‘Fair play for all’: Te Maeva Nui no longer ranked, says Ministry of Culture

The Cook Islands Department of Cultural Development has ruled out reintroducing a ranking system for the Te Ma Ewanui Snow Festival, citing concerns about fairness and the protection of cultural diversity, unless all participating teams agree.

Earlier this month, the annual cultural festival celebrating the country’s autonomy was held at the National Auditorium.

The Atiu, Mangaia, Oire Nikao, Puaikura, Pukapuka, Takitumu, Te Fuinga O Niva and Tupapa Maraerenga groups took part in the event, which included kapa rima (action songs), imene pupu (choir), imene tuki (traditional hymns), pe’e (chant), ura pa’u (inspiration) and ute (traditional folk songs).

With no overall champion and many believing the big costume prize is the main prize, there have been calls for a “return to the days when one team stood out.”

The ministry should reconsider returning to a ranked competition, according to a letter to the editor, with one team standing out from the crowd, claiming many who watched Te Maeva Nui never liked the recently introduced concept of grading.

“It is our human nature to want to see a winner, so we wanted to see which dance team was the best in the Cook Islands that year. Competition is good, it makes people want to improve.

The letter writer said: “Let’s bring back the days when that team stood out.”

Minister of Cultural Development Emile Kailua said there is no chance of resumption unless all teams agree to change the current scoring system.

Kailua stressed that it is very difficult to reject judges based on their background alone, as the only background considered is their judging experience and knowledge of the rules, which has nothing to do with their origins.

“No, it’s not going to happen because we’ve done it before and we had a lot of problems,” Kailua told the Cook Islands News earlier this month.

“The comment you need to get will come from the teams as to whether they would like to go back to first, second and third, if at all.”

The ministry’s human resources and media and communications manager Sharna Matapuku added that reinstating the ranking system would only be possible if all teams were willing to be judged in that way “so that it does not disadvantage them”.

“But the thing is, if the problem is not 1, 2, 3, then the problem is the referee. If the problem is not the referee, then the problem is something else. There are always other problems, but we will do what is best for the team and the department,” Matapuku said.

Vaka Takitumu team leader Sonny Williams, the Titikaweka MP, introduced the grading system decades ago when he was cultural development minister.

Williams said he supports the scoring system for fairness among teams, but he also suggested the same scoring system should be adopted for the clothing category.

“Since I was the one who changed it, it was for a good reason because I had been playing in the Te Maeva Nui format since 2001 and in 2009, I felt that the teams were asking for a fairer format, especially the Pa Enua teams who were not in contention for the huge prize money,” he explained.

“The fairer format gave them a chance to win the top prizes because at the time, teams from Rarotonga and Aitutaki and even Whakatakitumu won all the prizes… In 2007, Whakatakitumu won all the major prizes, taking home over $30,000, while other teams that never placed were lucky and only received about $4,000 in total.

“So, in those days, it was clear that the system favoured the Vaka team, the Oire team, the Nikao team, the Tupapa team, winning all these prizes, while the outer island teams never won any.”

Williams added that the whole idea is to distribute prize money fairly and stressed that he does not support the reinstatement of the ranking system for these reasons.

However, he suggested that the Ministry of Culture should also adopt the same grading system for the clothing category as it is the only category with a ranking.

“I strongly recommend that the Ministry of Culture reinstate ABC costumes because everyone feels that they are getting the value they deserve. We all put in the same amount of effort, but someone gets $3,000 and we only get $500, which is so unfair. Maybe the scores are close, but the prize money is far apart, so why bother? We all know that the effort is almost the same, and the prize money should be the same,” said Williams.

“A few years ago even clothing was graded, but now they have brought it back to first, second, third grade and now you find that is the only problem area where there are complaints, while in every other area everyone is happy to get what they think they are worth and everyone feels rewarded.”

Oire Nikao captain Simiona Teiotu expressed similar sentiments but said he would not comment on the possibility of reverting to a ranking system for the entire tournament until he had consulted with his team.

Teiotu, however, stressed that the ministry should do a better job of informing and clarifying the rankings in the clothing category to all teams.

He said that was the only “unfair part” of the competition, adding that his team put a lot of effort into the costumes to fit the theme and all the requirements.

Matapuku from the Ministry of Cultural Development further explained that judging teams from different islands by a single standard could be unfair and undermine the cultural diversity that Te Ma Ewanui Festival celebrates.

“The reason is, how can you judge the Pukapuka? The Pukapuka are known for their culture, but they are not as fun and interactive as the Takitumu, who have drums and everything. The Pukapuka are judged in a different style, but we can’t judge them the same way we judge the Takitumu,” she said.

“Each island has its own traditions and that’s what Te Maeva Nui is all about. It’s about preserving the traditions of the islands.

“So we can’t tell Puka Puka your culture is boring. You have to accept other people’s culture. You can’t do that. What might be boring to some people might be first class in the eyes of Puka Puka people because that’s their culture, and we’re not here to tell other islands your culture is boring and you have to accept their culture.

“If we were to pick first, second and third place, how would you weigh it up? Even the language the songs were sung in. Some sounded very beautiful, some sounded like they were from Samoa.

“But then again, it’s their island. We’re trying to protect their island. We’re trying to make Pukapuka as authentic as possible and Manihiki as rare as possible.”