Editor’s note: For Hawaii’s Nov. 8 General Election, Civil Beat asked candidates to answer some questions about where they stand on various issues and what their priorities will be if elected.

The following came from Peter Apo, candidate for Office of Hawaiian Affairs at-large trustee. The other candidates include Keli’i Akina, Lei Ahu Isa, Leona Kalima, Larry Kawaauhau, Brendon Kalei’aina Lee and Patty Kahanamoku-Teruya.

Go to Civil Beat’s Election Guide for general information, and check out other candidates on the General Election Ballot.

1. What do you see as the most pressing problem facing Native Hawaiians, and what will you do about it?

OHA has an obligation to address the underlying purpose of the constitutional amendment that created OHA to serve as a center of gravity in framing a statewide discussion among Hawaiians and their institutions on how to pursue “Ea,” defined here as self-determination.

For many Hawaiians, self-determination translates to self-governance. Unexplained is why OHA apparently abandoned “Ea” as a major policy objective sometime after 2020. This flies in the face of why OHA was created in the first place. A pivotal part of any self-governance dialogue has to include reconciling the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893 which led to the annexation of Hawaii to the United States.

In the decades-long struggle to establish itself as a unified native community, OHA’s plight begs extraordinary and visionary leadership. It should be noted that the shaping of a unified Hawaiian future cannot come at the expense of the rest of Hawaii society. Whatever the model, it must, in many respects, unify all Hawaii.

2. Should OHA be subject to oversight by the Hawaii State Ethics Commission?

Yes.

3. Do you support the construction of the TMT atop Mauna Kea? Why or why not? Could the new management structure help to resolve long-standing disputes?

Yes, I support the TMT, which is no longer proposed “atop Mauna Kea.” It was moved to a lower slope absent any sacred sites to avoid the cultural complaint that “any intrusion in the airspace above the summit is a cultural injury.”

There has been no validating body of authority to rule on such a cultural claim since the demise of the Hawaiian “priesthood” after the Battle of Kuamo’o in 1819. A second claim is any digging into the mountain is a cultural injury. How can that be when Hawaiians for centuries maintained a deep rock quarry to mine the best stone for tools and weapons?

Mauna Kea erupted into a network of issues. A complex of 13 telescopes by UH with no end in sight. Hawaiians are merging the TMT issue with the unreconciled overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893.

I support the TMT because studying the universe of stars is a sacred Hawaiian cultural practice supported by the chant history and archaeological research. Hawaiian star gazers sat on mountain tops for centuries observing star patterns. The new management structure has a great opportunity to create a body politic or system of reviewing claims and ruling on their legitimacy.

4. What role should the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands play in reducing homelessness?

The question puzzles me. The DHHL already has thousands on their waiting list, many of whom have died after years of waiting. It would seem insane to add the thousands of homeless to the list.

The Homestead Act, for Hawaiians only, framed by the Congress with the state assuming responsibility, would have to be amended to add a second beneficiary group of the homeless.

5. Why do you think Hawaiians are disproportionately represented in our prisons and jails? What can be done about it?

This is not an easy question to answer. One-hundred thirty years of transgenerational trauma. Since the overthrow of 1893, the Republic of Hawaii, and then annexation, Hawaiians have been deeply imbedded and struggling with the transgenerational trauma of losing their homelands, their culture, their religion, their language, their pride and dignity — and — two-thirds of their population to Western diseases for which they had no immunity. The entire society collapsed.

I would reframe your question to include the homelessness question, education, family income and so forth. I don’t have a lot of data but I think I’m safe in saying a significant percentage of the Hawaiian population dominates many of the negative quality of life statistics such as housing, income, education and so forth.

Perhaps the expanded question needs to be added to the first question about what is OHA’s most pressing problem?

6. What are your views regarding Hawaiian self-determination?

Answered in question No. 1.

7. Is OHA getting its fair share of ceded-land revenues from the state?

Yes and no. It’s up to each state department that manages trust lands to individually determine how to calculate the 20% of leased lands they manage which they must share with OHA.

The Department of Transportation apparently is the most honest model in its calculations. Most other departments do not fully comply with a full measure of the 20% mandate. I’m guessing that OHA is short-changed by about half of what it is entitled.

8. Is OHA fulfilling its mandate to serve the Hawaiian people?

OHA is struggling to fully understand its mandate.

9. Is Hawaii managing its tourism industry properly? What should be handled differently?

Hawaii’s tourism model is predatory and wallet-driven where visitors are kept separated from the visited (locals) by a wall of commerce centered around airlines, hotels, travel desks and offshore marketing.

A vast majority of tourists have their Hawaii vacation fully booked before they even leave their hometown. Growth is largely driven by global corporate brands and almost entirely built on a marketing framework.

County governments, particulary Oahu and Maui, seem to support the proliferation of hotel and visitor shopping center complexes with little thought or dialogue about carrying capacity of an island or any part of an island. The proliferation of the bed and breakfast business model made every residential community in Hawaii susceptible to strangers constantly moving in and out of neighborhoods.

While I sound anti-tourism, I am not. I support tourism as do many fellow Hawaiians. What we don’t support is the predatory business model. This model creates a bimodal distribution of wealth. Rich and poor, no in-between.

The industry was built on Hawaiians and their aloha. OHA needs to give serious thought to engaging the industry through investment and developing a Hawaiian-based tourism model with a cultural framework to guide the business model.

