[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 3961-3963]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              IN MEMORY OF THE HON. ENI F. H. FALEOMAVAEGA

                                  _____
                                 

                           HON. BRAD SHERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 8, 2017

  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to include in the Record an 
official statement and tribute written by the family and staff of our 
former colleague, Congressman Eni F. H. Faleomavaega of American Samoa. 
Congressman Faleomavaega was a good friend, an outstanding colleague, 
and a fighter for the people of American Samoa.


  In Loving Memory of Congressman Eni F. H. Faleomavaega of American 
                     Samoa By His Family and Staff

       The Honorable Eni F. H. Faleomavaega was American Samoa's 
     longest-serving Delegate to the U.S. House of 
     Representatives, and the first Asian-Pacific American to 
     serve as Chairman of the influential House Foreign Affairs' 
     Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment. 
     He held the matai, or chieftain, orator title of 
     Faleomavaega.
       Eni Hunkin, Jr., was born in the village of Vailoatai, 
     American Samoa on August 15, 1943. He was raised in lovely 
     Laie, Hawaii where the skies are blue and ``the rainbows 
     spread their shining wings.'' He played fullback for the Red 
     Raiders at Kahuku High School, graduating in 1962. At the 
     Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC), he was a canoe paddler and 
     a dancer. In 1964, he graduated from the Church College of 
     Hawaii (BYU-Hawaii) with an Associate of Arts (AA) Degree. He 
     earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Political Science from 
     Brigham Young University (1966); a Juris Doctor (JD) from the 
     University of Houston Law School (1972); and a Master of Laws 
     (LLM) from the University of

[[Page 3962]]

