by Alice Te Puni
GISBORNE Mayor Meng Foon’s ability to speak
te reo Maori has influenced many of the district’s
people to take up the challenge of learning New
Zealand’s official language.
“I have heard a lot of comment where some Maori
people think I have inspired them to learn their
own language.
“I believe it is important to know your language in
terms of where you come from and who you are. It
is vital for the growth of the nationhood,”he said.
Mr Foon, who is proud to be the district’s
“Chinese/Maori speaking Mayor”, was in 2001 the
country’s first person to be sworn into the mayoral
position on a marae.
“Mum and Dad travelled from Hong Kong for
the event and they along with friends and whanau
members who had not experienced Maori culture
truly loved the celebration,”he said.
“ e Chinese culture is similar to Maori in terms
of celebrations with many, many people — friends
and whanau.”
e Mayor is often seen presenting whaikorero at
marae and other powhiri.
Mr Foon’s first languages are Siyip, his father’s
dialect, and Cantonese, his mother’s. He didn’t
speak Maori or English until he was about nine
years old.
“I started speaking English and Maori about the
same time. ere were many fluent te reo Maori
speaking people in my world throughout my
childhood . . . Ngati Porou and Turanganui a Kiwa
employees who worked for my father’s business
growing kai and customers too.
“Our Maori customers would come in and say
“pirangi tena - pirau tena”(I want that — that is
rotten) when doing business, while others would
teach my brother and I naughty phrases.”
Mr Foon said he was fortunate to have attended
Makaraka School during the 1960s with the
principal of that time Pax Kennedy making regular
invitations for local Maori people to come and
teach the school children how to make piupiu,
kapa haka and share local knowledge.
is, however, was not the case at Gisborne
Intermediate.
“ e school was totally oblivious to things Maori.
ere was not one single sentence uttered at
Gisborne Intermediate in the 1970s. It was like a
vacuum. Engari, kei te pai ... my brother and I had
our daily te reo Maori lessons back in the shop
after school.
“I would often ask my Maori friends to teach
me te reo Maori, but they told me they weren’t
allowed to. However, I soon realised they didn’t
know themselves. In fact most of the Maori boys
and girls didn’t know anything about their reo or
culture.”
During his years at Gisborne Boys’High School Mr Foon was taught te reo Maori by his teacher
Henare Swann and was top of his class in Maori during his third, fourth and fifth form.
“ Then Eddie Green came from Te Aute and he cleaned us all up,”he said.
Mr Foon has many fond memories of te reo Maori and kapa haka lessons with Maori language
masters, Heni Tau Anau, Ngoi Pewhairangi and Maaka Jones during his high school years.
“My advice to anyone learning te reo Maori is . . . have a desire to learn and don’t feel threatened by
the process.Try and learn a new word everyday — your nouns and adverbs. Memorise one sentence
structure a week. Use this method and you are likely to gain hundreds if not thousands of words,
sentence structures and phrases. It is important to have people positively supporting you. Kia kaha — be strong.”by Thelma Karaitiana
Te Runanga o Turanganui a Kiwa, Special Projects Manager
Ka mau
te wehi