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FOR such reasons, Haunani-Kay Trask, director of the University of Hawaii Center for Hawaiian Studies, opposes any Navy presence on Niihau.

"There should not be any military in Hawaii, period," she said. "But those missiles are a complete assault on the people of Niihau. They are a small, fairly isolated community, and that kind of dangerous, large development is very intrusive. It's going to be very destructive of their environment and the kind of close 'ohana relations they have with each other."

Niihau "should go back to the people who live there," Trask said. "They (Robinsons) should stop being 19th century imperialists and let the people decide their future. They should get on with the 21st century view of indigenous peoples and reparations, and give the island back to them -- free of charge. This is a real case study in tyrannical government. They're sort of like the lord of the manor; if you misbehave, you're off the island.

"Some of the people are purebloods. They have every historical reason to be freed from that colonial choke hold that they're under."

Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa, associate professor at the UH Center for Hawaiian Studies, said, "I think it's terrible that the Navy wants to do test-missile launch sites on Niihau. It's a terrible desecration of that land.

"As for the future of the island, I believe that the state ought to condemn the island to benefit the Niihau people and just turn it over to the Niihau people who live there. Since the Robinsons want to put military things on that land, they have forfeited their right to be konohiki (chief) on that land.

"I really believe that the best thing for the future of Niihau and for the Niihau people themselves is to be able to control the island. (If) they want to exclude outsiders, they want to live peacefully by themselves, they should be afforded that right."

Hawaiian activist and physician Kekuni Blaisdell is "outraged" about the missile proposal.

Outsiders "keep telling us we need to have a growing economy and this will provide jobs for you, that we need to grow and survive. That's the way they seduce us. It's going on everywhere. So this is more exploitation and domination, which of course is the definition of colonialism, which is a crime by specific international law."

Lawyer Mililani Trask, head of the Hawaiian sovereignty group Ka Lahui Hawai'i, said, "I am opposed to, and Ka Lahui already passed a resolution against, militarizing any lands within the archipelago."

She suggested enlisting experts to assess and develop marketing plans for economic ventures with a unique Niihau flavor, such as Niihau shell jewelry, weavings, music and tropical fish.

"You can't have economic development and growth when the position is to remain insular and alienated from others. The bottom line for economic growth is economic commercialism and social intercourse," Trask said.

Kihei Niheu of the Big Island's Pu'ukapu Hawaiian Homestead, whose father was a Niihau native, wants descendants to become involved in the discussion.

"I really want to organize. I think the descendants should get together and start talking about how can we help our homeland. We gotta start communicating with the people who are still there -- economic activity, how to develop a solar industry there, things like that.

"Why is it they don't have solar panels for their families?" Niheu asked. "Why don't they have their own property? Why doesn't the state step in and condemn some land for our people there, so every kanaka maoli (native Hawaiian) in the island has their own property, to give them a sense of independence? And some of us want to go back; why won't they allow us to go back?" he said.

OHA trustee Haunani Apoliona tempered the debate by suggesting an open discussion of issues with the people of Niihau.

"Maybe people should ask them what they want. Maybe their perspective is framed by what they know living there. There's so many levels in this thing; it's not simply black and white.

"It's that dilemma of balance. The word for the century is balance, because there are so many overlapping, superimposed priorities. Whatever alternative is chosen, I hope there is a balance of lifestyle, of economic situation, of the needs of the people as well as the people who are responsible for that island."

And, while Niihau basks in its blue-gray-green ocean, Keith Robinson frets.

"It's an enormously complex situation," he said. "It's stressful. I lie awake at night wondering if we've done the right thing."