Multicultural Times

View Original

Ray Chung - Candidate for Wharangi/Onslow-Western Ward

Tell us a bit about your (and/or your family’s) New Zealand journey. (in 400 words please)

My name is Ray Chung and I’m running for Council in the Onslow Western Ward. I’m a second generation Wellingtonian. My maternal grandfather came to Wellington in 1895 and his wife - my grandmother - joined him in 1915. Like the majority of the established Chinese community both were Cantonese, coming from small villages in Zengcheng county. For 53 years my grandfather ran a variety of fruit shops, from Lambton Quay, Willis St, Newtown and Kilbirnie.

My grandparents had 18 children, all born in Wellington (two boys born in China sadly died). My mother, Doris Chung, was born in 1917, the second of the family. She went to Te Aro School in Willis Street and in 1929 when she was 12 her father took the whole family back to China to give the children a Chinese education. My Mum stayed in Guangzhou for the next six years, returning to Wellington in 1934. Three years later, aged 19, she married my father, Chung Chun Ying, who had arrived in Wellington as a 17 year old in 1920 to work in his uncle’s Tory Street Chinese herbalist shop.

When my parents married my father had taken over the herbalist business. He rented a large house around the corner at 25 Jessie Street. This was where I grew up, along with my eight other brothers and sisters. My parents worked tirelessly to give us the best start possible. They showed me the value of hard work and the commitment to see things through.

I grew up playing cricket on Jessie Street right around the corner from my dad’s herbalist store. Mum worked in the family’s seed and plant shop in Manners Street before taking up a job at Farmers in the Manchester department in her 60s. She finally decided to retire in her 70s. In the 1990s the Jessie Street home was sold and Mum moved up to Ranelagh Street in Karori where she sadly passed away in 2017 just a few months off her 100th birthday.

My first proper job was with Telecom, building and maintaining Telephone Exchanges. This was a great job – however, I wanted to try out other things too so I returned to study at Massey University to gain a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing followed by a diploma in International Business.

What motivated/prompted you to stand for local government elections this time? Please also indicate which area/position you are standing for.

Together with three others from our suburbs, we established the Onslow Residents and Community Association (ORCA) in 2017 and I was elected vice-president, and this was re-confirmed at our AGM this year. In ORCA, we built up our membership in the Broadmeadows, Khandallah and Kaiwharawhara suburbs and have been helping residents make this area a lot better place to live. We've arranged to have new street lamp-posts installed in dark areas to make it safer for everyone to walk at night and also canvassed the GWRC to install more bus stops in Broadmeadows and Khandallah especially for the elderly who can't walk long distances home from existing bus stops! So following on from working with the councillors in the WCC and GWRC, I was frustrated when I couldn't get things happening quicker so decided to try again for Council in the Onslow-Western Ward. I ran in 2016 coming fourth out of a field of seven and was only 600 votes behind the lowest successful candidate.

What are the issues concerning the area (ward/council/city) you are standing in? (please list four main)

  • Rates continuing to increase annually while the Council still waste ratepayers money on frivolous vanity projects and unnecessary items.

  • Infill and Medium Density housing being built in suburbs who clearly don't want them. There are numerous examples of this in the Northern and Western suburbs.

  • Suburban streets being filled with cars parked on both sides in narrow streets blocking buses and cars from moving. This problem is exacerbated by the Council approving developments where there is clearly insufficient off-street parking.

  • Lack of transparency in Council dealings with private interests

Christchurch mosque attacks changed/or should have changed/ how multiculturalism is viewed in New Zealand. Please share some concrete suggestions on how all of us can work together to make Aoteoroa New Zealand a more diverse, inclusive, and multicultural society.

In my neighbourhood in Broadmeadows, we have within 100 metres, people over 20 different countries. Among these are: Fijian Indians, Indians from India, Pakistanis, Filipinos, Maoris. Koreans, Japanese, Chinese from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, Singaporeans, South Africans, Venezuelans, Australians and Muslims. We welcome any residents into our Residents Associations and the different views make for a more inclusive society. In our Neighbourhood Watch groups, we include households and don't identify people from where they come from but just what address they live at. By being inclusive, we believe that our neighbourhood is truly inclusive and if we can emulate this across all neighbourhoods, it will lessen the chance for any single group or individual to be ostracised.