Posted on: Thursday, November 14, 2002

ISLAND VOICES
Now it's time to focus on our lands

By Mahealani Ventura-Oliver
Waiehu, Maui, resident

I voted for Linda Lingle because I believe that a change will take place in our system involving what land we Hawaiians have left in Hawai'i. The time for correction to our land system, unique to Hawai'i, is here.

A change is already taking place at a grassroots level in mediation and in trial. Although these small cases are taking place quietly, there are many other cases that will have rulings based on information never before brought out in court. We are struggling to maintain a land system based on the de facto remains of a history gone bad.

For example, a major plantation may have a "deed" to a property, conveyed in 1895. This "deed" is acknowledged two years after the "grantor," who is in Kalaupapa, signs it. Then there are duplicate versions of it recorded in the Bureau of Conveyances. What is the worth of this "deed" and does it have validity if someone were to buy the property today? There are too many real examples like this one raising serious questions that will force new laws to level out the system.

The economy will need to expand into the once inaccessible places of our land, spilling into the silent taro patches once hidden, and the lack of water will reveal just how we have cared for our 'aina.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs asked the candidates about "ceded lands," but they did not clarify as to what exactly are ceded lands. Ali'i lands are not ceded lands and there are many heirs to those lands who are alive today. Kingdom lands are the only ceded lands and are under the trusteeship of the state of Hawai'i.

It is my hope that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees and the state of Hawai'i do not wipe away the rights of those individuals who are legal heirs to the lands of ali'i by including those lands within what is now government lands. These are very separate landholdings and should be viewed as such.

The problem of de facto conveyances of land in Hawai'i hinders land ownership. Those people who presume to convey land chained to an invalid deed face serious issues. Clouded titles exist as long as the system exists. Native landholders and foreign investor issues need resolution.

Lingle should appoint a team of researchers fluent in 'olelo Hawaiian (not Manoa-style) and legal conveyance experience to correct and improve the land system that is the one consistent base of our economy.