Posted on: Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Chamber protests report on summit

Advertiser Staff

The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii yesterday sent a letter to ABC News protesting its recent depiction of last month's Asia-Pacific Homeland Security Summit as a boondoggle.

The reports aired Dec. 17 by ABC News criticized Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and other top federal officials for attending the meeting at "a sumptuous resort and spa on Waikiki Beach." During the report Ridge was shown sitting poolside at a time when Homeland Security had imposed a hiring freeze and spending cuts.

The program focused on conference amenities such as lavish lu'au and beach access. Such national exposure was not welcomed by some state officials who hope to build a reputation for Hawai'i as a business destination.

The Homeland Security summit is part of an effort by state officials to leverage Hawai'i's strong military presence and geographic location to create a center for homeland security collaboration around the Pacific Rim.

In the letter to ABC News, chamber President Jim Tollefson wrote of similar events including the recent 12th annual Pacific Area Special Operations Conference and conferences held by the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, which were held in Honolulu.

In addition, senior U.S. officials from China, Japan, and South Korea have held talks in Honolulu about the threat of weapons of mass destruction posed by North Korea, Tollefson wrote.

"Isn't it time for ABC to drop the 1950s stereotypes of Hawai'i as 'lavish lu'aus' and sun and fun. Something has happened while ABC reporters watched old movies the past 50 years," he wrote. "Honolulu is emerging as one of the important conference and business centers for the Asia-Pacific region.

"That's not because of its attractive environment, or in spite of it. It is in addition to it. It is because of Hawai'i's strategic location, its well-developed infrastructure of Asia-Pacific focused think tanks, schools, and operational headquarters," Tollefson wrote.

Similar letters were sent to the editorial pages of the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post.

About 900 people from more than 40 nations attended the event at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The conference, now in its second year, brought together top government leaders, senior business executives and experts in security, technology and counterterrorism for three days of talks.