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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JULY 17, 1981
PAGE 8
So far, New Zealand's Prime Minister Robert D. Muldoon has not budged on the
issue.
He has indicated that he will not be profoundly disturbed if a
meeting of Commonwealth finance ministers, scheduled to be held in New
Zealand next fall, is called off.
It may seem curious to outsiders, who fail to understand the nearly fana
tical attachment to rugby by its devotees, but Mr. Muldoon apparently has
little political room to maneuver on the issue. His National Party was
elected with a pledge not to deny visas to South African rugby players if
they were to be invited. For him to reverse his position could cost him the
next election.
Mr. Muldoon said he is more than prepared to defend his nation's human
rights record in case such nations as Nigeria and Uganda make an issue over
it.
Many older New Zealanders are angry that their country has been singled out
for the charge of "abetting racism." A reporter in Wellington says, "We're
being blackmailed. Show me one constitutional reason why we shouldn't have
the Springboks here and I'll give in."
Thus the stage is set for what could be the death throes of the SO-year-old
Commonwealth, successor to the British Empire, not that much remains of the
old "company of nations" (Gen. 49:19) anyway.
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau