Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 5, 1 May 1996 — State's actions must be stopped [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

State's actions must be stopped

by the Rev. Moses Keale Sr., Trustee, Kaua'i, Ni'ihau We began negotiating with the State of Hawai'i from the early

days or the creation of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. It was a long and arduous journey with many stormy and few bright days. Then, in 1989 we finally reached our breakthrough. The state agreed to a settlement. Not a eom-

plete settlement but a "sign of good faith," an agreement to agree on certain issues and to continue to negotiate others. This agreement was entered into by ALL parties — the Governor, as chief executive officer of the state; the Legislature, as representative of the people; and by the trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, as representative of the Hawaiian beneficiaries. It is very, very apparent by the actions of the legislative leaders and the chief executive officer of this state, that there is little will to honor an agreement. Citing eeonomie conditions and adverse

times, the state wishes to "redefine" its agreement. But is this really an excuse whieh is acceptable to Hawaiians? AS A NAT1VE HAWAIIAN AND A TRUSTEE OF THIS TRUST,

MY ANSWER IS, UNEQUIVOCALLY, NO!!!! When eeonomie conditions of the state become difficult, all people suffer. But we must remember that the people who suffer the most are those near the bottom of

the eeonomie, health, and educational ladder. Our suffering has been long and widespread over many, many years. If the state cannot, or will not, honor its commitments to the Hawaiian people, then perhaps it is time for us to take more definitive actions. * The issues of land ownership are vital to the eeonomie growth of this state. These same issues are vital to the welfare of our Hawaiians. Since the state is the trustee of our Hawaiian lands held under the public land trust, perhaps we should take stronger civil action against the state for their

mismanagement of these lands. We should take civil action that will result in the establishment of OHA's right to co-administer this public land trust in partnership with the state in order to protect our vested interests in the ineome derived from these lands. And finally, I think it is about time that we bring a cloud over the whole proceedings of the lease, sale, or exchange of lands whieh make up the public land trust by filing suit to cloud title to any lands making up the public land trust. Such action should assert our right as Hawaiians to question any action whieh shall serve to deplete this trust of its land base, whether just compensation is paid or not paid, whether for a conversion or not. Let us just put a halt to all this nonsense until the state ean clearly establish that it intends to honor its past commitments and address its future commitments to the Hawaiian people. Let this bold action be the first in a series of affirmative action steps that announee that we, at OHA, intend to exhaust every remedy available to ensure the protection of the Hawaiian beneficiary from competitive actions that would tend to damage Hawaiian entitlement.