Re-examining the mettle of Alamain – how white supremacists sullied a waka jumper’s reputation

Alf’s memory banks have been stirred by news of the death of Alamein Kopu, a member of Parliament from 1996 to 1999.

Ms Kopu, a Rotorua great-grandmother, had been on the dole before entering Parliament on the Alliance list after the 1996 election.

But she found Jim Anderton’s mob hard to live with and raised a furore by quitting the Alliance and becoming an independent MP, thereby exposing one of the frailities of the MMP system and its use of party lists.