Haunani Apoliona does not speak for ALL Hawaiians.

* Haunani Apoliona is the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the
Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Unfortunately Haunani Apoliona mistakenly thinks that she can speak for all Hawaiians and that she speaks for all Hawaiians. She does NOT speak for all Hawaiians. Therefore, she needs to stop acting as though she is speaking on our behalf and instead devote some of her time asking Hawaiians for their opinion instead of acting like one of the colonizers:


Lingle to talk to McCain about Akaka bill support

Gov. Linda Lingle says that when she travels to Washington, D.C., in February, she plans to talk to U.S. Sen. John McCain about his opposition to legislation that would allow native Hawaiians to seek federal recognition.

McCain, who took over yesterday as head of the Indian Affairs Committee, said rather than pass the Akaka bill, he would prefer to increase funding for existing native Hawaiian programs.

"When Hawaii became a state, there was an implicit agreement at that time that native Hawaiians would not receive the same status as native Americans," McCain told Stephens Media Group's Washington bureau.

"I would be much more supportive if there was an increase in the budget which would reflect the needs of native Hawaiians than take it from the federally recognized tribes," McCain said.

Lingle said, "I haven't talked to him about this, but he is certainly someone on my visit list in February."

She will be attending the Bush inauguration later this month in Washington but will spend five days in Washington next month attending the annual National Governors Association conference.

Sen. Daniel Akaka said he was surprised by McCain's remarks and that he plans to talk to the Arizona Republican. Akaka said he still intends to reintroduce the bill.

Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona, who was in Washington this week with OHA administrator Clyde Namuo, said McCain is not informed about Hawaiian history.

"I don't know why he would separate Hawaiians from other indigenous groups," Apoliona said. "We are prepared to walk through the history and brief him or his staff on our perspective."


Seen at http://starbulletin.com/2005/01/07/news/story10.html

Letter For OHA

In this letter to the editor of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs newsletter, "Ka Wai Ola," the writer shows a disdain for Edith Ellis who wrote about Trustee Rowena Akana:

Opinions of trustees

"I have nothing against Edith Ellis expressing her opinions about Trustee Akana in her December letter to the editor. What I do have a problem with is that she failed to mention that she is the sister of Winona Rubin, Trustee Haunani Apoliona’s aide who wrote a similar letter criticizing Akana in the November issue. A lot of people may not remember, but Ellis used to write letters attacking Apoliona’s rival, Clayton Hee, some years back. Coincidence?

I believe Rubin and Ellis are wrong for attacking Akana. As a trustee, Akana has every right to question what is going on at OHA. It’s her job, and it seems like she is the only one with guts to say something. She should be applauded, not attacked, for it.

It’s so obvious that Apoliona is using Ellis and Rubin to attack Akana indirectly. That’s not very honorable, is it? It’s time for Apoliona to stop hiding behind others and take on Akana personally. That’s definitely a debate I’d like to see. If Apoliona has done nothing wrong or has nothing to hide, then she has nothing to worry about.

I also feel Ellis was really out of line when she criticized Akana forthe kind of car she drives. What does that have to do with the quality of work Akana has done for OHA over the past 14 years? What this attack appears to be is unfortunately what Hawaiians get accused of often: the “crabs in the bucket” syndrome. When a Hawaiian moves ahead, the others pull him back.

And as for Akana’s many years of service, I believe it is a confirmation that Hawaiians appreciate her work on the board. I guess Ellis feels that esteemed and valued statesmen like Sens. Akaka and Inouye should step down just because they’ve served so many years.

Finally, Edith, you should learn to be less critical of other people."

Louise Peters
Wai‘anae, O‘ahu

Seen at http://www.oha.org/pdf/kwo05/0501/kwo0501.pdf

OHA's Mission Statement

Mission Statement

To malama (protect) Hawaii's people and environmental resources and OHA's assets, toward ensuring the perpetuation of the culture, the enhancement of lifestyle and the protection of entitlements of Native Hawaiians, while enabling the building of a strong and healthy Hawaiian people and nation, recognized
nationally and internationally.

Seen at http://www.oha.org/cat_content.asp?contentid=20&catid=22

However they are lacking:

1. To malama (protect) Hawaii's people and environmental resources and OHA's assets:

So far little has been done to protect the environment. Case in point: A new shopping mall will be built in Kapolei: see http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Jan/15/bz/bz03p.html

Are they protecting Kapolei? No.

2. toward ensuring the perpetuation of the culture:

Where is the poi? CNN reported in 2003 that the traditional Hawaiian staple, poi, was in short supply:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/05/16/poi.shortage.ap/

Instead of eating all the poi, they should be developing lo'i ai in the islands for the Hawaiian people.

3. the enhancement of lifestyle and the protection of entitlements of Native Hawaiians, while enabling the building of a strong and healthy Hawaiian people and nation, recognized nationally and internationally:

Diabetes is killing the Hawaiian people. OHA has no program educational or otherwise that helps raise awareness of diabetes: see http://www.oha.org/content_list.asp?keywords=diabetes&do_search=1

So far OHA gets an F for not doing enough for Hawaiians. They need to be doing more. Much more.

Analyzing OHA

We will analyze the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to keep an eye on what they are supposed to do for Hawaiians and make sure that they better the lives of all Hawaiians. We will examine their annual reports. Are they doing enough to help Hawaiians? In other words... we are watching the OHA trustees: