Maria Bargh - A Hidden Economy: Maori in the Privatised Military

First published in 2015 by Huia Publishers

39 Pipitea Street, PO Box 12280

Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand

www.huia.co.nz

ISBN 978-1-77550-197-8

ISBN: 978-1-77550-264-7 (mobi)

ISBN: 978-1-77550-265-4 (epub)

Copyright Maria Bargh 2015

Cover image Oleg Zabielin / image ID: 203119372, Shutterstock Images LLC

Photos courtesy of those interviewed unless otherwise indicated. The sources are not identified to protect the confidentiality of the people involved.

This book is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without the prior permission of the publisher.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of New Zealand.

Published with the assistance of Ng Pae o te Mramatanga

contents

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- Silver Surfer

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Acknowledgements

This project began a number of years ago and since that time there have been numerous people and conversations that have helped to shape and refine the ideas in this book.

I would like to first acknowledge and thank the people that I interviewed for the book. T hey took a chance on a person many of them did not know and shared their stories and personal anecdotes in a generous and open way. That generosity set the tone for my approach in this book I have sought to uphold the trust of the people that I have interviewed and do justice to retelling their perspectives. To all of those people who met me at noisy cafes , a sports ground, a garden centre, a park bench in a southerly and on skype thank you.

My second thank you goes to those people who put me in contact with their family members and for helping me to make other contacts without your support, time and effort there really would not be a book to read.

There were also people who spoke to me off the record, to give me a context of issues within New Zealand and overseas and although these narratives are not expressly in the book they certainly provided the details and insights which enabled me to piece the puzzle together.

Thank you to all of those that have worked on the manuscript and made the book possible: Ng Pae o te Mramatanga for the publication grant; the editorial team and staff at Huia Publishers; to April Henderson and Noelani Goodyear-Kaopua for insightful feedback on the proposal; and to Tahu Kukutai for translating Statistics New Zealand data into a format I could understand. I am very grateful to Robyn Bargh, Chris Andersen, Bethan Greener, April Henderson and Quentin Whanau for putting aside their numerous work and family commitments to read and provide invaluable suggestions on the manuscripts first draft.

Thank you to Zoe Pearson , David Parr and Bob Young for hosting me while I was conducting interviews and to Ocean Mercier, Brian Tunui , Terese McLeod, Quentin Whanau, Carwyn Jones, Nikki Hessell, Jessica Hutchings, Lydia Wevers, Teresia Teaiwa and Katerina Teaiwa for providing helpful thoughts and advice at various stages. And finally further thanks to other colleagues, friends and family who listened patiently to my chatter about this topic and who, in many cases, unwittingly inspired me.

Abbreviations

Part One:

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THE CONTEXT

Introduction

In March 2000 New Zealand media reported on the secret rescue of an Indonesian man from somewhere in Indonesia by members of a New Zealand company, Onix International. What kind of world did Onix and its owners inhabit? And what happened to them and their employees? And what was the connection they appeared to have with the Mori economy?

The year 2000 was a time when internationally private military and security companies (PMSCs) were flourishing but there was little coverage of them in New Zealand. It was a rapidly expanding industry and Ken Whatuira and his colleagues were entering it, as were many other Mori.

Those Mori with a family member in the military would have known in 2000 that the privatised military industry was expanding and that jobs were available. The end of the Cold War and the break-up of a number of states in Europe saw an American company, Military Professionals Resources Incorporated (MPRI), contracted to support in combat operations in Bosnia eventually changing the course of that civil war. The attacks on the New York World Trade Centre in 2001 led to United States invasions in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. PMSCs were heavily involved in both conflicts and ex-military Mori joined with many others in the lucrative sector.