[News Terms] Law Tearing Apart the Reinterpretation of the 'Waitangi Treaty' and Hakka Chun Maori Lawmaker

Treaty Between the United Kingdom and the Maori
Foundation of New Zealand's Nationhood and Constitution
English and Maori Versions Maintained
Interpretation Disputes Over Maori Rights

Recently, Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke (22), a Member of Parliament from the Maori Party, has attracted attention as a video of her performing the Haka has surpassed 700 million views. The Haka is a dance performed by the indigenous Maori people of New Zealand as a pre-battle ritual to boost morale. It is characterized by loud chants, wide-open eyes, and sticking out the tongue to create a fierce expression.

MP Maipi-Clarke is of Maori descent and is the youngest MP in New Zealand. In December last year, she also drew international attention by performing the Haka in protest against the suppression of the Maori language.

Hana Rawiti MyP-Clark (22), Maori Party Member of Parliament [Photo by TikTok]

On the 14th (local time), MP Maipi-Clarke tore up a copy of a bill reinterpreting the Treaty of Waitangi in the New Zealand Parliament and performed the Haka in protest. The bill was proposed by the right-wing New Zealand ACT Party, which argued that the Treaty of Waitangi has interpretive gaps that result in reverse discrimination against New Zealand citizens and that the treaty needs to be specifically reinterpreted.

The Treaty of Waitangi was signed on February 6, 1840, between the British Crown and over 500 Maori chiefs regarding the establishment of the nation. It essentially states that the indigenous Maori people hold ownership rights to New Zealand land, but the sovereignty or governing authority belongs to the British Crown. It forms the foundation of New Zealand’s constitution and defines the political relationship between the two parties.

The treaty consists of three articles. According to the English version, ▲ Maori chiefs fully cede sovereignty to the British Queen ▲ Maori ownership of land is guaranteed, but the British Crown holds exclusive preemptive rights in land transactions ▲ all Maori tribes are granted the rights of British subjects under the protection of the British Crown. The treaty was drafted in both English and Maori (Maori version).

Wha-tang Treaty Document
Photo by UNESCO Korea Committee

The problem was that the meanings between the English and Maori versions differed significantly. The articles were hastily drafted without systematic legal expert review beforehand. Additionally, since some words did not exist in Maori, new words were created to translate the English version, leading to interpretive differences between the two sides.

In the first article, the English word "sovereignty" corresponds to the Maori word "kawanatanga." At that time, the Maori language did not have a word for sovereignty. Therefore, the Maori version used a phonetic transcription of the English word "governor." In other words, while the English version states "cede sovereignty," the Maori version is closer in meaning to "cede governing authority or governing position." The Maori interpreted this as sharing power with the British Crown.

In the second article, the Maori word "Taonga" means "treasure." However, it also carries the meaning of "ownership and protection of language and culture." This is a much broader meaning than the English version, which only recognized Maori ownership of real estate.

Maori people participating in a protest against government policy
[Photo by AFP Yonhap News]

Although the treaty document was recognized as a founding document, many of the rights promised to the Maori were effectively ignored. Despite the British Crown’s promise of protection, the Maori lost a significant amount of land ownership throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. This eventually led to decades of Maori uprisings. After suppressing these uprisings, the New Zealand government largely disregarded the treaty.

In the 1960s, the Maori once again began fighting to correct the injustices of the Treaty of Waitangi. In 1975, the government established the Waitangi Tribunal, and from the 1980s, it began apologizing to the Maori and providing compensation for treaty violations. The issue of Maori rights remains a contentious point between the government and the Maori people today.