Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 24, Number 8, 1 August 2007 — Page 7 Advertisements Column 1 [ADVERTISEMENT]

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He 'Onipa'a Ka 'Oiō'i'o - Truth ls Not Changeable

The Kawaihae Cave fight over the last seven years was never about protecting the iwi kupuna. All claimants vowed, from the very beginning, that the iwi must be returned and protected. The real issue has always been the fair and equal treatment of all the Native Hawaiian claimants. "Protect the Iwi Kupuna" was a slogan designed to eloak Hui Mōlama's shameful lies. SELF-APPOINTED KAHU Hui Mōlama claimed kuleana saying only its members know the traditional rituals. Hui Mōlama dismisses everyone else, including families, trampling their rights to mōlama their own kūpuna. Our tradition is 'ohana comes first, and it was the families who preserved their traditions, passing them from generation to generation. Burial rituals varied from family to family, district to district and island to island. Our ancestors did not practice one identical burial protocol. How ironic that these self-appointed "kahu" ignore this fundamental element of our culture. INVENTED PROTOCOLS Observers of Hui Mōlama have long wondered the source of its "traditional" protocols. We now know. Hui Mōlama made them up. Founder Olive Marie Kanahele, or "Aunty Pua," admitted that she and her late husband, Edward Kanahele, created a set of protocols for reburials because they could find none that had been passed down through the generations. She told The Honolulu Advertiser (1/13/06) that "We had to really look at what the protocol would have been if we did burials initially." Interestingly, Hui Mōlama has used eheap, imported tapa and baskets for its "traditional" Hawaiian burials. In recent years, Edward Ayau and other members of Hui Mōlama have used these invented rituals to eloak theft in righteousness and to build the mystique of a spiritual superiority that gives them power over others. GOOD INTENTIONS GIVE WAY TO BAD Hui Mōlama did good work in its early years and deserves credit for preservation of the Honokahua burials on Maui and actions to recover iwi kupuna. Sadly, that spirit has been corrupted, and Hui Mōlama uses these early good deeds to rally support and cover their current misdeeds. Families have reached out to do the right thing by their ancestors and to rediscover their genealogy and culture only to be shouted down by Hui Mōlama's claims of absolute spiritual authority when it comes to traditional practices. Hui Mōlama is quick to condemn Hawaiians who disagree with them as "colonized" or "Christianized" and non-Hawaiians as "racist." In its attacks on other Hawaiians, Hui Mōlama has enlisted the aid of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation. Instead of using its resources to protect Hawaiians, NHLC has become both a legal and propaganda tool for Hui Mōlama as it has tried to marginalize and suppress other Hawaiians. How many Hawaiians needing legal help have been denied assistance because NHLC's priorities have become so twisted? FORBES COLLECTION The Bishop Museum held the 83 items from Kawaihae Cave and was legally and ethically bound to return them to the proper claimants under NAGPRA. But in February 2000, Hui Mōlama took them under the lie of a "one-year loan," never intending to return them, and further lied, saying the other claimants had agreed to the loan. Hui Mōlama, and NHLC, stalled and abused the system for seven years to avoid being accountable. The Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts fought back and through the NAGPRA process, and ultimately the federal courts, was able to restore the rights of Hawaiians that Hui Mōlama arrogantly claimed for itself. Hui Mōlama wanted Hawaiians to think that they were fighting to protect the iwi kupuna. It claimed that the cave would collapse, the long sleep of the ancestors would be disturbed and the darkest of dark places violated. Recently, unsealed court documents tell a different story. Hui Mōlama treated the cave as a eommon construction site. These "protectors of the kūpuna" brought in a generator and even strung electrical lights deep into the cave. Pneumatic tools, epoxy, rebar and hundreds of pounds of concrete were poured in violating the cave. Rubble from the gulch was used, adding to the desecration. Hui Mōlama even left unused cement and rebar with the kūpuna instead of removing its 'ōpala from the cave, possibly thinking no one would ever know. Hui Mōlama also intruded into Mummy Cave, disturbing the kūpuna and even creating a booby-trap. They left Mummy Cave wide open - not even a drystack wall to protect the contents. Hui Mōlama claimed that rangers from DHHL or DLNR were checking the cave, but never told them of the risk of being hurt or killed by the booby-trap. Is this Hawaiian?

INVENTED WORD: MOEPŪ Just as Hui Mōlama invented burial protocols, it made up the word moepū, passing it off as a traditional Hawaiian word meaning objects buried with the iwi. But here again Hui Mōlama distorts our culture for its own end. Hui Mōlama attacks the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum as a racist white institution that has held sacred Hawaiian objects hostage. More invented history. It was founded by Charles Bishop in memory of his wife, Ke Ali'i Pauahi, who had left instructions to build a museum to house the treasures of the Kamehamehas for future generations. How ironic that while others are building museums to house the objects that they're reclaiming under NAGPRA, Hui Mōlama wants to doom our treasures to certain theft or destruction. DOING GOOD OR DOING WELL? Always claiming to be an army of volunteers, Hui Mōlama tapped more than $1 million in government and charitable grants, spent in part for personal and other unknown expenses of its leaders. When ordered to produce its financial records, Hui Mōlama claimed they had been "lost." A few found documents showed "charitable" expenditures such as $800 to Mr. Ayau for legal work, buying his meals, buying and cleaning his clothes and even covering his bar bi II at the Phoenix airport. INVENTED DESCENDANTS Hui Mōlama founder Edward Kanahele claimed that his family was buried in Forbes Cave. Mr. Ayau now claims that a konohiki named Mahi was buried in the cave. What next? LEARN AND DECIDE FOR YOURSELF For too long, Hui Mōlama has misled Hawaiians. A website (www.forbescave.org) has been created to make available to everyone previously sealed court documents, an expanded version of this article and other materials, to get to the truth of this matter and our culture. Why should you? You owe it to yourself and your children, and their children, and their children...i - Ōlohe Lua Aiwaiwa L. La'akea Suganuma, President of the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts.

www.forbescave.org Disclaimer: This advertisement was provided to the Royai Hawoiian Academy of Troditionol Arts as equal time for an ad thot was provided to Hui Māiomo i nā Kūpuna o Hawai'i nei in the February 2006 issue of Ka Wai Ola. The views expressed in this advertisement are those of its author ond do not necessarily reflect the views of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.