FOR nearly a century-and-a-half, the destiny of the port city of Dunedin in New Zealand was in the hands of an influential ruling elite of conservative, commerce-driven men who had little or no time to listen to the voices of the city's environment-conscious people.
But people fighting the big business lobby have now found an unusual champion in an outspoken 43-year-old India-born woman, Sukhi Turner, who has almost single-handedly taken up the challenge of protecting the city from 'mindless, unplanned development'.
Elected Dunedin's first woman mayor last October, Turner has had to face several obstacles that have been thrown in her path by the "old boys network" that still controls the city council. Some powerful members of the council recently came out with public criticism of her policies and even attempted to get her speeches censored. A number of business houses, too, launched a blistering attack on her. But Sukhi Turner is not one to be easily intimidated.바카라 웹사이트
"I cannot be bullied or gagged," the mayor told 바카라 in a telephone interview from Dunedin. "The attack on me is not based on issues. It is a personal attack. These people have not been able to accept the fact that I am in a position of influence. They cannot accept the fact that Dunedin has a woman mayor and, that too, a woman of foreign origin—an Indian."바카라 웹사이트
Sukhi Turner, who came to New Zealand from India in 1973 after her marriage to Kiwi cricket celebrity Glenn Turner, is determined to fight for her goals. Determination is something Sukhi Turner says she has inherited from her father, a retired Indian Air Force officer, and her mother, both of whom live in Chandigarh but visit her often in New Zealand. They have every reason to be proud of their daughter.
And she is fortunate to have on her side a supportive husband, her two children and a significant majority of the population of Dunedin—the people who gave her an unprecedented victory in the mayoral elections.
The mayor's 'state-of-the-city' speeches that speak of her green vision for Dunedin, a plan of action that would shake off the city's "big business fetish" and aim at clean and sustainable development, have captured the hearts of the young and the old alike. Described by many as the 'Edinburgh of the East', Dunedin has been known to be a picturesque coastal city with old-fashioned Edwardian buildings and a natural green cover. But over the years, the city has seen unplanned development, propelled by the interests of business houses, that threatens to eat into the city's landscape.
Stung by the mass appeal of Turner's speeches, some of the big business houses reacted sharply. And so did most of the city's councillors who described the speeches as "scare-mongering tactics that are driving potential businesses away from the city". So incensed was a senior councillor, David Benson-Pope, by the tenor of some of Turner's speeches that he sought to move a motion in the council that would, among other things, ask the mayor "to instruct her speech writers that when she is speaking as mayor, formal speeches...shall reflect the democratically debated and agreed policy of the Dunedin city council and not personal views".
The motion was ultimately withdrawn after Turner told a council meeting that she regretted the use of "some injudicious language" in some of her statements and apologised "for any distress this may have caused". The mayor describes the apology as an "honourable compromise" because it was in the interest of the people to see that the work of the city council was not stalled. It was a tactical move on her part, for she apologised only for the 'language used' and not the substance of her speeches. "These people are not used to women using strong language," she says.
As for her plans for the city, the mayor who was elected on a Green Party ticket, says she will not budge from her goal of a clean and green Dunedin. She will do anything for her cause that will serve the city: "I am a person of principles and I will never compromise with my ideals. At this point I am committed to ensuring that the city council has a formal economic policy in place, a policy that will be a consultative document involving the public."바카라 웹사이트
