Mauna Ala, sovereign land
Last week's
Midweek
magazine had a feature
about Bill Mai‘oho the kahu/curator of
the Royal Mausoleum at Mauna Ala in Nuuanu Valley, "where rest the iwi of every
royal since Kamehameha but one" and "the only place in Hawaii where neither
state nor federal land laws apply.. the
last surviving remnant of the Kingdom of
Hawaii."“In
May 1900 (seven years after the overthrow of the native monarchy) when the
Organic Act was passed by the Congress of the United States, creating the
Territory of Hawaii, Lili‘uokalani and Wilcox worked to have Mauna Ala
removed from the public domain. Which means that
federal land laws do not apply to the
grounds of Mauna Ala, nor now state laws.
Mauna Ala is the only place that flies the
Hawaiian flag by itself, honoring our
ancestral chiefs. By American law, whenever a public facility opens, the
American flag is highest, the state flag second. Here at Mauna Ala is proudly
displayed only the flag of the nation of Hawaii, created by Kamehameha. So
it’s even more intense, even more of a symbol of Mauna Ala’s
separateness and sovereign status."
Posted: Thu - June 10, 2004 at 11:46 PM