The chance to find things to congratulate our present, rockstar-popular P.M. John Key upon seems less and less frequent these days, so can I say - as succinctly as possible - his (and his Government's) very measured, ever-so-carefully calibrated response to the obscenity and loathsome spectacle that's known as ISIS, ISIL (and all the seemingly endless variations and permutations thereupon) is RIGHT ON, JUST WHAT THE GOOD DOCTOR ORDERED. In every which way. Utterly irrespective of the petty partisanship (and niggardly damning with faint praise and/or noticing the trees but missing the forest) thereupon displayed this afternoon by Metiria Turei and Winston Peters in the unhallowed corridors of Aotearoa-New Zealand's Parliamentary debating chamber. Yes, a good and thoughtful debate all round - including very insightful contributions especially (and to me surprisingly) by both United Future's Peter Dunne and Act's newbie Epsom M.P. David Seymour. Alongside some good speeches made by the likes of Annette King, David Shearer, Phil Goff and especially the ever erudite, learned and reflective Kennedy Graham: who at least gave a series of step points which he noted the Green Party had brought to its evaluation of how to properly, and coolly and rationally, determine whether or not New Zealand ought to become, and if so in which particular ways, the conflict over IS in the Middle East. We also had the unflappable, temperamentally ever equable Murray McCully, the equally reasonable and earnest Gerry Brownlee, and the Jim Hickeyish man of colour, flair and dramatics (if not histrionics!) Christopher Finlayson, and of course the P.M. himself, giving especially thoughtful contributions, and - in a quietly dissenting voice - the mild-mannered, oh so reasonable (and likeable) Te Ururoa Flavell, who brought up (if a rather misplaced comparison, it seemed to me, upon this particular occasion) the historic spectacle of Parihaka and the 2007 Urewera terror raids.
But upon and after hearing the Prime Minister 'rounding up' and concluding said debate two hours later - before politicians entered into another, all too predictable and oh so unproductive Question Time which rapidly brought all this 'untoward' and refreshingly different meeting of minds to a sad and abrupt end - my thoughts immediately turned to John Key's Jewish counterpart, the famed leader of Israel, King David, about whom the biblical writer of 1 Samuel penned this/the following:
"So David went out wherever [King] Saul sent him, and behaved wisely[prospered]...and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants...he went out and came in before the people. And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him...he behaved very wisely...all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them." [1 Samuel 18:5; 14-16]
Granted, perhaps a - huge, even humongous - stretch - to even contemplate comparing our present P.M. to that celebrated great leader of historic Israel, however popular Key may still be in historic kiwi terms...approximating in that sense, however, to such 'heavyweight' (as in similarly popular and/or longserving) Prime Ministers as Keith Holyoake, and 'King' Dick Seddon, as well as William Massey, Michael Joseph Savage and 'Big Norm' Kirk himself; but let's briefly enumerate his 'accomplishments' in this latest and arguably (indeed as widely noted, potentially) most important decision in his premiership. What precisely did the Prime Minister achieve today in his speech and plan for New Zealand - whether in terms of active overseas engagement vis-a-vis IS and/or surveillance of its domestic (kiwi) sympathizers/adherents?
He informed us that his Government: *Would not send ground troops into Iraq (and of course also Syria). *Would nevertheless provide practical, hands-on support to other forces taking up the cudgels to battle the evil that is IS, so would not shirk 'doing its part' in the global fight against patent wrong (as in genocide). *And indeed would be providing extensive support and humanitarian aid to refugees fleeing IS and its rampant atrocities.*Had no gripes or quibbles or qualms with New Zealand's sizeable and essentially peaceful, peace-loving Muslim community. *Nevertheless was well aware that New Zealand had folk in its midst apparently actively sympathetic with the aims of IS, and so potentially of real concern to our citizenry. *Would not be enacting sweeping new laws to deal with this 'threat'. *And indeed would be imposing special measures to carefully safeguard citizens' rights and indeed even the 'rights' of those who themselves could - theoretically - cause trouble in God's Own (as in carefully extended police warrants over a limited period).
Etcetera etcetera etcetera.
But of course 'the devil' is ever in the detail, and even more worryingly - as folk far more erudite and articulate than I have oft expressed - who knows in what unwholesome ways and to what worrying an extent such newfangled powers may one day be employed by a much less benign, liberty-loving government of our nation. For, as noted author C K Stead's memorable hero in Smith's Dream - the book upon which the first truly famous kiwi film, Sleeping Dogs, was based - eventually found out, discovered to his 'eternal regret', political powers once obtained are rarely disbanded or eschewed. They indeed may be ever so finely tuned and adapted to achieve aims which - if not in SD, admittedly - their original proposers never envisaged, and which draw down the curtain well and truly, and 'for good', upon people who all too blithely and naively place tacit, inherent trust in the good intentions of their leaders, and trust all too implicitly to their fair professions and fine speeches. Not realizing until it is forever too late that their pet snake has become a stinging, lethal serpent, whose fangs will bite deeply and not release their prey until it is all well and truly over.
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