The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is attempting to intervene in the state's selection process for curator of the Mauna ʻAla Royal Mausoleum in Nuʻuanu.
OHA has urged the Department of Land and Natural Resources to pause the appointment until the agencies can review the selection process in consultation with Hawaiian beneficiaries.
The resting place of Hawaiian aliʻi has had 15 curators since 1865. A majority have been descendants of families who served aliʻi for generations, such as the Beckley Kahea, Taylor and Maioho families.
The DLNR received backlash from many in the Native Hawaiian community when it announced last week that it had selected a curator with no lineal ties or training under previous curators.
The DLNR chose Doni Chong, who made her debut at a press conference last Friday.
"I sought to speak with the kūpuna of the living descendants of David Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani. I went to them and asked them, 'Is it okay if I even be considered to care for their kūpuna?' They gave me their blessing. We prayed and I continued going forward," Chong said.
The former Hawaiian Electric employee said she sees the curator role as a continuation of her work with the ʻAhahui Kaʻahumanu or Kaʻahumanu Society.
"I was looking at it really, I would come in my camouflage clothes, my steel-toed boots, work on the grounds, weed whacking, picking up plumeria, doing the things, cleaning the tombs, the sanctuary. Because we do that through my work at ʻAhahui for half of my life, so 30 years," Chong said.
The DLNR took over management of Mauna ʻAla in 1968 and has selected three curators since then.
The press conference raised questions about DLNR’s selection process, but DLNR spokesperson Dan Dennison said the agency was not at liberty to disclose information about the hiring process.
"The curator is a state employee governed by state employment laws. We do not reveal or discuss the selection process, interview panel, applicants, or qualifications and criteria for selection in order to maintain the integrity and sanctity of the state hiring process," Dennison said.
The press conference prompted OHA to request that DLNR halt the selection process and allow OHA an opportunity to review the formal selection process. This was OHA’s second request in the last two months that DLNR consult the Native Hawaiian community on the curator selection.
