During Christmas and New Year holidays, like everyone else, we follow the ritual of revisiting the passing year from a news perspective and collate some important events for our readers to recall the year that has quickly slipped through our memory lanes.
Each year, in this endeavour, we end up surprising ourselves as we recollect the important events. This year is no different.
The significance of the year 2016 cannot be reiterated enough. It would not be an overstatement to assert that it has been a sensational year.
As which another year in the recent past can take the claim to witness global events like Trump’s election or Britain’s exit from the EU or Demonetisation in India.
In fact, on some occasions, Kiwi-Indian community has to deal with the simultaneous shocks of Trump’s surprise election in the US and demonetisation of currency back in India – a place that many in the community still see as their original home – on the same eventful day of November 8.
Not many would have a previous recent experience of similar momentous events happening on the same day.
Similarly how many times people would have experienced a surprise shock resignation of a popular Prime Minister well within his prime in popularity and control over the government.
Even though public memory is short, especially in politics, but for us Kiwis, the year 2016 would be remembered for some considerable time, purely for John Key’s astounding courage to abdicate political power at its prime.
2016 would also be known for two non-career politicians storming our world—John Key and Donald Trump—one stormed in and the other stormed out around the same time, although in completely different styles. In the Kiwi-Indian space, how many times one would have witnessed two mutual state visits in the same year and two simultaneous appointments of respective ambassadors in the same year. It all happened in 2016.
We are thoroughly convinced that 2016 was a sensational year.
If you are still not, then please see our compilation of the main events of this year and decide yourself.
Advent of Trump
It is not clear what was the bigger news of the two—Donald Trump’s election as America’s next president or global media’s failure to pre-empt Trump’s victory.
Either way, both developments had a profound global impact.
While Trump’s presidency is yet to begin, global media has already started some introspection to remain relevant in the post-Trump era.
Trump’s ascendency was a reflection of a demise of everything related to political correctness, status quo, and pro-establishment—things on which the global media has thrived so far.
A gradual auto correction of world media works might be in order.
Meanwhile, world leaders are cautiously waiting to see how Trump’s presidency unfolds in future.
Domestically, there is an anxious wait to see how Trump will implement the context of his hate speeches against illegal immigrants, the Hispanic community, Muslims in the US and around the world.
Internationally, world leaders are cautious about Trump’s emphasis on “America first,” which can potentially alter the post-Cold War global financial order and threaten world peace and stability.
Undoubtedly, Trump’s election as America’s next president is the single most event of 2016 that will shape future events of 2017.
Demonetisation
On November 8, just when the world was waking to the news of Donald Trump’s election as president of the world’s most powerful democracy, Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy India, Narendra Modi, choose to demonetise two biggest currency denominations in the country.
In a country of more than 1.2 billion population, where one-third of the population lives in abject poverty, and 70% of the population is totally dependent on the cash economy, such an administrative blitzkrieg was bound to have a profound impact.
Lest someone ignore this news as an occurrence of a distant third-world country situated in the other part of the world, it will be of some substance to remind them that the demonetisation-drive has reached our Trans-Tasman neighbour Australia.
In that sense, this news has some rippling effect across its borders.
India is the second-fastest growing economy in the world and ranks third in GDP in terms of purchasing power parity at USD$8.7 trillion.
Any disruption in the Indian economy, especially in the post-Trump era where big markets such as Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are already in doldrums, has a potential to affect the world economy.
Economic experts within India are divided on potential effects of demonetisation on the overall national economy.
Nevertheless, this demonetisation drive is not gaining attention because of the divide on the expert advice on its impact on the national economy.
It has gained much attention because of the battle of perceptions between the nationalist narrative accompanying this administrative measure and the colossal difficulties faced by the country’s average citizenry.
This battle of perception is intense within India.
The supporters of Mr Modi are blown over the narrative of a fight against corruption, black money, alleged terrorist funding, and drive for cashless economy, whereas his opponents are seeking to draw political mileage over the gross mismanagement of the scheme and allegations of being an “organised loot.”
Like everywhere else in life, truth is somewhere between these two lines of argument.
There is no denying that average citizens and foreign visitors including Kiwi-Indians are going through much inconvenience due to lack of information and mismanagement in the implementation of this ambitious drive.
Equally important is the fact that corruption and black money are the two most persistent malaises of the Indian society and needs to be addressed with a priority.
Was demonetisation an appropriate strategy to address these issues remains to be seen in future.
For now, it can be safely considered as an important event of 2016 to affect the Kiwi-Indian space.
