Kalaupapa legend honored
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer
Bernard Punikai'a, a Hansen's disease patient whose lifelong "quest for dignity" electrified Hawai'i and brought him worldwide fame as a human rights activist, turns 72 today.
Advertiser library photo • April 21, 1996
There's a surprise party waiting for him at the governor's office.
Human rights activist Bernard Punikai'a worked for nearly 13 years to see Hale Mohalu rebuilt since it was razed after a long court battle.
"No one deserves it more," said U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie. "He's one of our treasures. He's one of the great civil rights champions of the United States, of the whole world."
Friends made in more than six decades of his human rights struggle plan to gather this morning as Gov. Ben Cayetano proclaims Aug. 29 "Bernard Punikai'a Day." Punikai'a has been invited to the office on the pretext of doing what he does best, discussing issues of patient's welfare, said Wally Inglis, a longtime Punikai'a friend and governor's assistant.
"He's touched a lot of people here and around the world," Inglis said. "He's helped a lot of people live better lives. That's his contribution."
Punikai'a was 6 years old and living in Kalihi when he was diagnosed with what was then called leprosy, snatched from his mother without even a goodbye hug and sent a few years later to live out his life in the Kalaupapa peninsula on Moloka'i.
Given just a few months to survive by some nurses at Kalaupapa, Punikai'a has been surprising people ever since with his quiet insistence on living on his own terms.
The development of new sulfone drugs to treat Hansen's disease patients allowed him to leave Kalaupapa in 1946, and he's been on the go ever since, although he still maintains a home there. He has worked as a composer, musician, educator and community leader. He has twice run for state office, taken college courses in public advocacy, public health, business law and Hawaiian language and served on numerous committees and boards, including two terms with the state Board of Health.
His quiet aura of authority brought him renown around the world as an advocate for patients' rights and broader civil rights issues, friends say. He's been a leader in the fight to honor Moloka'i's Father Damien, and has appeared at four International Leprosy Congresses, in New Delhi, the Hague, Orlando and Beijing. Since 1997 he's been president of the International Association for Integration, Dignity and Economic Advancement.
In Hawai'i, though, he's still best remembered for a years-long struggle to save Hale Mohalu, a Pearl City residential treatment facility for Hansen's disease patients.
In 1978, the state declared the decaying facility beyond repair and began moving the frail and elderly patients to another hospital. When some refused to go, the state cut off their medical care, electricity and water.
For the next five years, Punikai'a was at the forefront of a battle in the courts, at the Legislature and in the arena of public opinion as Hale Mohalu residents and supporters struggled to keep the place alive. On Sept. 22, 1983, when their options were exhausted, Punikai'a, Clarence Naia and a handful of supporters were physically removed from the building and arrested.
The Hale Mohalu buildings were bulldozed the same day, but it's not the end of the story.
Punikai'a worked for nearly 13 years to see the center rebuilt. Today, it's an attractive housing complex for senior citizens, with some rooms still reserved for any Hansen's disease patients who want to move back someday.
The $18 million facility would never have been built without Punikai'a hounding officials every step of the way, his friends say.
Punikai'a, who suffered a stroke last year and uses a wheelchair to get around his new home at Le'ahi Hospital in Kaimuki, remains a source of action and inspiration for thousands of people around the world, Abercrombie said.
"I've been around the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela and I can tell you, Bernard has the same aura about him," Abercrombie said.
"When he speaks, you start paying attention.
"He's made great contributions as a humanitarian and civil rights leader."
One thing many people don't know about Punikai'a, Inglis said, is that he's a great singer.
"It's not unusual to see him pushing his wheelchair, loaded with luggage and his autoharp, from the HandiVan to the airline check-in counter," he said. "Every so often, he will take out his autoharp and entertain fellow passengers with songs, many of which he has composed himself."
Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
