Goff's Diwali gaffe upsets Catholic

The Diwali Festival of Lights held in Mangere this month. Picture / Greg Bowker

An Auckland woman is offended that Cabinet minister Phil Goff sent her a letter wishing her a happy Diwali when she is neither Indian nor Hindu.

Diwali is the annual festival of lights celebrating the start of the Hindu new year.

Lolita Chandra, an Indonesian Catholic, suspects she was sent the letter, paid for by taxpayers, intended for Indian constituents in the Labour MP's Mt Roskill electorate because she has an Indian-sounding name.

"He's very wrong to assume that I'm an Indian," she said. "And secondly, he assumed that I'm a Hindu. It is doubly wrong."

Ms Chandra, who did not want her age or other details published, accused Mr Goff of "cheap political scoring" and said she was offended by the letter because it singled out one ethnic group for special treatment.

"He didn't treat all races the same ... It's reverse discrimination."

The letter was sent in the lead-up to Diwali, which occurs today.

Mr Goff wrote: "As we prepare to celebrate the Diwali festival, I am writing to pass on my best wishes to you and your family.

"I would like to thank you for the contribution your community makes to New Zealand.

"Indian New Zealanders work hard and add greatly to the richness of our economic, social and cultural environment."

Ms Chandra is of Chinese descent and said her friends, including Indian friends, laughed when she told them about receiving the letter.

"They all laughed because I'm yellow skin, I'm a banana," she said.

She had received a similar letter two or three years ago and complained to Mr Goff's office, but was told the letter was not intended to cause offence - a statement repeated by his office yesterday.

Mr Goff was travelling to Japan and unavailable for comment.

However, a spokesman said: "We regret any offence Ms Chandra may have taken and Phil's intent in sending the letters is certainly not to cause offence."

The spokesman, Jeremy Seed, said 1600 Diwali letters were mailed to Mt Roskill constituents and 10 people had called to offer thanks.

One man wrote saying he was a Muslim and would prefer a greeting for the Muslim festival of Eid, but no one other than Ms Chandra had complained.

Mr Seed said it was not known how she ended up on the mailing list but staff at Mr Goff's electorate office did not select recipients on the sound of their names.

"They do not go manually through the phone books," he said.

Names were compiled from a wide variety of sources, including the Labour MP's business contacts, people who wrote him letters and others who asked to be on mailing lists.

Mr Seed said the Mt Roskill electorate was one of the country's most culturally diverse, with nearly 40 per cent of residents born overseas.

For more than six years, Mr Goff had sent letters to constituents for important cultural or religious occasions, including Diwali, Eid, Christmas and Chinese New Year.