National’s Siva Kilari refuses to be intimidated in election race

National candidate for Manurewa Siva Kilari first came to New Zealand from Tirupati, India, as an international student in 2002.

An automobile engineering degree, several minimum wage jobs and a few failed businesses later, he struck gold when he founded Universal Granite in 2007. The company has since become one of New Zealand's leading suppliers of stone - making Kilari a millionaire.

"Mine is a quintessential rags-to-riches story," Kilari says. "That's why I understand the pain that the high cost of living causes, the choices families make when budgeting and what a high crime rate means."

Such concerns are the leading issues in his electorate, Manurewa, which has historically been a Labour stronghold. Since the constituency was established in 1963, Labour MPs have mostly represented the South Auckland electorate except for 1975-78, when National's Merv Wellington won the seat.

In 2020, Labour's Arena Williams secured 73 percent of the total number of valid votes cast, winning by a margin of 17,179. National's Tryone Samarakone received just 12.8 percent. In the most recent elections, Labour candidates have consistently been polling at more than twice that of National.

"I acknowledge winning the electorate seat will be tough. That's why our campaign is mainly focused on the party vote in Manurewa. Along with Asians, we have garnered support from the considerable Samoan community here," Kilari says, referring to the nearly 11,000 people, or 13.5 percent, who speak Samoan in Manurewa, which is the third-highest proportion in the country.

Several Samoans have been added to Kilari's campaign team to help connect with the community in his electorate. Unsurprisingly, they speak about Kilari in glowing terms.

"Siva always helps the community with jobs to help navigate the cost-of-living crisis," a volunteer named Tala says. "He's a good man."

According to Manurewa's electorate profile based on statistics from the 2018 census, 39.3 percent of residents identify as Pasifika, 29.4 percent as Asian, 24.5 percent as Māori and 23.1 percent European.

The electorate has the second-highest unemployment rate in New Zealand (9.4 percent), and the highest share of households using a portable gas heater (11.9 percent).

Notably, more than a third of households (35.3 percent) described their house as always or sometimes damp at the last census.

"It's no secret that Manurewa is struggling," Kilari says. "Crime is obviously the biggest issue. That's why I told the National Party to make me a candidate here. I live locally and know this is where help is needed."

The Manurewa Business Association disagrees.

"No, crime is not a major concern," says Neil Punja, the association's town centre manager.

"Our figures show that there has been a reduction in crime in the Manurewa town centre business improvement district over the past five years," he says. "In the same period, our sales volume has risen higher than the Auckland average. What is of concern, however, is the need for future growth in infrastructure, retail, service and transport offerings in the area."

However, he acknowledges that town centre attractiveness is a concern of businesses in Manurewa, with alcohol, anti-social behaviour, graffiti and illegal dumping reducing this charm.

Security grilles on doors and windows of the shops in the town centre is a common sight.

However, Glitter Jewellers owner Manoj Singh Raju says he has never faced any incident of burglary or robbery in the past 12 years since he has been open on the main street.

"Maybe because of the security measures I have put in place," he says, without elaboration.

Sunny, who opened a juice and shake shop called Chacha Wow in the area three months ago, recalls a recent incident.

"There were four of us standing on the roadside, talking in Punjabi," he says. "A girl, most probably on some substance, came and told us to speak in English. When we ignored her, she started hitting me. Then a man also joined her. Other shopkeepers tell me this is a routine occurrence here."

Over the past few months, Kilari and his campaign team have settled into a routine.

"We are on the road from 6.30 in the morning till late in the evening," he says. "This includes door-knocking, letterbox drops, interacting with businesses and human hoardings. We have organised a few public meetings as well, with the one in July where our leader Christopher Luxon came being the highlight."

The mood turns sombre when RNZ asks him if his family is helping him with the campaign.

"They were initially. Then we started getting lots of abuse on the campaign trail," Kilari says. "Random people will come, shout and show us their middle finger. Even in front of my children, which obviously use to upset them."

Kilari says gang members have tried to intimidate him when he has been door-knocking, following him and telling him in no uncertain terms to avoid campaigning in the area.

"I feared for my life that day," he recalls. "That's when I decided to keep my family out of it. But such incidents will never deter me - I am still here and will always be."

National has been criticised for asking Indian-origin candidates to stand for Labour strongholds, using the community for optics.

"(The criticism's) unfair and incorrect," he says. "Just look at Auckland Central, where Mahesh (Muralidhar) is our candidate. Since Chlöe Swarbrick of the Green Party won it last time, people have forgotten that it is a deep blue seat. Even Jacinda Ardern lost the election for this seat multiple times."

When pressed on what he wants to do once the election is over, Kilari promised to open a National Party office right in the heart of Manurewa.

"We will advertise it across the electorate," he says. "Everyone is welcome to approach us with their problems."

Stay up to date with Checkpoint's live election night special with Lisa Owen, Corin Dann, Jane Patterson and reporters around the country from 7pm to midnight on Saturday, running alongside live data and blogging with electorate and party vote results on RNZ's website. RNZ Asia will also be running its own live blog in Chinese.

实时更新报道， 尽在RNZ中文！ 本周六（10月14日大选日当天)下午5点起，以中文实时追踪2023年新西兰大选，各党票数、全国选情 、计票进展与最终结果，第一手资讯尽在 www.rnz.co.nz/chinese。 本周六，我们与您一同关注大选。

Then on Sunday, stay tuned for the Morning Report special from 8am to 10am, examining the results, the drama, and the changes from the night before: with polls this close, exactly who's in government will likely come down to negotiations.