John Key retires from politics
Just when New Zealand was ready to squeeze in calmly into the much-waited Christmas and New Year holidays, John Key, the country’s then Prime Minister choose to add drama in the political circles and shocked the nation with his resignation.
The fact that Mr Key was a popular and successful prime minister, with record approval ratings for a third consecutive term and no real challenge in sight to his position and charisma either in government or opposition, makes this a significant development of this year.
Mr Key was, and continues to remain, immensely popular among the Kiwi-Indians.
His personal connect with the community has played an important role adding value to New Zealand-India bilateral relations.
Among other things, Mr Key’s legacy can include his successful leadership during the global financial crisis and the Christchurch earthquakes.
His departure surely has a potential to change New Zealand’s script in 2017.
Indian president visits New Zealand
In a historic first, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee became India’s first Head of State to visit New Zealand on April 30.
This top-level state visit from India happened after a long gap of 30 years when the then Prime Minister, Late Rajeev Gandhi, had visited the country in 1986.
Since then, a lot has changed in India and global politics and a high-level state visit from India was long due to give a push to an already growing bilateral relationship.
Mr Mukherjee and his entourage received an official welcome at the Government House in Auckland. A state dinner was also hosted by the Governor-General, Sir Jerry Mataparae.
While in Auckland, President Mukherjee also addressed students at the AUT Business School and met Indian business and community leaders.
Among other things discussed between Mr Mukherjee and Mr Key, notable was the code share agreement between the New Zealand and Indian civil aviation department, thus opening doors for a direct flight between the two countries.
The air services agreement signed in Auckland was aimed at boosting tourism and trade between the nations.
Through this historic agreement, two governments have successfully removed any artificial barrier in facilitating direct flights between India and New Zealand.
Now, it is for the market (airline operators) to determine the financial viability of operating direct flights.
Experts are of the opinion that direct flights could be operational in the next couple of years.
When that will happen eventually, 2016 will be remembered for laying the basic foundation.
John Key visits India
This year also witnessed the then Prime Minister John Key’s second India visit in five years.
Indian Weekender accompanied the prime minister on his trip and reported live the many interesting facets of the visit.
The visit initially attracted a lot of attention because of the forced stopover in Australia due to a technical snag in the prime minister’s aircraft, which led to skipping the Mumbai leg of the visit.
In the end, it was able to achieve all realistic goals set prior to the visit and the key goal was to move forward towards a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two nations.
FTA is the most awaited expectation between the two countries and Mr Key’s visit has made a significant contribution towards that goal.
Above all, Mr Key invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit New Zealand, which he graciously accepted.
This will again keep the Kiwi-Indian space buzzing in 2017.
Sanjeev Airlift Kohli comes to New Zealand
Appointment of an Indian High Commissioner to New Zealand is always a source of much attention, as the appointee brings his character and personality to this position, which pivots the bilateral relations between the two countries—a key area of interest for the Kiwi-Indian community.
However, this year, the appointment of Sanjeev Kohli as the new Indian High Commissioner has attracted much love and attention within the community, courtesy of Bollywood movie Airlift.
For the uninitiated, Mr Kohli is the real face behind a character of Bollywood movie, who plays the role of is a Joint Secretary in India’s Ministry of External Affairs assisting the main protagonist in the movie seen leading the evacuation mission in Kuwait almost singlehandedly.
Contrary to the portrayal of this character in the movie, Mr Kohli was posted as a young third Secretary in the Indian mission in Kuwait when Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990. Mr Kohli and his staff had stayed back in Kuwait until the last Indian citizen was safely evacuated.
Mr Kohli brings that grit, determination, compassion, and a ‘quiet-performer image’ to his new role as New Zealand High Commissioner.
A quick demonstration of his abilities and skills were on full display when he successfully organised the logistics of Indian President Parab Mukherjee’s visit to New Zealand within 10 days of his posting to the new role.
Since then, Mr Kohli has been on top of his game facilitating closer bilateral relations between the two countries.
It will not be an exaggeration to suggest that Mr Kohli is one of the more popular High Commissioners from India in the recent past and community appears to be elated by his presence as the Head of the Indian mission in New Zealand.
Kaikoura earthquakes
One of the scariest memories of 2016 would undoubtedly be the Kaikoura earthquakes in South Island.
On November 14, just after the midnight, Canterbury region was rattled by a severe earthquake of 7.8 magnitude bringing back the memories of the deadly Christchurch earthquake in 2009. Since then, more than 1,600 earthquake aftershocks were reported, of which 300 were of magnitude 4, 43 of magnitude 5, and two of magnitude 6.
