Symbol of Sovereignty: The tino rangatiratanga flag has the virtue of emerging naturally out of our recent history. It flies over the Auckland harbour bridge on Waitangi Day and has become the symbol of that part of the New Zealand nation which yearns to put the dubious legacy of British imperialism behind them.
WHAT IS A FLAG? Like so many of the things that go into the
making of a state, flags have their origins in war. Large swathes of cloth
bearing simple, easily recognised devices, made it possible for an army’s
identity to be determined from a considerable distance. Those who marched
beneath these fluttering banners were, accordingly, bound to its fortunes.
While their flag flew the soldiers knew there was reason to go on fighting;
when it fell, or was hauled down, they knew the battle was lost.
The Prime Minister, John Key, has suggested that the time is
right for New Zealanders to consider changing their flag. Mr Key appears to
subscribe to the widely held belief that the current design lacks distinction
and fails to identify New Zealand as a unique and independent nation of the
South Pacific. On 29 January he raised the possibility of holding a referendum
on the issue in which the current New Zealand flag is pitted against an
alternative of the Government’s choosing. Mr Key’s preferred replacement is the
silver fern flag so beloved of All Black supporters.
The first thing to note about the Prime Minister’s
suggestion is its utter disdain for any kind of public participation. Mr Key
proposes to give the voters just one alternative to the status quo, its design
to be decided by himself and his colleagues. End of story.
This is clearly an unsatisfactory (not to say undemocratic)
way of handling any change to such an indispensable symbol of our national
identity. Indeed, the procedure is so clearly deficient that it raises
questions about the amount of thought the Prime Minister has given the subject.
The most famous and successful example of the flag-changing process, Canada’s
1965 adoption of its universally admired maple leaf flag, left the final
decision to a multi-party parliamentary committee.
In terms of speed and simplicity the Canadian model has much
to recommend it. But if New Zealanders are determined to have the final say,
then I’d advise adopting the following three stage process. First Stage: a
special multi-party parliamentary committee invites public submissions from
which it produces a short-list of three alternative designs. Second Stage: a
referendum is conducted asking New Zealanders to rank the three alternatives in
order of preference. Third Stage: the most preferred design is “run off”
against the present New Zealand flag in a final, binding, referendum.
Such a process would almost certainly produce the following
three contenders: the tino rangatiratanga
or Maori sovereignty flag; Kyle Lockwood’s graceful combination of the silver
fern and the southern cross; and the “All Black” flag featuring the silver fern
on a sable field.
If the silver fern flag emerged as the most preferred
option, I would vote for the existing New Zealand flag. Black has always
conferred a palpable sense of power and menace to our national rugby team, but
making black the dominant colour of our national flag would be a singularly
ill-omened decision. In war, flying a black flag warned one’s enemy that no
prisoners would be taken. Much the same bloodthirsty intent became attached to
the pirates’ skull and crossbones flag. As the international banner of
Anarchism, the black flag is burdened with many negative historical associations.
Across the world, black is also recognised as the colour of death and mourning.
Kyle Lockwood's New Zealand flag gracefully incorporates the familiar symbols of Silver Fern and Southern Cross with the red-white-and-blue of the existing New Zealand Ensign.
Combining as it does the two symbols most commonly
associated with New Zealand, along with the red, white and blue of the existing
flag, it is difficult to fault Kyle Lockwood’s much admired design. It compares
very favourably with Canada’s maple leaf flag in terms of both elegance and
simplicity and would quite probably gain the latter’s instant and near
universal acceptance.
My own preference, however, would be for the tino rangatiratanga flag. As a design,
it, too, is a masterful combination of simplicity and elegance. But looking
good is by no means all it has going for it.
Designed by
Hiraina Marsden, Jan Smith and Linda Munn in 1990, its adaptation of the
traditional Maori koru motif and its use of Maoridom’s red, white and black colours has imbued this flag with a primal
dynamism, a sense of somehow being “right”, that led to its instant adoption by
most of Maoridom as well as many Pakeha.
The tino rangatiratanga flag also has the
virtue of having emerged, naturally, out of our recent history. It now flies
over the Auckland harbour
bridge on Waitangi Day and has become the symbol of that part of the New
Zealand nation which yearns to put the dubious legacy of British imperialism
behind them.
It is difficult
to imagine a more potent gesture of Pakeha goodwill, or of this nation’s
determination to unequivocally proclaim its bi-cultural identity, than voting
to adopt the flag of Maori sovereignty as the banner of us all.
This essay was originally published in The Press of Tuesday, February 11, 2014.
