Nā Lula Hālāwai: A Parliamentary Guide to Conducting Meetings in Hawaiian

Excerpts from Na Lula Halawai.

“It is a sad reality of Hawaiian history that the language of the aboriginal people of the Hawaiian Kingdom was nearly lost in the 20th century as a result of efforts of U.S. forces in the Kingdom at the turn of the century to enforce an agenda of ‘one nation, one language’ in favor of the United States and the English language despite the lack of a bilateral treaty of cession between two sovereign states. A great debt of gratitude is owed to those who, nevertheless, labored to publish Hawaiian language literature and government documents throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries for future generations. This preservation effort has blossomed in recent decades as more and more cultural and educational organizations have been established to support and encourage what has become known since the 1970s as the ‘Hawaiian Renaissance,’ a concerted effort to reinvigorate studies in Hawaiian culture, art, history, language, and governance.” p. iii.

“Like Robert’s Rules, this book is also intended for non-legislative groups and organizations. And, Henry M. Robert adapted his rules manual of those in use by legislative assemblies at the time, this manual is based on and adapted from the Rules of Order once used in the early Hawaiian legislatures. The oldest known such pamphlets, published in both Hawaiian and English, date back to 1854 and were intended for use in the House of Nobles (Hale ‘Aha ‘olelo Ali‘i) and House of Representatives (Hale o ka Po‘e Koho ‘ia), both of which are included in the Appendix for reference. These early pamphlets are treasures of Hawaiian history and often bear amazing resemblance to Robert’s Rules, which is no surprise since it seems clear that the early Hawaiian legislative rules were themselves adapted from US models familiar to the early Western advisors to the Hawaiian monarchy. Subsequent legislatures in Hawai‘i revised their rules throughout the Kingdom period and as late at 1909 in the Territory. These and various early legislative journals and minutes have been drawn upon and adapted by the authors to establish acceptable terminology and grammar for current use.” p. 1.