On Sunday, Manatū Taonga representatives, Solicitor Malama Mahe, Heritage Policy Advisor Asena Po’uli and Chief Historian Neill Atkinson travelled to Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland to attend the Government's formal apology for the Dawn Raids on Sunday, 1 August 2021. The following is Malama's personal account of the ceremony.

“How are you feeling about today?” Meng Foon, Race Relations Commissioner asks us as we stand waiting to be ushered into the Great Hall. I pause to scan and take in the colourful landscape of puletaha/puletasi (Tongan/Samoan two-piece dress and skirt), ta’ovala (Tongan fine mat wrapped around the waist), ‘ulafala (Samoan pandanus key necklace), kahoa (Tongan necklace) and ei katu (Kūki 'Āirani head garland) that surrounds us. 

“Relief” I utter. But not for me. For the grandparents, parents, uncles, aunties, and cousins who navigated the moana in search of financial security and better quality of life. For those who answered the call to fill the domestic labour shortage gap in Aotearoa. For those who “assimilated” into their new way of life so they could belong. For those who became targeted because of perceptions they were causing social harms and taking jobs. For those who were randomly raided by police, immigration officials and had dogs unleashed upon them in the safety of their homes, places of worship, workplaces and on the streets just for being brown. For those who have waited 50 years to receive an official fakamolemole (Tongan for apology) and to display the Samoan gesture of ifoga for the racially targeted and colour-based profiling that led to what Dr Melani Anae describes as “the most blatantly racist attack on Pacific peoples by the New Zealand government in New Zealand’s history” – the Dawn Raids. 

“Jacinda – the vā could be better” HRH Princess Mele Siu’likutapu Kalaniuvalu Fotofili says in between her tears and laughter. She is the face of Tonga. And Lapaha – the village my parents left half a century ago to live as a diasporic Pacific peoples in a new fonua (land). Tauhi vā is a key conceptual foundation of Tongan culture which draws on the ability to maintain and nurture social relationships. It is the idea that harmony or beauty is created when there is mutual exchange of vā in return. 

The re-enactment of the symbolic ifoga of the Prime Minister sitting under a fine mat represents the injustices and breach of human rights, a gesture of offering up remorse in seeking forgiveness and healing of this vā.

“Save the overstayers” a voice boomed from the upper levels. An overwhelming “yes” followed by applause was the response. Pacific peoples have taken back this label, no longer afraid of it but using it to empower and embolden their cause. There have been calls from the community for an amnesty for them on compassionate grounds. Despite the resounding agreement to the goodwill gestures of education scholarships and recording the history of the Dawn Raids, the trauma and hurt of Pacific communities is real, raw, and still exists. There are still “overstayers” in Aotearoa – this is an undeniable fact and their silence is deafening.

“It is well with my soul” rings out in the filled to capacity venue performed by the talented youth of Tone 6 and accompanied by the harmonic Siasi Tonga Tau’ataina Free Church of Tonga. Miniature flags of Tonga and Samoa wave in time to the beat. The raised fists of the Polynesian Panthers is passion and power giving a voice to the powerless. Ngāti Whātua as mana whenua express their solidarity with their Moana-nui-ā-kiwa brothers and sisters - their aroha and mana is felt.

Yes, it is well. The apology is accepted. The humility is accepted. The request for fakamolemole is accepted. The goodwill gestures are accepted. Pacific peoples in Aotearoa will heal and thrive. But we will never forget. 

 The dawn raids: causes, impacts and legacy (NZHistory)