Premier care: PM provides New Zealand balm & calm

WELLINGTON, March 17

The calm and compassion shown by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in response to the killing of 50 Muslims by a suspected white supremacist has burnished the credentials of a leader whose youth and celebrity had given critics doubts.

After the carnage in Christchurch on Friday left New Zealanders reeling, the 38-year-old promptly labelled the worst peacetime mass killing in the country as terrorism, and set about reassuring a nation that has been largely unscathed by the violence and fears that have afflicted other countries.

A day after the attack, Ardern led a multi-party group to visit grieving families and Muslim community members. Wearing a black head scarf, she hugged relatives and let them set the pace and agenda as she listened and offered comfort. 

Ardern also promptly made tightening gun laws, which may prove politically difficult, a priority for her government.

Ardern burst into prominence during the 2017 election, feted globally as part of a new wave of progressive, young leaders that included France’s Emmanuel Macron and Canada’s Justin Trudeau.

Her pregnancy, maternity leave and the birth of her daughter while in office also set her apart, with many people seeing it as symbolising progress for women in leadership roles. Her stratospheric rise to become the country’s youngest PM resulted in New Zealanders coining the phrase “Jacinda-mania”. 

But there were nagging doubts about whether her celebrity masked a lack of substance or steel.

And as Ardern completed one year in office in October, commentators credited her with moving the politics to the left. But they also noted that little had been accomplished. They also criticised her handling of the economy as business confidence has sunk to its lowest in a decade.

But the tragedy of Christchurch gave Ardern an opportunity to tell New Zealanders what their country stands for. 

She said the attack had not happened because their country was a safe harbour for hate, or racism or extremism. “We were chosen for the very fact that we are none of those things,” she said. “You may have chosen us — we utterly reject and condemn you.”

And there was what some have seen as a polite rebuke of US President Donald Trump, who said he did not see a rise in white nationalism although it may have been an issue in New Zealand. Ardern said Trump had asked what support the US could offer. “My message was: ‘Sympathy and love for all Muslim communities’,”  she said.

“Can we just acknowledge with open hearts and clear heads that @jacindaardern has done an extraordinary job representing our nation, our pain and our resolve,” prominent journalist Eric Young said. “I wish with everything in my heart she hadn’t had to, but I am proud that she did.” — Reuters