The handsome contribution of two Auckland men to ethnic affairs in New Zealand was recognised and celebrated at the Fickling Centre in central Auckland on Monday, August 17.
At a function jointly organised by the Auckland Ethnic Council and the Waitakere Ethnic Board, Philip Khoury and N Rasalingam were honoured with certificates of merit for their long service to the country’s ethnic communities.
Mr Khoury began his long association with ethnic communities in 1986 representing the Lebanese community in Auckland and helped organise the first national conference of ethnic councils in 1990. Both he and Dr Rasalingam have worked closely on ethnic affairs over the past two decades.
Dr Rasalingam, QSM came to New Zealand from Sri Lanka in 1970 and has been serving ethnic communities and refugees ever since. He has been associated with the refugee community in Glenn Innes and has been President of the Auckland Ethnic Council, and has been closely associated with the Auckland Refugee Council and the New Zealand Ethnic Council.
Auckland Mayor John Banks presented the certificates. Speaking on the occasion, Mr banks recalled his student days at the Avondale College saying in the early 1960s, the college was pretty much a mono-ethnic, mono-cultural institutions. The ethnic diversity that one encounters today in Auckland is to be celebrated, he said.
Mr Banks also outlined the importance of having and empowering community councils in the new structure of the Auckland Supercity – a sentiment that was shared by other speakers like Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee and Waitakere Deputy Mayor and Councillor Penny Hulse.
The speakers shared their views on several aspects of the Supercity, but all agreed that the interests of Auckland’s diverse ethnic communities must be taken on board. Ms Hulse said that just three schools in Waitakere City had pupils of 140 different ethnicities. She underscored the importance of a ethnically diverse Supercity Council.
Mr Lee, a fifth-time ARC Councillor, said that in recent years, local government had “moved too far away from ordinary folk,” and reiterated his stand that council and assets and services needed to be publicly owned by the people of the city.
National MP Jackie Blue represented Prime Minister John Key. The proceedings began with a Bharata Natyam dance item presented by Ishara. Waitakere Ethnic Board President Ann Pala conducted the proceedings.
The Auckland Ethnic Council also presented four of its ongoing projects to the gathering. The projects cover activities engaging youth, organ donors, prevention and mitigation of type-II diabetes and capacity building within the community.