Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 9, 1 September 2004 — Participatory democracy prerequisite for a Native Hawaiian government [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Participatory democracy prerequisite for a Native Hawaiian government

Dante Keala Carpenter Trustee, O'ahu

Aloha mai kakou. On Dec. 29, 2003, the OHA Board of Trustees voted to support the formation of a Native Hawaiian Governance Advisory Council. The Advisory Council's purpose? To serve as a guiding body to provide constructive effect to the eommunity voice, assure an open and responsive process, establish policy and ensure that procedures are developed for the efficient implementation of the nation-building process. Formation of the Native Hawaiian Coalition. However, at its first meeting on Feb. 28, 2004, invited members of the Native Hawaiian Governance Advisory Council and other interested parties eame together and made it quite clear that they did not want the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to control the group but rather to provide logistical support and funding towards achieving its purpose.

Moreover, the group also decided through a very lengthy discussion that its name should be changed to the Native Hawaiian Coalition and its purpose was stated as "...to establish a process that will provide the Hawaiian people with the meehanism for achieving self-gover-nanee through self-determination." To date, there have been four meetings of the Native Hawaiian Coalition (NHC). The NHC has continued to grow in number and is open to anyone interested in participating in whatever way they are most comfortable. If you are interested in the minutes of the NHC meetings, contact OHA's Governance Hale at 594-0219 to request copies. The NHC meeting minutes are also printed in the Ka Wai 01 a o OHA. Who ean participate in the NHC meetings was a question raised at a recent Board of Trustees community meeting in Waimea, Hawai'i. More

recently, at the Board of Trustees community meeting in Kapa'a, Kaua'i, we heard from beneficiaries who feel that there are individuals out there who have already gone through processes beyond the level that the NHC is currently working through. The trustees collectively urged these community people to join in the effort and share their mana'o and knowledge with the NHC. Do you want to participate in the NHC? That is the question! The question of who ean participate is not at issue, more importantly the question is - do you want to participate? For now, the NHC is open to everyone who wants to participate. At eaeh meeting we have new faces and no one is turned away. The whole purpose of holding these meetings is to get as many individuals involved as possible. At times it may seem that for every

step forward we take, we have to take time to bring the new faces up to speed so they ean get to the same level of understanding of the NHC group. This is all part of the process called "participatory democracy." As mentioned earlier, if you are interested in attending the NHC meetings, please eall OHA's Governance Hale at 594-0219. I urge everyone to eome to at least one of these NHC meetings to see what other members of our eommunity are sharing as it pertains to nation building and the future of a Hawaiian governing entity. As always, my staff and I invite your comments on the above or any other concerns within our purview. My OHA access numbers are: phone 594-1854, fax 594-0210 and email address - dantec@oha.org. A hui hou, malama pono. ■

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