ACT Party’s Papakura candidate, Malkiat Singh, has lodged a complaint with police after being subjected to a wave of online abuse, including racist slurs and threats against him and his family.
Singh said the harassment began after he was announced as ACT’s candidate earlier this month and intensified following a social media post by Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki about his candidacy.
The police complaint comes a week after Tamaki called for Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims to be “purged” from New Zealand. His comments were widely condemned, with Ethnic Communities Minister Mark Mitchell describing him as a “scared bully”. Community organisations, including the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand and the New Zealand Central Sikh Association, also denounced the remarks.
Singh said he first became aware of Tamaki’s post after someone tagged him in it. He believed the post portrayed him as an outsider attempting to interfere in New Zealand politics, a message that appeared to influence many of the responses.
“It was implying as if I’m an outsider and I’ve come here to intervene in New Zealand politics,” Singh said. “That’s the impression many people responding to the post seemed to have.”
Tamaki said New Zealand should remain a place for robust debate on issues of national importance, but said he did not condone threats or intimidation.
“To be clear, I do not tolerate threats, violence or intimidation against individuals, and any threats made against Mr Singh or his family are completely unacceptable,” he said.
Singh, an engineer, licensed immigration adviser and business owner, has lived in New Zealand for 20 years after moving here to study engineering. He said criticism of immigration policy soon escalated into racist abuse, with some comments targeting his family, prompting him to contact police.
Out of respect, Singh said he responded to Tamaki’s post by inviting him to a peaceful discussion about faith, politics, immigration, New Zealand’s future and migrant integration.
“He is a person of faith. He’s a religious leader,” Singh said. “So I peacefully invited him for a conversation about God, politics, immigration policies, the country’s vision, and the concept of migrant assimilation and cultures in general.”
Tamaki did not respond, Singh said, but the abuse from some of his followers intensified.
“In the beginning it was all about immigration, but soon things changed and it became abusive, racial and vitriolic,” he said.
Singh said he initially spent hours responding to and moderating comments on his social media pages before realising many people were not interested in genuine discussion.
“They just wanted to harass and create racially driven posts,” he said.
Some comments included threats of violence against Singh, his family and the wider Indian community. RNZ viewed a number of the posts before Singh later hid them from public view.
Tamaki said he had no intention of meeting Singh.
“If Mr Singh genuinely wishes to engage with someone, he would be better directing that request to Hannah Tamaki, who is also contesting the Papakura electorate. They are likely to meet each other on the campaign trail at some point,” he said.
He also accused Singh of seeking publicity rather than meaningful discussion.
“If he believes he has been threatened, he has done the right thing by reporting it to police, and they should deal with it. My focus is on issues of national interest, not individual politicians’ campaigns.”
The threats against Singh come amid growing concern about anti-Indian sentiment in New Zealand.
In December and January, protesters linked to Destiny Church disrupted two religious processions in Tauranga and South Auckland, prompting the Indian government to formally raise concerns with New Zealand authorities.
In April, anti-Indian graffiti encouraging violence was found outside a school in Papatoetoe, with similar graffiti later appearing in Royal Oak. A 61-year-old man later pleaded guilty in the Manukau District Court to two charges of intentionally damaging a footpath in Papatoetoe.
On Friday, Counties Manukau CIB Detective Inspector Shaun Vickers confirmed police had received a complaint about threats made against an ACT candidate on social media. He said the alleged offending occurred between 8 and 24 June and inquiries remain at an early stage.
Despite the abuse, Singh said he strongly supports freedom of speech.
“I personally strongly value freedom of speech because if we don’t have freedom of speech, we will never have true democracy where people can voice their opinions and talk about things that are not right,” he said.
“But I also believe that freedom of speech comes with responsibility. Our leaders should not be afraid to call out those who abuse that right.”