     California, Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law (1973). English 
     was his second language.
       From 1973-1975, Eni Hunkin, Jr., served as Administrative 
     Assistant to Paramount Chief A.U. Fuimaono, American Samoa's 
     first elected Representative to Washington, DC. From 1975-
     1981, he served as Staff Counsel to the U.S. House of 
     Representatives Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 
     chaired by Congressman Phillip Burton who entrusted Eni with 
     drafting legislation to provide American Samoa with an 
     elected Governor and an elected Delegate. At the advice of 
     late Senate President Paramount Chief Letuli Toloa, Eni 
     returned home to American Samoa to ``eat the dust and walk on 
     the rocks'' so that he could feel more directly the pains of 
     the people in order to serve them more completely. From 1981-
     1984, Eni Hunkin, Jr., served as American Samoa's Deputy 
     Attorney General and, from 1985-1988, he served as Lieutenant 
     Governor of American Samoa. In 1988, Eni was elected to the 
     U.S. House of Representatives where he served the people of 
     American Samoa for some 26 years (1989-2015), and would still 
     be serving today if not for illness.
       Congressman Faleomavaega wore out his life in the service 
     of his fellow beings and, by extension, he wore out his life 
     in the service of our God. Faleomavaega's works brought 
     American Samoa a Veterans Affairs (VA) clinic, a new Army 
     Reserve Center, more funding per capita than any other State 
     or Territory across many sectors (including education), over 
     $4 billion in federal funding from 1995-2012 (with over $2 
     billion as a direct result of his advocacy), Medicaid 
     increases, computer labs, dialysis machines, village road 
     improvements, ferries, fire trucks, ambulances, a hotel, 
     funding for an airport tower and other capital improvement 
     projects totaling over $200 million, assistance for American 
     Samoa's tuna canneries that extended the life of the industry 
     in the Territory, WIC, food stamps, improved water systems, 
     and military academy nominations and scholarships.
       Congressman Faleomavaega also guaranteed the voting rights 
     of American Samoa's military men and women, protected and 
     expanded American Samoa's National Park, saw to it that 
     American Samoa was included in the Commemorative Coin Program 
     with a circulating quarter dollar honoring American Samoa's 
     long and proud commitment to the United States, and made sure 
     a postage stamp was issued in honor of American Samoa's 
     Centennial. He was responsible for implementing a law that 
     authorized free medical flights for American Samoa's 
     veterans. He established an American Samoa Economic 
     Development Commission. He obtained money to build high 
     school gymnasiums, renovate and construct a harbor facility 
     in Manu'a, and improve American Samoa's weather station. He 
     also extended direct home loans to American Samoa's veterans.
       When American Samoa was hit by a tsunami in 2009, 
     Congressman Faleomavaega turned to his long-time friend, 
     Chairman Kim Seung Youn of the Hanhwa Group, to provide 
     funding to bury American Samoa's dead. Chairman Li Ka-shing 
     of Hutchinson Whampoa also came to Faleomavaega's aid and 
     provided significant private sector funding.
       Congressman Faleomavaega also served his constituents 
     individually--handling hundreds of veterans, visa, 
     immigration, Social Security and military cases per year. He 
     sponsored and cosponsored thousands of Bills and Resolutions 
     during his service in the U.S. Congress. According to the 
     Congressional Research Service (CRS), during the 101st-113th 
     Congress, Faleomavaega participated in more than 1,100 U.S. 
     Congressional full committee and subcommittee hearings of the 
     Foreign Affairs and Resource Committees--and chaired and/or 
     spoke in more than 800 hearings. His Floor statements, 
     recorded in the Congressional Record for historical purposes, 
     are too numerous to count.
       Still, this is only a small and known part of the great 
     work he did. From American Samoa to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, 
     Malaysia, South Korea, India, China, the Philippines, Sri 
     Lanka, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Chile, Taiwan, 
     West Papua, Vatican City, Greece, Norway, Australia, New 
     Zealand, Tonga, Western Samoa, the Marshall Islands, Fiji, 
     Tahiti, Palau, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Micronesia, the Cook 
     Islands, Rapa Nui, and so on and so forth, Congressman 
     Faleomavaega was a statesman like no other. He was a 
     trailblazer, a peacemaker, and a skilled and respected world 
     leader.
       He was also a hero, especially to those known to the world 
     as ``comfort women''--to those who as young women were 
     coerced into sexual slavery during Japan's colonial and 
     wartime occupation of Asia and the Pacific Islands from the 
     1930s through the duration of World War II. Congressman 
     Faleomavaega referred to these victorious survivors as his 
     ``grandmothers'' and, every time he was in South Korea, he 
     visited and danced with those who lived at the House of 
     Sharing. He cared deeply for them. He dared to hold a hearing 
     for them. He invited them to testify on House Resolution 121, 
     introduced by Congressman Mike Honda and cosponsored by 
     Faleomavaega and others, which called for Japan to formally 
     acknowledge, apologize, and accept responsibility for its 
     Imperial Armed Forces' atrocities. While Resolutions had been 
     offered before, no hearing had ever been held in the U.S. 
     Congress for these women until Faleomavaega held his first 
     hearing as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, 
     and the Global Environment. The hearing was historic. It lit 
     the world on fire--and changed the outcome for the surviving 
     ``grandmothers,'' who finally got an apology from Japan. 
     Congressman Faleomavaega was conferred an Honorary Doctorate 
     Degree by Chonbuk National University in South Korea and was 
     named an Honorary Citizen of Jeollabuk-do.
       For Vietnam, Faleomavaega also stood strong and immovable--
     calling for the U.S. to clean up the mess it left behind 
     after the Vietnam War. As a young soldier in the United 
     States Army, Faleomavaega served in Vietnam from 1966-1969 
     where he, too, was exposed to Agent Orange--complications 
     from which eventually claimed his life. As Chairman of the 
     Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global 
     Environment, he returned to Vietnam for the first time after 
     40 years. He returned to Nha Trang where once he was a 
     soldier, and was so moved by the experience that he held 
     historic hearings about Agent Orange remediation, which 
     included testimony from Vietnamese victims and briefings by 
     Vietnam government officials. Although only a Delegate 
     representing the smallest constituency in the U.S. Congress, 
     Faleomavaega was given the high honor by the Socialist 
     Republic of Vietnam of hosting President Truong Tan Sang 
     during his historic visit to Washington, DC in 2013. And 
     while in Vietnam, Faleomavaega and his wife, Hinanui 
     Bambridge Cave Hunkin, were hosted by Prime Minister Nguyen 
     Tan Dung and members of the National Assembly, including Vice 
     Chairwoman Madam Tong Thi Phong, also a Politburo member. 
     Faleomavaega praised Vietnam for great strides in religious 
     freedom, and remained forever grateful for Vietnam's official 
     recognition of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 
     Saint, of which he was a member.
       Beyond Vietnam, Faleomavaega was a hero to Native 
     Americans, to people in Cambodia whose families were killed 
     by the Khmer Rouge, to the people of West Papua, to the 
     people of Laos whose lands were destroyed by cluster bombs. 
     He was a friend to Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India at a 
     time when Shri Modi needed a friend. Congressman Faleomavaega 
     helped Myanmar, Bahrain, Pakistan and Afghanistan. President 
     Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan awarded Faleomavaega the 
     country's highest civilian honor for championing the cause of 
     nuclear nonproliferation and drawing the world's attention to 
     the people of Semipalatinsk and those in the Pacific Islands 
     who had been subjected to Cold War nuclear testing. Although 
     Congressman Faleomavaega was arrested by French commandos 
     when he sailed on the Rainbow Warrior to protest French 
     nuclear testing in Polynesia, he was not deterred. 
     Faleomavaega was a warrior and voyager at heart--and served 
     as a crew member aboard the Polynesian voyaging canoe, the 
     Hokule'a, which sailed from Tahiti to Hawaii in 1987 with 
     Native Hawaiian navigator Nainoa Thompson at the helm. 
     Faleomavaega was the author of Navigating the Future: A 
     Samoan Perspective on U.S.-Pacific Relations (1995). Before 
     his passing, he was writing his second book, which may be 
     printed in memoriam.
       He also proudly served in the United States Army Reserve as 
     a Captain, U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps Member, 
     100 Battalion 442nd Infantry Reserve Unit from 1982-1989, and 
     he always went for broke. Congressman Faleomavaega served on 
     the House Committee on Resources and the Subcommittees on 
     Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife (which had broad 
     jurisdiction for matters affecting American Samoa); Indian 
     and Alaska Native Affairs; Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife 
     and Oceans; and National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands. 
     He also served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
     (previously known as International Relations) and the 
     Subcommittees on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global 
     Environment (known as Asia and the Pacific); and the Western 
     Hemisphere. He was a member of the Small Business Committee. 
     Faleomavaega established the Congressional Caucus on U.S.-
     India Trade and Investment, the Friends of Vietnam Caucus, 
     and the Congressional Caucus on Central Asia.
       He was loved both by Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. 
     Senate and House of Representatives. Upon his passing, many 
     of his colleagues as well as leaders from around the world 
     paid tribute to Congressman Faleomavaega for his 
     extraordinary service and powerful contributions at home and 
     abroad. At home, Congressman Faleomavaega built American 
     Samoa on a foundation of solid rock so that those who follow 
     might be successful. Around the globe, he met with Heads of 
     State--with kings, presidents, rulers and magistrates--but in 
     all his doings, he never forgot the poor and needy. He was a 
     friend to all to the end. He was noble, kind and true.
       When interviewed by the United States Capitol Historical 
     Society, Congressman Faleomavaega said he wanted to be 
     remembered for doing his best, that's it. He succeeded. From 
     Tutuila to Manu'a, from one

