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Above: Kanwaljit Singh. Homepage image and below, third photo from bottom: New Zealand's Parliament. First from below - Auckland Harbour. Second from below: Map of New Zealand.

People

New Zealand Elects
First Sikh to Its Parliament

NEWS REPORTS

Sikh-New Zealander Sardar Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi has been elected the first Sikh member of the newly elected New Zealand parliament. He will be in the National Party’s government ranks.

More than 350,000 people recorded Asian ethnicity in the 2006 census, just over nine percent of the population. Nearly 150,000 of them were Chinese, 104,580 Sikhs and Indians, with 30,000 Koreans the next largest ethnic Asian community.

With six new Asian MPs elected, they will not be a huge bloc in parliament of about 120 seats, but will have an important profile, given predictions that the number of Asians could near 800,000, close to the estimated indigenous Maori population, within two decades.

Kanwaljit Singh was elected on the list of the conservative National Party that won the election under New Zealand’s German-modelled proportional representation voting system.

Having immigrated to New Zealand a mere seven years ago, he challenged and defeated Labour Party veteran Ross Robertson, who had held a traditionally comfortable seat for 21 years for the Auckland suburban seat of Manukau East, where immigrants make up 40 percent of voters.

Auckland is New Zealand’s biggest immigrant metropolis, with nearly one in five residents identifying as an Asian, about 40,000 of them Sikhs and ethnic Indians who migrated from Fiji following coups in the Pacific island nation. 

Kanwaljit Singh was born in New Delhi, India.

In 2001, Bakshi and his family came to live in New Zealand. They were attracted by the opportunities offered in New Zealand for their sons’ education and future well-being, as well as for business growth.

Prior to moving to New Zealand, Kanwal, who holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Delhi and has 23 years of business experience, had business links with New Zealand via family friends.

Since moving to New Zealand, Kanwal has been active in a number of business ventures covering property, wholesaling and the fashion industry. He has been involved with the National Party since arriving in New Zealand seven years ago.

He is actively involved in New Zealand’s Sikh and Indian community and is a member of a range of business and socially focused organizations.
 He is currently the Deputy Chairman of the India Trade Group Inc. and an Executive Member of the Auckland Indian Association. He is the Secretary of the Auckland Sikh Society which has its base in the Manukau East electorate. He was a founder member of Sikh Naujawan Sabha, an organisation which focuses on assisting teenage children to meet their full potential.

As a relatively recent immigrant, Kanwal has an empathy with residents who were born overseas. Over 40% of the Manukau East population fits into this category, with over 50% of them having been in New Zealand for less than ten years.

His 2008 election challenge was to make sure that voters were made aware of the values and pragmatic policies of the National Party. He worked hard to spread the message that all New Zealanders should aspire to achieve their best.

Kanwal has been happily married to Irvinder Kaur for nineteen years. They have two sons.
 

November 9, 2008

Conversation about this article

1: Kanwal Nain Singh  (Lindsay, Ontario, Canada), November 11, 2008, 9:38 PM.

What a pleasant surprise to see another turbaned Sikh elected to a foreign parliament. My congratulations to Kanwaljit Singh. I am interested to find out if he, Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, has any roots in the Bakshi genealogy book, published in 2005, and reviewed in 2007 by Manjyot Kaur, formerly Laurie Bolger.

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First Sikh to Its Parliament"









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