Kenneth Wang For Botany

Submitted by Peter McCaffrey on 20 June 2008 - 5:36pm.

Former and future ACT MP, Kenneth Wang has announced today his candidacy for the new electorate of Botany.

Kenneth Wang said the electorate was "attractive" because "it was a new electorate that belonged to the people and not to any politician".

He said he wanted to "do in Botany what Rodney Hide did in Epsom" and will be hoping to win National's right-leaning supporters.

"Under MMP, Pansy will be back in Parliament whether she wins or not, Mr Wang said. "Botany has one of the most highly educated electorates, and voters will know that if they vote for me, they will have two Chinese MPs."

Simon Kan, a columnist for the Chinese Herald, said there was a strong possibility that all three candidates could get into Parliament if the vote went Mr Wang's way.

"Wong and Huo would be high on their respective party list, and will get into Parliament even if they lose" he said. "Of the three, Wang would need the votes most of all, and if he gets them, we will get at least three Chinese MPs and the first Asian MP to have won an electorate."

Kenneth Xiaoxuan Wang (王小选) was born in China, and has 3 siblings, an older brother and 2 younger sisters.

Kenneth moved to New Zealand in 1984 and worked in advertising and marketing before becoming New Zealand's second ever Asian MP when he was sworn in to parliament as an ACT MP on November 30th 2004.

Kenneth contested the seat of Mt Roskill at the 2005 elections and was not returned to parliament, but is back to stand again for ACT in the new Botany electorate for the 2008 election.

You can check out Kenneth's website (in Chinese and Korean), and become a fan on Facebook:

http://www.kennethwang.org.nz
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kenneth-Wang/20566251609

Submitted by Robin (not verified)
July 13th, 2008 at 5:27pm


I am a European New Zealander living in the Botany electorate.
I find it discriminatory when I visit [www.kennethwang.org.nz] for profile information on Kenneth Wang to find I cannot access this information in English. I cannot read either Chinese or Korean. This is New Zealand, not China or Korea, and it goes without saying that this website should firstly be in the English language, with translations in both Chinese and Korean. That is, unless Kenneth Wang wishes only Chinese and Korean voters to vote for him, or ACT !

Submitted by James REad (not verified)
August 21st, 2008 at 8:34pm


POliticians are in parliament to represent all their constituents. However I find Robin's view disappointing. Compared with their counterparts in Europe, our MPs are linguistic illiterates. We are very fortunate that Kenneth can discuss problems in Mandarin, Cantonese and Korean as well as English, as many hundreds of New Zealand citizens have one or other of the first 3 as their first language. I have never heard Kenneth suggest that he is only interested in Asian voters or votes, such a policy would be political suicide. As for Act, it has Indian, Korean and Chinese supporters, not to mention Maoris, but like most other political parties it remains predominently Anglo-Saxon, for dermographic reasons.

Submitted by Peter McCaffrey
August 21st, 2008 at 11:31pm


Kenneth's profile page on the act website will of course be in english too.

His website is basically his personal one, that he is slowly converting into a campaign one.
I would imagine it will have an english version by the time the election comes around too.

Submitted by HIRA SATHU (not verified)
November 07th, 2008 at 5:48pm


Hi Ken,
I and my family of just 4 voting memebrs are keen to know your personal views in person/over tele before voting tomorrow at botany college about:
Sensible sentencing/ crime
leaky homes issue
Great to hear from you if you can on 09-2734667 or 0276632380
Cheers
Hira and family

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