Define who are we? This was the question asked at the first House of Ariki Runanga Tango Enua (Native Customs) Special Committee meeting that was held yesterday at the Atupare Marae in Arorangi.

A combined effort made up of some members of the House of Ariki, Aronga Mana, Koutu Nui, legal advisors and a technical support group, convened to discuss the “roadmap” to “define the rule for the election processes” of Ariki and other Taonga Maori such as the Mataiapo, Kavana, Rangatira, etc. and its legislation.

Past and present disputes over the rightful holder of an Ariki or Taonga Maori title have torn families apart and proved a costly exercise for those having to take their claims to court.

The way forward noted areas of concern that need to be urgently addressed such as – to define who are the “Aronga Mana” and to list all the aronga mana of each area, for Rarotonga the three vaka of Te Au o Tonga, Takitumu and Puaikura and for each of the Pa Enua which is the individual island and/or its districts.

The purpose is for each of the tribes of the islands to write their selection processes (criteria) for their respective Ariki and aronga mana, document this and pass on to the House of Ariki who will then present this to Parliament.

In achieving this, it will become the first time in history that the Ariki and aronga mana for each of the islands, tribes, districts and vaka in the Cook Islands will be registered.

Iateva Short, a legal advisor on the committee, says there is a lot of groundwork to be covered.

“First define what the problem is… define who we are… and it’s got to be absolutely correct.”

This has not been done before and it is important that we get it right, adds Short.

“We have to start with something, we must try to formalise a system…”

Chairman of the Runanga Tango Enua, Tangata Vainerere, who is also the Clerk of the Parliament, said for legislation of this kind “we can have the key piece of legislation and then the differences can be accommodated by the way of schedules in bills”.

“But we have to do all the groundwork first, use a common piece as a preamble and then these schedules will define what happens in the election of the Ariki for each matakainanga,” Vainerere said.

“We cannot prescribe a generic model for all the Arikis or all the mataiapos etc and we are not going to attempt it.”

Vainerere said this was the first time a meeting of this nature had been held with such a diverse variety of views, adding “people have their own strong views about such matters”.

“We all have a common desire to come to a common solution that will be good for everyone.”

The committee would like the project to be presented to the House of Ariki Assembly next year.