Public notice: This site is an informational and records portal for Ke Aupuni Hawaiʻi. Formal decisions, appointments, and policies remain subject to internal approval and official recordkeeping.
Ke Aupuni Hawaiʻi approaches places of Hawaiian Kingdom significance as records-based stewardship work — building an official record and requesting consultation, review, and lawful stewardship. This is never a claim of ownership, and never a call for trespass or seizure.
Kalaupapa and Lahaina are treated as “kuleana anchors.” Each is a place where the record shows why Hawaiian governance, law, stewardship, and historical memory must be part of any honest discussion of land, recovery, and recognition. The strongest pathway is not a unilateral takeover, but a disciplined, official record that requests recognition, consultation, review, and lawful stewardship.
—Kuleana Anchor
Lahaina & Kalaupapa
Lahaina — a former capital, in recovery
The National Park Service records that Lahaina served as the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi from 1820 to 1845, and that the Lahaina Historic District is a National Historic Landmark (National Park Service). After the Maui fires, recovery decisions will shape whether families can return and whether Lahaina’s Hawaiian Kingdom history remains visible in the public record.
Ke Aupuni Hawaiʻi requests consultation on survivor-centered return, anti-displacement safeguards, historic and cultural preservation, and the Lahaina Royal Complex Master Plan — including Mokuʻula and Loko o Mokuhinia. “Return” here means returning Lahaina’s identity, record, and cultural governance through lawful channels — never displacing families or interfering with recovery.
Kalaupapa — a sacred and sensitive place
Kalaupapa’s record is solemn. A Hawaiian Kingdom public-health law in 1865 set apart land for forced isolation, and the first exiles were sent in 1866; the Hawaiʻi Department of Health records that more than 8,000 people were forcibly exiled and that the settlement displaced Native Hawaiian communities living there for generations (National Park Service, Hawaiʻi Dept. of Health).
Ke Aupuni Hawaiʻi does not seek to speak over patient-residents, families, Molokaʻi voices, DHHL beneficiaries, or lineal descendants. “Protect Kalaupapa” means supporting their wishes and lawful consultation — never opening the place to exploitation, tourism, or political staging.
—The Recognition Pathway
Five layers, each strengthening the next
Build the official record
Maintain a master record with verified constitutional materials, Kingdom laws, treaty references, Queen Liliʻuokalani’s protest, Public Law 103-150, governance records, and stewardship dossiers.
Separate historical claims from immediate requests
Keep the larger recognition question distinct from the narrower, practical asks: consultation, records access, cultural comment, and preservation input.
Seek formal consultation and meeting status
Send respectful letters requesting meetings or stakeholder status with county, state, and federal offices, each with a one-page summary and source register.
Offer stewardship proposals, not demands
Propose cooperative stewardship, cultural protection, and consultation rights — framed as contributions to shared public trust.
Preserve the record for the generations
Keep every letter, response, and dossier archived so the work is transparent, accountable, and worthy of the kūpuna and the children who inherit it.
“Kalaupapa and Lahaina show that Hawaiʻi was not empty land, not lawless land, and not land without government memory.”
MOFA Next-Steps Memorandum, July 13, 2026