Letters to the Editor
Letter: Stats on vaccinated catching Covid
Saturday 7 January 2023 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, So reinfection rates for Covid-19 are on the rise, mask wearing being encouraged (hopefully not being made compulsory in public places and just for those who do feel safer wearing one).
LETTER: Justice system
Friday 6 January 2023 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Our Cook Islands legislature, inadvertently, or otherwise, has created a perfect storm of institutionalised injustice. Beat the crap out of your wife, and then burn her with a cigarette and you get a lecture from the Court and sent home. Beat the crap out of your wife and then burn her with a marijuana cigarette […]
LETTER: Plastic pollution: ‘Do as I say, not as I do’
Friday 6 January 2023 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Cook Islands News reported on December 2 of the “emotional plea” made by the Cook Islands delegation to the 190 nations gathered to negotiate a new treaty on plastic pollution.
LETTER: Collaborate on customary law
Friday 6 January 2023 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, Kia Orana e te tangata ma’ata o te Nuti Peapa. Inangaro au i te ‘ōronga atu i toku manako no runga i tēia tumu manako pu’apinga i runga nei tei tātā’ia i roto i tā au nūti peapa o te Ru’itoru rā 28 no Tītema. Te turu nei au i te manako e […]
RUTA MAVE: Yesterday is gone, tomorrow never comes, today is a gift because it’s the present
Wednesday 4 January 2023 | Written by Ruta Tangiiau Mave | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
As children we make impressions of the world from how we saw it or interpreted it growing up. As adults we have the ability to make decisions about life different from what we experienced, writes Ruta Mave.
LETTER: Get set for financial blessings
Saturday 31 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, Kia orana! I, Pastor Temu Ngarima George, managing director of Tevaka Nui Mission, would like to share the blessing that the good Lord brought to my attention for the next 10 years for this paradise called Cook Islands.
Sheraton sign please!
Friday 30 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, If I had a dollar for every time a visitor to the Cook Islands has asked me what the story is behind the old Sheraton Hotel complex, I’d be a wealthy man and maybe have a castle in Poland.
LETTER: ‘Monsters on the loose’
Thursday 29 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, It appears to me that there are at least two monsters on the loose in Rarotonga right now. The first is the father of a five-year-old who beat his child (Child slapped, thrown to the ground in ‘serious’ assault, Cook Islands News, December 22). In no way can anyone justify beating a five-year-old, let alone with such brutality. Cook Islands News said the child was “slapped”. But it appears to me that much more violence and force may have been used than was reported.
LETTER: Collaborate on customary law in 2023
Wednesday 28 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, Two matters of concern stood out when members of the Koutu Nui reviewed the past year at their end-of-year function.
Scholarship issue clarified
Thursday 22 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, I write in response to the letter to the editor, “Scholarship woes upset our students”, which appeared on December 21, 2022. Thank you for the opportunity to respond. Te Reinga Akataunga’anga, the Cook Islands Government Tertiary and Study Support Programme, offers a range of scholarship and study grant options for Cook Islanders wishing to access formal tertiary education. The programme has allowed many Cook Islanders access to initial tertiary studies both domestically and abroad, whether supported with a full scholarship or a study grant for those who are privately funded, or undertaking studies while working full-time.
LETTER TO EDITOR: Scholarship woes upset our students
Wednesday 21 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, I wanted to share this with you as I am really upset with the outcome from the Ministry of Education - myself along with many other local students currently studying in New Zealand who have received the same treatment or similar.
What is a Cook Islander?
Tuesday 20 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, National, Opinion
Dear Editor, A bit harsh to say that your identity will depend on one knowing the language (Cook Islands people need to value their language: Turua, Cook Islands News, December 6, 2022).
LETTER TO EDITOR: Tricky side to cannabis legislation
Saturday 17 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor: Te Marae Ora mainly buys therapeutic products from New Zealand and Australia. These generally fall under three categories: medicine - including prescriptions, over-the counter medicines, and complimentary medicines, such as paracetamol.
LETTER TO EDITOR: Traditional vs contemporary
Friday 16 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, Totally agree with you on that (Authenticity of culture promoted in tourism industry questioned, Cook Islands News, December 5). It’s a global trait, culture is becoming an entertainment commodity, to win hearts, tourists etc. Sadly, there’s little that can be done to reverse this evolution.
LETTER TO EDITOR: Educate yourself about cannabis use
Thursday 15 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, Although every part of the marijuana plant can be used, it’s primarily the buds that are cured and used in which way you prefer. I stand with legalisation, but I feel that education is so very important in order to prevent abuse of the plant.
‘We have earned our NZ citizenship’
Wednesday 14 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, Why do we live in a situation where our closest constitutional partner says no, it will cost you our deepest part of connection, and a no when balanced against the threat of losing our New Zealand citizenship (when bidding for UN membership).
LETTER: UN Membership bid: NZ behaving ‘like a coloniser’
Tuesday 13 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, If the Cooks wanted to become a sovereign nation, it needed its own citizenship. Cook Islanders would remain New Zealand citizens but “if they want to change it, they can”. Then Prime Minister Helen Clark said in June 2001. “If they want to exert full independence, New Zealand will not stand in their way.”
LETTER: Have we earned our NZ citizenship, or not?
Monday 12 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
If the Cooks wanted to become a sovereign nation, it needed its own citizenship. Cook Islanders would remain New Zealand citizens but "if they want to change it, they can." Then Prime Minister Helen Clark said in June 2001 "If they want to exert full independence, New Zealand will not stand in their way."
LETTER TO EDITOR: Homosexual Law reform remains in limbo
Friday 9 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
‘Science shows us that people are born LGBTQ+’
‘Vicious and uncivilised’ marijuana laws
Tuesday 6 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, Did you know that under the Ministry of Health Act 2013 that marijuana fits the description of a medicine? In the Act it reads in part that, “Medicine means any substance whether of animal, plant or synthetic origin which is used internally or externally for alleviating disease”.