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Thursday, January 6, 2022

Bruce Moon: An Open Letter to Professor Jacinta Ruru and her friends


Well, our Jacinta Ruru has certainly done quite nicely for herself: a professorship in law, an award in the New Year Honours and a nice little article, with a photograph, in “Waatea News” for 1st January 2022.[1]

So there she is, “from Raukawa, Ngāti Ranginui, and Ngāti Manapoto [sic]”. Yet her photograph shows that she unequivocally has significant European heritage. Indeed one might reasonably assume that it is her dominant ancestry but it is not even mentioned in her stated lineage. Strange, given that a simple DNA test could reveal a raft of interesting ancestral information. So why does she see herself as only a part person? Does she, perhaps, mention only her Maori ancestry because she sees some advantage in that??

She has, it would appear from her reported words, “an opportunity and a responsibility to continue the battle for recognition of Te Tiriti and the building of a truly just and fair society in Aotearoa New Zealand.”  Well, that’s a lot to be on anybody’s plate!  “[R]ecognition of Te Tiriti”?  Well if “recognition” is important to her, why does she not use the name of our country that the ‘Tiriti’ uses instead of the fake name “Aotearoa”?[2] (As any reader will discover, the name for our country in it is a fair rendition, using sounds from the Ngapuhi dialect, of “New Zealand”, our country’s true name since 1643 – one of the oldest in the Pacific!  Indeed prior to then, the islands had no unified identity, they were simply occupied by various Maori tribes, some of  whom she asserts to be ancestors.  If anybody had used “Aotearoa” in 1840, the Williams, seventeen years resident in the country, would surely have used it in their translation.  Yet there is no record anywhere that I know of, of anybody complaining at the time of its omission!!

So, Jacinta, if you want to “continue the battle for recognition of Te Tiriti” which you say is on your agenda, “Aotearoa” should go straight into your wastepaper bin!

But ”to continue the battle for recognition of Te Tiriti”.  Well now, that is very, very curious since in essence, as you will see when you read it,  “Te Tiriti” comprised two principal articles.  By Article first, the chiefs ceded sovereignty completely and forever to the Queen, as their recorded words at the time make clear beyond a shadow of doubt, though there is a legion of deniers, many of whom are lady professors just like you![3]  By Article third “[a]ll the rights will be given to [all the Maoris of New  Zealand] the same as ... to the people of England”. The same you will note![4]  (I paraphrase slightly the Young official translation of 1869.)  And Article second, subsumed by Article third, merely granted the right to own property to all the people of New Zealand (tangata katoa o Nu Tirani).  And that was all done and dusted in May 1840 when Hobson, with the backing of the vast majority of Maori chiefs, formally declared British sovereignty over the whole country.

So just what sort of “battle” do you have to “continue” to attain “recognition of Te Tiriti”?

Flagrantly to the contrary, government after government has granted special rights to people of part-Maori descent, which accelerate under the present government of Jacinda Ardern.  An enormously expensive “Maori Health Authority” is just one flagrant example.  The disgraceful example of Te Pua Pua, deceitfully concealed from us until after the last election, its intention to give part-Maori interests virtual control of our precious water resources, by common law the property of all the people of New Zealand; specifically part-Maori representation on local bodies, our right of rejection cynically removed by legislation at record speed, the continuing granting to part-Maoris of special rights and privileges. The list goes on and on in blatant contempt of the provisions of the Treaty of Waitangi.

To avoid any doubt, let us be entirely clear that the Treaty of Waitangi created and so recognised unity of rights for all New Zealanders.  It did not differentiate our rights on any basis of race, class, education, social or cultural behaviour or any other notion. That such a simple and honourable respect for people could become so distorted is frankly appalling!

So there you are, Jacinta. “[T]he battle for recognition of Te Tiriti” which you declare to be your intention, as part of “a wider group fighting for law reform” is a “battle” for the destruction of democracy in New Zealand as these recent examples show. The present government, like many of its predecessors, treats the Treaty with contempt.  This is the tragedy of New Zealand.

And “lonely” at the University of Otago which you say your were in your early days?  I must take your word for that but I am entitled to ask you “why?”.  Seventy-five years ago and for three years, my college room-mate there was a lad from Turakina who was clearly of part-Maori descent.  Yet he was never lonely.  Like all of us, he got on with his life, was well-liked by his colleagues and an achiever.  It was what he was as an individual, not one part of his ancestry which mattered.  We remained in touch for more than sixty years.  There is surely a lesson in that.


