Maori legislator apologizes for cursing white settlers

Nov 10, 2009, 0:56 GMT

Wellington - An indigenous Maori member of the New Zealand parliament apologized Tuesday for language he used in an expletive- riddled email, accusing white settlers of 'raping our lands and ripping us for centuries,' but stood by the sentiment.

Immediately after apologizing in a live interview on a Maori radio station, Hone Harawira attacked the leader of the opposition Labour Party, saying he 'should be lined up against the wall and shot' for his alleged role in the largest land grab in the country's history.

Referring to a statement by Labour leader Phil Goff that he should be thrown out of politics, Harawira, a member of the Maori Party, which supports the centre-right minority government, said: 'The cheek of the bastard.

'Him and his mates are responsible for the passing of a piece of legislation described as the single largest land nationalization statute in the history of Aotearoa (New Zealand).

'Now, if I should be suspended for swearing, him and his mates should be lined up against the wall and shot.'

Harawira, 54 and a father of seven, apologized for his 'poor choice of words' in the email, which were dubbed obscene and racist by his political supporters and opponents alike.

He sent the email to a prominent Maori who questioned his decision to leave a parliamentary delegation to the European Union in Brussels that he was leading, to take his wife on an unofficial sightseeing trip to Paris.

Harawira said Tuesday that he had been referring to European settlers who were responsible for taking 63 million acres of Maori land over the last 150 years and accused Goff's party, which was in government until last year, of continuing this with a bill to nationalize the foreshore and seabed.

Goff said Harawira had still not apologized for his comments and there was no place in parliament for a person who spoke like that about other ethnic groups.