LIHU‘E — Members of the Reinstated Hawaiian Government re-elected Henry Noa to another term as prime minister Saturday. Voters also seated Kaua‘i candidates to the House of Representatives and House of Nobles in the quadrennial National Election. A low election
LIHU‘E — Members of the Reinstated Hawaiian Government re-elected Henry Noa to another term as prime minister Saturday.
Voters also seated Kaua‘i candidates to the House of Representatives and House of Nobles in the quadrennial National Election.
A low election turnout, just over 100 voters, was blamed on the bad weather at polling places around the island. Officials said the figure does not reflect the growing number of citizens state-wide who consider themselves part of the Reinstated Hawaiian Government.
District 1 Rep. Yolanda Niau-Blevins ran unopposed as the incumbent candidate with 18 votes collected at the Kalaheo and Kekaha neighborhood centers.
District 2 Rep. Andrew Brewer ran unopposed as the incumbent candidate with 26 votes collected at the Koloa Neighborhood Center and Niumalu Pavilion.
In the District 3 race, incumbent candidate Nelson Armitage Jr. was defeated by challenger Billy Kaneholani by a 33-to-30 vote. Ballots were cast at the Kapa‘a Neighborhood Center, the Anahola Club House and Hanalei Waipa Foundation.
There were three candidates for the three Nobles seats. Kekane Pa received 87 votes, Stewart Kopa Akana received 76 votes, and Timmy Oga received 67 votes.
Noa ran unopposed to return for a fourth term with 106 votes.
The oath of office ceremonies will occur at the national convention on Jan. 17, at ‘Iolani Palace in Honolulu. The legislature meets again on June 11.
This is the fourth election held since the RHG formed on March 13, 1999. RHG restored election districts on each island that were drawn before 1893.
“We actually restored what existed,” Pa said. “We didn’t make those up and create them. People used to live in the mountains and came out to vote.”
Focus on preservation, independence
Kopa Akana said RHG representatives are new to the process and take a truly representative perspective. The issues are difficult but he said they approach them with an inclusive process.
The leaders are also working with the restoration of cultural sites. Akana said it’s for the protection and preservation of ancestral history and not to be redesigned with tourism in mind.
“We are trying to keep people interested, to get them motivated, and not to discourage but encourage them to look at the long-range benefit to all the people of the Hawaiian Islands,” Akana said.
Another area they are working on is self-sufficiency. Akana said they are helping families to switch over to photovoltaic systems, rebuild soil by maintaining gardens, hydroponics and other green innovations.
The RHG’s goal is to reinstate itself as the national government and Hawai‘i as an independent nation.
The first act was a public notice of the initiative, followed by citizenship drives with restored voting districts, parliamentary elections, a constitutional convention and plebiscite and installation of a prime minister and executive cabinet.
“It is the same structure that existed prior to the suspension of our government,” Pa said. “It was never suspended. It was never abolished.”
The House of Representatives candidates are not required to be of Hawaiian ancestry. There are 24 district representatives island-wide.
The House of Nobles candidates must be Kanaka Maoli and are elected island-wide. There are 24 Nobles that serve in various capacities and as a representative if the office holder cannot fulfill the obligation.
Keoki Puaoi of Anahola was the first Noble elected on Kaua‘i in 1999. He traces his ancestry to the Maka‘ea line, a name meaning “I am sovereign,” that he said was changed to Puaoi by TuTu Emma Kalanikaumakaamano in her prophecy to protect it after the Kingdom fell.
Puaoi said it is important to note that the term “Noble” implies kanaka heredity but not aristocracy.
The Noble office is about connecting and listening to people and helping to find compromise where there is divisiveness, he said.
“It is a title only, and a temporary one,” he added. “It’s not about pushing your blood-line around.”
Representatives meet a month prior to the national convention in January to work it in session.
The prime minister is directly elected by citizens. The PM then selects his or her own cabinet ministers that are approved by the House of Representatives.
Keo Kauihana said he became a citizen of the RHG for many reasons. He has always felt the description and term of Native Hawaiian is a crude depiction of Kanaka Maoli people and is a mere shadow of its true identity.
Kauihana said he is an example of the clash that exists. He awaits court dates on charges of displaying his yellow RHG license plates.
These issues have prompted Noa to speak before the county Police Commission where he said they have these rights as exemplified with the U.S. government signing the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in December 2010.
The declaration recognizes the rights of self-determination of political-economic, social and cultural development status, and to autonomy or self-government with internal and local affairs, with distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions.
The state Legislature passed a bill last July to further recognize the inherent sovereign authority of indigenous people to organize for their common welfare.
Reinstatement process
The RHG takes the position that the U.S. federal and state governments, by their own admission, recognize unlawful acts and that the indigenous Native Hawaiian people did not relinquish their authority or claim to lands in the 1893 takeover. Supporters of the apology bill and the recognition act say the language does not go that far.
The RHG declared itself the Kanaka Maoli reinstated government in 1999. This action followed the 1993 Congressional Apology Resolution signed by President Bill Clinton, acknowledging that the United States participated in the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian government in 1893.
It does not consider itself a sovereignty group but rather a restoration movement of the government established by King Kamehameha III in 1840 and overthrown in 1893. The RHG claims that the overthrow and subsequent statehood in 1959 does not require a Bill of Secession process from the U.S. government.
The primary effort is reinstatement but there is daily business as well. To restore a legitimate government there must be one in exile that is functional and ready to take power, officials said.
Pa said the representatives continue working with constituents in forming resolutions. They also spend a lot of time on outreach to talk to people about how to become a citizen.
• Tom LaVenture, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or by emailing tlaventure@ thegardenisland.com.
