversity.”
He added, “It’s not just Pacific, it’s the Asian community that’s come forward as well. “I think it firmly sends a clear message that Pacific communities in New Zealand are here to stay and they are going to be the decision makers at all levels including the highest level which is Parliament.”
But National Party MP Peseta Sam Loutu-Iiga said while five MPs is good, as a percentage of New Zealand’s population Pacific Islanders are still under represented.
“Let’s not get too excited about our representation,” he said. “While I’m happy that there are five MPs I believe that our participation in Parliament should be increased over time.”
Sio said wider Pacific Islander representation in New Zealand politics is good for the country’s profile in the Pacific region.
“It firmly sends out a signal that Pacific are at home, that they are here to stay in New Zealand, that New Zealand is firmly a Pacific nation and it also enhances the reputation that New Zealand has within the Pacific region as New Zealand’s one of our own,” he said.
The election of the first Suva-born man into New Zealand’s Parliament should be a matter of pride for the people of Fiji.
Fiji Indian Association president Salim Ashwin Singh described Dr. Rajen Prasad as a very powerful advocate.
“As president of Fiji Indian Association, I am proud that a person of Fiji descent is in parliament, the first Fiji person to be in the Parliament,” he told the Fiji Times
“This should be a matter of pride for all Fiji people irrespective of race and we trust that Dr. Prasad will be able to be a powerful advocate of the Fiji viewpoint. It’s a proud moment, especially when we have a Fiji Indian as governor general though he was born in NZ. Dr. Prasad was born and brought up in Fiji.”
