KEY POINTS:
The Chinese community is not alone in feeling such shared guilt when a man snatches the life of his partner. WEN (Gerry) Yang's pleas to fugitive Nai Yin Xue to turn himself in to US police was posted on Chinese-language international websites on Thursday.
"I know you very
well Mr Xue and used to be good friend and know your wife Mrs Xue and daughter and if you still be a independent man and martial master you should stand up and face this case."
The Chinese Herald editor knows Xue well from his martial arts shows and as a competing newspaper proprietor.
"If you gravely face what you might have done yourself - I still recognise you as old friend and pay a visit if caught by police," said Yang's message.
Yang is among a number of Auckland Chinese who want to use their networks to help locate Xue. He believes a book Xue wrote, Inner Strength Martial Arts shocks United States, may provide clues to the friendships the fugitive made in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other US cities while promoting his own kung fu code in 1991.
"I will explain to the police some of the information," said Yang. "He met many friends and was welcome by the Chinese community in California some of the persons mentioned in the book are still active in martial arts."
But Yang didn't go directly to police with the book. He was waiting for police to approach him.
This vignette is indicative of the cultural reticence that Auckland police initially faced in investigating the death of An An (Annie) Liu. The Chinese community's early reluctance to come forward with information that might help track Xue down was illustrated by the fact that many preferred to post anonymously on websites such as Skykiwi, or on Chinese radio rather than directly to police.
Another factor (although few Chinese sources I have spoken to want to go public on this) is a deep sense of communal shame that none of Xue's acquaintances intervened to help Liu set up a new life away from him after his earlier threats to kill her.
The Chinese community is not alone in feeling such shared guilt when a man snatches the life of his partner.
Many New Zealanders have scourged themselves for failing to take steps to prevent a husband killing a wife, or helping her to establish a new life, particularly when a history of domestic violence has been writ large for all to see through black eyes, cuts and broken bones.
Chinese neighbours of the Xue family and workers at the playcentre where Annie Liu took 3-year-old Qian Xun Xue have reported that signs of domestic violence were clearly visible this year.
The 27-year-old sought asylum at Women's Refuges last year and obtained protection orders against her husband. But like the moth to a flame, she returned to be beaten again.
It's obscene that the law enabled Xue to retrieve a Samurai sword from Henderson police last week after Liu withdrew her claims that he had threatened to kill her.
Given his history, a man such as Xue should not have been allowed to possess any martial arts weapons.
The controversy over the police delays has split the nation. But instead of beating up on Detective Senior Sergeant Simon Scott for failing to realise Annie's body was "right under his nose in the boot of Xue's Chinese Times car while he paid homage to due process and obtained a search warrant", it would be more profitable to debate whether police have the right tools to deal with the horrific level of domestic violence.
Why did Annie Liu, like so many other women, withdraw her claims against her husband? Why did she go back to him that last time, after such a long history of domestic violence? Why did the state not intervene to ensure Qian's own safety when Annie Liu had earlier told police Xue had struck the child while he threatened her with a knife?
I find it obscene that Child, Youth and Family did not intervene to secure Qian's safety from this grandiose martial arts exponent, who went on to callously leave her unattended at a Melbourne railway station.
If there is a Chinese cultural issue at play here CYF needs to confront it, as the service is no longer reluctant to intervene where the safety of Maori children are concerned.
If as a nation we can get so stirred up about our shameful record of child killings, why can't we also face head-on the impact of domestic violence?
The "anti-smacking legislation" which gave police rights to intervene when children's safety is perceived to be at risk could be a useful model. Codifying the state's right to protect the nation's children against the rights of parents to live in violent relationships would be controversial. But the issues should be explored.
