Seen abroad as a leader on Indigenous rights, New Zealand enters a divisive new era

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — On the eve of New Zealand’s Māori language celebration week, the country’s right-wing political leaders ordered public agencies to stop affirmative action policies for Māori people, who are disadvantaged on almost every metric.

The lawmakers then posted on social media about their enthusiasm for the Indigenous tongue. “In New Zealand we’re lucky to have this language and I’m glad to celebrate it,” Prime Minister Christopher Luxon of the center-right National party wrote on Facebook Monday.

Māori was not solely “the preserve of people who think a certain way,” said David Seymour, the leader of populist party ACT — whose detractors accuse him of anti-Māori policies — in a video introducing his followers to economic terms in the language.

Their remarks reflected the exploding popularity of Māori culture and language – which has reversed course from the brink of extinction decades ago to become part of everyday life in New Zealand. There are waiting lists for classes and a chain store’s clothing line for Māori language week sold out in minutes.

But they also belied a fraught debate about race roiling New Zealand, fueled by the polarized politics confronting many Western democracies and a backlash against the previous left-wing government. Last year, that sentiment brought to power fringe parties claiming that special treatment for Māori language and people — promised in the country’s founding document and intended to address deep inequities — has created social division and unequal rights.

As a government comprising those groups and Luxon’s ramps up initiatives stripping recognition of Māori from policy and law, analysts say they imperil New Zealand’s standing on Indigenous matters.

“We’ve been