1Crucial to any notion of constitutional balance between Māori and the Crown is the idea that within their own spheres
of influence, each has jurisdictional choice to exercise their rangatiratanga and kāwanatanga in different ways, subject only to their
respective tikanga and laws and the need to honour the
authority of the other.
The right to be self-determining has
always meant that people are free to chart their destiny in their own way and
it has always taken different forms in different cultures. The very difference in form is also the very
ideal of democracy.
The Westminster form of democracy
for example is as culture-bound as was the original Greek “demos” from
which it traces its history. In Ancient Greece the rules about who could
participate in political decisionmaking were distinctively shaped by the
culture of the time and never allowed for the inclusion of women or the lower
classes known as “the mob,” or those non-Athenians who were regarded as
“natural born slaves”.
For Māori, the site of power (arikitanga or rangatiratanga) and
the concept of power (mana) that
facilitate how we make decisions and exercise our power, are different to those
in Athens and Westminster because they grew from our culture and our
understanding of our relationships with each other and with Papatūānuku. But the legitimacy of
our power, like theirs, lies in its cultural distinctiveness.
In a Tiriti-based
constitution that kind of difference would allow Māori and the Crown to make
law within their own spheres by following their own processes.
“The idea of doing things our way is
crucial otherwise it’s not mana we’re talking about…it will probably lead to
arguments about what our way is but that’s part of who we are…we always do
things differently anyway…it’s what the kawa on the marae is all about…it’s what being Ngāti Porou or Apanui is
all about…it’s not new”.
“I know that in the Māori Parliament they decided to have voting which was not
our way but they also worked on a consensus and used other kawa that was quite
different…I don’t see why that can’t be done now if it’s tika and I don’t see
why we couldn’t figure out how we’d work together either”.
“If we can agree that we
will do things differently to the Crown…that’s all we’d have to know when we’re
in our whare or whatever and the Crown’s in theirs…trust each other to do
what’s right…and then meet regularly with the Crown to negotiate what we need
to do together”.
When John Rangihau described
rangatiratanga as being “people-bestowed” he actually accentuated something
very democratic – that legitimate power is always from and for the people, and
that it is for the people to determine how and when it will be exercised.
1 1 Thirty-ninth edited extract from pp. 87 – 88 of
He Whakaaro Here Whakaumu Mō Aotearoa
– The Report of
Matike Mai o Aotearoa
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