Cossie clubs won't criticise Manurewa's turban ban

Karnail Singh outside the Manurewa Cosmopolitan Club. The club refused to allow Mr Singh, a Sikh, to wear a turban to a function held to recognise his service to the community. Photo / Greg Bowker.

Cosmopolitan Clubs say they will not criticise a Manurewa club for banning turban-wearing Sikhs, even as the Human Rights Commission calls it "a blast from the past" and "deeply" disappointing.

South Auckland's Manurewa Cosmopolitan Club voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to keep a ban that prevents Sikhs from entering its premises.

The issue has been ongoing since last year when the club kept Karnail Singh out of a function held in his honour because he would not remove his Sikh turban.

Nearby clubs said they had no problems with Sikhs or turbans, but would not comment on the Manurewa club's decision.

The Pukekohe club, where Mr Singh is a member, declined to comment on record, saying it did not want to get involved in the politics, but that Mr Singh had been an important member of the club and it had never had a problem with his turban.

Papatoetoe's club president Ray George said his club had discussed the issue and decided headgear would be allowed for religious or medical reasons, and it would not think of banning turbans.

But Mr George said he would not comment on Manurewa's decision.

At Otahuhu, manager Lynne Smith said her club had no hard and fast rules but it was sensitive to all cultures and turbans were not a problem.

She would not criticise the Manurewa club's ban, as it was their "constitutional choice", Ms Smith said.

Mangere secretary manager Aaron Kirby also said he would not publicly comment on Manurewa's ban, but "we welcome all cultures. We've had half a dozen Sikhs join the club".

The Manurewa club that voted for the ban said today a spokesperson would not be available for comment until tomorrow.

But a club member on Sunday told the Herald that "many felt that once you change the rules to let in people who wear turbans, then the next thing you know is that we will also have to let people wear hoodies and balaclavas into the premises".

New Zealand Sikh Council president Bachan Singh Nihalgarh called Manurewa's vote "a wake-up call" for Sikhs in New Zealand.

It came after a Human Rights Commission mediation between Mr Singh and the Manurewa club, and commissioner Joris De Bres said the final decision "seems like a blast from the past ... I'm deeply disappointed."

Verpal Singh, secretary of the Sikh Council, said he was surprised that more than 200 out of 300 people at the club had voted against Sikhs' turbans, and the council would be trying to educate more New Zealanders about what the turban meant.

He said the council was now considering going to the Human Rights Tribunal, which, unlike the commission, can force the club to comply.

The Manurewa club's decision has also been picked up by India's Asian News International wire, and has circulated to many Indian news outlets with the headline: "Sikhs outraged as Kiwi club refuses to lift turban ban".

The Sikh Council said "asking a Sikh to remove their turban is akin to asking someone to strip down".

"For practising Sikhs, donning the turban is not a matter of choice - they must don it or feel naked without it," it said.