Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 12, 1 December 2006 — Elections allow for reflection of the past, preparation for the future [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Elections allow for reflection of the past, preparation for the future

£ A no'ai kākou. As we wrap / \ up the elections and look Ā. forward to 2007, I wish to thank the voters and Ke Akua for the results and for the previous four years that have been the most fruitful in OHA history in terms of the increase in our investments, the increase in ceded lands ineome and the amount expended for Hawaiian causes. All of this was achieved while initiatives in affordable housing, communications and land purchases for preservation were added to the ongoing efforts in education, health, business, homelessness, culture and federal recognition. I am happy to have been part of a board of directors who have put personal differences, and even animosities, aside for the betterment of our people - and we have the results to prove it. The election returns four trustees and adds one new member, all with the experience and expertise one would expect of trustees given the fiduciary responsibility for a trust fund of $400 million to be held, invested and prudently spent on behalf of 400,000 beneficiaries. I weleome Judge Walter Heen to the board and bid a fond farewell to Trustee Dante Carpenter, who in his four years as vice chair and chair of the Asset & Resource Management Committee helped our board to accomplish all of the above. His articulate and witty observations will be missed, but I am sure he will not rest for long. Having worked with Judge Heen in the past and even up to the present, I am confident that OHA will continue to move forward as a board of trustees focusing on progress, not protest; action, not activism. All the time I have been a trustee, Haunani Apoliona has been board chair, and I commend her for her patience and the course that

we have taken as a board. Colette Machado has been most efficient as the Beneficiary Advocacy and Empowerment Committee Chair and has been very effective in helping the Board of Trustees to complete so mueh more than it has in the past. I commend her as the trustee from Moloka'i, as she has helped the rest of us to appreciate the issues specific to Moloka'i. As for the rest of us trustees, we will continue to seek to work together for the benefit of all Hawaiians, with consideration given also to non-Hawaiians. I look forward to future Ka Wai Ola articles and those that I write. If one cannot understand what I say, doesn't comprehend the issue or does not take into consideration the point of the article, I will be happy to answer any questions. One hint: every article I write will have something to do with federal recognition, whieh I deem the foundation of a secure Hawaiian nation. And talking about that, I am hopeful, without being too optimistic, that efforts to achieve federal recognition in order to keep for Hawaiians what they enjoy today and lay the groundwork for Hawaiians to address Hawaiian needs and issues will succeed in the next two years. With a Republican, Hawaiian lieutenant governor and a very supportive governor, combined with a solid Democratic congressional delegation, the likelihood of success has significantly improved. Should that occur, Hawaiians will finally be on a clear track to being able to help themselves and still enjoy the benefits of citizenship in Hawai'i and America. Those Hawaiians opposed to recognition in favor of independence and those opposed in favor of assimilation of Hawaiians into the rest of the population of the United States will continue to work against us. But we at OHA are resolute in seeking to fulfill the trust we have been given and protect it by doing what we deem right for our beneficiaries, the Hawaiian people. H

Bnyd P. Mūssman TrustEE, Maui