In the fight to save the ‘last Hawaiian island’: Molokai residents fight to buy $260 million 55,575-acre farm from a Hong Kong company that left it to rot and blocked access to the beach

Local activists are fighting to regain access to a $260 million farm on the island of Molokai after the Hong Kong investment firm that owns it closed off the beaches and left the buildings to rot for more than a decade.

Activists and non-profit organizations, such as Molokai Heritage Trust, have repeatedly tried to buy back the land, but all their previous proposals have failed.

Now activists are organizing protest marches to reclaim their traditional rights to the land for access to cultural and historical sites, as well as subsistence fishing and hunting.

Such rights are protected by Article 12, Section 7 of the Hawaiian Constitution.

Molokai is known to locals as “the last Hawaiian island” because it has withstood many of the commercial developments, such as high-rise hotels and parking lots, that have plagued others in the archipelago.

Local activists are fighting for access to a $260 million farm on the island of Molokai

Activists and non-profit organizations, such as Molokai Heritage Trust, have repeatedly tried to buy back the land

Molokai Ranch was purchased in 2005 by Hong Kong investment firm Guoco Group, which in turn is part of the Hong Leong Group, a conglomerate in Malaysia founded by billionaire businessmen.

Encompassing more than 55,000 acres of beautiful island territory, the ranch was developed to integrate a high-end lodge, glamping resort, restaurant, golf course and the island’s only movie theater.

However, the company ceased operations on the island in 2008 after its plans to build 200 luxury homes along the shoreline of Laau Point met strong opposition from locals.

In May, more than 100 islanders were impeded when their access to the only road leading to Kawakiu Beach was blocked by a newly installed locked gate.

The protesters, waving indigenous flags and signs, cut the lock and headed for the pristine beach.

“The march was there because they took away our hard-won access rights for Hawaiians,” says Walter Ritte, a longtime native Hawaiian activist and resident of Molokai told SFGATE.

“They’re making the town of Maunaloa suffer,” Ritte said.

“They closed the hotel and put sand in the pool. They closed off the golf course, cut down the coconut trees and used them to prevent access to the old golf courses.

The protesters, waving indigenous flags and signs, bypassed a locked gate and continued to Kawakiu Beach.

Guoco Group ceased operations on the island in 2008 after its plans to build 200 luxury homes along the shoreline of Laau Point met stiff opposition

Encompassing more than 55,000 acres of beautiful island territory, the ranch has been developed to accommodate a range of commercial buildings

The land was originally owned by the Hawaiian monarchy before being bought by a businessman in 1897 for sugarcane production

Molokai is known to locals as “the last Hawaiian island” because it has withstood many of the commercial developments that have plagued others in the archipelago

“The response is very negative and then they decided, ‘Okay, we’re just going to sell this place and get out of here,'” Ritte explained.

Molokai Properties Limited, the local subsidiary of Guoco Group, told SFGATE in a statement that “the gate is there to prevent unauthorized hunting vehicles from accessing land that may conflict with ongoing, registered yachts.”

Allowing unregulated use of firearms, especially while a hunt may still be in progress, would pose a security risk,” the statement said.

“There is an open mechanism whereby visits to cultural sites and community hunting can be requested and arranged in advance.”

The last time Molokai Ranch put a gate on the land and blocked access to the beaches was in 1975, under a different ownership.

Ritte led more than 200 residents on a walk through West Molokai on an ancient Hawaiian footpath to protest their protected right of access.

“We will exercise our birthright as Hawaiians to walk a Hawaiian trail,” he wrote in a 1975 article for the Honolulu Advertiser.

“We the people of Hawaii own the beaches and we go to those beaches whenever we want. We’re not going to bow to Molokai Ranch and say, “Please give us a pass so I can fish to feed my family.”

The land was originally owned by the Hawaiian monarchy before being bought by a businessman in 1897 for sugar cane production.

Since then it has changed hands several times and has been used for a variety of commercial purposes, including a golf club and wildlife park.