KE AUPUNI UPDATE - SEPTEMBER 2026
The Importance of Voting
As the Foreign Minister for the Hawaiian Kingdom, I spend a lot of time pondering the hot topics in the international community to see how they pertain to us and our future as a nation. I’m in Switzerland right now and am reminded of how various waves of immigration has changed the social and political make-up of the host countries.
People often forget how much of an impact immigration had in the Hawaiian Kingdom particularly in the subsequent iterations of US puppet governments in Hawaii. As America gears up for their election in November, and the issue of who should be allowed to vote is bandied about, we are reminded of the serious voter manipulation that happened in Hawaii leading up to the overthrow and in every election afterwards.
The Bayonet Constitution was the first salvo in the eventual take-over. What did that constitution do? It took away decision making from the Moʻi, the Monarch (King Kalākaua and then Queen Liliʻuokalani) reducing the position to that of a figurehead instead of a decisive leader. And it disqualified the majority of Hawaiians and all Asians who were subjects (citizens) of the Hawaiian Kingdom from voting.
Then, when the fake Republic of Hawaii came into play in 1894, it adopted highly restrictive voter laws. The number of people legally permitted or registered to vote in Hawaii during this period (1894-1900) was restricted to just about 2,700 people! That’s when Hawaii had a population of more than 102,000 people with roughly 65,000 of voting age.
After the fake annexation of 1898 and the creation of the Territorial government in 1900, voting rights were opened up and Hawaiian patriots like James Kaulia, Robert Wilcox, Prince Kuhio and others formed political parties and tried to use the system to restore the nation and secure the rights of the Hawaiian people. But the Governor of the Territory was appointed by the US President and any legislation that got passed by patriots to assert Hawaiian self-determination got vetoed by the governor.
Heavy indoctrination techniques were used in Hawaii’s schools to promote American identity as the ideal. Expressions of sovereignty were thwarted at every turn and patriotism according to design, began to shift. So as time passed, the US coaxed and coerced the people of Hawaii to forget their days as a sovereign nation and to willingly accept US citizenship and get with the program of being patriotic Americans.
Then came World War I, then World War II, then the Korean War and the Cold War. Brave Hawaiians rose to the call to defend their country, the USA. American Patriotism was at an all-time high.
Then came the 1959 Statehood Vote. That was the chance to be inexorably tied into the US. It was a United Nations mandated decolonization referendum, only the US conveniently forgot to mention that to the voters. In order to ensure the vote would be decisively in favor of statehood, the US fixed the election. They put only one choice on the ballot, “for statehood”, so it could have only one possible outcome: “for statehood”. But then, to really make sure, they added a second cheat: only US Citizens could vote! Not Hawaiian nationals, or Hawaiian subjects, or Hawaiian “citizens”. So technically and legally, the wrong people voted! Or at least the people who voted did so under the wrong nationality.
When Haunani Kay Trask loudly declared at the Onipa’a Rally on January 17 1993, “We are not Americans! We are not Americans! We are not Americans! We are Hawaiians and we will die Hawaiians! We are not Americans!” It shocked most of us, even those involved in the budding “sovereignty movement.” We had never heard it put so bluntly.
But it has everything to do with how we can win back our nation. We Hawaiians never gave our consent to become a state of the United States because we did not participate in the plebiscite. Only Americans did. Yes, many were Hawaiian-Americans, but they were counted as Americans, US citizens. Foreigners cannot vote in an election to determine the fate of a nation. Only the nationals of that country can. This is the issue we are raising at the United Nations, because this was a perversion of a UN process, that occurred under the UN’s watch. The good news is that we are about to hold the UN accountable for its error, which would automatically Free Hawaii.
Aloha ʻĀina —
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono.
The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
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For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 7 PM, the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.
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Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Hawaiian Kingdom (since 2001)
