Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 12, Number 8, 1 August 1995 — Our Readers Write [ARTICLE]

Our Readers Write

Hui 'Imi Pono Advisory Council It was distressing to read the bitter and self-righteous words of OHA Trustee Billie Beamer as she harangues S.B. 1336 and its creation of the Hui 'Imi Pono Advisory Council. For nearly three months, several members of the Hui 'Imi Task Force tried without success to present Trustee Beamer with an orientation to Hui 'Imi's history and current efforts. Eaeh attempt was canceled by Trustee Beamer. Apparently an orientation was not necessary. Without even meeting with Task Force members, Trustee Beamer regards Hui 'Imi's efforts to be a catalyst for ongoing cooperation and collaboration among Hawaiian organizations as "incestuous." How absurd! Notwithstanding that OHA has been a charter member of the Hui 'Imi since 1989, Trustee Beamer imagines the group to be a threat to OHA's govemance and self-sufficiency. She sees treachery at every tum and a conspiracy to "mle all things Hawaiian, even OHA."

It is tmly a tragedy that Tmstee Beamer has recoiled from gestures and offers of mutual support and encouragement from her fellow Hawaiian organizations. It is embarassing that she chooses to mischaracterize Hui 'Imi and its efforts to work together for a eommon good. Perhaps if she had agreed to meet and talk with Hui 'Imi members, she would have been able to offer rational comments and criticisms based on facts. One must begin to wonder whether Trustee Beamer is tmly serving the Hawaiian community she was elected to serve, or pandering to her own peculiar imaginings and paranoia. Moana C. Heu Kapolei, Hawai'i