Malu 'Aina

Testimony opposed to Mauna Kea Administrative Rules  submitted June 5, 2019

Testimony can be sent to uhhar@hawaii.edu up to 11:59PM June 7, 2019

I strongly oppose the proposed Mauna Kea Administrative Rules by the University of Hawaii

1.  Rules for Mauna Kea should be made by Kanaka Maoli cultural and spiritual practitioners who practice on Mauna Kea, not the UH, not the BLNR, etc.  There is no question that rules need to be made for controlling commercial and industrial development on Mauna Kea.

2.  It was insulting that in Hilo only 1 (out of 15) UH Board of Regents attended the hearing,  No President David Lassner either and he is the one directing the power in the proposed rules as police, judge and jury over rule violations and appeal process. The same appeared true in the Honolulu hearing and at Waikoloa. In the Sept. 2018 hearing at Imiloa in Hilo only 1 Regent attended as well.  INSULTING!!!!!  Who is HEARING?  Listening?  Hawaii is an oral cultural.  Transcripts can’t do justice to the oral testimony.

3.  No Hearings are scheduled for Lanai, Molokai and Kauai.  This is a violation of due process and should halt any consideration of the rules. and have them redone on every island.  The time restriction of 2 hrs. and only 3 min testimonies is also very restrictive.  The meetings should go as long as people want to present testimony.  In Hilo there was a cut off time for signing up to give oral testimony.

4.  A good example of why Hawaiian cultural and religious practitioners need to make the rules is because no where in the UH proposed rules does it say that Mauna Kea is considered Sacred. It is not even mentioned that many Hawaiians view the summit area as the realm of Akua.  Stop trampling on the souls of the Hawaiian people!

5.  The rules are thinly disguised but quite apparent designed to block protest of TMT construction which are really religious practice actions to PROTECT Sacred Mauna  Kea from further desecration by industrial development.  Where else does the University propose rules to control religious practice?  Does the UH try to regulate Christian religious practice? Buddhist, Jewish Muslim? etc.  How come rules to control Hawaiian religious practice on Hawaii’s most sacred temple site?

6.  I feel quite confident if Hawaii cultural and religious practitioners were to propose rules for Mauna Kea  to regulate and control commercial, industrial, and military development on Hawaii’s most Sacred Temple, it will be done in a pono way  and lead to the decommissioning and removal of all telescopes and the banning of all future commercial and industrial activities in the realm of Akua.

7.  While the proposed UH rules say in 20-26-3 that Native Hawaiian rights shall not be abridged, the  rules go on to abridge these very rights with prohibition after prohibition, requirements for registration, proof of insurance, limits to group practice, etc. etc.   In addition, there is no question that the proposed penalties in the rules are clearly designed to intimidate people from attempting to practice their traditional, cultural and religious rights in a manner to prohibit further industrial development on Mauna Kea.

8.  In Sept. 2018 not one person testified in favor of the UH proposed rules at the Imiloa public hearing in Hilo.  In the June 4, 2019 Hilo hearing, approximately 3 dozen people testified in opposition to the proposed rules. The only person who testified for the UH rules was a business person given an award by the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce as an advocate for business and industry interests.  Her photo appeared in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald receiving the award on the very day of the Hilo UH rules hearing –June 4, 2019.

9. Perhaps the ultimate hypocrisy of the UH proposed rules is the blanket exemption from the UH rules  for UH education and research activities — meaning  astronomy –telescopes!!!!!! Example —  UH wants to outlaw walking on a pu while the UH leveled entire pu’u for telescopes.

10.  It is clear as day that  the proposed rules are tilted to prioritize science over cultural and religious practice yet in the realm of Wao Akua, there should be no industrial or commercial activity.  It’s as simple as Jesus clearing the “Money Changers” from the Temple of Jerusalem.  Sacred is sacred!

11.  It has been repeated over and over that the UH which is the promoter of telescopes should not be the rule maker.  The history for decades on Mauna Kea is clear –“substantial, significant, and adverse effects on the cultural and natural resources on Mauna Kea.”  Time for the UH and the State of Hawaii to step aside. Kanaka Maoli cultural and religious practitioners should be the ones to make the rules for the Sacred Mauna.

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