What's the matter with New Zealand petitioning for a change of name? New Zealand once held a referendum to change the national flag, and the incident that cost more than 10 million New Zealand dollars (about 45.23 million yuan) has become a farce in the eyes of many people. Recently, a petition was launched in New Zealand to change its name.
Earlier this year, a new Zealander named Danny tahau Jobe suggested adding Maori 'Aotearoa' (meaning the hometown of changbaiyun) to the current name of New Zealand to address the country, the New Zealand Herald reported on the 14th.
At present, the petition has collected more than 6000 signatures on the New Zealand Parliament website. This proposal has attracted the attention of marama Davidson, the coalition leader of the New Zealand Green Party, and Louisa wall of the labor party.
Wall then submitted the petition to the New Zealand Parliament on May 1, and the document is now submitted to the New Zealand Special Committee on Governance and administration. It is reported that the opinions will be made public soon.
According to the report, Jobe's change of name is not groundless. 'the current situation in New Zealand is that Aotearoa and New Zealand are used to represent New Zealand in official documents such as birth certificate, citizen identity card, passport and currency. But now, only the name 'New Zealand' has official legal status.
Jobe said: 'I think adding Aotearoa to New Zealand's official name will enhance the uniqueness of our country in the world. &Lsquo; Aotearoa New Zealand & quot; it's not just a name. This is our language, culture, identity and history. '
According to the report, New Zealand has been using the name since the Dutch named New Zealand after the Dutch province of Zeland in 1645. But for a long time, no one thought about adding the New Zealand native 'Aotearoa' to the name of the country.
John Bull, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, announced a referendum on changing the national flag in March 2014. In the initial stage, more than 10000 alternatives were submitted to the national flag referendum Committee. After screening, the blue black silver fern flag was finally selected to vote with the existing national flag.
According to the results of the referendum, the designs with silver fern leaves and Southern Cross as patterns, black and white and blue color matching were the most popular. Figure from zhongxin.com
The change of the national flag caused great controversy. Many people criticized the cost of the event and expressed dissatisfaction with the selected national flag scheme.
However, John & bull; key and others stressed that the flag currently used in New Zealand has British colonial characteristics and is easily confused with the Australian flag, so it should be replaced with a new flag with its own characteristics.
According to the results released by the New Zealand government, among the 3.17 million registered voters, a total of 2.12 million people took part in the voting, with a voting rate of 67.3%. The majority of people chose not to change the national flag.
John & bull; Key said the referendum was New Zealand's last chance to change its flag. "If the public does not vote to change the flag, they will not have another chance unless New Zealand becomes a republic," he said. '
He pointed out that in view of the high public opinion of the British royal family in New Zealand, he did not think that New Zealand would become a republic in his lifetime.