Footnotes:

[1] https://waateanews.com/2022/01/01/law-expert-jacinta-ruru-sees-maori-future/

[2] If you read its actual words, in Maori, the name and indeed purpose of the ‘Tiriti’ will be clear and succinct –  a long, long way from present asserted distortions and contortions.  If your knowledge of the Maori language is not up to that, then you should read Hobson’s final draft in English, dated 4th February 1840, rediscovered in 1989 and unequivocally genuine, though we do not have scope here to explain this.

[3] Amongst the dames, lady professors and others whose false opinions you should rigidly eschew are Mesdames Reddy, Salmond, Orange, Turia, Mutu, Kelsey and Charters. For detailed reasons see “New Zealand; the fair colony”,  ISBN 978-0-473-53728-9,  2d ed,  August 2020, p.72ff, available from charlton@farmside.co.nz .

[4] What an enlightened provision, never before granted to any native people as far as I know. There was no social definition included – these rights applied to Maori slaves and women as much as to chiefs.

Bruce Moon is a retired computer pioneer who wrote "Real Treaty; False Treaty - The True Waitangi Story".

10 comments:

Terry Morrissey said...

Obviously another culture vulture and trougher.
Just like the climate change scientists, no money,no problem.
Get rid of the Waitangi Act and the Waitangi Tribunal and away goes the source of money and away go those looking for an easy buck without having to do an honest days work.
Who pays her salary?
Who gains advantage from her fomenting discontent?
For that you get an award in the New Years Honours?
Still I guess when John Key gets a knighthood for a failed attempt to change our National Ensign I reckon anything is up for grabs.

Anna Mouse said...

Well written commentary and all plainly true.

We are a country divided by this government, identity politics amd critical race theory.

Sadly the media keeps the citizens blind and only the vocal woke left seem to have a voice.

Janine said...

Great letter Bruce. It must be very frustrating for you with so much knowledge on the Treaty and our history to be so summarily dismissed. For those of us who have just started getting more involved with politics it's a real concern that so many of our politicians are so ignorant of our history. By their very ignorance we have embarked down a road to apartheid. Why do they feel a need to kowtow to such a small, vocal minority? All parties have
gone down this road.

As a small country, we could have just as easily gone the way of the Swiss and had a much more open and democratic society. Tribalism is not the way forward and as you so rightly point out these advocates of the Maorification of New Zealand probably have around 70% non- Maori heritage.

Anonymous said...

That,s just a briliant summation.
Than k you so much. Why isnt this published

. said...

This article by Bruce Moon is well considered, factual, honest and has been delivered in a calm, respectful and sober manner. It will be widely derided or ignored as none of these characteristics are widely practiced in 2022.

Rodp20 said...

Beautifully written and well founded. We need to have more open discussion in New Zealand around the views of those who choose to redefine the true intentions and meanings of the Treaty of Waitangi to suit their own means. It’s time New Zealanders stood up and took notice of what is playing out in our country.

Mudbayripper said...

Jucinta was born in Australia. Although she likes to keep that quiet, her words. Grandparents on mother's side English and Australian. Grandmother on Father's side European.

gregd said...

why are these people wanting to disregard their 90% of european ancestry to get on the te rao / whaitangi treaty/ aotearoa etc bandwagon i found watching a short video clip of ruru pathetic

Mark Chandler said...

Thanks for yet another (excellent) clarification of the obvious Bruce, albeit very well expressed. Like many Kiwis I was beguiled by Adern. Nowhere in the deepest recesses of my imagination did I think that nebulous waffle and hatred such as Ruru's could ever become a dominant narrative. But, thanks to a sycophantic mass media and Government sponsored promotion of part Maori radicals, this has become a reality. Honest hardworking folk threatened by the likes of Ruru, Mutu & Co with the destruction of democracy, condoned by a "vacuous teenager" and her cadre. Kelvin Davis even had the audacity to refer to anti Northland roadblockers as 'racist'. My God, what next one might reasonably ask? Being labelled racist by the deputy leader of the Labour Party, because we objected to unvetted part Maori having stop & inspect powers over me and mine? Piss off.
I will fight this every step of the way. I urge all New Zealander's to 'wake up' and act now. Get rid of this Government and more importantly, never let a Maori caucus have such powers ever again.

Don said...

So much has been written on these and similar lines by by well educated and sincere commentators revealing the truth about the Treaty and associated matters. Where has it all gone? The stone has been dropped down the well but we have yet to hear the splash. Do we want our country to be dominated by people who will not recognise truth but insist on using positions of power to take us along a separatist and undemocratic path for reasons hidden from the general population? The power of the media is being used to manipulate public opinion in a manner that bodes ill for all of us.