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Sovereignty
debate reigns on
the Internet
Two sites, Aloha for All
and All for Aloha, are slugging
it out virtually on the
wide 'word' WebCayetano accuses OHA of stalling on Rice
By Pat Omandam
Star-BulletinAloha for All or All for Aloha?
While these Web sites may have similar names, they offer visitors divergent views on the Hawaiian sovereignty movement -- which has found a 21st century home on the Internet.
"There's an active exchange of viewpoints going on every day (on the Internet). ... It's quite a debate moving on," said retired attorney H. William Burgess, who created the Aloha for All Web site to share his views against racial preferences for Hawaiians.
For the most part, the sovereignty movement has been waged on the intellectual front, rather than as a physical conflict over native rights.
In the past five years, the discussion has expanded on the Internet, where dueling Web sites can be found today with a few clicks of a mouse.
Burgess created his Web site, http://www.aloha4all.org last January. He said the many pro-sovereignty Web sites gave only one side of the story, which prompted him to present the opposing view. To date, the site has received about 5,800 hits or an average of 12 hits per day since it began, Burgess said.
His Web site, however, has drawn the concern of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which last week started up its third Web site (http://www.all4aloha.org) to counter the anti-sovereignty arguments Burgess makes on his Web page. OHA also operates http://www.oha.org, the agency's Web page, as well as http://www.nativehawaiians.org, which deals with the Rice vs. Cayetano decision.OHA spokesman Ryan Mielke said OHA found there were people on the Internet putting out erroneous information on Hawaiian rights and entitlements, as well as on OHA. He said the All for Aloha site is not necessarily targeted at Burgess, but is more OHA's effort and obligation to correct some of these "internet myths" that are conveyed on the World Wide Web.
For instance, he said, Aloha for All states the ceded land negotiations between OHA and the state will come at the expense of public school children. All for Aloha argues there is no evidence the trust funds allocated to the Department of Education include all of the revenue generated from ceded lands. And it questions whether the state even knows the exact amount of revenues it is supposed to collect.
Another statement by Aloha for All says as a people, native Hawaiians never possessed sovereignty, at least until they became citizens of the United States. OHA argues it is outrageous to contend that United States citizenship is the necessary prerequisite to sovereignty or that a constitutional monarchy cannot be a sovereign entity.
Burgess visited OHA's site last week and welcomed its arrival as a way to further the discussion. He's flattered the agency was concerned enough to put a site to counter his arguments.
"People are using the Internet to communicate. I like it. I think it's a good thing," Burgess said.
Ikaika Hussey, a delegate to the Native Hawaiian Convention who manages its Web site, http://www.hawaiianconvention.org, agrees more and more people worldwide are using the Internet as a reference tool for Hawaiian sovereignty. But like every form of media, it has its pros and cons, he said. "There's always a point of view in any written form or whenever someone says anything," Hussey said.
"So you have to be cognizant of where Bill Burgess is coming from .... Or where a sovereignty activist is coming from."
Hussey said his goal for the convention site is for it to be a library for people interested in the convention, a place where they can gain access to different things delegates are doing.
Mielke said the similarity in content and title of the OHA site with Burgess' site is to ensure when people do Internet searches, they'll like come across both sites instead of just one. He added the site is produced in-house, with minimal cost.
"Clearly, we welcome people to practice their right of free speech on the Internet, but we also need to make sure that we do the same and practice our right to provide the facts," he said.
Cayetano: OHA
By Pat Omandam
dragging its feet
Star-BulletinGov. Ben Cayetano says he's disappointed a joint motion wasn't filed until this week to clarify whether there are any vacancies on the Office of Hawaiian Affairs board because of the Rice decision.
He suggested OHA may be stalling on the issue.
But OHA Chairman Clayton Hee rebutted the notion, adding how the state and OHA approached the Hawaii Supreme Court should be left to their respective attorneys, and not to politicians.
"If there were some problems, it seems to be the attorney general, (OHA counsels) Bill McCorriston and Bob Klein could have worked it out," Hee said.
Cayetano believes the Feb. 23 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court creates immediate vacancies on the OHA board, requiring him to appoint interim trustees. But OHA trustees claim the ruling affected only the voting restriction on the Hawaiians-only election and nothing else.
Cayetano and Hee, who are close friends, reached an agreement on March 2 to jointly ask the Hawaii Supreme Court whether the ruling created any vacancies on the board.
The governor said yesterday he was very disappointed the attorneys did not immediately file a motion with the Hawaii justices as announced in early March. Instead, attorneys filed what is called an informatory letter, which they hoped would cut through the legal paperwork involved in a motion.
The Hawaii Supreme Court, however, recently asked the parties to file the full motion, essentially voiding the last two months of waiting. Cayetano is anxious for a ruling so state elections officials can prepare for an open OHA election this November.
He said the motion was filed on Monday.
"I haven't practiced law for a time, but it seems to me that's the way we should have gone in the first place," said Cayetano, who said OHA doesn't seem very enthusiastic about asking the court for an opinion.
"A lot of time has been lost. I don't micro-manage the legal department. I just found out about it (yesterday)," he said.
Hee explained the reason for the informatory letter was to get to the heart of the matter as well as save time and money, rather than filing a motion that requires hundreds of documents on the Rice vs. Cayetano case, most of which are with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
This plan was wholeheartedly supported by attorneys from both sides, and not something OHA did to stall any possible ruling, Hee said.
"I guess that maybe Ben is suggesting that because things may not be going the way he wants it, therefore it's not his fault, its our fault," Hee said.
"But the fact is, the attorney general and our lawyers have been working together. To me, that's the way it should be done."
Holo I Mua
The Star-Bulletin gathered 10 Hawaiian
Hawaiian Roundtable
leaders for a timely dialogue about what's next for
Hawaiians in the wake of Rice vs. Cayetano.Representing various views within the Hawaiian
community, the participants were provocative and
candid during a 90-minute discussion on March 13, 2000.To read a full transcript of the discussion, Click Here
You can also hear the audio recording of the discussion as well as view a panoramic photo of the participants.
