Two Flags — One Nation?
Whoever attended a Maori concert, might have been impressed on how important their cultural transmission seems to be. Of course, for a community as strong as this, it is important to feel a certain connection to their own country. With the help of several treaties, the government has tried to repair the damage they had caused to Maori people in the past. Nevertheless, upcoming discussions concerning the New Zealand flag debate revealed that Maori people still don’t seem to experience total equality.
Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox criticised the current flag for being ignorant of the fact that New Zealand consists of a “multi-cultural society”. According to her, the New Zealand flag only addressed “British subjects” and should therefore be accompanied by the national Maori flag, known as tino rangatiranga.
The tino rangatiranga was designed in 1989 and consists of the colours red, white and blue. But it wasn’t the first Maori flag as there had been others especially in the mid-19th century. Inspirated by British settlers, Maoris decided to design their own flags to represent power, independence and also monarchs.
In addition, this demand caused annoyance as having two flags was regarded by other people as a sign of a still existing “duality of nationhood” whereas they finally want to form a happy unity after all these years. It is a hard topic to argue, keeping in mind that the importance of a flag might be different for every nation. But in my opinion, if this feeling of the flag’s separatism does such harm to Maori people, they should discuss a better idea than waving two flags at once. Imaging myself as a New Zealand inhabitant, no matter of which origin, I wouldn’t be happy with a picture like this.
