About the Author

Lee Cataluna

Lee Cataluna is a columnist for Civil Beat. You can reach her by email at lcataluna@civilbeat.org

Let the acid attack on the young Chinese teacher be the lowest point before citizens start taking Honolulu back.

Wake up, Honolulu, you’ve gone numb.

Bombarded with all manner of mayhem, criminal behavior and violence, you — the good, sun-warmed, civic-minded people of this island city — no longer get up in arms when evil sneaks up in the night and douses an innocent young woman with acid.

Not that there was no reaction. There was, but it amounted to a collective heavy sigh followed by a sad shrug.

News outlets have reported on what happened the night of Jan. 23, detailing how a 25-year-old teacher from China, Danying Zhang, was accosted on the street mauka of Ala Moana Center just after 9 p.m. by a man carrying a malevolent impulse and a container of highly caustic liquid.

He poured the acid over her, instantly dissolving the fabric of her clothes. The skin on her face, arms and feet, everywhere the wetness fell, was burned. He did this horrific damage to an innocent young woman and then walked off into the night like la-dee-dah, on to the next thing.

Reporters have followed the suspect, 29-year-old Sebastian Mahkwan, through his court appearances. People have water-cooler-chatted about the crime like, “Sad, yeah?” and “The crime in this town is really getting terrible.”

No. It’s not getting terrible. Terrible was the good old days when people just got mugged or old ladies were pushed down by purse snatchers. It’s beyond terrible now. It has been unacceptable for years.

Screenshot video surveillance Ala Moana Center acid attack suspect Jan. 2024
The individual accused of committing the acid attack on Jan. 23 had a long list of police citations for homelessness and drug crimes. When police saw surveillance video of the attack, they recognized him as one of their regulars. (Hawaii News Now)

Honolulu is not safe, yet no one is taking to the streets and demanding anything different. No one is lining up along the freeway holding signs. No one is holding a vigil outside HPD and chanting, “Oh hell no! Not on our island!” No one is demonstrating at the State Capitol demanding change.

Of course, citizens can no longer just walk into the Capitol building to demand anything. Now the Legislature is boarded off with a plywood perimeter, the entrance guarded by metal detectors because Honolulu is so dangerous that lawmakers can’t be accessible to the public.

We’ve gone so numb that we believe nothing can be done. People get arrested and that stops nothing.

Last year, we lost a McKinley High School student, a girl just walking to school, run down by a driver with no license and more than 150 traffic citations who was just left free to do his terrible thing on our roads.

In 2022, a woman was beaten to death outside the Kapolei Police Station by a man arrested for being too violent in his halfway house who was then set free to commit murder just a few feet away from the police station’s front door.

I can keep going on this list. I know you can, too.

Screenshot acid attack paperwork Jan. 2024
Danying Zhang, a Chinese language teacher at Maryknoll School, was critically injured and suffered burns to much of her body, including her mouth and throat that will have a permanent impact on her. (Screenshot: Hawaii News Now)

The individual accused of committing the acid attack had a long list of police citations for homelessness and drug crimes. When cops saw surveillance video of the attack, they recognized him as one of their regulars. Imagine having to deal with a guy like that every single day of your job. Imagine having to deal with a whole city of guys like that, a whole island.

Let the acid attack on the young Chinese teacher be the nadir, the lowest point before citizens started taking Honolulu back.

This false rebranding of Honolulu’s hard-core homeless as fully functioning members of society who have a constitutional right to sleep in doorways and poop on sidewalks is helping no one. We have to see the problem for what it is. It’s not about civil rights. It’s about decent living, compassionate care and safety of the community. It isn’t right to leave people who are so gravely disabled and/or a danger to society out on the streets to fend for themselves or prey on others. It’s not civilized.

We’re not taking care of people who have mental illness by letting them loose and giving them an occasional sandwich. They need inpatient care and supervision.

We did not take care of Danying Zhang. We didn’t take care of her attacker, either.

We have to come back from that. We can’t keep shaking our heads and asking how bad it can get. This has to be rock bottom. It has to get better.


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About the Author

Lee Cataluna

Lee Cataluna is a columnist for Civil Beat. You can reach her by email at lcataluna@civilbeat.org


Latest Comments (0)

Lee, Please run for office! We need people like you who voice the obvious truths and will not only advocate for needed change, but can actually make it happen. You got our votes!Hawaii legislation, both State and County, are consistently afraid of making real legislation that actually benefits the public. Instead they are constantly picking battles on the low hanging fruit that is not only counter productive, but create harmful, unintended consequences to Hawaii as a whole. Our backwards tax system, failing agencies that are blatantly colluding with private interests (or just flat out failing), continuation of putting the burden of the state/county budgets on hardworking, middle and lower class tax payers is not a way out of the mess we are in - it's just digging a bigger poop hole for those of us who cherish Hawaii. We all get it - agencies can only enforce what is in the law. In order for change to happen, the laws need to change. Legislators CAN do this. This is why they are in office. If legislators are not taking proper action... they shouldn't be in office.

BulbulBird808 · 2 months ago

Lee, please make sure Ben Lowenthal reads your article...twice. What you describe seems to be utopia under his agenda. The Legislature needs to double or triple the size of the Hawaii State Hospital (Kaneohe) and fully fund it. The Legislature needs to stop wasting money and help, save, and support the residents of Hawaii. The Legislature has been "fixing" the State computer system since the 80's with mostly the same vendor which still hasn't done what it was contracted to be done. Where has all this money gone? And finally, don't complain if you don't vote the "culprits" out. It is the voting public who supports what is happening in this State. "Insanity", voting for the same people and expecting a different result.

Whatarewedoing · 2 months ago

My first thought was that this attack was Xenophobic in nature. However, it appears to be a random act of violence. I was clocked on the job by a young man who smiled at me after assaulting me. What was done? Nothing, I was fortunate and recovered. I can only hope the CCP in China does not use this incident to paint Hawaii as a dystopian place to live. Young men who have a history of violence, drug abuse, and mental issues need help. Giving them a place to urinate is just the tip of the problem. Police and social workers should be able to recommend institutional help, either get better and accept our help or go to jail.My son who is spending 6 months in South East Asia, says he feels safer there than in Hawaii. I found his statement somewhat ironic and true.

Victorching · 2 months ago

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