Letters to the Editor
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”.
Lawmakers – Hypocrites or pearly white?
Monday 5 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, This writer sat in the High Court, Criminal Division, on Friday and watched two sentences handed down from the 2021 Police operation on Aitutaki – the operation that brought an end to the international, million dollar drug cartel carried out by the young criminals of that island. I would have sat through more of the sentencing, but it was just too painful seeing young lives destroyed.
LETTER TO EDITOR: History behind Kimiangatau’s founding
Friday 2 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, While it’s good to get new local programmes on CITV, it is not good practice to source material from just one person and not do any cross-checking.
LETTER TO EDITOR: Give us clean water or come clean
Thursday 1 December 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, While the stated “nearly $90 million” cost to date for Te Mato Vai may not be correct (and many think it’s closer to $120m), we all need to be reminded that when the project was announced at a budget of $59 million, multiple Cook Islanders argued that something like $15 million would put […]
Legal recreational drug of choice
Monday 28 November 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, Perhaps you have a young cub reporter on staff who could work his or her way through the last five or so years of Cook Islands News and come up with a rough estimate of the percentage of newsprint reporting on the downside of our national acceptance of alcohol as our legal recreational drug of choice
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Time to review electricity rates?
Saturday 26 November 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
TAU (Te Aponga Uira) were quick to respond to fuel increases by increasing their electricity rates across the board.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Making up law as they go?
Saturday 26 November 2022 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, In 2020, Te Marae Ora, through the Director of Clinical Services put out a release that stated “There are no laid down import regulations for methadone”. Methadone is a Class B controlled drug in the Narcotics and Misuse of Drugs Act 2004.