Post by NZBC on Feb 8, 2008 10:47:40 GMT 12
Mayor with a Maori message
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.
¡°Th e Chinese culture is similar to Maori in terms of celebrations with many, many people ¡ª friends
and whanau.¡± Thee 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. there 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 ¡ª 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.
There 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 ¡ª 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
¡ª be strong.¡±
Meng & Ying Foon - Mayor & Mayoress of Gisborne
A man of the PEOPLE, Meng Foon was voted in by a huge majority to continue for a second 3 years term as Mayor of Gisborne.
Meng is Chinese and has learn¡¯t to speak fluent Maori ensuring that he is highly regarded by the people of Gisborne. He is a well known and entertaining speaker and Meng & Ying bring us a unique Keynote speech on ¡®Franchising from an Asian Perspective¡¯ focused on how franchisors can benefit from understanding this migrant community, a group increasingly investing in the franchise industry in New Zealand.
Meng is also a successful business owner involved with ownership of a retail mall. His wife Ying owns and runs The $2 Shop franchised store in Gisborne. Showing the quality of this couple, their daughter Jessica was crowned Miss Asia New Zealand in Sept 2004.
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.
¡°Th e Chinese culture is similar to Maori in terms of celebrations with many, many people ¡ª friends
and whanau.¡± Thee 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. there 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 ¡ª 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.
There 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 ¡ª 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
¡ª be strong.¡±
Meng & Ying Foon - Mayor & Mayoress of Gisborne
A man of the PEOPLE, Meng Foon was voted in by a huge majority to continue for a second 3 years term as Mayor of Gisborne.
Meng is Chinese and has learn¡¯t to speak fluent Maori ensuring that he is highly regarded by the people of Gisborne. He is a well known and entertaining speaker and Meng & Ying bring us a unique Keynote speech on ¡®Franchising from an Asian Perspective¡¯ focused on how franchisors can benefit from understanding this migrant community, a group increasingly investing in the franchise industry in New Zealand.
Meng is also a successful business owner involved with ownership of a retail mall. His wife Ying owns and runs The $2 Shop franchised store in Gisborne. Showing the quality of this couple, their daughter Jessica was crowned Miss Asia New Zealand in Sept 2004.