Tong Kee

Tong Kee, who became known as Aki in Hawaii, was a rice plantation and mill owner at Waiau, in the ʻEwa District, on the island of Oahu. Chinese names in Hawaii were often written using the given name with the prefix Ah (阿), so Ah Kee became Aki. Because of the orientation of Chinese names, Aki became his surname instead of his Chinese family name Tong.

In December 1886, Junius Kaʻae, who served as Registrar of Conveyances and was a henchman of King Kalākaua, convinced Aki to present multiple bribes totaling $75,000 (of which only $71,000 was actually paid) to the king in order to secure the grant of an license to import and sell opium in the islands. Through multiple trips, the large sums of cash were smuggled into ʻIolani Palace where they were received by Kaʻae and the king. When the license was awarded to Chun Lung, the son of Chinese millionaire businessman Chun Afong, Aki demanded the return of the money and when the king refused he brought a lawsuit against the king. Twelve affidavits (totaling sixty-four pages) were released by Aki and others associated in the case detailing the scandal. The king's defense later claimed that the gifts were free will offerings from Aki and that the money was accepted reluctantly by the king.

The opium bribery scandal was satirized in the political satirical pamphlet, the Gynberg Ballads published by Alatau T. Atkinson, editor of the Hawaiian Gazette, and possibly coauthored by Edward William Purvis, a former member of the king's military staff. Shipments of the ballads arrived from San Francisco on May 13, 1887 and was distributed widely despite attempts by the government to seize the printed pamphlets. One of the pages titled "The Opium Racket" summarized the scandal although changing the names of the participants. Aki became "You Lie", the king was transformed into the "Gynberg Duke" and Kaʻae became "Kiyi". An illustration on the ballad erroneously depicted You Lie wheeling a wheelbarrow full of bags of gold into the palace. This publication and the scandal would have negative impact on the king's and his cabinet headed by Walter Murray Gibson and lead to increase anti-Chinese sentiments among the foreign white community.

Political cartoon depicting the coup d'état which resulted in the signing of the Bayonet Constitution, 1887

Ultimately, this scandal became one of the corruption charges which led to the July 1887 coup of the king by his opponents and the forced signing of the 1887 Bayonet Constitution which restricted his executive power. Kaʻae was forced to resign. The new constitution also disenfranchised the naturalized Chinese residents of the kingdom and ushered in a race-based suffrage system which completely excluded Asians from voting or citizenship.

Aki died on October 7, 1887 before the case ended. Ultimately the court ruled that money given as a bribe cannot be returned in a civil suit and the Supreme Court of Hawaii ruled that the king also possessed legal immunity.