Winston Peters has failed to condemn Richard Prosser’s attack on Wogistan and Wogistanis. He has been very quiet on the whole issue, perhaps not wishing someone to dig up his own comments on Wogistanis.
Like this article by Jeremy Hall and Robert G Patman in 2005 in the Asia Times:
A combination of charisma, doggedness and a keen sense of political opportunism has helped make Peters one of New Zealand’s great political survivors. Over the last decade, Peters has often used emotive rhetoric during election campaigns to champion anti-immigration and trade-protection causes. Earlier this year, for example, he accused New Zealand’s law-abiding Muslim minority of “having two faces – a moderate face and a militant underbelly”.
and this one from the Herald in July 2005:
In a speech directly linking “open- door immigration policies” to radical Islam, Mr Peters said the country’s history of religious tolerance and free speech was threatened by Muslim migrants who “do not share our traditions”.
“We cannot take our tradition of toleration for granted when we are importing fanatics for whom that tradition is alien,” he said.
“In New Zealand the Muslim community has been quick to show us their more moderate face, but there is a militant underbelly here as well.
“These two groups, the moderate and militant, fit hand and glove.
“Underneath it all the agenda is to promote fundamentalist Islam – indeed these groups are like the mythical Hydra, a serpent underbelly with multiple heads, capable of striking at any time and in any direction,” Mr Peters said.
and again in August 2005 fromt eh Herald again, where he blames the media:
If some Kiwis “took umbrage” at his claim that Islam was a “multi-headed serpent, ready to strike at any time” and that Muslim extremists were lurking in our suburbs, that was the media’s fault as well, the New Zealand First leader said.
At a public meeting in Whangarei yesterday, Mr Peters was ebullient as he delivered a speech entitled “Who Do You Believe?”
“The media said we were anti-Muslim, ignoring the fact that it was Muslims who expressed their concerns about these elements to us in the first place,” he told an audience of about 250 people.
Winston Peters is a corrupting influence ont eh body politic in New Zealand, he needs to be opposed with every breathe that we possess. Unfortunately the word is that National thinks they can re-habilitate Winston and cut a deal to retain power. It would be far better to throw Winston under a bus politically and sit it out in opposition than enter a coalition with such a snake.
