New Zealand Prime Minister John Key found himself in hot water Thursday after joking about an indigenous tribe eating him for dinner.
Key has been at loggerheads with a Maori tribe, the Tuhoe, over negotiations to settle their grievances over land confiscations by European settlers in the 19th century.
During a speech to a tourism conference, Key joked about having dinner with the neighboring Ngati Porou tribe, or iwi.
“The good news is that I was having dinner with Ngati Porou as opposed to their neighboring iwi which is Tuhoe, in which case I would have been dinner, which wouldn’t have been quite so attractive,” Key said.
A settlement negotiator with the Tuhoe tribe, Tamati Kruger, told Radio New Zealand the joke was in poor taste.
“I’m just astounded that the prime minister can make light of what we regard as a very, very serious situation (over the negotiations),” Kruger said.
“I don’t think it’s becoming at all of a prime minister.”
An MP for the Maori Party, which supports Key’s government and has two leaders serving as government ministers, said the joke was unfortunate.
“Well the first thing to say is, it’s probably correct, and the second thing is (it’s) probably not wise in the current climate,” said Te Ururoa Flavell.
Cannibalism remains a sensitive subject in New Zealand, where Maori warriors sometimes ate their defeated enemies until the practice died out in the mid-19th century, according to historians.(AFP)
紐西蘭總理約翰•凱伊上週四笑稱某原住民部落吃他當晚餐，結果禍從口出。
凱伊為了安撫塔霍族毛利人對十九世紀歐洲殖民者「強行徵收」土地的不滿情緒，多次與之協商，期間爭執不斷。
凱伊在一場觀光研討會上致詞時，拿與波魯族共進晚餐的事來開玩笑。
凱伊說：「還好我是和波魯族共進晚餐，要是跟他們隔壁的塔霍族一起的話，我就成盤中佳餚了。」
負責和塔霍族協商的塔馬提•克魯格向紐西蘭電台表示，這玩笑開得很不得體。
克魯格說：「總理竟用輕蔑的態度來看待協商這等極為嚴肅的大事，我真的相當錯愕。」
「我認為此舉有失總理身分。」
支持凱伊政府、先後有兩位黨魁出任政府部門首長的毛利黨有議員表示，對這起事件感到遺憾。
特•烏魯洛阿•費拉佛議員說：「首先，這玩笑說的或許是事實。其次，在當前的氛圍下，這麼做可能是不智之舉。」
吃人肉這件事在紐西蘭仍是敏感話題。據歷史學家表示，紐西蘭毛利勇士有時會吃掉手下敗將的習慣，直到十九世紀中期才消失。（法新社�翻譯：林倩如）
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