A hovercraft deal that went sour, allegations of involvement in business deals that were outside the purview of her high office and the alleged misuse of her office by her spouse were some of the issues that forced Pansy Wong to resign from her ministerial posts on November 12, 2010.
It was an unfortunate, almost tragic, end to the meteoric career of an ambitious woman who worked hard as a Member of Parliament and later as a Minister of the Crown. Her loyalty to the country, her Party and her job were beyond reproach but often in public life, it is the silly and unintentional mistakes that cost one a job, and worse, reputation.
Ms Wong has a number of ‘Firsts’ to her credit, none of which can be erased from this country’s political history. She was the first Member of Parliament representing all of the Asian communities in New Zealand when she became a List MP in 1996. She was the first Asian to be elected from a constituency and she was the first Asian to make it to the Council of Ministers in 2008.
And as it turned out, she was also the first Asian to resign from the Cabinet, unable to stick to her own moral ground.
She made a brief statement about her resignation, saying, “This action follows questions about the use of my parliamentary travel entitlement to pay for my husband to travel within China at the end of 2008.
“Although the trip was a holiday, my husband did conduct some business. Further, I am not able at this point to give the Prime Minister an assurance that this is a one-off situation,” she said.
That statement did not rule out possibilities of more acts of impropriety.
People say Pansy Wong the Parliamentarian was different from Pansy Wong the Minister. “The former was humbler, friendlier and more accessible, while the same cannot be said of the latter.”
Whatever be the opinion of some, we at Indian Newslink will always respect her as a friend, well-wisher and reader.
She was the first MP with whom we established contact in 1999 (soon after the newspaper was established) and we recognise and applaud her services to the extended Indian community (comprising people of Subcontinent origin). She was ever ready to extend a helping hand to those in need and seldom hesitated to promote the welfare of the people.
She was the connecting link between us and several National MPs many of who are now ministers.
We hope should would remain in mainstream of politics, for the country needs people like her.
As we went to press, Parliamentary Speaker Dr Lockwood Smith was investigating into the travel expenses incurred by Ms Wong since she became a Minister two years ago.
She said she would reimburse any travel related expenses incurred by her husband that were proved inadmissible.
That was an honourable thing to do but whether the New Zealand public would forget and forgive remain to be seen.
We would hate to see Pansy go from Parliament, for she brought certain charm and dignity to her job and to the wider Asian community.
It is sad that in all her busy schedule, she failed to pause, introspect and subject herself to self-interrogation as to whether she or her spouse was breaching the legitimate limits of propriety.
