Some bill opponents, however, contend the legislation is just a way of preserving pork barrel money they say is a form of continued wardship. Mililani Trask, a former state Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee, argues that organizations supporting the Akaka bill are the ones now receiving that money.

The bill's vagueness bothers some Native Hawaiians. "We don't know what is going to be created. We don't know when it's going to be created," said Mililani Trask, a member of the United Nations' Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and bill opponent.

Citizenship should be extended to anyone who pledges allegiance to the sovereign government, said Hank Fergerstrom, a Hawaiian activist... "Nationalism would be the most important (criteria)," said Fergerstrom, who opposes the bill because he wants Native Hawaiians to regain sovereign - nation status.

Opponents of the proposed federal recognition, however, fear it's a way for the U.S. or state governments to cheat Native Hawaiians out of what they now have. Senate Bill 344 provides no land, money or other entitlements to Native Hawaiians. Rather, it merely creates a process to negotiate ownership of those assets.

...

"(Negotiations) could be a factor that would dissolve all (Native Hawaiian) claims," suggested Hank Fergerstrom, a Native Hawaiian opposing the bill.

Fergerstrom wants complete sovereignty and feels that cannot happen with the proposed nation - within - a - nation concept.

"Part of restoration is you restore it back to where the problem occurred," he said. "We're not asking to be recognized at all. We're already recognized."

Fergerstrom added that Native Hawaiians used to have a sovereign country that other nations recognized through international treaties. That status differs from Native American Indians, he said.