Launch of The Crescent Moon

May I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Māori, Cook Island Māori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language. Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the evening (Sign)

May I specifically greet you: Ken Douglas, Deputy Chairman of the Asia New Zealand Foundation; Adrienne Jansen and Ans Westra, writer and photographer respectively; Your Worship Jenny Brash, Mayor of Porirua and Dr Roger Blakeley, Chief Executive of the Porirua City Council; Bob Maysmor, Museum Curator; Distinguished Guests otherwise; Ladies and Gentlemen.  And in the context of this evening’s gathering, may I add the greeting: Salaam Walaikum.

Thank you for inviting me to launch The Crescent Moon: The Asian Face of Islam in New Zealand. 

I have been asked to formally launch this new book and, as well, the accompanying exhibition here at Pataka Museum.  Just before I do, I would like to speak briefly as to its significance, both in raising general awareness of the lives of Muslim New Zealanders, but also in more widely creating understanding of religious differences.

Religiously, New Zealand is becoming a very diverse nation.
 
While there have been Muslims in New Zealand since the 1870s, until relatively recently, the numbers were quite small.  For example in 1950, it is said that there were only about 150 followers of Islam here.

However, by the time of the last census in 2006, those numbers had increased to slightly more than 36,000, most of whom hail from Asia, where more than half of the world’s Muslims live.  Likewise, reflecting immigration from Asia, similarly large increases have also been seen among New Zealand’s Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh adherents.

Alongside these changes, the number of people who express no faith at all has also increased significantly, with more than a third of all New Zealanders holding no faith at all.  As well, there have been considerable changes in the mixture of Christian adherents, who continue to make up just over half the population.

While I was brought up and remain, a Catholic, my household, those households of my parents and my wife Susan’s parents, are and were places where people of many different outlooks were welcomed and accepted.  My wife and I continue to have many friends of different faiths, as well as those who do not profess a faith.

With such a background, and being a New Zealander of Fiji-Indian descent, I believe that this diversity has the ability to enrich our society, culture and economy. 

But I also realise that it poses challenges. While religions can be instruments of peace, healing and love, religions can also inspire violence and discrimination. As history shows only too well, this is not a tension particular to any one faith or sect.  

However, the tragic terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, changed the world.  Adherents of Islam in many parts of the world came to be viewed with reserve, suspicion and distrust.  Additionally, and unfairly, their religion became associated in many peoples’ minds with the conduct of terrorism.

This book and this exhibition are important because of redressing something of this.  The book enables some members of New Zealand’s Muslim community to share their personal stories and in their own words – as everyday people in our general community. 

Both the book and exhibition reveal that Muslim New Zealanders are not a faceless, amorphous mass.  Instead, they are all very different individuals, with different lives, different views, different occupations and different hopes and aspirations. 

This then is the key to understanding those who are different from us.  It is recognising that while they all share the same faith, they are also all individuals.  There is not one Asian face of Islam in New Zealand but rather many faces.   

I would therefore like to congratulate the Asia New Zealand Foundation for initiating this project and in producing a very handsome volume.  In particular, I congratulate Ans Westra and Adrienne Jansen, for the photographic and interviewing skills, which are so ably on display in the book.  I would also like to thank Bob Maysmor and the team at Pataka for curating the accompanying exhibition, which I understand is to tour the country after having been here in Porirua.

But finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank the people who agreed to be interviewed and photographed for The Crescent Moon.  Being so open about your life and aspirations is not easy.  But by being so open, I believe you have not only helped all New Zealanders better understand Islam and Muslim New Zealanders, but you have also helped to open up dialogue between people from all faith communities. 

As Anna Gade reminds us in the introduction to The Crescent Moon, of what is said in the Koran: “O humankind, We have created you male and female and made you into nations and tribes that you may get to know one another.”

Therefore, both as Governor-General and Patron of the Asia New Zealand Foundation, it gives me great pleasure to officially launch The Crescent Moon, and to declare open the accompanying exhibition.

And on the note of congratulations and good wishes that I hope I have struck, I will close in New Zealand’s first language Māori, by offering everyone greetings and wishing you all good health and fortitude in your endeavours.  No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa.