- Nov. 08, 2008 Former race relations commissioner,
Fiji Born, second NRI Rajen Parsad, 62, was elected as member
of New Zealand's Parliament
Dr Rajen Prasad
Chief Commissioner, Families Commission
Dr Rajen Prasad is the Chief Commissioner of the newly-established
New Zealand Families Commission. He was the Race Relations Conciliator
and a Human Rights Commissioner from 1996 to 2001. He has spent
his professional life in social policy and the social services,
and was an Associate Professor at Massey University. His last position
was as a full-time member of the Residence Review Board.
Dr Prasad has extensive professional practice experience with families
as a family and social worker. He has conducted substantive research
into alternate family care of children and other family related
matters. He also has a strong background in the governance and management
of public and educational organisations.
Dr Prasad was born in Fiji and came to New Zealand in 1964, and
maintains close and significant relationships with the leaders of
many cultures.
Rajen Prasad, the Race Relations Conciliator for New Zealand, is
a positive man, an optimist in a racially diverse society. The Race
Relations Office, which he heads, provides an environment where
people can be brought together to settle racially motivated disputes.
Nearly four fifths of New Zealand's three and a half million inhabitants
describe themselves as Pakeha or New Zealand European; 15 per cent
as New Zealand Maori; six per cent as Pacific Islander; two per
cent as Chinese and 1.2 per cent as of Indian ethnicity. Three quarters
of the population live on the North Island and immigration is important
to population growth
Racially motivated assaults and crimes are not uncommon. Waitangi
Day, which celebrates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between
the British Crown and Maori chiefs, has been marred by numerous
violent demonstrations. An African family were set upon by a group
of youths at a crowded southern city beach and there has been building
resentment against Asian immigrants (often refered to as the `Asian
invasion').
But Dr Prasad is not just a firefighter for cross-ethnic flare-ups.
The creation of a national vision for race relations is at the forefront
of his agenda. He is challenging New Zealanders to decide for themselves
what sort of social ethnic relations they want in their society.
The Race Relations Office presents awards to people involved in
fostering positive ethnic relations--and this is typical of Prasad's
proactive attitude. `We can be reactive and wait for negative incidents
to occur or we can carefully guide our citizens, involving them
in the process of fostering healthy race relations,' he says. Carrots
as well as sticks.
Prasad knows what it is like to grow up outside the ethnic mainstream
of society. His family trace their cultural roots back to India,
although he was born in Suva, Fiji.
Prasad knows what it is like to grow up outside the ethnic mainstream
of society. His family trace their cultural roots back to India,
although he was born in Suva, Fiji.
He believes the biggest gift from his early home life was learning
a `sense of purpose'. He and his 14 brothers and sisters grew up
trilingual. `We spoke Fijian out in the streets, English at school
and Hindi at home. We joked in Fijian and bantered in Shakespearean
verse.' It is hardly surprising that he has the ability to cope
in varying cultural situations. He meets people halfway with an
easy manner.
Prasad's grandparents were from Uttar Pradesh, India, and became
tobacco farmers when they came to Fiji. Prasad's grandfather on
his maternal side was a Hindu guru who travelled to Fiji on the
indentured labourer ships as a spiritual leader.
Prasad feels comfortable with many religions and believes his early
cross-cultural experiences make it easier `to accept difference
and live with it'. One of his brothers is a Catholic priest and
an uncle is a Hindu priest.
Prasad's father was a key person in early public transport in Fiji,
operating a taxi and bus service on the main island. The bus service
travelled along the main road between the capital city, Suva, and
the goldmines. As a 14-year-old, Prasad worked on the buses taking
tickets, passing through many villages along the road. Later he
drove taxis in Suva for his family's company, greeting overseas
tourists bound for sunny holidays in the South Pacific.
He also managed to get a good education--first at St Columbus Primary
School and then at Marist Brothers High. `It was a full education
with academics, sport, humour and spiritual learning.' He went on
to achieve a distinguished career in New Zealand in both practical
and academic social work, focussing on child and family welfare,
and was awarded a PhD from Massey University in 1987.
Prior to his appointment as Race Relations Conciliator in March
1996 he was Associate Professor and Director of the Department of
Social Policy and Social Work at Massey University. He has served
on international projects at the UN's regional headquarters in Bangkok,
Thailand, and in 1993 on a child welfare project in Croatia. He
has appeared frequently as an expert witness before New Zealand's
Family Court. His quick wits, drive and abilities are keenly sought.
Like many people from Pacific Island nations, Prasad was first
drawn to New Zealand on a working holiday as an 18-year-old in the
1960s. He understands first hand the huge adjustment and culture
shock faced by immigrants to New Zealand.
`I had to learn everything in minute detail as everything was so
different,' he remembers. When he started working as a spot welder
in a factory in Auckland, he missed out on his morning tea because
he did not realize that when the foreman shouted `Smoko!', this
was the signal for a 15-minute break.
Prasad believes that the Waitangi Treaty provides `a foundation
which we are blessed to have' for race relations in New Zealand.
Now, he maintains, the country must build on the ideas of partnership
set out by the Treaty to create a common vision.
New Zealand citizens, he says, need an agenda as to `where we want
to go with race relations and how we want to relate'. He cites Canada
as an example. `They have a very explicit multicultural programme.
They have a clear positive vision for their ethnic relations in
society and it is enshrined in their constitution. When I talked
to a bus driver in Toronto, he could tell me what Canada wants to
do in regard to race relations.' Source: For A Change, June-July,
1998 by Joanna Grigg
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