"I was very proud of this community, that a person who was not a white, middle class, middle aged male was elected. I think that says a lot about our community, that we are genuinely equal thinking people and he was elected on his merits, not on his appearances or perceptions of his culture..." Warwick Halcrow, Manager, Saturday Markets, Paraparaumu Beach.
It's just after nine in the morning as two local children busk at Kapiti Coast’s Paraparaumu Beach Saturday markets. At the heart of the market next to a green water tank, a distinctive Malaysian-Indian man hands out emergency household leaflets to the public. The newly elected mayor is responding to the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rattled the country on 14 November.
The threat of more quakes or tsunami is on everyone’s mind - including my own mother, Mayme Chanwai, a member of the local branch of Age Concern and who has used a mobility scooter since being disabled by a stroke.
Every local seems to know Guru. A councillor in the ward since 2010 and an outspoken advocate for transparent local governance, this Mahatma Gandhi-lookalike, dubbed the 'Guru of Paraparaumu' is the first ever non-Pakeha voted into office.
Born in Kuala Lumpur, Gurunathan moved to Penang as a young man but when the quota for Indians attending university was filled, he had to look overseas for opportunities.
He completed a degree in political studies at Victoria University in Wellington in the 1970s, studying the power structures surrounding the Treaty of Waitangi. Guru met the future Mrs Mayor, Claire Gurunathan, at Victoria. Claire was born in Wellington and is a mix of Māori, Pakeha and Romany-Gypsy.
In the 1980s Guru went home to Penang and ran local newspaper The Rocket until he was head-hunted by Malaysia’s main opposition political party, The Democratic Action Party (DAP).
This was a time of political turmoil in Malaysia when opposition party members and critical journalists were being arrested and jailed by the ruling Barisan Nasional Party. Guru worked under the constant fear that the Special Branch might arrest him too.
When Guru returned to Wellington in 1995, he couldn’t get a job as a journalist and was unemployed for about 5 months.
Now, 21 years later, he has beaten incumbent mayor Ross Church by 2300 votes.
Warwick Halcrow and Kevin Jones are staunch supporters of Guru.
Warwick tells me he was first impressed by Guru when he was a ward councillor in 2014 and spoke out against the sale of legal highs in the community. "He's quite brave. He wanted to fight it right from the start."
Kevin agrees.
"He's as a mentor working within education for high risk youth in the area and has seen depression and suicide among them made worse by drugs. How many young people have to die? What Guru's advocating is "don't get it started'."
Staunch supporters Market Managers Kevin Jones and Warwick Halcrow Photo: RNZ / Lynda Chanwai-Earle
It was Guru's belief not just in transparent government but also inclusiveness that appealed to them.
"Even though they're different [communities] they have a voice through him", says Kevin, "He can go into those communities and have dialogue with people and hear their stories."
"This soil can grow anything" enthuses Guru as we stand in the garden of his new home in Otaki. Thanks to the green thumb of the new 'Mrs Mayor' Clair Gurunathan, the garden around us is blooming. Clair tells me Guru has worked hard and long for the community. "He's a very honest man. What you see is what you get. There's no rubbish. There's such a need for that now. People want to know they can trust someone who is leading them. I know they can with Guru."
Guru's son Ari and girlfriend Rosie used social media to capture the youth vote in Kapiti Photo: RNZ / Lynda Chanwai-Earle
And the youth vote was captured too during the campaign when Guru's 19-year-old son Ari and his girlfriend Rosie used social media, car bumper stickers and Facebook to highlight Guru's brand and mobilise Kapiti's youngest voters.
Guru reckons it was his time as a journalist working for the Kapiti News and living in the community for the last 30 years that have helped him understand his electorate and in return for the community to get to know and trust him. "Because it's a small community, my family is known. It's a maturing of the community itself. They've made a choice that encourages diversity. The local government act, the key principle - that underpins everything else, section 14, says this;
"All local authorities should conduct their business in an open, transparent and democratically accountable manner,"
"That was my slogan, section 14. That's the one that won me the mayoral-ship."
And Guru's still "retailing ideas" in his weekly column in the Kapiti News; "Notes from a corner dairy."
"It signals a maturing of our community. People that discriminate against you are a minority, by and large this is a fantastic country to be in. The fact that I've been elected Mayor speaks volumes, as I think it should." Mayor of Kapiti, K. Gurunathan
First Indian Mayor: Guru of Paraparaumu Photo: Jack Penman
