Mohinder Singh Nagra, left, Jagjiwan Singh, Pupinder Singh, Glenis Cooper and Gurmukhi Singh at the site for a new gurudwara in Hastings last week. Photo / Warren Buckland
Mohinder Singh Nagra, left, Jagjiwan Singh, Pupinder Singh, Glenis Cooper and Gurmukhi Singh at the site for a new gurudwara in Hastings last week. Photo / Warren Buckland
A community just given approval to build a temple on the outskirts of Hastings has hit back at Destiny Church leader Hannah Tamaki's promise to ban the building of "foreign buildings of worship".
Vision NZ - which had to change its name after its original suggestion, the Coalition Party, wasrejected by election authorities - pledged on Monday to ban new "mosques, temples and other foreign buildings of worship" in an inflammatory announcement railing against multiculturalism.
The Hawke's Bay Sikh community was last week granted a resource consent by Hastings District Council to allow them to build a new temple on plains production land at 28 Richmond Rd, Tomoana.
In a press release titled "They are not us", Tamaki – the wife of controversial preacher Brian Tamaki – criticised the New Zealand First Party for not cutting migration enough and said her party would do so.
"I do not believe there is room in our society to allow for parallel cultures, faith or customs," she said.
Destiny Church's Hannah Tamaki has been campaigning on cuts to immigration since her party launched. Photo / Mike Scott
"I promise to put Kiwis first and immediately stop the phony Indian marriage scheme before proceeding to bring an immediate stop to all further mosques, temples and other foreign buildings of worship being erected in our country."
The comment refers to a stoush between NZ First MP Shane Jones and the Indian community after he criticised those complaining about a tightening of rules by Immigration New Zealand that has become a problem for those in arranged marriages.
Sikh Society spokesman Jagjiwan Singh said Tamaki should check her ego and act like a Christian.
"In our faith we are all equal, red blood runs in all our veins. We are human, we all have families.
"If she's really Christian, she shouldn't be saying stuff like this. We are one, this is just about ego.
"What does the bible say? Doesn't it say you should love each other, work hard, that when we die it is dust to dust?"
He said instead of pointing fingers at any particular group in the population, Tamaki should focus on treating everyone the same especially after tragedies like Christchurch mosque shootings.
"Animals go after the weakest, they fight. We shouldn't stoop to that level.
"We should support one another, we are all one."
He invited Tamaki to the gurudwara and sit and eat with the rest of the Sikh population.