Fortunately, this time, there were not as many causalities as were in 2009. Two precious lives were lost in Kaikoura and Mount Lyford.
Kaikoura—a popular tourist destination—was cut off from the rest of the country due to a large number of landslides. It also suffered from massive damage on the State Highway connecting the town with the rest of the country.
According to an estimate, the earthquake triggered up to 100,000 landslides in northern Canterbury and southern Marlborough, most notable of which was the breaching of the slip dam holding back the south side of the Clarence River near Kaikoura, sending down almost one million cubic metres of water downstream.
A large number of people, tourists, and residents remained stranded for many days before the relief and rescue team could evacuate them safely.
Although New Zealand government was firmly placed to conduct the relief and rescue operations on its own, several friendly nations offered to deploy their naval ships already in New Zealand waters towards assisting in relief and rescue.
The government has predicted that the Kaikoura earthquake will cost up to $3 billion and will have a marginal impact on the national economy.
Bainimarama visit: Let bygones be bygones
Fiji’s Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama came to New Zealand on October 20 this year on his first official visit as the leader of his nation in 10 years.
The visit was of immense value to the Fijian community in this country as well as in business and political circles, especially since relations between New Zealand and Fiji have been frosty throughout the past decade, ever since Mr Bainimarama assumed power in December 2006.
New Zealand plays a leadership role in the South Pacific region and peace and tranquillity in this region is in best interests of New Zealand.
This visit was a reciprocal visit on the invitation of the then New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, who had earlier visited the island nation in June this year to break the ice in the fraught diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The fact that Mr Bainimarama chose to accept the invitation and eventually made the visit, despite the diplomatic flare witnessed during Mr Key’s earlier visit was an important step forward in the bilateral relations.
Mr Bainimarama himself said “let bygones be bygones,” immediately after the bilateral talks with the Mr Key in Auckland.
The year 2016 has finally brought some peace in the space of New Zealand–Fiji relationship.
Rio Olympics: NZ’s best performance ever
The 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio, Brazil from August 5 to 21 will be remembered for New Zealand’s best Olympic performance in the history.
The combined tally of 15 medals in this Olympics had propelled New Zealand past its previous combined best of 13 medals won at Seoul in 1988 and London in 2012.
With four gold medals, this was New Zealand's second best haul of the coveted top medal, behind the eight won at Los Angeles in 1984. However, the sheen was taken away from that performance as those games were boycotted by 14 Eastern Bloc countries, including the Soviet Union and East Germany.
This time, there was nothing to stop short of celebrating the success of Kiwi sportspersons.
Student deportation: NZ gets a taste of Indian-style politics
One issue this year that has attracted the significant attention of both the Kiwi-Indian community and the mainstream national politics was the student deportation issue.
Possibly, hundreds of Indian international students were given deportation notice by the Immigration New Zealand (INZ) on charges of alleged fraudulent documents submitted at the time of their first visa application back in India.
For reasons right or wrong, this issue has affected the community a lot.
The plight of international students who have been asked to return and in some cases without completing their educational qualification and have a potential to push their families in chronic indebtedness back in India was sympathised by one and all in the community.
Students were forced to protest hard to seek an expected outcome.
Towards this goal, there were many loud protests at different places in central Auckland especially towards the end of the year.
Indian Weekender has taken a lead in covering the issue, raising it directly with concerned authorities including former Prime Minister John Key.
Simultaneously Indian Weekender had also not shied away from its commitment to responsible journalism and pointed out loud and clear when some lines have been crossed.
Regardless of the debate around this issue of being right and wrong, the story had a considerable level of discomfort and pain and has touched the community.
Year of Flag referendum
2016 will be remembered for our collective choice of approving New Zealand’s current Union Jack ensign.
There were two rounds of voting.
Firstly for selecting one main alternative design amongst the initially proposed four designs.
Secondly, for choosing either the Union Jack ensign or the proposed alternative design
The two flag referendums cost the taxpayer $26 million.
Voter turnout first time around was 48.78 per cent, with a total of 1,546,734 votes cast.
In the final vote, a total of 1,200,003 people (56.6 per cent) voted to retain the ensign, with 915,008 (43.2 per cent) in favour of the silver fern design.
Expectedly, emotions ran high on both sides of the debate on the choices of our next flag.
However at the end, it was important that Kiwis had an opportunity to consider what our flag means, what it represents to them, and for the first time in history, choose a flag.
Irrespective of our choices about the national flag we have successfully demonstrated to world our maturity as a society to discuss and progress on the questions of national identity.
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