Former Malaysian journalist elected mayor of New Zealand town
In what’s being called a shock result, New Zealand town elects its first ‘ethnic’ mayor who credits his consistency and changing attitudes for the win
Penang-born K. Gurunathan has been elected mayor of Kapiti Coast in Wellington, New Zealand, comfortably defeating five other candidates, including the incumbent.
Guru, as he is fondly known, beat one-term incumbent Ross Church when he polled 8,911 votes with a 2,300-vote majority for the 2016-2019 term.
Church polled 6,611 votes in what the local media termed as a shock result.
Guru, who came in second to Church in the last mayoral election in 2013, has been described by one Kiwi news report as Kapiti’s first “ethnic” mayor.
Guru, 63, has had a long history with the Malaysian media, starting off as chief reporter in 1983 with the now defunct Penang-based The National Echo. He then edited The Rocket before contributing to the New Straits Times as a political commentator.
Guru was the special features editor with The Sun before he left for Wellington with his New Zealand-born wife Claire and two young children in 1995. He now has three children – Jessie Gayathri, 33, Ravi, 29, and Ari, 19.