Editorials
Monday, August 3, 1998

Negotiations on
ceded lands payments

THE Cayetano administration and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs have until Dec. 1 to reach a settlement in their dispute over the revenue due OHA in past years from lands ceded by the monarchy. The state Supreme Court has served notice of that deadline. If it is not met, the justices will decide the case themselves.

It's a good idea to set a deadline to keep this dispute from being dragged out indefinitely. However, at a time when the state is scrambling to find funds to support existing programs, the administration probably is not inclined to be overly generous in its offers. The achievement of a settlement can't be assumed.

The controversy is based on a 1996 ruling by former Circuit Judge Daniel Heeley that the state should pay OHA more money for the use of ceded lands by the Waikiki Duty Free store, Hilo Hospital, and income from state housing sales and rentals. Estimates of the financial impact of the ruling range widely, from $200 million to $1.2 billion.

Last April the high court heard oral arguments in the case but suggested an attempt to reach an out-of-court settlement. Both OHA and the state administration have selected their negotiating teams. The OHA team says it needs complete access to state records to determine revenue from ceded lands before it can discuss a specific figure.

Former OHA Chairman Clayton Hee proposed that OHA seek possession of some state land, such as Molokini Island, Iolani Palace and Diamond Head, which could generate revenue for the agency. It isn't clear whether the OHA negotiators will pursue this proposal or whether the state will be receptive if they do.

The state has maintained that the Heeley decision misinterpreted the law and awarded too much to OHA. If it is confident that its view is correct, the administration may prefer to let the court render its decision rather than give away too much in negotiations. No one can reasonably deny that the state needs the money for programs that benefit Hawaiians as well as non-Hawaiians.

Boycotting defectors

JEFF Horton, head football coach at the University of Nevada Las-Vegas, has some nerve whining about the University of Hawaii's refusal to play his team or any of the other defectors from the Western Athletic Conference in the foreseeable future.

What does Horton expect? UH President Kenneth Mortimer should stand firm in his directive to his coaches not to schedule contests with any of the organizations that abruptly quit the WAC to start a league of their own.

Horton expressed amazement that the UH wouldn't want to play UNLV in the short-term future, especially since the match-up draws so many islanders to their "second home" in the desert. "I don't know why the president would want to alienate those schools because you don't know how the landscape is going to change over the next few years," said Horton.

Exactly, and the blame for such an uncertain future rests squarely with the WAC deserters -- UNLV, Brigham Young, Utah, Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State and Wyoming.

Now they must live with the consequences of leaving UH and seven other teams behind, even if the "old WAC" must shun possible money-making match-ups in the short term.

Standoff in Myanmar

THE military junta that rules Myanmar has once again resorted to high-handed tactics in dealing with the country's most famous dissident. The government brought Aung San Suu Kyi back to Yangon (formerly Rangoon) last week against her will after a six-day standoff on a highway.

Suu Kyi, a colleague and two drivers were stopped by police 20 miles west of the capital as they tried to drive to another city to meet members of her party.

The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner refused to return to Yangon and the police refused to let her proceed. She spent five nights in the car before police held her down, took the wheel of her car and drove her back to the capital.

Supporters said Suu Kyi was furious when she reached her home. Her doctors said she had a deep bruise on her wrist from the incident.

It was the third time in a month that the government had blocked Suu Kyi from leaving the capital, claiming that she was trying to foment unrest. After six years of house arrest, she was released in July 1995, but has since been allowed to leave Yangon only once. Since September 1996, the government has blocked visits to her home.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called the govern- ment's actions "an unacceptable violation of human rights and added that the latest incident "will only contribute to the further isolation of Burma (Myanmar is also known as Burma)."

A government spokesman charged that Suu Kyi had staged the incident so that "Mrs. Albright could berate Myanmar and induce other governments to put pressure" on the regime.

Myanmar has been under military rule almost continuously since a 1962 coup. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won parliamentary elections in 1990 but never took office because the government annulled the vote, the first free balloting in three decades.

Suu Kyi has never relented in her efforts to restore democracy to her country since she was cheated of victory. She has continued to show that her Nobel Prize was richly deserved in the face of relentless pressure. The United States must continue to express its support for her and its condemnation of the government's tactics against her.

---

Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership

Rupert E. Phillips, CEO

John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher

David Shapiro, Managing Editor

Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor

Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors

A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor