Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 1, 1 January 1988 — Hawaiians Need to Establish Land Base [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiians Need to Establish Land Base

IPI Speakers Urge OHA to get Political

By Sabra Kauka McCracken Contributing Writer The Indigenous Peopies International (IPI) Administrators' Conference, hosted by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, was held at the King Kamehameha Hotel in Kona Dec. 7-11 with administrators representing the indigenous people of Australia, Canada, America and Hawaii in attendance.

Theme of the conference was native peoples and their resources. "Kona was chosen as the plaee for this meeting because King Kamehameha, who united the islands, was based here. Also, in modern context, Kona is surrounded by resources on land and those off the shore," said Moses K. Keale Sr., OHA chairman and conference host. "We all have the same kinds of battles to fight. Some solutions are working and some are not. That's the value of sharing ideas at conferences like this," said Hazel Elbert, aeputy to the assistant secretary. Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior.

After a 28-year battle, the Australian delegation had an accomplishment to celebrate during the IPI Conferenee. Charles Perkins, head of the Australian delegation and Secretary of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, announced that the Austra!ian Parliament passed an act officially recognizing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were the prior occupiers and original owners of the land. "This is an historic act," said Perkins, "because not only does it officially recognize that the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders own the land but it establishes a commission whereby we wil! be able to govern ourselves and determine our own future." "You Hawaiians have got to get political," Perkins said. "You could have a huge land baseand,yet,theOffice of Hawaiian Affairs hasnone. You'vegot toget afire in your bellies."

Also urging more political action on the part of Hawaiians was State Senator Malama Solomon. "Use Hawaiian cultural values as eeonomie, negotiable assets in dealing with government and the tourism industry," Solomon said. She further suggested that OHA shouId incorporate with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to gain a !and base, resources and money. The land situation in Hawaii is different from the Amenean Indians or the Australian aboriginals, however, said Linda Kawai'ono Delaney, OHA Lands Officer. Delaney gave a speech on Hawaii's ceded lands that was well received by the IPI delegates, with Perkins requesting copies to distribute in Australia. The Hawaiian cu!ture, indeed all indigenous cultures, ean only survive if we "wise up," said Chris Mullard, director of the Center for Race and Ethnic Studies at the University of Amsterdam. "We must understand the new industrial economy, for example the research and development that is being

done at places like the Natural Energy Research Laboratory. The survival of indigenous people depends on a sound eeonomie base and the New Land of the New Age is capital," Mullard said. He warned that there is a time limit to the survival of indigenous people. "We must grasp the information and the opportunity now. Indigenous people are on the march. Let us not wallow in the thinking that this is impossible and that we can't do it. "We ean do it. We must do it and we will do it. And we

will do it by combining the old with the new. But this calls for imagination, for new forms and new institutions. Nothing comes from copying. Mullard suggested an international center that will emphasize the eommon strengths of indigenous people, not their differences. Keale also said that he wou!d like to see the IPI Administrators' Conference expanded to include indigenous people from Samoa, the Cook Islands and New Guinea.

Charles Perkins, foreground, of the Australian aboriginal delegation makes historic announcement that his country's Parliament passed an act officially recognizing for the first time that Aboriginal and Torres Strait lslander people were the prior oeeupiers and original owners of the land. An Aboriginal and Torres Strait lslander Commission has been set up to encompass all aboriginal &ffairs and enable aboriginal people to govern themselves and determine their own future. Others in photo to Perkins' right are Moses K. Keale Sr.. chairman of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees and conferenee host; Hazel Elbert, deputy to the U.S. Assistant Secretary of lndian Affairs; and John Rayner, Assistant Deputy Minister, Department of lndian and Northern Affairs, Canada.

Hawaii State Senator Malama, who also serves part of Maui, addresses IPI conference, urging Hawaiians to get political and to use Hawaiian culture values as eeonomie, negotiable assets in dealing with govemment and the tourism industry. She suggested the incorporation of OHA with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to gain a land base, resources and money. The Senator, a former OH A T rustee, noted that the school is the instrument of the dominant culture's ideas and that its objective is to take away native culture rather than to prolong it. At the table from Ieft to right are OHA Trustees Kevin (Chubby) Mahoe, A. Frenchy DeSoto, Manu Kahaiali'i and Louis Hao.

A ho'okupu ceremony at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park was one of the outdoor programs during the IPI conference in Kona. Among those participating were these OHA Trustees, from left to right, Manu Kahaiali'i, Chairman Moses K. Keale Sr., Louis Hao and Moanikeala Akaka. The scene is Hale o Keawe Heiau. Interested on!ookers are in the background.

Sonja Kalili, left, and Carla Freitas share their knowledge of tapa making with Galarrwuy Yunupingu and Andrea Collins of Austre»lia. The IPI conference delegates and guests toured Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park and were treated to a special reenactment of King Kamehameha's procession to Hale o Keawe Heiau.