Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 5, 1 Mei 1997 — A breach of trust [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A breach of trust

"This action on my part was prompted by three reasons, the futility ofa conflict with the United States, the desire to avoid uiolenee and bioodshed and the destrnction oflife atid property, and the certainty whieh I feel that you and i/our government will right whatever wrongs may have been inflicted upon us in the premises. In due time a statement ofthe truefacts relating to this matter will be laid before you, and I live in hope that you will judge uprightly and justly between myselfand my enemies." — Lili'uokalani R. January 19, 1893 Thus began the darkest days of the betrayal of the Hawaiian people, their kingdom and their Sovereign. We have waited 104 years for justice, a justice whieh still remains unsettled, incomplete. The Queen has gone on to more peaceful pastures, but her spirit remains to remind us of the mission to restore justice to the Hawaiian people. īiisf īhp Oiippn

pronounced so many years ago, I, too, believe that these United States were founded upon the principle of justice! Webster defines justice as "conformity to truth, fact, or right reason, faimess; tmth; determination of rights according to the mles of law or equity." I joined the Office of Hawaiian Affairs 17 years ago dedicated to

finding, defining and administering that long overdue justice owed to our Hawaiian people. Today, our board is complete and our mueh delayed work to achieve justice must eonhnue! There are those who would wish to alter the definition of justice to include the words "when convenient, if it does not cause too mueh pain, or if and when we ean afford justice." These are not the principles upon whieh the United States was founded, I remember reciting the pledge of allegiance whieh began "I pledge allegiance to the United States of America" and ending with the

words "hberty and justice for all." In good faith I sat at the bargaining table to negotiate a JUST and EQUITABLE settlement — JUST1CE!! In the end we agreed and the Legislature codified this contract as law in Act 304. On the table was not whether we could afford justice but more importantly that justice shall be done! We must never determine justice by a definition whieh depends on its eeonomie feasibility, measured by our pocket book or upon the size of our bank account. OHA is a creation of all the people of Hawai'i in order to address an injustice and to correct a violation of Tmst Law. This statute as explained in The American Juris Pmdence (a bible for legal scholars) says the following: Sec. 389 When there is more than one beneficiary under a tmst, the tmstee's duty is to deal impartially with the several beneficiaries in administering that tmst, doing his or her best for the entire tmst as a whole. In other words, it is the duty of the trustee to treat all beneficiaries equally. This duty of impartiality is owed by the tmstee as between beneficiaries of present and future interests. Likewise, tmstees acting for more than a single tmst owe to eaeh the same extreme loyalty that a trustees acting for a single tmst owe to it. (AMJUR 2d Trasts, page 384) When Hawai'i became a state it was

required to maintain a public tmst for its beneficiaries, the general public and the native Hawaiian — two beneficiary classes. However, from the first days of statehood, the state through its representatives, the Legislature and the Govemor, has failed to treat eaeh beneficiary class equally, with absolute loyalty, and with faimess. It

commingiea an iunas regardless of source. Then, it set aside the native Hawaiian share by enacting Act 273 whieh formulated that 20% of the total revenues generated by the tmst assets shall go to the native Hawaiian through their tmst representative, OHA. In my next article I shall demonstrate how, through purposeful manipulation, the native Hawaiian has received far less than its 20% share of the trust revenue — a violation of Tmst Law, a violation of moral obligation, a violation of contract law — A BREACH OF TRUST!!

We have waited 104 yearsfor justicef a justice whieh still remains unsettled, ineompleie.

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7Ae keAie, $), Trustee, Kaua'i, Ni'ihau