Michael E. Malulani K.

Odegaard, founder of Hawai‘i Bilingual, grew up in Newport Beach,

California, in a home that was immersed in Hawaiian culture. His earliest memories were
comprised of his mother’s Hawaiian intimate words and hula and his parents were active
members of the ‘Āinahau o Kaleponi Hawaiian Civic Club. The global perspective that
afforded “Kaleponi-Hawaiian” Malulani by his studies of French, Spanish and Mandarin
Chinese languages at Newport Harbor High School led him into recognized leadership in
local environmental activism at a young age, organizing the "OUTLOOK '81" Environmental
Fair and even serving in public office while in college, and he was awarded a bronze
Olympic medal by the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee for "outstanding
volunteer service" to the Protocol Division during 1984 summer break. As a delegate to the
American Institute of Architects Student Chapter National Convention in Atlanta, he
organized the complete California delegation and provided the conceptual framework that
won the California student delegation the Design Award in a national "charrette" competition
to redesign the nation’s Capitol. However after graduating from UC Irvine, where he was
initiated into the Sigma Chi Fraternity and attended lectures in architecture and critical theory
as an art student, he both pursued his family tradition of outrigger canoe paddling, becoming
a California State Sprints Champion in 1991, as well as launched his award-winning career in
international community design that included the 2000 “Gold Nugget” Award by the National
Association of Home Builders California Chapter in the International Housing category for
his plan for a small, California-style community in Beijing. Malulani often visited ‘ohana in
Hawa‘i, but never stayed for more than two weeks at a time.
Malulani’s Presbyterian upbringing during his youth, especially his selection as a Youth
Advisory Delegate to the Synod of Southern California and Hawai'i, provided him the
opportunity to relate his early Christian faith to public policy. He helped launch the Orange
County chapter of Habitat for Humanity, and prior to his 30th birthday in 1991, he walked
100 miles to raise funds for Habitat while creating public awareness for the need of
affordable housing in Southern California. While President of Earthsave Toastmasters in
Orange County, it was his yearning to find a Christian response to the environmental crisis
that set Malulani on a spiritual quest that resulted in his 1997 chrismation into the Orthodox
Church. At the time in 1994 he received the first of his two family Hawaiian names of
“Malulani” and “Kamehameha,” he began his advocacy efforts on behalf of his fellow native
Hawaiians.
Outrigger canoe paddling (hoe wa‘a) in the early 1990’s bridged Malulani’s deepening
understanding of Hawiian culture from matters of home and family to the broader issues of
human society. In addition to introducing the sport to collegiate society (and subsequently
assisting with the reestablishment of Newport Outrigger Canoe Club), Malulani also
introduced the ‘ahupua‘a land use concpet to a planning professionals in the continental
United States, resulting in its employment as the “Sustainable Alternative” to the Tejon
Ranch Master Plan in Los Angeles County. Malulani was employed as an award-winning
community designer and planner for over 15 years on world-wide projects ranging from
Tuscany to China and Canada to Mexico before renting his California home in 2007 to
finance his dream of moving to Honolulu to study Hawaiian language. Malulani, who earned
his MBA in Project Management in 2004, was well acquainted with the public-private sector
cooperation that cultivates community ethos. As he became familiar with the local Hawaiian
immersion school movement, through his volunteer work teaching community design in
Hawaiian at Ānuenue School and coaching outrigger canoe paddling for local high school
students, he was alarmed to hear the stories of students who had transfered out of Hawaiian
immersion schools for fear of being inadequately prepared for admittance into American
colleges for the careers of their choosing. His exposure to systems management theory in
business school indicated to him that there was perhaps a gap in the State’s understanding of
how a Hawaiian language student transitions from the academic environment to the
marketplace. He realized that very soon there won’t be enough teaching, entertaining, fishing
and ranching jobs to employ all of the Hawaiian immersion schools (or those who have
dedicated their college educations to Hawaiian language) to sustain their continued use of
Hawaiian language in the context of their chosen professions. It really isn’t enough for
college students to double major in Hawaiian plus another field of knowledge; there needs to
be more “enlightened capitalistic” financial incentives in the professional marketplace to
employ Hawaiian-speaking employees. Malulani has testified before State Native Hawaiian
