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'Racist' Peters holds sway in New Zealand politics

WELLINGTON: He has been labelled a racist and a populist, but New Zealand Maori politician Winston Peters isn't bothered - the polls say he will hold the balance of power after this year's general election.

Relaxed on his office sofa, Peters, who tied with Prime Minister Jim Bolger as New Zealand's preferred leader in the latest poll, speaks modestly but exudes ego.

"I don't know what charisma is," Peters told Reuters, a wry smile on his lips. Undoubtedly charismatic, Peters has always been controversial.

Dismissed from the ruling National Party's cabinet in 1991 for constantly and publicly undermining the official party line, Peters has built his public support on a platform of revealed conspiracies.

It was he who lifted the lid on the Cook Islands "winebox" affair three years ago in which some of New Zealand's top corporates are alleged to have evaded millions of dollars worth of tax in the tax haven. A commission of inquiry continues.

But it is Peters's anti-immigration policy that has hit a raw nerve in New Zealand this year, and arguably propelled him and the party he founded in 1993, New Zealand First, to within grasp of real power.

Peters advocates slashing the number of immigrants allowed into New Zealand from 55,000 last year to "well under 10,000". He says a country with a population of just over 3.5 million cannot bear the strain of that level of immigration.

Peters would grant citizenship to migrants only after they had proved themselves committed to New Zealand over a four-year probationary period.

"It is a privilege to be admitted into this country and we are not going to go on debasing the citizenship of New Zealand," Peters said. "We want to bring people in that we need for our wealth creation and employment, not people who need us."

The stance has been blamed for growing racial tensions. Prime Minister Bolger has called NZ First a "racist party", saying its policy targets Asians, who accounted for about 60 percent of approved residency applications last year.

There have been several apparently racist attacks on immigrant families since the release of Peters's policy in February.

On Thursday, about 500 immigrants marched in protest against racist violence in Auckland. Just days earlier, a new ethnic minority political party was formed by a group of mostly Asian immigrants. Peters's anti-immigration policy was cited as a catalyst for both events.

But Peters, a self-defined centrist, has struck a real chord with the moderate through to the radical right. His party of four MPs has bolted ahead of the official opposition Labour party and is second only to the government in the polls.

In an unofficial biography titled Winston First, author Martin Hames said Peters enables the "redneck constituency" to rationalise "their half-submerged racism" because Peters is a Maori himself.

Peters rejects the racist label and the charge that his policy has led to violence, but defends nationalism.

"If anyone is looking at the world at the moment, they would see a significant rise of nationalism in all parts of the world. I don't think that should be ignored," he said. "Do unto others as they do unto you."

Peters has been branded a populist - accused of using racial prejudice and other emotive issues solely to garner public support.

"The cry of populism is the knee-jerk response of those who are thoroughly unpopular and are never likely to change," Peters said. "You don't get a very good market share if you're unpopular, not in a democracy anyway."

Under New Zealand's new electoral system - Mixed Member Proportional - political parties will need to form coalitions and co-operate more than ever before in order to govern.

Peters believes no party will be in government after the next election without NZ First being a major player.

"We're going in to be the next government," he said.

Does he want to be prime minister?

"If one was called to be prime minister of this country, that would be a privilege and I would give it all my efforts. But I have not schemed my way through politics like many of my colleagues have with that one thing in mind," he said.

Peters's critics say he is incapable of compromise and has burned too many bridges to form a workable coalition.

"That's a fiction," says Peters, again a wry smile. "If Nelson Mandela can forgive his enemies, I think we can forgive ours."-Reuter