Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 9, 1 September 1996 — Judge Heely: Hawaiian Hero; OHA accomplishments [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Judge Heely: Hawaiian Hero; OHA accomplishments

Moanike'ala Akaka, Trustee, Hawai'i Judge Daniel Heely's ruling that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is entitled to 20 percent of the gross revenues earned from ceded lands is a

credit to the system. I was a member of OHA's negotiating team along with representatives of the Waihe'e administration that met for 21/2 years till early 1990, reaching a partial settlement for what was owed retroactively by the

state from 1980-1990 to OHA on behalf of the native Hawaiian people. There is no question that we negotiated for 20 percent of gross revenues; I remember very distinctly it was agreed upon by Govemor Waihe'e and ratified by the state Legislature. This is a financial obligation to the Hawaiian people that must be honored. Judge Heely's recent ruling addressed remaining issues OHA and the Waihe'e administration . could not agree upon; thus we went to court for a resolution. The judge was on target and in line with what actually transpired during those intense negotiations in the late '80's. My only regret was that there should have been a beginning of a land settlement whieh I had constantly pushed for at that time. There must be 'āina for our people and Hawaiian nation besides those of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. You cannot have sovereignty without a sufficient landbase. At least hundreds of thousands of acres of ceded lands (of the 1 .4 million acres that the state now controls) should be transferred to the Hawaiian people to become part of our Hawaiian

sovereign nation. Instead of arresting people at Mākua, Govemor Cayetano should have allowed resettlement on ceded lands. Ben Cayetano's statement that everyone living here is "Hawaiian" is

wrong. You ean be born in California and be a Californian but if you were born in Hawai'i you are not necessarily a Hawaiian. You would be considered loeal - loeal F i 1 i p i n o , Portuguese,

Japanese, Haole, Chinese or whatevah. You could be a keiki o ka 'āina (child of the land) - but not a Hawaiian or kanaka maoli. You could however, possibly be, and there are many who are, Hawaiian at heart - proven through living and working in these islands sensitive to native Hawaiians and culture. Though I empathize with the shaky financial situation in this state, the solution should not be "off the backs" of the Hawaiian people. We should find a creative alternative to fulfill the state's financial obligation to the true HAWAIIAN people. We stand ready to negotiate! Unfortunately we Hawaiians sometimes lose sight of our significant recent progress. First we have had some excellent mlings in the courts; two by Judge Heely relating to ceded lands and revenues, and the Kohana'iki (socalled PASH) ruling by Judge Robert Klein, near Kailua-Kona, relating to access for traditional rights and practices. Japanese developer Nansay has withdrawn its applications for a 1,050 room resort and residential development. Hawai'i County is in the process of fore-closing on

Nansay at Kohana'iki for unpaid taxes of $3.4 million over the past four years and is also attempting to acquire the makai "Pine Trees" strip for a park, whieh it has been for countless generation of kama'āina of that area where shoreline access is rare. When I heeame trastee ('84'90), OHA was averaging less than $1 million annually. We now have over $220 million in our stock portfolio (making 24 percent interest last year), with $25 million in short-term cash investments. Judge uHeely's recent raling says the state owes us $170 million more. During our July BOT meeting in Kea'au, Hawai'i at the Nāwahīokalani'ōpu'u Hawaiian Language Immersion School (whieh OHA paid $2.1 million for), kūpuna wept tears of joy over our own first Hawaiian language facility whieh parents, teachers, students and friends labored to repair. There is also now available for scholarships

$2.4 million of interest from OHA's Education Endowment Fund for scholarships. And more housing opportunities are now available to our people although many Hawaiians cannot qualify - change must be a priority! For years I have been pushing for a portion of the profits from our investment portfolio to be utilized for needed programs: health and human services, domestic violenee, at-risk youth, and eeonomie development are some areas of needed attention. Non-profit grassroots organizations should take advantage of our semi-annu-al grants program OHA is now in the process of streamlining. For the sake of our people we as OHA trastees must put aside our differences and imua as kanaka maoli ! Mālama pono.' Ua mau ke ea o ka 'āina i ka pono.