10. How would you make OHA more transparent and accessible to the public and the Hawaiian people?

OHA should consider shifting its governance model away from a trust fund framework to a legislative framework and revisit the Kanaioluwalu attempt to establish a Hawaiians-only registration process (no state money involved) which can function as a voter registration initiative.

A trust fund governance model and operating culture functions more like a parent-child relationship. The trustees are the parents and the children are defined as “beneficiaries.” The trust fund model separates the parents from the children by a well-defined line of demarcation where the children have little to say about how they are being governed even though trustees are directly elected and not appointed.

The idea of revamping the model to replicate a legislative framework would elevate the Hawaiian beneficiaries to the status of being considered “citizens” in a democratic framework. The legislative model affords the “citizens” a more direct say on how they are being governed.

This governance shift would dramatically implant a long-term objective for OHA to transition into a self-governing legislative body, perhaps increasing the number of trustees? This model would still operate under the legal umbrella of statehood, but create an expectation and sense of Hawaiian nationhood.

University of Hawaii quarterback Brayden Schager has enjoyed his time at the Manning Passing Academy thus far, a summit for college football’s elite signal-callers.

Schager is currently in Thibodaux, La., as a counselor at the Manning Passing Academy, one of the nation’s top camps for quarterbacks from grades 8-12.

Schager’s MPA journey has come full circle. Seven years ago, he was a camper there himself.

“There’s just a lot of a lot of stuff to pick their brain on. It’s so fun to talk to Peyton and Eli and Archie and those guys,” Schager said of the Manning family. “They’ve done it at the highest level and done it at elite level. It’s fun to just learn from them and learn from all these other college guys. I’m just trying to be a sponge and soak up everything I can.

“I think we’ve got a good team coming back (at Hawaii). We’ve got a lot of good receivers and I think that we’re just we’re looking to take that next step. We’ve been right there and we’ve been able to put up some good numbers, but we’re ready to take that next step and kind of just get things rolling this year. I think that we we’re confident we can do that.

“I think is going to be a big year. … And I think we’re going to we’re going to do something special this year.”

Schager will also be one of two players to represent Hawaii at the upcoming Mountain West media days, which takes place from July 10-11 in Las Vegas.

Tropical Treasures

McDonald’s doesn’t have the exact same menu everywhere. That’s a given when you’re talking about international locations, but there are regional variations in the U.S., too.  McDonald’s restaurants in Hawaii have some of the most interesting local menu items. They’re based on the islanders’ tastes, and frankly, we’re drooling over some of these, especially the pies. Here are McDonald’s menu items you can only try if you head to Hawaii.

1. Rice

Thanks to the heavy Asian influence in Hawaii, rice is on the menu at McDonald’s on the islands. It’s only available for breakfast, though, which might seem odd to some mainlanders. You can get it as part of a Local Deluxe Platter with rice, eggs, and your choice of meat. Packets of soy sauce are usually available as a condiment.

2. Portuguese Sausage

One of the meats you can choose from for breakfast is Portuguese sausage. They’re griddle-cooked pork patties, similar to the regular McDonald’s breakfast sausage you’re used to, but they taste more like the local favorite sausage. It’s a slightly spicy meat that’s similar to Cajun sausages like andouille. If you ask nicely, they might even put it in your Egg McMuffin instead of Canadian bacon.

3. Spam

Spam is super popular in Hawaii, and McDonald’s is capitalizing on it. During World War II, soldiers were served the canned meat because it was portable, shelf-stable, full of protein, and pretty much perfect as a military ration. It never really left, and now you can get it fried on a lunch plate with macaroni salad, as Spam musubi, and on your Spam, egg, and rice breakfast platter at McD’s.

28 Slamming Spam Recipes That Will Have You Wanting More

4. McTeri Deluxe

Move over, Big Mac, and make room for the McTeri Deluxe. It’s a burger that’s coated in sweet and savory teriyaki, a popular Japanese-style sauce on the islands. It makes for a messy but delicious lunch when it’s available — it tends to come and go from the menu quite a bit.

5. Fried Apple Pie

Behold: deep fried McDonald’s apple pies! Those amazing pies from your childhood are no longer fried in the continental U.S. (minus one rogue location in California), but things are different in Hawaii. Locals didn’t like the baked pies as much as the fried version, so the restaurant operators decided to keep on frying all their pie varieties for that blisteringly crisp and bubbly crust. God bless America.

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6. Haupia Pie

Besides the apple pie, Hawaiian McDonald’s restaurants also serve Haupia Pie. It’s got a smooth, creamy, and pudding-like filling full of coconut for a tropical treat. And yes, it is also deep fried.

7. Saimin

Saimin is pretty unique to Hawaii thanks to its melting pot of cultures. It’s comfort food made of noodles in broth, and it’s a mashup of various Asian dishes from Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino cuisine. It’s usually garnished with toppings like nori and brightly colored fish cake. It’s another menu item that tends to come and go at McDonald’s on the islands.

8. Taro Pie

Taro is a root vegetable that you often see in Asian sweets or drinks like bubble tea. Its flavor is similar to a sweet potato, and it has a gorgeous purple color. Taro pie is a limited-time dessert menu item in Hawaiian McDonald’s, and everyone loves it. Guava and pineapple pies have also made appearances in Hawaii over the years, and we’re totally jealous of them all.

This article was originally published on Cheapism

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