(BIVN) – The first sitting of the International Commission of Inquiry, initially scheduled for January 16 and 17, 2018 on the grounds of ‘Iolani Palace at the Kana‘ina Building, has been delayed.

Political scientist Dr. Keanu Sai, who is also the agent representing the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the Inquiry that stems from the Larsen v. Hawaiian Kingdom arbitration held at the Permanent Court of Arbitration from 1999-2001, made the announcement during a Lā Kuʻokoʻa educational conference held in Hilo on Saturday.

“We’re gonna probaly have to hold back on the hearing of January 16 and 17, and probably move it to March,” Sai said.

The orginal January hearing dates would have coincided with the 125th anniversary of the American invasion of the Hawaiian Kingdom on January 16, 1893 – which was followed by the conditional surrender of the Hawaiian government by Queen Lili‘uokalani on January 17, 1893.

According to the Hawaiian Kingdom blog:

At the core of these proceedings will be the unlawful imposition of American laws that led to the unfair trial, unlawful confinement and pillaging of Lance Paul Larsen, a Hawaiian subject and victim of war crimes committed against him by the United States through its armed force—the State of Hawai‘i. These war crimes were committed in 1999.

The reasons for the delay seem steeped in international intrigue.

“I gotta be honest,” Sai told the crowd at the Boys and Girls Club gym during the Lā Kuʻokoʻa event, “I always kept thinking ‘how is the United States gonna obstruct these proceedings?’ They’re not gonna just sit there and let it happen, right?”

The Tribunal in the 1999-2001 arbitration concluded that “it could not determine whether the (Hawaiian Kingdom) has failed to discharge its obligations towards (Larsen) without ruling on the legality of the acts of the United States of America – something the Tribunal was precluded from doing as the United States was not party to the case,” the PCA says on its website. Sai says the U.S. was given the opportunity to participate before the Tribunal was convened. The U.S. State Department declined, he said, instead asking to access the records of the PCA proceedings.

“If there was any time that the United States could have stopped these proceedings, it would have been then in 2000,” Sai said. “But they would have to show the Hawaiian Kingdom doesn’t exist as a state. They couldn’t.”

17 years later, and the International Commission of Inquiry – an avenue recommended by the Tribunal in its 2001 award – is about to get underway.

“This is headquarters for Pacific Command. 118 military installations here,” Sai said of the United States. “You’re not just gonna sit down and let this whole things happen.”

As things were moving along towards the first hearings, Sai said suddenly, the Secretary-General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Hugo Hans Siblesz, “obstructed the proceedings,” via a letter, saying that entities who are not members of the United Nations “cannot use this court.”

“We were already there!” Sai said, reliving his astonishment. “This case is stemming from the original case.”

Sai and his deputy agents tried to contact the Secretary-General, to no avail. “Something’s happening,” Sai thought. “Number one, that’s very evasive. This guy doesn’t want to talk.”

The events prompted Sai to travel to the Hague, where the Permanent Court of Arbitration is located. But before doing so, Sai looked into the cryptic statements contained in Secretary-General Siblesz’ letter. His research led him to conclude that the Secretary-General “was actually representing the United States and protecting them in these proceedings.”

“The Secretary-General cannot operate outside of the Hague convention,” Sai said. “That means the Secretary-General has just been exposed as an agent for the United States at the highest level of the court. That’s huge. That’s a political bomb, right there.”

The story goes on. “A formal complaint was received – and I can’t say which country”, Sai said, “but we met with an embassy in the Hague and I was received as an ambassador-at-large for the Hawaiian Kingdom, and they acknowledged receipt of a formal complaint against the Secretary-General.”

“We’re gonna take it to another level now,” Sai said. “Now, we’re taking it to all 122 countries,” also known as the Contracting Party states, whose diplomatic representatives comprise the Administrative Council of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. “And we’re also gonna take it to all 193 countries at the (United Nations).”

Sai says the embassy of the country filing the complaint is asking to “keep things bilateral and confidential” for the time being, as negotiations take place at the international level.

Big Island Video News will be posting the entire presentation given by Sai during Saturday’s Lā Kuʻokoʻa educational conference.