A case before an international court at The Hague, Netherlands will show the world the United States is responsible for the demise of the Hawaiian kingdom, said an acting agent for the kingdom. David Keanu Sai said the case before
A case before an international court at The Hague, Netherlands will show the world the United States is responsible for the demise of the Hawaiian kingdom, said an acting agent for the kingdom.
David Keanu Sai said the case before the World Court’s Permanent Court of Arbitration will prove the U.S. illegally took over the Hawaiian Islands following the illegal ouster of Queen Lili’uokalani in 1893.
Instead of using existing kingdom laws, the federal government passed laws that were illegally applied to the islands, including those that set up Hawai’i as a territory in 1900 and as a state in 1959, he said.
Sai spoke before nearly 80 people at the Anahola Clubhouse last Saturday about the international case, in which three international arbitrators are attempting to resolve a dispute between Lance P. Larsen, a Big Island resident who claims to be a subject of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and the kingdom.
Larsen said the kingdom failed to protect his right to drive on the Big Island without a driver’s license. The kingdom said its hands are tied due to the control of Hawai’i by the U.S.
Sai came to Kaua’i at the request of island sovereignty advocates.
The revelations that come out of the international case could spur world powers to force the ouster of the U.S. from Hawai’i, Sai said.
The court held oral arguments in December and will decide in March whether the U.S. should be a party to the case because Larsen’s arrest stems from enforcement of U.S. laws.
The case has illustrated U.S. violations against the kingdom since 1893, when Queen Lili’uokalani was deposed by an illegal provisional government, Sai said. Her ouster as head of state of the kingdom didn’t occur, and the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the U.S. was illegal, he said.
Laws passed by Congress affect the other 49 states but not Hawai’i, because Hawai’i remains a nation with standing among world nations and was never part of the U.S., Sai claimed.
In pleadings and oral arguments before the international court, the United States, in its occupation of Hawai’i, has violated international law by administering its laws instead of kingdom laws, he said.
In the case of American control of the Philippines following the Spanish-American War, U.S. President William McKinley administered Spanish laws until a treaty of surrender was secured, Sai said.
“He was following the law of occupation, but he wasn’t doing it for us because they were hiding the occupation under the illusion that we were annexed. That was a lie,” Sai said.
Under international laws of occupation, the United States should have left Hawai’i at the end of the Spanish-American War, but didn’t because the U.S. needed Hawai’i to expand its military presence in the Pacific and in Asia, Sai said.
At a time of U.S. nationalism, Congress illegally passed a joint resolution annexing Hawai’i in 1898, Sai said. He said some members of Congress acknowledged the resolution could not be imposed on a foreign, sovereign nation like Hawai’i, but went ahead with it, anyway.
“They were incriminating themselves, but in the heat of the battle, they needed Hawai’i,” Sai said.
America has brought Hawai’i into harm’s way by building up military installations that could be attacked by nations unfriendly to it, Sai said.
America also illegally passed legislation in 1900 that turned Hawai’i into territory, passed legislation in 1920 that created the state’s Hawaiian Homes Commission, and passed legislation in 1959 that turned Hawai’i into a state, Sai said.
Former President Clinton’s 1993 apology bill for the U.S. takeover of Hawai’i, and recently reintroduced legislation recognizing a relationship between the Native Hawaiians and the federal government, have no bearing on Hawai’i, Sai said.
The violations committed by the United States against the kingdom opens the door for claims for reparations by Hawaiians, Sai said.
Meanwhile, in the case before the international court, Larsen, represented by attorney Ninia Parks, was arrested and was jailed for 30 days in October 1999 for driving his vehicle in Hilo without a driver’s license, license plate, safety check and registration.
Larsen contended the kingdom’s laws are still applicable even though the nation is occupied by the United States.
Larsen subsequently filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Hawaiian kingdom of not protecting his rights as one of its subjects. The case was dismissed in federal court after Larsen, and the kingdom agreed to resolve the dispute in the World Court.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
