Invitation for a Better Understanding of the Community
A visit from Superintendent Wally (Wallace) Haumaha, National Strategic Ethnic Advisor Sergeant Rakesh Naidoo, Constable Andrea William and 7 other police officers took place at Fo Guang Shan (FGS) South Island on 11th of May. Temple Supervisor Venerable Juexi, Venerable Miaoyu, Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery Christchurch Artistic Coordinator See-Shen Lee, Buddhist Light International Association (BLIA) South Island Director Louisa Kuo, West Sub-chapter Vice-president Luping and the other BLIA members welcomed them. See-Shen Lee gave them a tour at the Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery Christchurch, which currently exhibits the One Stroke Calligraphy by Venerable Master Hsing Yun and also shared a short documentary of the BLIA NZ Earthquake Relief Centre.
Superintendent Wallace Haumaha has also expressed that the purpose of their visit today is to invite the FGS and BLIA members to a meeting of a community law interrogation. He also explained that there is a new community partnership program which keeps low level law offenders of the community out of the criminal justice system, reducing the amount of Police resources and Court workload in processing low level offences and giving the community a voice in the justice system. The police officers had expressed gratitude of the hospitality to all venerables and BLIA members. At the same time, Venerable Juexi and the BLIA members replied in to attending the meeting prior to the invitation, hoping to give the New Zealand community a better security.
On the same evening at 5.00pm, Venerable Juexi, Venerable Miaoyu, See-Shen Lee, Louis Kuo, Luping, Young Adult Division member Jordan Wong and BLIA member Lih-Son Ding reached the Nga Hau e Wha National Marae for the meeting which talks about the new “Community Justice Panel”.
The meeting started with an opening speech in Maori language, where representative for the police force Inspector John Price, Canterbury’s community law person Mr. Paul O’Neill, New Zealand’s Ministry of Justice representative Mr. Roger Kerr and others had expressed that by introducing “Community Justice Panel” will benefit the community.
More than 40 people representing various social groups joined this meeting and they have asked questions and discussed matter regarding this justice panel with great participation. Superintendent Wallace Haumaha also expressed thanks for the support of the community, wishing future New Zealand security can grow stronger and the workload of Police could be reduced as well.
The Community Justice Panel is also formed to help Police and Court to have a faster and rapid way to solve cases, promptly addressing and repairing the harm caused by the offender, involving victims in the process, identifying causes of criminal behavior and saving Police and Court costs. The Community Justice Panel has asked the people to volunteer as panel member with open minds no matter what religion or race.
BLIA South Island members expressed that after the community meeting, there would more understand the movement and work together with New Zealand government and society. This would help localizing Buddhism in New Zealand with a great effort.