Trending
Among the eight proposed Charter Amendments before Maui County voters this election is one that proposes removing the English translation of the State Motto from the Preamble of the County Charter, leaving the Hawaiian "Ua mau ke ea o ka aina I ka pono" untranslated.
The current proposed amendment was offered to the voters without explanation. As a former 2022 County Charter Commission member, please allow me to explain.
This same proposal was first brought to the 2022 County Charter Commission as the commission was crafting a new proposed preamble for the Charter. The Commission chose to include the official state English translation of the motto, "The Life of the Land is perpetuated in righteousness" with the original Hawaiian. This translation is set in state law, HRS 5-9.
The commission offered the translation in parentheses, as additional information, because without it, the original Hawaiian motto would be unintelligible to many.
The reason offered to leave the motto untranslated at that time was that there is disagreement in the Hawaiian community about the official translation. "The Life of the Land" should be read as the "Sovereignty of the Land," it was explained. The Commission decided that a translation was necessary and the only official translation available is the one set in state law.
In 2022 the Maui County voters adopted the new Charter Preamble, that includes the official English translation. This election's current proposal to remove that translation was approved by Maui County Council, along with seven other proposed charter amendments, also unfortunately, without additional informative explanation or background.
I recommend rejection of the current anti-translation proposal.
Dave DeLeon
Ha'ikū