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Opinion
The controversy surrounding Matthew Tukaki has been in the news over the last week. He is likely to be in the news for a while yet as new facts surface, but then Tukaki will disappear, hopefully never to be heard of again!
This type of character is not new in the world of Government influencers. Wellington’s history is littered with people with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD).
The basic symptoms of NPD include an excessive need for admiration, disregard for others’ feelings, an inability to handle any criticism and a sense of entitlement. Matthew Tukaki has exhibited those traits, as have a few other high-profile characters in the past.
The word narcissism gets tossed around a lot in our selfie-obsessed, Wellington-driven culture; often to describe someone who seems excessively vain or full of themselves. But in psychological terms, narcissism doesn’t mean self-love – at least not of a genuine sort. It’s more accurate to say that people with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) are in love with an idealised, grandiose image of themselves. And they’re in love with this inflated self-image precisely because it allows them to avoid deep feelings of insecurity. But propping up their delusions of grandeur takes a lot of work – and that’s where the dysfunctional attitudes and behaviours come in.
Narcissistic personality disorder involves a pattern of self-centred, arrogant thinking and behaviour, a lack of empathy and consideration for other people, and an excessive need for admiration. Others often describe people with NPD as cocky, manipulative, selfish, patronising, and demanding. This way of thinking and behaving surfaces in every area of the narcissist’s life: from work and friendships to family and love relationships.
John Davy, the former head of Maori Television is a good example. Davy, the man hired as chief executive of the Maori Television Service (MTS) and fired six weeks later for fraud, was jailed for eight months. Davy admitted in court that he lied about his qualifications on the resume he supplied with his application to work for MTS. Judge Phil Moran referred to Davy as a “conman” who indulged in a web of deceit woven to obtain a job he was not qualified to do.
Michael Vukcevic, a former Business Council Chairman lied about having an LLB from Victoria University. A very pertinent point as he was employed on the basis of this to run a top law firm in Auckland. Like Davey, when he was found out he disappeared from public life.
Matthew Tukaki has now been outed as a CV fraudster but has yet to disappear. He is still in the denial stage. As more facts come to light and when his version of the facts does not stack up, he will be forced to disappear, much like Davy and Vukcevic.