legislative committees, the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, the Hawai‘i State Office of
Language Access and the O‘ahu Island Burial Council advocating the need for regulatory
agencies to begin publishing official documents as well as receiving reports bilingually in
order to raise the status of the Hawaiian language economy with that of the English language.
While studying Hawaiian language at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Malulani led the
Hui Pule Kalikiano (a chapter of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship) and won the 2008
Kalama Award for Hawaiian Language Scholarship. During that time Malulani also hosted
2009 Australia’s “Man of the Year” Mick Dodson for a week at his Waikīkī condominium;
the part-Yaruwu Dodson is one of the principal architects of the United Nations 2007
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and he provided Malulani with valuable
insight on how he had improved the lives of Australia’s indigenous peoples through direct
negotiations with the Australian government. His own professional experience as a
community planner informed Malulani of the necessity of including the Hawaiian language
in all legislative and regulatory processes if the state expects to normalize use of Hawaiian
language. He found confirmation of his theory in Canada’s bilingualist efforts to protect the
French language, preempting the necessity of Quebec’s secession. During his July 2010 visit
to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, the Ermineskin Cree (Canada’s largest Native
American nation) chief and delegate to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issues Wilton Littlechild confirmed that the French-English Canada Official Languages Act
stands as a model for Canadian indigenous linguistic rights efforts.
It is apparent to Malulani that it would be much more advantageous for native Hawaiians to
pursue de facto implementation of Hawai‘i’s constitutionally-professed bilingualism than to
follow the unknown outcomes of the various secessionist schemes that we read about in the
news. Indeed, the State can cultivate a healthy Hawaiian language private sector through a
subtle yet systematic adjustment in its regulatory mission. In 2009 Malulani was successful
in unanimously persuading the Hawaiian Civic Club of Waimanalo to submit a resolution at
their last Convention to lobby the Association’s recommendation that the State adopt an
Official Languages Act similar to those employed in Canada and Ireland to implement
official bilingualism in Hawai‘i. To accomplish this goal, Malulani launched Hawai‘i
Bilingual on Facebook (currently at almost 2,300 members, including a State Senator, an
OHA Trustee, a Hawaiian Civic Club president, as well as several current candidates for
public office) in 2008 and initiated a campaign of educational lectures proposing
reconciliatory measures for Hawaiian linguicide hosted by Dr. Kekuni Blaisedell of Ke
Pākaukau, Kahu Dr. Kaleo Patterson and Dr. Ha‘aheo Guanson’s “Indigenous Prayer” and
“Ho‘oponopono” classes at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Social Work, the
UH Mānoa Department Second Language Studies, UH Mānoa Native Hawaiian Student
Scholarship Association, UH Hilo College of Hawaiian Language (date to be determined,
invited by Dr. William “Pila” Wilson) as well as the Waikīkī Community Center, the Pacific
Club and gatherings of individuals in private homes. He also provides affordable, or even
free, Hawaiian language instruction for adults as well as produces bilingual cultural events
such as a summer series of six chamber music concerts and monthly Ilina Wai Hawaiian
language prayer vigils to end the Hawaiian cultural genocide. On April 30, Malulani
completed a year of leading monthly Hawaiian language vigils held at both Mauna ‘Ala – the
Royal Mausoleum and King Lunalilo’s Tomb, adjacent to the ‘Iolani Palace. (The reader is
invited to download a copy of the text by clicking here.)
A community gardening advocate as well as a California landlord and part-time Hawaiian
language instructor at Kahakai Elementary School in Kailua-Kona, Malulani is the mo‘opuna
kāne of Kamehameha Maertens (retired Army officer and real estate broker resident of
Pālolo-Honolulu), mo‘opuna kuakolu of Maria Beckley (high chiefess and kahu of Mauna
‘Ala under Lili‘uokalani), and mo‘opuna kualima of both Ho‘olulu and Captain George
Charles Beckley (Kapu Chief under Kamehameha I and designer of the Hawaiian flag), and
mo‘opuna kuaono of Kame‘eiamoku.
At the recommendation of Dr. Kaleo Patterson to offer his Hawai'i Bilingual vision to a
larger constituency (and with support confirmed by several other kahu from O‘ahu and
Hawai‘i islands) Malulani is presently a candidate for Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee at
Large. He is available and eager to speak with community groups and may be contacted via
email at modegaard@gmail.com

PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS

· “Ka Ho‘omāhele Kuleana ‘Ana” (The Dividing of Responsibility), 2010
· “Ilina Wai - ‘Oihana Haipule ‘Uao e Ho’opau i ka Pepehi ‘Ana i ka Mo’omeheu
Hawai’i“ (Vigil to End Hawaiian Cultural Genocide), 2009
· “Ka Hana ‘ana i nā Wahi Palekana no nā Keiki e Pā‘ani ai” (Making Safe Places for
Children to Play), 2008
· “Ka Hana Ho‘ākua a Kāna Ioane Kerisosatoma” (a Hawaiian language translation of The
Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom), 2008
· “Ho‘olālā ‘ana Kaiāulu Hawai‘i me nā Keiki” (Designing Hawaiian Community with
Children). Presented at the 2008 Native Hawaiian Education Association annual convention
at Windward Community College
· “Orange County’s Walkable Future.” Presented at the February meeting of Orange County
Alumni of Sigma Chi Fraternity, 2007
· “West Haven Specific Plan Architectural Design Guidelines” (City of Ontario, California),
2007
· “Proposal for an Indigenous Rural Community in Aguanga, California,” thesis at Keller
Graduate School of Management, Irvine, CA, 2004
· “Ahupua‘a: An Organic Model for Sustainable Land Subdivision in Hawai‘i.” Earthword
Journal (Eos Institute for Sustainable Living), 1994
· “La Jolla Village Community Design Charrette.” The SWA Group Quarterly Journal,
Spring 1989

AWARDS & HONORS

· 2008 – Kalama Award for Hawaiian Language Scholarship, ‘Āinahau ‘o Kaleponi
Hawaiian Civic Club
· 2008 – French Language Contest Judge, World Language & Speech Festival at Moanalua
High School
· 2006 – Guest Architectural Critic, Orange Coast College
· 2005 – “Silver Medal” Award, Los Angeles County Fair Commercial Beer Competition
· 2002 – International Housing “Gold Nugget” Award, Beijing Guang Ming Villas Site Plan,
National Association of Home Builders, California Chapter
· 1996 – Distinguished Chapter, as President of Earthsave Toastmasters, Fullerton, CA
· 1995 – Certificate of Appreciation, for service as Chapter Advisor, Sigma Chi Fraternity at
U.C. Irvine
· 1993 – 94 – Ambassador, World Cup [Soccer] USA
· 1992 – 94 – Associate Editor, Earthword Journal, Eos Institute for Sustainable Living
· 1991 – California State Champion, Outrigger Canoe Open Men’s Fours Sprints
· 1985 – 87 – Student Representative, U.C. Irvine Long Range Planning Committee
· 1984 – “Bronze Medal” Award for Exemplary Service, Los Angeles Olympics Organizing
Committee
· 1983 – Design Award, AIA/Student Chapter National Charrette Competition to Redesign
the U.S. Capitol
· 1983 – 84 – Coordinating Council Member, Architects, Designers & Planners for Social
Responsibility/Los Angeles Chapter
· 1981 – 82 – Student Trustee (California public office), Coast Community College District
· 1981 – Exemplary Service Award, Orange Coast College (Coordinator OUTLOOK ’81
Enviornmental Fair)
· 1980 – 81 – Trustee, Associated Students of Orange Coast College
· 1979 – 80 – Student Representative, United Ministries in Higher Education, Orange Coast
College
· 1979 – 80 – President, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Orange Coast College Chapter
· 1979 – Youth Advisory Delagate, Presbyterian Church Synod of So. California & Hawai‘i

HOBBIES
Outrigger Canoe Paddling, Playing Piano, Teaching Hawaiian Language, Liturgical Singing
& Teaching Byzantine Chant, Art & Photography, “Smart Growth” and Hawaiian Language
Activism, Homebrewing, Gardening

EDUCATION
· University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa, Certificate (Hawaiian Language) 2008
· Keller Graduate School of Business of DeVry University, MBA (Project Management)
2004
· University of California, Irvine, B.A. (Art Studio) 1989 and Extension University
coursework in Land Use Planning and also Commercial Industrial Development
Management
· Southern California Institute of Architecture, studies 1983-84
· Orange Coast College, A.A. (Political & Environmental Sciences) 1983
· Newport Harbor High School, Diploma 1979

CURRENT AFFILIATIONS
· ‘Aha Pūnana Leo, Alumnus and continuing supporter
· ‘Āinahau o Kaleponi Hawaiian Civic Club, Member, Past Hawaiian Language Committee
Chairman & Choir Member
· American Institute of Parliamentarians, Member
· American Planning Association, Associate Member
· Baibala Hemolele Project, Life Member
· Blood Bank of Hawai‘i, Donor
· Congress for New Urbanism, Member
· Local Government Commission, Member
· Hawai‘i Bilingual, Founder
· KAHEA, Action Alert Network Member
· Keauhou Canoe Club, Member
· Pacific Justice and Reconciliation Center, Director of Spiritual Ecology
· Sigma Chi Fraternity, Life Member
· St. Juvenaly Orthodox Mission, Choir Member & Bookkeeper
· University of California at Irvine Alumni Association, Scholarship Committee Member