Subject: Hawai`i Plebiscite Results
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 18:27:00 -0500 (CDT)


Forwarded message:

The following news article from Ryan Ozawa's news service may be of 
interest to postcolonial subscribers.  



> From owner-hi-news-l-AT-hawaii.edu Thu Sep 12 04:03:37 1996

> 
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>      <>   ----------[   K A   ` U P E N A   K U K U I   ]----------   <>
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> The Net of Light                                Wednesday, September 11, 1996
> Hawai`i News -- Internet Edition                    Compiled by Ryan K. Ozawa
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> Summarized from various island news sources, including independent interviews
> and research, radio and television broadcasts and local papers. No material
> is duplicated directly unless otherwise attributed. Intended for personal use
> only -- please obtain permission from author before redistributing. Aloha!
> ============================================================================> 
> Subject:  HAWAIIANS SAY `AE TO BUILDING SOVEREIGNTY
> 
>      Participants in the Native Hawaiian Vote responded three to one in favor 
> of working towards establishing an independent Hawaiian government.
>      A crowd of Native Hawaiian leaders and supporters cheered and cried with 
> joy as the vote's result was finally announced today in front of Ali`iolani 
> Hale.
>      "103 years, 7 months and 24 days after the overthrow of the Hawaiian 
> monarchy, we are at the dawn of a new age," said Sol Kaho`ohalahala, head of 
> the Hawai`i Sovereignty Elections Council. "It is time for our people to 
> stand together, to join hands, and to put our differences aside as we move 
> towards the year 2000 and a new millennium."
>      Over the summer, nearly 85,000 ballots were sent out to people of 
> Hawaiian ancestry living around the world, asking if they wanted to elect 
> delegates to a convention that would propose some form of Native Hawaiian 
> self-determination. Less than half, or about 33,000, of the ballots were 
> returned; 73 percent, or 22,294, of them were `Ae, or yes, votes. 8,129 
> people, or 26 percent, said `a`ole, or no.
>      HSEC officials say approximately 3,000 returned ballots were immediately 
> disqualified, mostly due them being unsigned. 
>      The long-awaited release of the results is being hailed as a victory by 
> many Native Hawaiian groups, including the Office of Hawaiian Affairs which 
> helped foot the state's bill for conducting the vote.
>      "It is a beginning for the future of my children and my grandchildren," 
> said OHA trustee Kinau Kamali`i. "We will at last have our own laws and our 
> own self determination.
>      "At last... at last," she said.
>      The announcement, which was delayed from Monday by a last-minute stop 
> order from a federal appeals court, wasn't well received by everyone.
>      "I say it is not a victory," said Clara Kakalia, one of four plaintiffs 
> who sued to invalidate the vote on the grounds that the state-funded process 
> was unconstitutional. "To have the low counts of votes cast is a poor showing 
> on the part of the state."
>      Kaleo Lindsey, another longtime critic of the Native Hawaiian Vote, also 
> decried the low turnout. "The state-funded process only represented 15% of 
> the recognized blood Hawaiians," he said.
>      With the vote completed, the HSEC will be dissolved in order to form a 
> new coalition which will spearhead fundraising efforts needed in order to 
> move onto the next phase of the sovereignty process: electing convention 
> delegates.
>     Since Gov. Ben Cayetano has indicated that he will not allocate any more 
> state money towards the process, some are hoping OHA will step in again to 
> keep things running.
>     "If the trustees are cognizant of the overwhelming support of those 
> ballots returned, then the chances are very likely that the Office will 
> continue to -- and perhaps even in a larger way -- play a more fiscal role in 
> the convention," said OHA Chairman Clayton Hee.
> 
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