As published in Indian Newslink (May 15, 2014) Member of Parliament and Labour Party’s Immigration spokesperson Dr Rajen Prasad has decided to retire from politics at the upcoming election.
My colleagues and I will miss him and his long experience.
We know that he will give his best to his new role as Special Envoy of the Secretary General of the Commonwealth to the Kingdom of Lesotho.
So much of the work that our ethnic MPs do go unnoticed outside of the mainstream media.
Rajen put it best in his Valedictory Speech on July 24: “There are 500,000 members of ethnic communities in New Zealand, and this is our constituency. These communities have come to see our ethnic MPs as their link to our formal systems. They have an expectation that we will be their advocates, their advisers and their champions. For ethnic MPs the country becomes our electorate.”
Rajen’s work has been critical in framing our Immigration and Ethnic Affairs policies for the upcoming election.
His stepping down also reminds us how important it is to have political representation for such a large section of the Kiwi population.
New leaders like Labour’s Priyanca Radhakrishnan and others are emerging from the Indian community, and I hope to see more.
Important segment
There are around 155,000 Indian New Zealanders and they make up a high percentage of the population of Auckland, our biggest city.
My colleague Phil Goff values the enormous Indian support he receives in Mt Roskill as I do with the large community who live in the Mt Albert electorate, particularly around Sandringham.
Our new candidate for Manukau East, Jenny Salesa, has told me of the great support she is receiving from the electorate.
The Indian community brings so many positives to our country.
It contributes a greater proportion to New Zealand’s GDP than the size of its population – and is under-represented in crime figures.
As the Indian population has grown in New Zealand, I have noticed a greater mainstreaming of Indian culture, evidenced by the growing — and increasingly multicultural — crowds at traditional Indian celebrations like Diwali.
One of the big selling points of our MMP electoral system is that it enables greater representation in Parliament for cultural minorities.
It is up to the Indian community to vote, to encourage your young people to engage with New Zealand politics, and to support your emerging leaders as they step up.
It would be great to see more young Indian New Zealanders following in the stellar footsteps of Rajen Prasad, one of our first Indian Members of Parliament.
He has helped pave the way for New Zealand’s future leaders.
David Shearer is an elected Member of Parliament from Mt Albert (Auckland) and Labour Party’s Spokesman for Foreign Affairs & Energy.