[[Page 3963]]

     far corner of the earth to another, he will be remembered for 
     doing and being his best. He will be remembered because we 
     hold him dear. We have lost a treasure. We have lost a 
     father, brother, papa, uncle, friend. Surely, the sun has 
     fallen from the sky.
       As one pioneer put it, ``The journey home ain't always 
     easy. We'll have a hard time getting there. But along the 
     way, we'll see things we've never before seen--great herds of 
     buffalo and big cedar trees on the hills, and maybe even vast 
     expanses of sunflowers in bloom.'' For many of us, Eni was 
     like a vast expanse of sunflowers in bloom. We miss him, and 
     love him.
       Surrounded by his loved ones, Eni Hunkin, Jr., passed away 
     peacefully on February 22, 2017. He is survived by his wife 
     of 45 years, Mrs. Hinanui Bambridge Cave Hunkin and their 
     five children--Temanuata (Mike Laussen), Taualai (Kolotau 
     Vaitu'ulala), Ra'imana (Malia Rivera), Vaimoana, and Leonne 
     (Taufui-e-valu Vakapuna)--ten grandchildren (Leonne, Eni, 
     Kolotau, Kenzo, Dexter, Taimana, Taiatea, Tutehau, Maiana, 
     and Robbie)--his sisters (Vaitinasa Salu Hunkin-Finau, Ed.D. 
     and Mrs. Masinaatoa Magalei)--his brother, Mr. Albert 
     Hunkin--and his adopted, or hanai sisters, Mrs. Diane Sauers 
     and the late Mrs. Susie Osborn. His siblings, Mrs. Tuilua'ai 
     Vanisi, Mrs. Arlene McBraun and Mr. Taulauniu Hunkin, as well 
     as his parents, Mr. Eni Hunkin, Sr., and Mrs. Taualai Manu 
     Hunkin, preceded him.
       Leone High Chief Senator Faiivae Iuli Alex Godinet of the 
     American Samoa Legislature (Fono), who formerly served as 
     Faleomavaega's Chief of Staff in American Samoa, and Dr. Lisa 
     Williams, Faleomavaega's Chief of Staff in Washington, DC and 
     his Staff Director for the House Foreign Affairs' 
     Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global 
     Environment, joined with the family in preparing and issuing 
     this statement so as to honor their great mentor who shaped 
     their lives and careers in untold ways.
       They did so on behalf of the many other staff members who 
     also faithfully served with Congressman Faleomavaega both in 
     American Samoa and Washington, DC, including but not limited 
     to Tavita Richmond, Vili Le'i and Leilani Pimentel.
       Mr. and Mrs. Don and Linda Saaga, Major General Robert G. 
     Lee, and many other individuals and organizations too 
     numerous to name, have also paid tribute, including BYU-
     Hawaii. Noting that one of its most notable alumni has passed 
     away, the university stated, ``Eni's life embodies President 
     David O. McKay's prophecy about BYU-Hawaii educating `men and 
     women whose influence will be felt for good toward the 
     establishment of peace internationally.'''
       Although Congressman Eni F. H. Faleomavaega has returned 
     home to the God who made him and now rejoices with his many 
     friends and loved ones on the other side of the veil, his 
     influence remains with us. And so, we take comfort knowing 
     that Jesus Christ is the Light of the world (John 8:12). He 
     is the Promised Messiah. He is our Savior and our King. ``He 
     is risen'' (Matthew 28:6). As Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin 
     testified, ``The Resurrection is not a fable.'' ``On Sunday, 
     the resurrected Lord burst the bonds of death.'' And because 
     He lives, we will live again. We will meet again. Until then, 
     Jesus Christ ``will wipe away all tears from [our] eyes'' 
     (Revelation 7:17). Tell it out with joyful voice. All is 
     well.

                          ____________________