Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 3, 1 March 2002 — Betrayal and the grab for power [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Betrayal and the grab for power

For a brief moment in time I could imagine how our Queen must have felt 109 years ago, surrounded by members of her cabinet who betrayed her, As I sat in a Hawaiian Affairs hearing at the Legislature on Feb, 5, listening to testimonies being given for and against OHA, I saw before me the very reasons why it has taken us so long to unite, Some testified with no real purpose except to be heard, Others had selfish reasons, Most disturbing were those who testified that the native Hawaiian Trust was only for them, the 50 percenters on Hawaiian home lands, These people fail to recognize that there are more native Hawaiians living off of the homelands than on, This attitude is divisive and will only create a greater distance between all Hawaiians and those who feel that they have special rights to any entitlements because of their blood quantum, īt is disheartening to see that

some within OHA are willing to work no matter who is in the leadership, while others who are not, Some use columns in Ka Wai Ola to discuss positive programs and issues, while at least two trustees continue to focus on negatives, These same trustees now want to overturn the board leadership again after refusing to work while collecting a paycheck, These trustees are Apoliona, Machado and Stender, īn early January the board of trustees passed OHA's legislative package, īn the Feb, 5 hearing we had one trustee, Oswald Stender, support the Hemmings bill that would destroy the OHA public trust and create a private trust, This position was eontrary to the positions taken by the full board in January, How ean these actions be explained to our beneficiaries? īs the community right about the grab for power being more important than providing services for our beneficiaries? Are they right about some trustees trying to destroy the

very fabric of OHA from within? īn the middle of this important legislative meeting, Trustee Apoliona passed a note to the clerk and seconds later Sen, Hemmings is heard to proclaim that according to a press release, the OHA board will reorganize on Feb, 13 and maybe the OHA bills being heard today need no further action, Apoliona slips quietly out of the room, Stunned by the announcement after sitting for almost five hours trying to explain and defend OHA's position on various bills, ī am immediately descended upon by the media for comment based on Hemmings' announcement, ī try to appear eomposed to answer the questions being asked when all the while my mind is reeling thinking about how this folly will be perceived by the general public, our beneficiaries and the legislature, Does this move make our whole organization look foolish? Yes, īs the timing bad because of the legislative session ahead of us and the importance of unity is

imperative? Yes, īs there a good reason for the change in leadership, and if so, what is that reason? Did these five members of the board think about the public reaction to this action and the possible repercussions of their actions? We need not worry about the Twigg-Smiths, Conklins, Barretts and Burgesses, We need only to look among ourselves to see the traitorous dogs who lay in wait for just the right moment to deliver us up to our enemies, And so it is that ī wonder what is to be the fate of our people with this kind of leadership, and will it take another hundred years before any nation is formalized and, in the meantime, what will become of Hawaiian entitlements as we know them, but more importantly, will there be anything left of the spoils in a hundred years after the Hawaiians have picked eaeh other's bones elean, ■

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Rowena Akana Trusfee,, At-large