Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 1, 1 Pepeluali 1984 — Niʻihau Petitions [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Niʻihau Petitions

By Moses K. Keale Sr. Trustee, Kaua'i and Ni'ihau

A declaration by the State Attorney General that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs was unconstitutional has made the people of Ni'ihau plenty huhu. I have circulated a petition supporting OHA's efforts to verify its constitutionality and subsequent legal entitlements. The reception has been most encouraging and the names are those of Ni'ihau residents only. These people want their action to make it possible to allow OHA Trustees to eontinue their work in bettering the conditions of Native Hawaiians as specified in Article XII of the Hawaii State Constitution and Chapter X of the Hawaii Revised Statute. State Attorney General Tany Hong last October challenged OHA's constitutionality and a Honolulu Star-Bulletin

editorial Oct. 21, 1983, suggested that the state should withdraw its action as OHA requested. Gov. George R. Ariyoshi, the editorial noted, said that the challenge didn't represent his personal opinion and that he believed OHA is constitutional. Signers of the petition are all registered voters from the Ni'ihau precinct. You may recall that Ni'ihau was the only district to vote against statehood. The petition is still being circulated. As I noted in my last eolumn, Ni'ihau and its people are not curiosities for study or experimentation. We are practical, imaginative and creative people. The signing of the petition is an example of how Ni'ihau people will respond to a cause affecting not only Native Hawaiians but all Hawaiians.