Third World Guide to New Zealand

Over a month ago, a reader (Gaby, USA) asked about racism in New Zealand. I confidently replied, "In general, I feel you can ignore all those unfounded fears about racism."

Then recently, some local kids in Christchurch forced their way into the flat of Chinese student and attacked him with beer bottles. They didn’t steal anything, but kept shouting—

"FUCK OFF, YOU YELLOW ASIAN BOY! THIS IS WHITE PEOPLE’S PLACE!"

Luckily, Leilolala (that’s what he wants to be called) fended them off with kung-fu moves (that’s what he said).

This piece of news was also on Fight Dem Back, "a trans-Tasman campaign against racial hatred, xenophobia and fascism." They do a much better job (than me) of tracking these things. Bookmark them.

Shirley Chan attends her first Anzac Day celebration, a finds herself drawn into the emotions of the day. Yet, somehow, she remained afraid of looking Asian in a sea of white-faced soldiers.

It’s a good piece. The NZ Herald should offer her a regular column.

The ever-strong NZ dollar continues its rampage: South Island manufacturers are seriously considering moving production overseas or shutting down. American tourists are avoiding New Zealand. (And the weak US dollar has nothing to do with it.)

The New Zealand dollar keeps on going and going, forcing Fisher & Paykel to lay off 350 people and move some manufacturing to Thailand.

Lincoln Tan writes about national identity. He makes a case that New Zealand’s identity is not religious, cultural, racial or ethnic, although all his readers (in the NZ Herald) tell him that Asians will never, ever be called a Kiwi. Lincoln prefers to be called a Chinese-New Zealander.

In my case, I’m a migrant and not yet a citizen, and I’ve only been here over a year. So I feel I have no need to identify myself as New Zealander. I understand Lincoln’s position and can even sympathize, but for now I feel more for the Maoris, given what little I know about their history and about how European New Zealanders marginalised the first inhabitants of this land.

Last October 2006, in a speech, Dr Pita Sharples quoted Dr Glenn Colquhoun, "The most difficult thing about majorities is not that they cannot see minorities, but that they cannot see themselves. There is no contrast, no dissonance, everything is white on white."

Finally, police has officially declared the burglary hot spots in Christchurch: Linwood, Bromley, Phillipstown and Woolston. Peak burglary times is between 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm on weekdays, especially Wednesdays. With Operation Hammer, police will stop and question motorists and pedestrians. Lawyers warn that police have no right to search vehicles in relation to burglary.

Christchurch traffic is now as bad as Auckland traffic. Average travel speeds: Auckland (39 km/h), Wellington (49 km/h), and Christchurch (36 km/h).

But New Zealand traffic is nowhere near as bad as Metro Manila traffic, which has average travel speeds between 10-22 kp/h, depending on whose report you read (10 kp/h, 18 kp/h, 22 kp/h). And that’s on a good day. On bad days, it can go down to 6-8 kp/h. On really bad days, traffic can completely halt for hours.

See Sir Martin Perez’s post on "All Things Wrong With Metro Manila Traffic".

Half of New Zealand is owned by the top 10% richest individuals, according to the new report from Statistics New Zealand, Wealth Disparities In New Zealand. The report also describes the median net worth by race: Europeans ($86,900), Asians ($21,000), Maori ($18,000), Pacific people ($6700).

We have another sensationalist headline from The Press about a Japanese family who died in their home. An accurate headline would have been: Group Suicide Most Exciting Theory To Get Reader’s Attention.

The strong New Zealand dollar might climb to 80 US cents, but local exporters are already feeling the effects, forcing them to lay off workers.

Bunny, as the gallery staff called it. A huge, inflatable dead rabbit, created by Michael Parekowhai, lay in the lobby of the Christchurch Art Gallery, taking up most of the space.

Afraid of race riots, the Government wants to "teach" migrants how to behave like a true-blue Kiwi. They are targeting migrants from Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East. I understand the concept and even appreciate the intentions, but they want to "teach values"—such loaded words. They should have used a more neutral term like "orientation" or "information package".

Lahar! More than a million cubic metres of water and volcanic mud burst from Mount Ruapehu and flowed down the Whangaehu River valley and out to sea near Wanganui. Ah, lahar, reminds me of the Philippines, circa 1991.

In 2006, New Zealand deported 72 criminals last year, composed of 16 Chinese, eight Malaysians, five Russians, five Indians, and 38 of unknown, unnamed, and unmentionable nationality or race.

CYP2C19 blogged about racism in New Zealand. She says something which I totally agree with: To them, we are just "Bloody Asians". It’s a short but interesting post about racism in Taiwan.

In her blog, Lindsay Mitchell asked, "How popular are Phillipine brides?" I posted a reply, and she said she was just curious. This brings up an interesting issue.

A lot of Filipinas are married to Kiwis. I know this firsthand. Even my wife was asked if she was married to a Kiwi. The prevailing assumption in New Zealand is this: if you’re a Filipina, then you got here by marrying a Kiwi.

There are definitely more Filipinos in New Zealand now, but I would like to attribute this to the creation of the Skilled Migrant Category in 2003, which allowed many Filipinos to migrate to NZ. This deserves further research.

For Lincoln Tan, ignorance about other races is a bigger problem than racism. He also recommend creating a programme for Race Relations Day.

Canadian environmental management consultant Tom Galimberti is proposing a deposit and refund system for drink containers. He also says that, when it comes to recyling, New Zealand is like a "third world country".

Actually, in the Philippines, which is a third world country, the regular household does no recyling whatsoever. But once the trash is outside, there are people who make a living sorting out the trash into sellable (recylable) materials. Also, in the Philippines, the "container deposit system" only applies to glass bottles and not to the ever-increasing plastic bottles.

In response to the ruckus about the burden of immigration, Simon Young has published an article in Idealog magazine, about "how immigrants make New Zealand more interesting, more dynamic and wealthier." Thank goodness for writers like Simon.

With over 600,000 broadband subscribers and 700,000 dialup subscribers in the country, Wellington plans to be the most connected city in New Zealand. Wellington city councillors want affordable, high-speed broadband through the city by 2012. I hope other cities follow suit.

Drivers are fuming over a two-hour gridlock on a highway north of Wellington. Two hours? Two whole hours? Big deal. This is news? (Hmm, I seem to be getting a wee bit sarcastic.)

In Auckland, some a**hole fired a BB gun from his car and killed a guy driving a minibus. It wouldn’t surprise me if it were the same guys who shoot at and destroy the glass panels in bus stop shelters.

I’ve never understood why "clean and green" New Zealand has so many cars. According to the 2003 statistics from the police, New Zealand has 2.5 million licensed drivers and 2.9 million registered motor vehicles. In the same year, the police issued 1.1 million traffic offences. That’s one car for every driver—half of whom will get a ticket.

And my point is? Over the weekend, two cyclists were killed, one by a truck, the other by a car. That’s one too many cars and trucks in New Zealand.